Page 41 of Modern Romance Collection May 2024 Books 1-4

It was only after the starter was cleared that she had the nerve to ask a question that had been going around in her head for days.

‘Were you ever going to marry and have a family? Or was that just expected of your brother?’

CHAPTER SEVEN

AJAXSATBACK, his fingers on the stem of his wine glass. He seemed relaxed, but Erin felt the sudden tension. Cursing herself inwardly, she said, ‘It’s a personal question. You don’t have to—’

But he put up a hand. ‘You first. What were your plans?’

Erin hadn’t been expecting that, but it was only fair. ‘All I knew was that I didn’t want to be like my father...abandoned and sad. I mean, I was abandoned too, but it was different for me. A parent is one thing...but a partner, a lover... That was devastating for him. He never met anyone else. He was a single parent. It was lonely. I always wanted siblings. But I think I put off thinking about it until I had Ashling, and now I have to think about it.’

‘You want a family? For Ashling not to be an only child?’ Ajax stated this almost as if it was something outrageous.

Erin looked at him. ‘I do. I’d like brothers and sisters for her. And I’d like to meet someone I can spend my life with... I don’t want Ashling to be lonely, or to see me be lonely.’

‘You surely don’t believe in love?’ He sounded faintly mocking.

Erin avoided his eye. ‘I’m not that naive. In some ways I think perhaps there is some merit in arranged marriages...partnerships.’

So why did that feel like a lie even as she said it?

‘You’re a good mother.’

Erin risked a glance at him. ‘Apart from the fact that I took so long to tell you about your daughter?’

Ajax shook his head and sat forward. ‘You were right, I’m not that accessible, and I know how consuming pregnancy and a new baby is. Even though Sofia had an army of nannies on standby from before the baby was even born, she wasn’t immune to the stress and change it brought into her life.’

‘Did she want to be a mother?’

‘It was more that she wasexpectedto have an heir. I don’t think she and my brother had quite factored in the speed with which she got pregnant, though,’ Ajax said. ‘Women don’tmotherin our world,’ he added. ‘They delegate to others.’

Erin smiled wanly. ‘We aren’t all that different, give or take a few hundred million euros and a dynasty spanning generations.’

The main course arrived, and Erin was surprised. She was genuinely enjoying talking to Ajax. Even about prickly things.

The main course was sea bream with sautéed seafood, house special mayonnaise and baby potatoes roasted in herbs. The food almost distracted Erin enough not to pursue her questioning—but not quite.

She took a sip of wine. ‘So now it’s your turn. Were you ever planning on marrying and having a family?’

When Erin had looked Ajax up online, after they’d had their brief affair, nothing salacious had come up before his marriage to Sofia. There were pictures of him with stunning women, but no one had appeared with him more than once or twice.

Ajax sat back. ‘I can’t say that I’d given it much thought. My brother was already on his way to creating the next generation. If I was to have had a family it would have been purely strategic—to get ahead in the business. There were several women from prominent families who would have been suitable, but now, in restructuring the family business, I’ve ensured that we’re no longer dependent on something as archaic as marriage to foster security or longevity.’

Erin recalled that the future of the company would now be made secure through an independent board of management, under Ajax’s control, well out of the hands of family.

‘Why was it so important for you to change things?’ she asked.

‘Because my brother and I had been used as pawns all our lives, purely to carry on the Nikolau legacy. When he died, and I was all but forced into marriage with Sofia to avoid a scandal, I realised just how toxic it was. But really it was Theo who made me see things differently. He reminded me of when I was young and used to see other parents and families...they looked happy in a way I couldn’t understand. I didn’t want him to have the kind of life I had, brought up and moulded into a good servant of the business and family. He was his own person, and I was determined I wasn’t going to force him into anything.’

Erin was touched. ‘I think he would have appreciated that.’

Ajax shrugged. ‘My grand revelation didn’t matter in the end.’

‘You changed things anyway,’ Erin pointed out. ‘You could have left it alone. You could even have walked away.’

Their plates were cleared. Erin declined coffee, but she was told she had to try the baklava—a Middle-Eastern staple and speciality of the restaurant. As expected, it was delicious. Creamy and sweet, encased in delicate filo pastry that melted on her tongue.

‘Amazing!’

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