Page 201 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 1-4

‘Yes, well, that was then. That was before...’

‘Yes, things are different now, but what we had... Let’s be honest, it’s still there, isn’t it? It is for me. When you showed up at my office, when I saw you again, I wondered whether that thing I’d felt might have disappeared...thatcharge.’

‘Mateo, this is beside the point...’

She watched with alarm and excitement as he rose slowly from where he’d been sitting and sauntered towards her, dragging a foot stool which he placed so close to her that she could feel the heat emanating from him.

‘Is it?’

His eyes were dark, questioning and gently probing and they stirred a longing in her that was dangerously familiar.

‘What does it matter if this so-called charge is there or not?’ Alice whispered a little shakily. ‘Would you have done something about it if I’d shown up to ask you to pick things back up with us?’

‘I would have tried not to.’

His blunt honesty hurt but it showed a side of him that was to be commended. He didn’t play games. What he said would always be the truth.

‘Because you’re so attracted to me, right?’

‘Yes, as a matter of fact.’ His eyes were lazy, roving over her flushed face in a leisurely, sexy scrutiny. ‘I would have been tempted but I would have probably reacted with my head and not that other unreliable part of my body. I would have known that I couldn’t offer you the long-term relationship you wanted. Even when you told me about the pregnancy, when I knew that I had to allow you the freedom to find a man who could give you what you really wanted in life, even then, I wanted you. But I resisted the urge to touch, to try and seduce you...to tempt you back into my arms.’

He edged closer fractionally, leaning slightly into her. ‘But things are different now. Now I want to offer you a long-term relationship.’

‘I never said I wanted a long-term relationship with you. I said we could carry on having fun when we got back to London. I always knew you weren’t the kind of long-term guy I was looking for.’ Alice looked away and licked her lips. Her eyes strayed to the knees almost touching hers and the strong, brown hand hanging over one knee.

Mateo pressed his thumbs to his eyes and then looked at her, deadly serious. ‘Having fun? No. I knew that would have been a bad idea. I’m not the sort of guy you would want to have fun with. You’d end up getting hurt.’

‘Who’s to sayIwould have been the one getting hurt?’

‘I’m well-insulated when it comes to women having that sort of effect on me. But who knows...?’ His green eyes darkened with wicked amusement. ‘Think you might have been the one to make me cry, Alice?’

‘I guess we’ll never know!’ She went bright red.

‘At any rate, things have changed. This isn’t about fun. This is about the baby we’ve made. I thought I could live with a situation whereby we shared this baby as friends, nothing more, but I can’t. Seeing our baby moving inside you, that small speck...’ He shook his head. ‘We could work, Alice. I respect you, I like you, we get along and then...’ he brushed her cheek with his finger ‘...there’s this.’

‘Mateo...’ Alice heard the husky tremor in her voice and half-closed her eyes, tilting back her head, utterly unable to resist the pull of an attraction that was too powerful for her. His finger on her cheek was soft and gentle and the breath caught in her throat when that finger found the contour of her lips and delicately traced them.

‘Kiss me,’ she heard herself groan and he did. He kissed her. She’d forgotten just how sweet and beautiful the feel of his mouth was on hers. Cool lips and the slide of his tongue roused her until she was squirming and wet for him. When he rested his hand on her thigh, she immediately parted her legs, wanting more. Instead, frustratingly, he pulled back and looked at her gravely.

‘We have more going for us than a hell of a lot of starry-eyed couples who start off with nothing more than the hope that a bit of fairy dust is going to last a lifetime.’

‘A little fairy dust never hurt anyone...’

‘Until it turns to shards of glass.’

‘You’re so cynical, Mateo.’

‘Realist. And realism is what is going to work so well for us. Marry me, Alice. You’ll find that I can make an excellent father and husband.’

Alice looked at him. There was so much going for what he had said—a stable life for a child who had not asked to be conceived. He would be a good provider and she knew that he would be an attentive husband. Her parents would be overjoyed; they were traditionalists through and through. And, yes, there was the sex. It would fade away, of course, and without love would slide into a sort of brother-sister amicability.

Inevitably, he would discreetly fool around. That went without saying. Duty would bind him to her but mutual respect, liking one another and having a child together would only go so far when it came to tethering him. He would be able to deal with the intensity of desire and the searing urge to protect what he would see as his, but would he be able to deal with the everyday normality that every relationship needed? Or would that bore him? Could an extraordinary man ever know the value of ordinary? And, however much she knew that she wanted and needed some extraordinariness in her life—thatsomethingthat was all wrapped up withlove—didn’t she also know that normality was also needed to be in the mix?

Her heart would be crushed on a daily basis and, whilst Alice knew that she should put their child first, the thought of her own projected misery filled her with panic and apprehension. Maybe if she stood back she might be able to build her own inner reinforcements to protect her from that. Would she get stronger and more immune to his pull over time? Wasn’t time supposed to do stuff like that?

‘I’m not willing to make such a big commitment just yet, Mateo.’

‘I’m not following you. Is it the love angle? Alice, there’s more to a successful marriage than love. We have all the ingredients to make it work, and that’s not even taking into account the fact that we’re still hot for one another.’

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