Page 162 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

‘I don’t agree. If I had known this, I would never have asked you to fall pregnant.’

‘That’s not fair,’ she responded. ‘It’s not your call.’

‘I beg your pardon, but how do you think I would feel if that happened to you?’

Her heart stammered for no reason she could think of, and she leaned forward a little. ‘I don’t know. How would you feel?’ And she held her breath whilst waiting for him to answer, hope a strange, strangling feeling.

‘Guilty as hell,’ he muttered. ‘I would consider that I had essentially killed you.’

Guilt.

Not exactly a declaration of love.

And was that what she wanted from him? Rosie stood, eggs forgotten, pacing to the other side of the room, her whole body feeling as though it were in freefall. ‘What are you saying? That you don’t want to do this?’

‘Wecan’tdo this. Good God, Rosalind. What were you thinking, to keep this from me? If there’s even the slightest chance our pregnancy would harm you, I will not do it.’

She flinched a little. ‘You need an heir. The country needs an heir. And I am your wife.’

‘Yes. But this is not a risk worth taking,’ he responded, swiping his hand through the air. ‘It’s not a risk I will allow you to take. Not for me, and not for this—’ he gestured from his chest to hers. ‘Jesus Christ—’

She glared at him. ‘What?’

‘You’re not really my wife, Rosalind. This is an arranged marriage. Two weeks ago, you said you hated me. You sure as hell don’t care about me. Why would you be willing to put yourself through this?’

She stared at him, aghast. How could he think that, even after the island? How could he think her feelings hadn’t changed? Was he really so obtuse? Surely, he knew that everything had shifted.

At least, it had for Rosie.

You’re not really my wife.

Evidently, for Sebastian, this was still very much a contractual arrangement. She blinked rapidly, focusing on a point over his shoulder. Even after everything that had happened with them.

‘Because the king needs this, right?’ he asked, his tone hardening. ‘First of all, you agree to marry a complete stranger, and now this? To risk your life because he demands an heir? What won’t you do for that man?’

She dropped her head. It wasn’t about the king. Not really. It hadn’t been for a long time. This was about Sebastian, and it was about the baby that she now wanted more than anything.

‘I wish I’d never told you.’

‘Well, I’m glad you did.’ They stared at each other, neither talking for several beats. She could see his mind working though, the wheels turning. ‘Rosie...’ It was the first time he’d ever called her that and her stomach swooped because far from sounding like a term of endearment, it terrified her. There was such finality in these two syllables. ‘We’re not doing this.’

She blinked. ‘Doing what?’

‘We’re not having a child together.’

Nausea rose inside of her at the ease with which he was decreeing that. ‘You don’t understand. I want this.’

‘Like you wanted our marriage? You sacrificed your whole goddamned life to help other people because you think that’s what your mother would want you to do, and you’re going to do it again and again unless someone stops you.’

‘I want to have your baby,’ she repeated, wishing he could understand. ‘It’s a leap of faith I’m willing to take.’

‘And your mother?’ he asked with intensity. ‘Wouldn’t she have said the same thing?’

Rosie opened her mouth but shook her head. ‘I don’t know.’

‘You can’t say for sure that this won’t happen to you.’

‘A thousand things can go wrong at any point in a pregnancy, or in life. If I can accept that, why can’t you?’

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