Page 172 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

‘I know all about it,’ she derided furiously, any last self-restraint in flames. ‘I know you’repayingfor your bride.’

‘You think?’

How could he be so sanguine?

The intensity of her anger overrode everything. ‘You’re investing in my parents’ hotel. Which is madness. Surely you’re aware it’s never been a commercial success. Some would say it’s a lemon. Why do you want it?’

He remained relaxed. ‘Surely you know how good I am with hotels—’

‘Right, I do. So forgive me if I don’t believe that you need another one. Certainly not one that isn’t anywhere near the size of those already in your stable.’ She glared at him.

‘Perhaps I like a challenge,’ he said quietly.

‘You’re bored? You need entertaining?’ she said sarcastically. ‘Join a Scrabble club. Better yet, hire a children’s party entertainer.’

Something flickered in his eyes, but she couldn’t quite define it and he still said nothing.

‘No?’ she mocked. ‘Because it’s another sort of filly you want, isn’t it?’

His beautiful lips curved again.

She shook her head in total disbelief. ‘Why do you need a wife, exactly? Is it image management? Because in case you hadn’t worked it out, I’m going to be a problem here.’ The only thing she could think was to shame him. She knew too well that shame was a vitriolic thing. ‘I’ll go to the media,’ she added. ‘I’ll cause such a scandal, I’ll—’

‘Publicly embarrass your own family?’

She stared into his intense blue gaze. Clearly he didn’t know that she’d already embarrassed her family on a professional level. Entirely deliberately, knowing they’d disown her. Because four years ago this had happened toher. She hadn’t been eighteen, but nineteen when her father had driven her into the arms of a man she didn’t love. He’d always been controlling—from the subjects she studied at school, to the clothes she wore, to how she spent every moment of her time. He was the head of the family and Elodie, her sister and her mother were expected to do his bidding without question. Elodie had long accepted that as normal, but in her late teens her frustration grew. Her father had never valued her as anything more than a decorative source of free labour. He’d never listened to her ideas for the hotel. Andshe’dbarely paid attention to Callum Henderson. Yes, he’d been at her school, but he was three years older and honestly off her radar. Not her father’s though. Son of the local mayor, monied and influential. Her father had been thrilled to recruit him as assistant manager. Elodie had been hurt her father had laughed at her own quietly voiced inclination to apply.

But Callum had gone out of his way to talk to Elodie. He’d told her about a couple of interactions between them at school. Truthfully, she’d never even remembered them. He’d listened to her ideas—even enacted a couple—presenting them to her father as his purely to get them over the line. To Elodie’s surprise her father hadn’t been angry about Callum taking her time—he’d told her to be nice to him. For once she seemed to have pleased him.

The proposal had come out of the blue—a rose-petal-strewn moment in front of her parents and half the hotel staff. Blindsided, there was no way she could reject Callumpublicly. Especially not when she’d glimpsed the hard expectation in her father’s eyes and realised that he hadn’t just known about it but that he’dapprovedit. She’d had to say yes in the moment. And then her father wouldn’t hear her misgivings. She would never ‘do better’ and Callum was going to invest in the much-needed hotel upgrade and she couldn’t be the one to deny the rest of her family that much-needed resource; moreover, she should behonouredsomeone like him wanted someone like her.

At that point Callum hadn’t even kissed her. It had never occurred to Elodie that he’d want to. But he’d been patient and persuasive. He’d promised to manage her father once they were married. And here’s where Elodie had been so at fault herself. She’d been flattered because he’d listened, because he’d seemed to truly care. She’d believed him, blind to the fact that what he wanted wasn’t what she really was. So swiftly she’d been swept into a situation she couldn’t escape.

The gravity of her mistake hit within mere days of the marriage. Callum’s promised support and freedom had been fiction while the intimacy he’d promised would develop between them hadn’t. Asking to end it had been futile. Turned out appearances mattered more than anything toboththose men and ultimately Callum was every bit as controlling as her father. In the end she’d stopped asking. She’d acted.Badly.

‘Well?’ the too good-looking tower of a man right in front of her now prompted, somehow sensing her unsteadiness. ‘How far are you willing to go to stop this?’

‘As far as it takes.’ She blinked away the shameful memories, furious with her weakness—for thinking about herself in this moment. Because this was about Ashleigh—and she completely understood her sister’s inability to say ‘no’ to her father. She wouldn’t let her sister endure more than the unfair pressure she’d already faced.

‘What’sweirdis whyyouhave to go to such icky lengths to get what you want,’ she pushed back on him. ‘What’s so repellent about you that forces you tobuya bride?’

That slow, wide smile curved his lips. Apparently he wasn’t shamed in the least by her acidic question.

‘You tell me,’ he invited softly, leaning closer still. ‘How repellent doyouthink I am?’

Oh, he was soveryarrogant. She refused to respond to such a blatantly outrageous diversion. ‘You need to call the wedding off.’

‘But won’t your family—’

‘Lose the hotel?’ She shrugged. ‘I don’t care. Ashleigh isn’t for sale.’

‘Ashleigh,’ he echoed calmly. ‘She hasn’t mentioned you to me.’

Of course her sister hadn’t. Elodie was an outcast for deserting her ‘perfect’ husband and ‘perfect’ life. Her parents now lived as if she’d never existed. She and Ashleigh had only remained in touch online until Ashleigh had borrowed a friend’s phone last night.

‘No.’ Elodie’s words slowed as she registered that somehow Ramon Fernandez had moved even closer to her. ‘She wouldn’t have dared.’

Ashleigh couldn’t disobey her father. Not yet. Elodie understood that too. She’d been the same for so long.

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