Page 51 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

Because he didn’t want to hear about Portia being with someone else.

He’d told himself that because she still used her maiden name and didn’t wear a ring, she was single. Available. Besides, if she’d married the man her father had wanted, she wouldn’t be working in an office job. She’d be living a more glamorous life.

‘You thought I’d meekly marry to please him? After what he’d done tous?’ She tilted her chin up in a way that was pure Portia, eyes flashing. ‘I thought you knew me better than that.’

Lex felt a strange frisson of emotion at the way she saidus. An echo of the past when there’d been nothing more important than him and Portia together.

‘I expressed that badly. I meant—’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ She made a slicing gesture. ‘I don’t want to talk about my father or the past anymore. You know the main points. That’s all that matters.’

She rose and stood before him. ‘I came because I promised myself if I had the chance I’d let you know I didn’t stand you up. There’s no going back, of course. We’re not the people we once were. But you deserved the truth and I wanted to clear my name. You must have hated me.’

Lex paused before replying. There was no point in telling her she was right. Hehaddespised her, for using then discarding him.

All this time he’d been wrong about her.

He grappled to absorb that.

Finally he said, ‘Thank you for telling me. It’s good finally to know the truth.’

Though it appalled him. He wanted to confront her father. It might have happened years ago but the man couldn’t be allowed to get away with his actions.

‘Why didn’t you contact me sooner?’ he asked belatedly. If he’d known...

‘He took my phone, remember?’ He heard something steely in her voice. ‘And when I finally got somewhere I could call, you didn’t pick up. I tried multiple times.’

In the state he’d been in, if he’d received calls from a number he didn’t know he’d have ignored them. Then he’d left the country almost immediately and had been determined to leave his old life behind. ‘I ditched my British SIM when I went to Greece.’

So she’d have had no way of contacting him. Lex felt like he’d taken a step on a staircase only to discover thin air beneath his foot. It was an unpleasant sensation that made his stomach knot.

‘So, now you know. I’ll be on my way.’

She turned but Lex stepped in front of her. She couldn’t just walk out after dropping that bombshell. He wasn’t ready for her to leave.

‘It’s pouring out there. Why not stay and share some wine with me? I’ll order a meal then take you home.’

Her eyes locked on his and heat flared under his skin.

The same heat that had fired his blood these past three weeks, fracturing his concentration and breaking his sleep.

The same heat he’d experienced as a teenager, lusting after the lovely girl who’d been the centre of his hopes and dreams.

Their joint future might be dead and buried but the physical dynamic, that searing attraction, was stronger than ever. Just standing this close to her made his pulse race and his hormones try to wrangle control of his brain.

‘Thanks, Lex.’ Her smile was wistful. ‘But it’s probably better not to.’

‘Why not? You hate me because of the rift between you and your father?’

Portia’s eyes rounded, her mouth gaping. ‘I don’t hate you. I never hated you.’

Lex didn’t know why her words affected him so deeply but they did. He felt something turn over in his chest, a hard, tight knot that was part pleasure, part pain.

She may not blame him but he blamed himself.

All this time he’d pictured her laughing at him, thinking herself better than him. Blaming her for his heartbreak. Instead she’d suffered because he hadn’t been careful enough, hadn’t managed to spirit her safely away from her dreadful father. He’d swallowed her father’s lies and walked away without a backward glance.

‘I’m sorry, Portia. I should have stayed and looked for you. I should have known you’d never send a message like that.’

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