Page 212 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

‘No, you weren’t. I liked it.’ She licked her ice cream. ‘I incited it.’

Was that why she looked impishly pleased with herself? She’d not had control of her situation for years. It seemed she liked having a little control with him.

He couldn’t resist touching the small wounds. ‘I don’t like to see you hurt.’ Not even a little.

‘I hardly think they’ll scar.’

‘But I bet they sting.’ His words had as well. He’d been rude. He regretted it. He frowned at the sea, unsure how to say any of that—unsure why he even wanted to.

‘This place poisons you,’ she said softly. ‘It’s beautiful but your mood is ugly every second we’re here.’

His whole body felt tight.

‘Do you even want this island?’

He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘It’s an environmentally sound investment.’

‘There are plenty of other ways you could greenwash your financial reports,’ she said sceptically. ‘There’s more to it. Why put so much effort into securing this when you clearlyhateit here?’ She reached out and touched his shoulder so he was compelled to meet her concerned gaze. ‘Is it just because you don’t want your aunt to have it?’

Ramon didn’t discuss any of this with anyone. Ever. But Elodie wasn’t anyone. She was...

He didn’t know what she was. But that night in Cornwall he’d been shocked to see her pallor when she’d first faced her father. He’d instinctively stepped forward and spoken first. After a moment she’d joined him. And when Cristina had snapped at him Elodie had slipped her hand into his. For once he’d not been alone. It might’ve only been an act, but they’d felt like ateam. He hadn’t had that support before and he couldn’t resist reaching for it again.

‘My mother moved to this island permanently after my father died,’ he admitted.

Elodie’s eyes widened, then softened. ‘She was grieving?’

‘She became a recluse.’

His mother hadn’t just been heartbroken, she’d fallen apart. Unable to stand the brutal betrayals of her husband and her sister. And of Ramon.

‘This place became her life. She worked to restore the environment to pristine status, made it predator free. It’s why there’s no development here aside from the cottage,’ he muttered. ‘It’s literally a lizard habitat.’

She’d banned all visitors—made it difficult for even Ramon to visit. She’d raged at him for keeping silent about his father’s infidelity. Rejected him from the day of his father’s funeral. Told him he was his father’s son—not hers. He’d never won her forgiveness and all those betrayals had been a cancer, slowly destroying her until another cancer had come.

Elodie fiddled with the stick from her ice cream. ‘So she stayed here the whole time until she—’

‘Died. Yeah.’ He snatched a little breath. ‘Cancer. Sudden and unstoppable. Four years ago.’ He didn’t want to see the sympathy in Elodie’s eyes so he kept talking—distracting himself with other detail. ‘She didn’t say she had any symptoms. Didn’t give me a chance to get her help. It was weeks between diagnosis and death.’

‘Ramon, I’m really sorry.’

He shook his head. ‘My dad was a glutton. Food. Alcohol. Work. But especially women. There were lots. Mama was oblivious because he’d carefully have those affairs when travelling for work. Then he’d come back and spoil her. He did all the things a besotted husband should do. Gave her all thegifts. All the attention.’

‘But you knew?’ Elodie asked.

Bitterness enveloped him. ‘From about fifteen I began travelling with him. He was preparing me. And when I walked in on him with an “assistant”, it was a little hard for him to deny. We had a “chat” after. He said I needed to protect my mother in the same way he did—that she didn’t need to know. I thought I’d shielded her from it, but after he died she found out in the cruellest way.’

‘After?’

He nodded, but didn’t elaborate on those awful details. He’d already shared far more than he’d ever thought he would and that last was too awful to utter aloud. ‘That’s when she moved here permanently.’

‘Leaving you alone to take on the company.’

‘I was the heir.’

She looked concerned. ‘But it was a lot. Your dad had just died, your mother retreated here, and that company wasn’t like some small family business. You were alone with all that pressure as well as—’

‘I was fine. The work was good. She didn’t want me here anyway,’ he snapped.

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