Page 23 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

LEXYWASHALFasleep when she boarded the private jet for the very long flight to South Korea. The nannies were like walking zombies and the triplets were all asleep.

Lexy had spent what remained of her wedding night in the gilded four-poster alone and wide awake and she blamed Nic for that unfortunate fact. Nic Diamandis, herhusband, strange as that truth still was to accept, was, even now, set on concrete denial of his past misdeeds. How could she possibly work with that? In reality, there was no way. But at the same time, Lexy was awash with self-loathing and impatience over the part she had played. The last thing she should have done with her fake husband was stage a giant confrontation on their wedding night. That had definitely been a badly timed and poorly executed move.

What had possessed her?

Unhappily, Lexy was well aware of why she had lost control of her tongue. Nic had dared to behave as though everything were normal between them when it was anything but! She had been spread paper thin in the moments after she had retrieved her wits following their renewed intimacy. All right, she had been upset, torn apart by the awareness that she had succumbed yet again to Nic’s sexual charisma. A woman abandoned to give birth alone to triplets the first time could not have an excuse for voluntarily signing up for more of the same casual sex. What else could it be with a guy like that? Nor did the fact that they were now legally married somehow justify her self-destructive behaviour.

There she had been making all those excuses to herself when, quite clearly, she had merely fallen yet again for Nic’s irresistible quality. How could she still find him irresistible? That alone was unforgivable. Where was her pride? Her dignity?

Lexy shot a narrow-eyed glance across the aisle to where Nic sat working at his laptop. They had all had breakfast as a party, with the conference room onboard his private jet serving as a dining room. Casually dressed in designer jeans and shirt, Nic had got down on the floor there to play with his sons and daughter afterwards and, later, had even borrowed Lily from a nanny to help feed them. Yes, he was definitely aiming at the Daddy of the Year award, Lexy conceded. Even though she felt mean having that thought she was unable to stifle it after the manner in which they had parted the night before.

After all, aside from polite and unavoidable acknowledgements, the new bride was now being ignored. Perhaps he liked to remind her that she was only a bride in other people’s eyes. Just as when she got the chance she would remind Nic that the only reason she had slept with him was to ensure that their marital ties were fully legal in terms of a later divorce. That was the sole way that she could save face, she told herself angrily. If he couldn’t admit the truth of his own faults to her, why shouldshebe honest?

Why would she admit that when she took even a glance at his strong, perfect profile or his shimmering dark eyes it virtually stopped her brain in its tracks? Or that she was a particular fan of his physique clad in form-fitting jeans that enhanced and outlined every lean, muscular line of his compelling masculinity? Or that she didn’t have to think very long to recall the hard, erotic surge of him inside her the night before and that even the memory of that intimacy made her feel hot and damp all over and sex-obsessed? Those were matters that she had to keep private for the sake of her own sanity.

A fleet of limousines met them off the runway and they all piled in to speed down the motorway to Seoul. ‘Aside from business, why did you choose to bring us here?’ she heard herself ask, because she just could not contain her curiosity.

‘Originally this was intended as a pleasure trip. It’s your birthplace and the culture in which you grew up. I believed you would enjoy rediscovering it.’

‘That was a very kind thought,’ Lexy said stiltedly and kicked herself for asking because, really, he was always determined to portray himself as a nice, decent guy even if he wasn’t.

‘And then a tech company in which I’m particularly interested came up as a possibility and the business angle took over.’ Nic shot her a glance from level dark golden eyes. ‘You see, I didn’t have to be truthful about that, but please note that Iwas. I’m not a liar, Lexy. I never have been and I never will be because my father lied at the drop of a hat to my mother, to me, to friends and employees and I have a strong distaste for those who choose to go through life fooling and deceiving others.’

The atmosphere was so tense as he made that little speech that Lexy tried and failed to swallow. His level, hard gaze burned into hers and she looked away hurriedly. Colour washed up over her face because what could she possibly say in response tothat?

From the first night they’d met and he’d pretended that she meant more to him than she actually did, Nic Diamandis had been lying to her in one way or another. According to him, he had never received her letters or her calls, nor had he blocked her visits. And possibly he wasneverplanning to tell the truth on that score, she reflected with a sinking stomach. He was a billionaire, highly successful in every field. Why would he strip himself bare of his pride and arrogance for her sake? Why on earth would he ever admit that he had panicked like a teenager at the prospect of a sickly pregnant woman he had never expected to hear from again? And a woman carrying children he had not planned to have?

It was equally possible that he hadn’t panicked, she conceded. Perhaps there had been some other secret reason why he’d been determined to keep her out of his life and if that were true, would she ever be told? Her triangular face tightening, she sat very still and continued to say nothing.

Nic compressed his wide sensual mouth and said smoothly, ‘So, have you got friends to look up while you’re here?’

He was holding onto his temper by a hair’s breadth, weary of her refusal to concede that she had not made any attempt to contact him after that night in Yorkshire. He reminded himself that he had lost the means to contactherand that it was highly likely that she had made the worst possible deductions from his silence. But why the hell, if she was suffering through what sounded like a very difficult pregnancy, wouldn’t she have still approached him for help? For the first time it occurred to him that that just didn’t compute because, right from the start, Lexy had impressed him as a rather practical young woman with sound common sense.

‘It’s a bit late for that. I left Seoul when I was fifteen,’ she reminded him wryly. ‘I didn’t have a best friend here. My father wouldn’t let me even go out shopping with other girls and my mother only accepted visitors at home when Dad needed her to host his business dinners. It was quite a restricted upbringing, off to school and then back home to do my homework and study. I wasn’t very good at maths, so there was alotof studying and tutors and extra classes and all the rest of it. The school day is long in Seoul.’

Lexy was not exaggerating. Her father had taken the smallest sign of her failing to excel in any subject to heart and she still broke out in a cold sweat remembering him telling her over and over again what a stupid girl she was when it came to algebra. His expectations of her had never been met, no matter how hard she’d worked.

‘To be fair though,’ she added, because she hated to sound weak, ‘top academic results are very much a thing here with parents, and children are expected to study hard.’

‘I will need you to work as an interpreter here for me,’ Nic admitted grudgingly because, really, at that moment, he didn’t wish to be beholden to her for any assistance, but at least they were talking again, which was preferable to the reverse. He had no desire to live with Lexy in a state of sustained hostility. That would scarcely aid his resolve to act as a proper father to his children. And that was where his relationship with Lexy would begin and end, he promised himself fiercely. The wedding-night passion had been a crucial error, a case of both of them messing up what should have remained a platonic marriage.

It was dark and the night sky was already lighting up with the approach to Seoul, a city that rejoiced in a great number of skyscrapers because it was ringed in mountains and land was at a premium. The limo sped along city streets. There were neon-lit advertisements and bright lights everywhere and occasional glimpses into packed shopping streets. But most of all, Lexy felt the busy buzz and hum of an Asian city that literally never slept.

‘Where are we staying?’ she asked abruptly as she recognised the exclusive streets of Gangnam. It was the wealthiest district in Seoul.

‘I hired a house large enough to cope with the size of entourage we require travelling,’ Nic told her with an amused quirk to his sculpted mouth. ‘And live-in staff to keep the household running. Not a hotel, but it should be close enough to offer you some pampering.’

Lexy stiffened. ‘I don’t need pampering.’

‘You’ve been living hand to mouth for a long time. Of course you do. I appreciate that you put our children first in everything but that does not leave me ignorant of what you must’ve gone without.’

‘How on earth do you even know that?’ Lexy shot at him furiously and then comprehension sank in as she recalled seeing him chatting to her friend at the wedding. ‘Mel told you, didn’t she?’

‘I think it was supposed to shame me, but how anyone could credit that I could come to your aid without even knowing where to find you is the mystery.’

‘So back to square one again,’ Lexy gathered in exasperation. ‘You had my phone number—’

‘I lost it. I don’t know how.’ Nic threw up his hands as she stared back at him with wide eyes, questioning such a well-worn excuse. ‘But itdoeshappen and unfortunately,veryunfortunately in our case, it happened to me and I never got your surname or the name of the company you worked for or anything else which could have identified you.’

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