Page 63 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 5-8

‘Perhaps I could show you one day?’

A honeymoon on one of the tropical islands, perhaps? They could bask in the sunshine there. Swim in pristine water. Make love in the moonlight on a secluded beach. Though where these romantic notions came from, he had no idea.

‘I’d like to see a wombat, or swim with dolphins—maybe even a whale shark.’

Ana seemed more...alive when she talked about those things. She might have led a sheltered life, but he’d known underneath there was a woman who wanted to burst out and see the world.

The things he could show her. Yet he had plans. For the next eighteen months he would be all about training to make what would be one of the climbs of his life. Though right now he didn’t understand why the thought of all that planning and preparation exhausted him, when he usually found it invigorating. It had to be the pervasive stress of securing a wife, that was all. Once he was married, everything would change.

‘I’ve seen a wombat in the wild,’ he said.

Her eyes widened. ‘Really? Where?’

‘One night as a teenager. Near my family’s vineyard. It was grazing.’

‘Like a cow?’

With the look on her face, her eyes sparkling in the candlelight, she made such a beautiful picture. He would tell her stories about all of Australia’s wildlife if it kept her looking at him with such fascination.

‘Oui. They eat grass.’

‘Who knew? They seem so sweet and round and cuddly.’

He chuckled. ‘Round they might be, but sweet and cuddly,non. I’m sorry to disappoint. They’re grumpy.’

‘Never. I don’t believe you.’

‘My cousins dared me to approach it. I’m sure they knew. Trust me, when that wombat hissed and charged, I ran.’

Ana’s mouth broke into a beaming smile, lighting her up from the inside, more beautiful than any sunset nature could provide. When she laughed, a joyous sound, it was like something lit inside him too. He couldn’t help it, he began laughing with her in a way he hadn’t for months.

‘I’m trying to imagine it. You, being chased by a grumpy wombat,’ she said, wiping at her eyes.

‘It wasn’t an edifying display. I learned wombats are best viewed up close, in zoos.’

She pouted, but the corners of her mouth still quivered with mirth. ‘Now I’m disappointed.’

‘Dolphins and whale sharks are a far easier ask. Trust me.’

Ana cocked her head. That look on her face was almost as if she was trying to decide whether she’d take him up on the offer. Everything in him stilled, but she didn’t make any more of it. Still, it felt like a kind of breakthrough, that trust would come if only he was patient.

He took his glass of champagne, chill under his fingertips, and raised it.

‘A toast,’ he said.

‘To what?’

‘To us.’

‘There is no us...’

Yet. It was only a matter of time. He had no doubts. Aston knew attraction when he saw it. Every time she looked at him, it was obvious she wanted him.

‘There will be.’

‘Don’t you find the idea of an arranged marriage anachronistic? How do you even go about something like that?’

One step forward, two steps back. She wasn’t going to make this easy, but he did like a challenge.

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