Page 193 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 1-4

She couldn’t tell him. After that night, he hadn’t returned to Darkfell, and she hadn’t asked about him. There was limited Internet at the manor and none at all in the groundskeeper’s cottage, so she was able to dismiss him from her thoughts entirely. Out of sight, out of mind.

But she couldn’t keep telling herself that for ever.

Maude sat down at the side of the lake and dipped a finger in the water. It was cold, deliciously so, but not too icy for a swim.

She hadn’t brought her bathing things—she’d intended to come here for some peace to decide what to do about the baby—but the waterfall and pool were very isolated, and no one except Mr and Mrs Harris, who managed the manor, were in residence, so the chances of someone seeing her were just about zero.

Still, she gave a cursory look around at the surrounding woods to make sure she was completely alone, then she kicked off her worn boots before stripping off her muddy jeans, T-shirt, and underwear. Then, standing naked by the pool, she glanced down at the small rounded bump of her stomach.

Her child, conceived on the floor of Darkfell Forest. She touched her stomach gently, and allowed herself to finally think about her baby.

He or she was a gift from the forest and they belonged here with it, she felt that suddenly and quite strongly.

Child of the man who owns the forest, too.

That was true, but what little she did know of Dominic Lancaster was that he wasn’t a family kind of man. After that night, she’d indulged herself once he and all the guests had left, taking advantage of the manor’s Internet and doing a few Internet searches on her laptop.

There were gossip sites and discussion threads dedicated to his sensual exploits, with numerous pictures and videos of parties and clubs he’d attended, and in every single one of those videos and pictures the charisma he gave off was so palpable it mesmerised her.

She’d touched those powerful shoulders. She’d kissed his beautiful, hard mouth. She’d had him inside her...

Now his child is inside you too.

A thick, hot feeling gathered in her throat. She’d really tried to be what her grandparents had wanted. Hardworking, honest. Reliable. Thinking through her actions before she made them and being alert to the consequences. She’d never been a rebellious teen, since her grandparents had made it very clear that they wouldn’t put up with what they termed ‘any nonsense’. They hadn’t wanted her to turn out like her mother, who’d left home at sixteen after falling pregnant to a much older man and then running off to join the Earthsong commune.

Sonya had been wild, reckless, and could never be told what to do. She’d also been distracted and impatient, and had preferred socialising to parenting and Maude had often ended up being looked after by other people in the commune.

Maude’s grandparents had put up with what they saw as their daughter’s irresponsibility for ten years before finally coming to Earthsong and taking Maude away permanently.

She didn’t like to think about that day, because she’d loved the commune. She’d loved not going to school, loved one of the older ladies who’d managed the commune’s garden and who’d let Maude play there all day if she’d wanted to. She loved her wild, reckless mother too.

But Sonya hadn’t loved Maude enough to keep her. She’d let her parents take Maude away with only a shrug. Then she’d cut off contact with them and Maude without explanation. Permanently.

After that, Maude had often felt untethered as a child. As if she’d lost an anchor and the current had been dragging her and she’d had nothing to hold onto. She’d had no real home to go to, no place where she’d felt she belonged. She’d tried to fit in all through the rest of her childhood and into adulthood, had tried to find her place in the world. But the only place that had felt like home was the forest, and Darkfell Forest in particular.

She didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to give up her job, but it was a fixed-term contract and maternity leave wasn’t part of it.

Gran would have told her that it was her own stupid fault and she should have known better. That she had too much of her mother in her, and did she really want to waste her life the way Sonya had?

Now, the thick, hot feeling in her throat tightened and her eyes prickled, but she forced the feelings away. Hard.

Having a babywasn’ta waste of her life and shewasn’tgoing to leave, either. This child was part of the forest and she couldn’t think of a better place for it to be than with her, here in Darkfell. Maybe she could manage things with her job so she could stay with the baby.

No, there was no maybe about it. That was exactly what she was going to do, and she’d fight tooth and nail to make that happen.

Braced by that thought, she bent down and picked a wildflower, weaving the stem into her hair on a whim. Then she picked another and another, weaving more flowers into her hair as she went, covering herself with parts of the forest.

She was going to have to tell people, she knew that.

First her friends, then... Well, maybe just her friends for the moment. The one thing she certainly wasn’t going to do was tell Dominic Lancaster.

Picking a couple of forget-me-nots, she wound them into her hair beside each ear, then picked her way around the lake to the rocks where the waterfall splashed down. It was only a little waterfall and not very powerful, delightful to stand beneath and let the water wash over her like an outdoor shower.

She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, letting the gentle pressure of the water ease away the tight knot of fear that had settled in her chest. Letting the calm of the forest enter her soul and soothe it.

After a couple of minutes she turned and dived cleanly into the pool. Arrowing down to the sandy bottom, she touched it lightly, a little ritual of greeting to the spirit of the pool and waterfall, then pushed herself back up to the surface. Then she turned onto her back and closed her eyes, floating for a time, letting her mind settle.

Then Maude slowly became aware that she wasn’t alone. Someone was standing in the trees beside the lake, watching her.

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