Page 24 of Modern Romance March 2025 (5-8)

So she was attached to the ring.He hid his smile. It was the only thing she’d ever let him buy her.

“Oh, it looks just like the other one,” she whispered.

“I had it commissioned just so.”

Another soft gasp, this one full of wonder.

He took her slim hand in his. Pulling off the cheap, fake one that had left a green ring around her finger, he slid the new one on. “I have been looking forward to putting it back on you,” he admitted.

She lifted those beautiful eyes to him, a wet sheen making them glow as much as the diamond. “I hated selling it. I… It was precious to me. It felt like cutting off an integral part of me.”

He nodded, not trusting himself to say the right thing.

How insecure he must have been to believe that she had sold it off to finance her clandestine visits to her lover? It sounded so bizarre in his head now, but then…it had taken him out at the knees.

Was it her he hadn’t trusted or his own ability to have a healthy relationship, he wondered now with something close to self-loathing.

She ran her finger over the stone, over and over. “Thank you,” she said, without meeting his eyes.

“There is one other matter to discuss before we leave for the appointment. Something for you to think on while I’m gone.”

“Where are you going?”

He didn’t miss how fast the question shot out of her. “Japan. I should be back in two weeks.”

“Okay.”

“I’m trying to take care of the most critical issues so that my calendar is open later. I plan to keep my workload very light for weeks before the due date and after they’re born.”

She blinked. “I haven’t even thought that far ahead.”

“You don’t have to, Nyra. That’s what I’m here for. Which leads to deciding where we want to live.”

“Here,” she said instantly. When he stared, she added, “Does the company need the apartment back? I mean, I can move into a smaller one.”

Anger whipped through him but he held it back. “You’re full of barbed insults today,bella,” he said with a grimace.

“I didn’t mean it like that. Not this time.”

He sighed. “I think I understand what you mean by what I did weighing you down.” He went to her then and took her hand in his. Wanting her to know his touch and trust him rather than his word. “This apartment is yours, Nyra. It has been in your name since the day you moved in.”

Eyes wide in her pinched face, she looked around. “I…never asked for it.”

“It was to be a wedding present along with a couple of other things.”

“Oh. Well, it was good enough to keep from me before.”

“Is that a complaint I hear?” he said, pouncing on it. Because he wanted her complaints, her past, her anger. All of it. Only if she addressed it could he fix it.

Her chest rose and fell with a sigh. “No, it isn’t. You’ve never asked me to hide myself away. I made that decision.”

He didn’t probe, as much as he wanted to. “It’s not the greatest location to raise a family. There’s no garden, no easy access to parks or beaches and the nightlife is too raucous.”

“I’m not moving into the villa. Please don’t—”

He pressed his finger to her lips. “I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”

She smiled against his fingers, her lips warm and soft. Every inch of him wanted to bend and capture them with his. He nearly shook with the intensity of the urge. “I remember you saying that once before.” Her tone turned husky as another memory swirled between them.

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