Page 192 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

‘You’ll what? You can’t do that.’

It was ludicrous. Impossible.

His expression didn’t alter. ‘If you’d rather get Athena out of bed and take her across London to my place that’s my preferred option. I’d assumed it would be better for her to stay in her own bed tonight. She was exhausted.’

‘I want you to leave now.’

He moved to stand before her, near enough to make her senses hum. Despair washed through her. How was that even possible?

‘You can’t stay here,’ she hissed.

‘Of course I can. There’s no way I’ll leave without my daughter. You can’t think I’m stupid enough to leave her with you and turn my back? You kept her from me for years. What’s to stop you both disappearing as soon as I go?’

Dido gasped, stunned that he’d think it of her.

‘You have a choice. I stay and we talk in the morning. Or,’ he let the word hang till every sense screamed, ‘I take her now. Which is it to be?’

There’s no way I’ll leave without my daughter.

He meant every word.

Fear was a living thing, clawing at her insides.

Dido pushed her chin up. ‘I’ll find you a pillow and spare blanket.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

PANOS WOKE STIFF and grumpy after the most uncomfortable night he’d ever spent. Surely someone had stuffed the sofa with rocks. It didn’t help that it was barely long enough for his tall frame.

Face it, you’ve rarely faced physical discomfort in your life.

Besides, it was his thoughts that had kept him from sleep, not the lack of a perfectly sprung mattress. He’d spent the night with his thoughts on rotation between Athena and Dido. And that kiss.

That kiss!

His stomach dived but his groin stirred as he relived the memory yet again. How he’d pulled back he still didn’t know. Having Dido Jones in his arms, her mouth soldered hungrily to his, had been like the combination of every secret desire, every long-repressed need.

She’d mashed her mouth against his with more enthusiasm than finesse and even that aroused him. In that moment it had felt like he’d waited for her every hour of every day of the almost three years since they’d been together.

You missed her.

He ground his teeth as he swung his legs off the sofa and sat up, scrubbing his fingers against his scalp. As if that could eradicate the truth in his brain.

He didn’t trust her, didn’t like her. But he wanted her…still.

Even when he told himself she’d used her lush body as a weapon, trying to seduce him. Yet—and this was what really disturbed him—part of him believed she’d been as thrown by that sudden eruption of passion as he. She’d looked dazed when he’d pulled back.

There’d been no lessening of his hunger for her. Despite knowing her true colours he still wanted her.

The thought of her pregnant with his child was still hard to take in, yet through the night his overstimulated brain had produced images of her, lush and round in the fullness of pregnancy, and he’d felt primally possessive.

If he hadn’t pulled back from the kiss when he had, who knew where it would have taken them. Onto this ancient sofa? Or into her bed at the end of the hall?

He’d been so aroused and so furious at feeling needy, he’d had to sit and drag out his phone, shooting off texts to his staff so she didn’t realise how close to the edge he was.

He must’ve done a reasonable job because she’d looked daggers at him, not noticing how his fingers fumbled the keys. Letting her see how weak he was for her wasn’t an option. But it had been one of the most difficult things he’d done. When he’d pulled back from that kiss and she followed him, lips pouting, questing to find his mouth, he’d almost relented.

Until he remembered Athena, the bright, engaging little girl he’d never have known about if Dido Jones had her way.