Modern Romance October Books 1-4. Miranda Lee

had moved to the edge of the bed, his back to her.

      It wasn’t his mesmerising face she was greeted with after the best night of her life but his cold shoulder.

      She blew a puff of air out and told herself to put a curb on her imagination.

      He’d rolled over? He’d probably been uncomfortable. He probably hadn’t even done it consciously.

      But that was a huge distance. To reach him she would have to stretch a hand out...

      Before she had the chance to do so, he suddenly pushed the sheets off and climbed out of bed.

      He strolled to the bathroom and shut the door without looking at her.

      Disturbed but telling herself she was being silly, trying her hardest not to make a big deal out of something she didn’t even know what, Sophie hurried to the dressing room and threw on an oversized T-shirt and a pair of leggings.

      She needed to act normal.

      Before she could leave the bedroom, he appeared from the bathroom, a towel around his waist.

      ‘Good morning,’ she said brightly.

      She was answered with a grunt.

      ‘I’m going to check on Frodo. Do you want a coffee?’

      ‘I’ll get one when I come down.’

      ‘Okay... Is everything all right?’

      He cast her a quick glance. ‘Why wouldn’t it be?’

      She shrugged, not knowing how to answer, and backed out of the room.

      Frodo was asleep at the bottom of the stairs. He woke up at her footsteps and wagged his tail excitedly to see her.

      At least someone was happy to see her, she thought unhappily, scooping him up.

      Javier was being...well, he was being exactly how he always was first thing in the morning: moody and distant.

      He wasn’t a morning person.

      She’d try to add an extra sugar to his coffee to sweeten him up, she decided, brushing away the anxiety now gnawing in her belly.

      She found Marsela laying out the breakfast stuff in the dining room and thanked her for looking after Frodo. ‘I’ll sort some money out for you when I go back up to get changed,’ she promised.

      Marsela looked positively affronted. ‘I don’t want your money. It was my pleasure to look after him.’

      On impulse, Sophie planted a kiss to the sweet Spanish woman’s cheek, the exact moment Javier came into the dining room.

      Marsela hurried out.

      He took a seat at the table and swiped at his phone. ‘You are too familiar with the staff,’ he said, not looking at her.

      ‘Am I?’

      ‘Yes.’

      She sat opposite him and put Frodo down at her feet. ‘Marsela’s my age. I like her. If I want to be friends with her then I shall.’

      His jaw clenched but he said nothing further.

      Breakfast was brought in and placed between them.

      ‘I was thinking of taking Frodo for a walk in the park later. Do you want to come?’

      ‘I’m going to the office.’

      She tried to cover her disappointment. ‘On a Saturday?’

      ‘I have much to organise before my trip to Cape Town.’

      ‘That’s not for another week,’ she pointed out.

      ‘I’m looking to bring it forward.’

      ‘Any reason?’

      ‘To get things moving quicker.’

      ‘We’ve got the scan on Wednesday,’ she reminded him. He hadn’t promised he would be there, only promised that he would try. She had wanted to push it but had held back.

      If this had been a conversation held an hour ago she would have pushed it, secure in the cocoon of passion they had created together.

      ‘If I can come then I will come,’ he answered shortly.

      She was bewildered at the change in him.

      The cold, emotionless man was back with a vengeance.

      He drank his coffee and got to his feet.

      ‘You’re going to the office now?’

      ‘Yes. I’ll let you know if I’m not going to make it back for dinner.’

      Stunned and hurt at the indifference being displayed, she watched him walk out before suddenly calling out to him. ‘Javier.’

      ‘What?’

      She almost recoiled to see the coldness in his eyes.

      ‘Last night...’ But she couldn’t say anything more. Her throat had closed up.

      ‘What about it?’

      She shook her head. ‘Nothing.’

      He left without saying goodbye.

      * * *

      Sophie was grateful to have Frodo as a distraction. Although still small, he was unrecognisable as the damaged puppy she had found on the kerb. Playful and loving, he had a marvellous time playing in the park with the other dogs and Sophie soon found other owners to talk with. For the first time, a complete stranger asked her if she was pregnant.

      The thickening around her waist was turning into a small but recognisable swell, more pronounced on her petite frame than it would otherwise be. She was barely halfway through the pregnancy. There was still a long way to go.

      But she had experienced flutterings in recent weeks, real, unmistakable signs that the baby inside her was growing strongly, that it was a baby in there.

      On the short walk back to the house, she bought a newspaper from a vendor she passed. Javier would laugh at her for absorbing the news the old-fashioned way but she much preferred to read it in paper format than through a screen.

      Reading the paper would be another good distraction. She no longer had to avoid the news, the Javier-Freya-Benjamin saga relegated to history.

      Except it wasn’t.

      Her insides twisted with pain for her husband.

      Page nine contained a half-page story on the marriage of Luis Casillas and Chloe Guillem.