Leo lifted the house phone and spoke in Greek. ‘I’ve called your maid. Use the staff. That’s what they’re here for,’ he urged.
Letty grimaced. ‘It’ll take a while for me to get used to having staff around but I’ll work on it… OK?’
‘OK.’ Leo studied her with a totally unreadable expression but his dark golden eyes were alight and she felt that scrutiny make her nipples peak inside her bra and force her to press her thighs together on the ache that stirred in her pelvis.
Of course she was still attracted to him and that was going to happen, she reminded herself, but eventually she would get a handle on such responses, wouldn’t she? And, under all the surface sophistication, he was a really decent guy, she acknowledged. He wasn’t holding spite. He wasn’t fretting or doing anything to make her uncomfortable because she had made a decision that he disagreed with and that was a pretty special ability in such a strong and volatile man, wasn’t it? But the real problem was, she reckoned, as she watched him leave the room, tall and dark and totally, breathtakingly gorgeous, that the situation they were in would be much easier for her if he behaved badly and made her hate him a little more.
Over the remainder of the week Leo continued to confound her innately low expectations of the male sex. He joined her for a rather windblown picnic on the beach with the children and played ball with Cosmo, who shrieked with excitement and hugged his uncle’s knees as if he would never let him go. He read a bedtime story to Popi and even tried a few baby-animal-lost-in-the-jungle noises that made both Popi and Sybella go off into whooping giggles. He was making an effort to spend more time with the children and without being asked or encouraged, finally admitting to her when they were talking about it afterwards that on his own he had felt swamped by the kids and their attention had felt too full-on for him to handle.
Recognising that she was in the mood to offer him sex just for pleasing her, Letty took herself off safely to bed early that night. She also stopped lingering over dinner in the evening when he joined her at the house and made absolutely no comment when he too abandoned the beach house and moved back into his usual room across the corridor from hers. They were discovering a new and better way to be with each other, she told herself—friends, partners, whatever anyone wanted to call it. She had wanted more but had had to settle for less, which she could live with perfectly well, she reasoned, noting the dark golden intensity of Leo’s eyes with what she assured herself was only academic interest.
The day of the club opening rolled up and Letty spent the afternoon getting ready for her first social appearance as Leo’s wife. She was keen to look the part. Her maid did her hair for her, straightening it into a luxuriously conditioned smooth blonde mane and Letty knew that it had never looked that good in her life before. She had ordered cosmetics online and boned up on eye shadow application and she made a major effort there too, before donning the scarlet dress and sliding her feet into the sort of very high heels she had always laughed about. All for Leo, a snide little voice whispered at the back of her head and she ignored the voice, telling herself that presenting herself polished up occasionally was only what her position as Leo’s wife demanded.
As she had promised, Letty stepped into the girls’ bedroom to show them her dress.
‘You look pretty, Mummy Letty,’ Popi pronounced, bouncing on top of her bed in her pyjamas and failing to notice how Letty momentarily froze at that designation, tears burning the back of her eyes at the compliment.
‘Mummy Letty,’ Sybella repeated obediently.
Leo watched Letty come downstairs and immediately regretted choosing the dress because she looked fantastic and incredibly sexy in it and he was tempted enough without the sight of her superb breasts showcased in red and her shapely legs on show. The pulse at his groin which rarely quit around Letty kicked up into a dull throb and he ground his teeth together.
‘You look amazing,’ Leo murmured hoarsely. ‘But you forgot your jewellery…’
‘I have my rings on.’
He urged her into his office and opened a big wooden box, full of smaller boxes and a tangled array of other gold and jewels untidily stored. ‘My mother’s collection. It’s all yours to wear now. I would suggest the rubies with that dress.’
Letty stood still as Leo attached a ruby pendant to her throat and handed her earrings to put on. When he was this close and she could smell the wonderfully familiar scent of him she felt light-headed and she gulped in steadying air as she donned the earrings. Leo handed her a gold watch.
‘My goodness,’ she muttered uneasily. ‘I’ll look like a Christmas tree.’
‘No, you’ll look like a Romanos wife…my wife,’ Leo completed with distinct pride as he removed a ruby and diamond bangle from its protective box and watched her slide it over her hand.
Letty allowed him to escort her out to the helicopter waiting for them before sharing with him that Popi had called her ‘Mummy Letty’.
‘That’s wonderful!’ Leo exclaimed with his brilliant flashing smile before he lifted her into the helicopter. ‘They’ve accepted you.’
Letty thought it was rather more of a first step on that road but she didn’t deflate him. Loving the children had come as easily to her as loving her own family. Her mother had made a really good recovery from her surgery and was no longer in pain. The boys were back home from their father’s as well and everyone was missing her. Popi started back to school after half-term the following week, so she would be back in London soon enough, she reminded herself wryly.
Infinity, Leo’s new club in Athens, was surrounded by paparazzi and Leo strode down the red carpet between the crash barriers restraining the crowds, past the surge of flashing cameras and shouted questions, quite unbothered by the attention, while Letty was tempted to pull her hem down to her ankles and haul her neckline up to her chin but didn’t have sufficient fabric to achieve either wish.
As she joined Leo at a crowded table of well-wishers, she asked him if his father had arrived yet and he rolled his eyes at the question. ‘No, it’ll be another no-show on his part. He often makes promises he doesn’t keep,’ he admitted wryly.
Leo’s cynical attitude to his father’s failures in the paternal field made Letty feel sad for him because her mother had always been reliable. His insecure background had most definitely damaged Leo’s ability to trust either himself or anyone else but she knew he wouldn’t appreciate that information.
As Letty’s gaze fell on a familiar face at a nearby table, she stiffened and interrupted Leo to hiss, ‘What’s Dido doing here? Is she one of your special guests?’
Leo froze. ‘No, but she’s a famous actress. I imagine she got a free ticket from the organisers. The more celebrities that attend, the more headlines the event garners,’ he countered drily, closing a hand over hers to guide her over to a more secluded table in the corner.
As she sat down a waiter arrived with a tray carrying a birthday cake and another with a bottle of champagne.
‘Happy birthday, Letty,’ Leo murmured as the cake was ceremonially sliced and the champagne was uncorked to froth down into glasses. ‘I had a gift bought for you, but it no longer seemed appropriate so I had to get creative. As an alternative gift, I’m signing that apartment your mother and brothers are living in over to them,’ he said quietly. ‘Owning the property will give them a greater feeling of security.’
‘Oh, Leo, that’s so…so generous of you!’ Letty gasped and hauled him into a hug, painfully aware of how rigid he remained in her hold and quickly drawing back with the sense that she had crossed a boundary she should’ve respected. ‘But what did you originally buy me?’ she prompted, hopelessly curious on that score.
‘It was an eternity ring.’ Leo grimaced. ‘I returned it.’
Disappointment filled her because it had been a personal present and an eternity ring from Leo, the studiously free man, would have been a very satisfying item to wear.
As she fumbled for the right words with which to respond, Dido slid into the seat beside Leo. ‘Leo, just the man I’ve been needing to see!’ she carolled in English, before shifting into Greek.
Letty strove to be polite and contrived to drain a glass of champagne and even munch on a slice of cake while Dido, once again, ignored her presence. But by the time her glass was refreshed such restraint was becoming a challenge and anger was stirring like green fire in her gaze because the other woman had, very rudely, broken in on a private moment.
‘Get rid of her,’ she bit out in Leo’s ear. ‘Or I will!’
Leo shot her a startled appraisal and then rose from the table to effectively bring the conversation to an end. ‘Excuse me,’ he murmured smoothly, long brown fingers capturing Letty’s to raise her by his side. ‘My wife and I are in the midst of celebrating her birthday…’