Читать книгу The Greek's Surprise Christmas Bride / Proof Of Their One-Night Passion - Линн Грэхем, Louise Fuller - Страница 13

ON THE SATURDAY MORNING, Leo travelled up in the smelly lift of the tower block. It was not a salubrious experience but meeting his future bride’s family as soon as possible was essential to the smooth running of his plans. He had dressed down for the occasion in jeans, deeming that appropriate attire for informal weekend wear and children, even though he rarely wore casual clothing.

Letty was stunned when the knock on the door disclosed Leo himself because she had been expecting his chauffeur or one of the bodyguards she had seen hovering at a discreet distance in the care home car park to come upstairs and collect her. And there he stood, all sleek and dark and sophisticated in a cashmere sweater in a soft oatmeal shade that accentuated his bronzed skin tone, designer jeans outlining his long powerful legs and narrow hips, teamed with the less subtle hint of a slim eye-wateringly expensive watch at a masculine wrist which suggested that he came from a class of society far removed from her own.

‘Leo!’ she heard herself say abruptly, taut with disconcertion and discomfiture at being faced with him sooner than she had expected.

‘I believe it’s time that I met your family,’ Leo told her smoothly.

Letty froze, further taken aback, faint colour running up into her cheeks. ‘Er… I…’

‘Not something we can avoid,’ Leo declared, cool and outrageously serene at the prospect.

It made Letty wonder what it took to unnerve Leo Romanos and once she found out she knew she would use it against him in punishment.

And little more than two minutes later he was dominating their tiny living room with his broad-shouldered height and positive buckets of charm. He accepted a cup of black coffee and engaged her mother in conversation. He came up with an entirely fictitious old lady whom he supposedly visited at the care home from time to time, a former employee of his father’s who had been kind to him as a boy.

‘Letty… I thought you said that Leo was related to…’

‘Your daughter and I kept on bumping into each other in the corridor late at night. She doesn’t always listen well,’ Leo proclaimed forgivingly.

Dear heaven, he could act, and he lied like a trooper without a soupçon of evasiveness or unease, Letty registered in consternation, seeing that she would have to sharpen her skills to have any hope of ever outwitting Leo. And that quickly she appreciated that she was already thinking as though she was planning to marry him and that shook her because so many of her misgivings had still to be settled and she wasn’t a woman who acted on impulse.

It had been years since she had seen her mother smile so much and he’d even coaxed some attention out of her brothers by showing them a nifty trick with the video game they were engaged in continuing to play in spite of their mother’s strictures.

Leo perused his bride-to-be in the lift. She was the right type: he could feel it in his bones even though she was not at all the kind of wife he had once dimly envisaged. Clad only in worn jeans and a black roll-neck sweater, she still somehow contrived to hold his attention. Her hair was braided at the front and long and loose at the back, tiny tendrils curling round her classic oval face, those wide sea-green eyes welded warily to him. There was no flesh on show and he wasn’t used to that. He was accustomed to seeing everything a woman had to offer at a glance and inexplicably that covered-up look of hers, that modest mode of dress inflamed him. It made him look closer and turn away slightly from her as the hum of unwelcome arousal pulsed at his groin.

The full sweep of her breasts and the curvaceous swell of her derrière still swam before his inner eye and that lingering image vexed him. He didn’t fantasise, he didn’t imagine women naked. That was a teenage boy trait or the mark of an unsuccessful lover and even as a boy Leo had been skilled at getting what he wanted from the opposite sex. He didn’t have to fantasise; he generally only had to show interest in a woman to know that satisfaction would be easily obtained. Yet one glance at Juliet in any garb and he was speared by sheer lust, wanting to touch, wanting to taste, wanting to ride to satisfaction between those slender thighs.

And yet she was the one woman whom he should be determined not to take. But maybe that was the secret of her appeal, he reasoned in frustration—the knowledge that she was out of bounds and forbidden. Maybe sex had become too easy, too available to fully engage his libido. Maybe what he really needed was some sort of diversion to direct his energy elsewhere. Clearly his current mistress was past her sell-by date and no longer able to attract him. That was what was wrong with him, he decided in a stark burst of relief; he had simply got bored with the current woman in his bed.

Letty barely breathed in the lift because the edgy atmosphere unsettled her. She focused on the dark shadow of stubble outlining Leo’s strong jaw, the clenching of the muscles there, the sheer tension he emanated. Her breasts expanded as she snatched in a shuddering breath and stepped out into the foyer. The lace of her bra chafed her nipples and, as Leo clamped a guiding hand to her spine to urge her out of the building, she was engulfed in a wave of his scent, an achingly appealing medley of designer cologne and raw masculinity. Instantly, she stiffened, aware of the spurt of heat low in her pelvis and the uncomfortably damp sensation that followed. Annoyed that her body was betraying her with reactions she didn’t want, she gritted her teeth. She couldn’t afford to be attracted to Leo. It would be like walking through a minefield without any form of protection and she would be setting herself up for emotional damage.

After all, nobody knew better than Letty what it was like for a woman to love an unfaithful man. She had watched her mother with her stepfather, standing on the sidelines while Gillian suppressed her suspicions and accepted her husband’s lies when he was late home or when phone calls came he couldn’t explain or which he wouldn’t answer around his family. The lies and evasions had been endless, and her mother had wanted to believe the lies because she loved Robbie and she hadn’t wanted to credit the ugly truth that he had other women in his life.

But it wouldn’t be like that with Leo, a cool inner voice reminded her soothingly. Leo wasn’t prepared to lie. Leo preferred to be open and honest about his sexual preferences. He thought sex caused a lot of grief in marriage and that unusual outlook made Letty wonder how he had grown up and what his parents’ relationship had been like. What experiences had taught Leo to think that way? Certainly, he didn’t associate sex with the warmer emotions. It might even be true that he preferred sex without emotion getting involved at all, she reasoned. The more she thought about what motivated Leo, the more annoyed she became with herself for wondering and questioning everything about him as though he were some source of fascination. Of interest certainly, not fascination, she assured herself circumspectly. She wasn’t that much of an idiot, was she?

‘You’re a very good liar,’ she remarked in a brittle voice as the limousine drove off.

‘We have to roll out an acceptable back story for your family’s sake,’ Leo fielded without skipping a beat. ‘Unless, of course, you plan to tell them the truth—that you’re only prepared to marry me for my money?’

In receipt of that stinging challenge, Letty shot him an outraged glance, green eyes sparking fire. ‘Of course I’m not going to tell them that! It would break my mother’s heart if she knew how I’m thinking and feeling right at this moment!’

‘So, we’re fortunate that I’m a good dissembler then,’ Leo responded with satisfaction. ‘But you need to work on being more convincing. At this point, a few lovelorn glances in my direction would be a good idea.’

‘I don’t do lovelorn!’ Letty snapped, wanting to slap him hard enough for that teasing smile to die on his lips. ‘I mean, why would I?’

‘Because we don’t have time to waste on a long engagement. I want the wedding to take place as soon as possible.’

‘But I haven’t agreed.’

‘You’re on the brink. You don’t have any other options and you know that our marriage makes sense,’ Leo countered with infuriating conviction.

Letty didn’t appreciate the reminder that she had no other options. She felt as though she had tried to spread her wings, only for him to drag her cruelly back to solid earth again. Unfortunately, he was right: she was going to marry a man she didn’t know on terms that appalled her because, from what she knew, the good that that marriage would bring far outweighed the bad. She could help her family and, in so doing, pay back some of the loving support and encouragement she had received from them over the years. And hadn’t she long understood that most major gains in life entailed major sacrifices as well?

‘I’m still thinking it over,’ Letty fielded, her cheeks pink with annoyance, her eyes bright as she encountered dark golden eyes fringed with spiky black lashes that remained resolutely unimpressed by her stubborn response.

Mercifully the car was already pulling in to park. She gazed out at the frontage of the most magnificent mansion she had ever seen outside a movie. Her eyes wide, it felt entirely normal to stare at the rows of gleaming windows and the porticoed entrance which once would have sheltered guests climbing out of carriages drawn by horses. ‘This is where you live…or was this your sister’s house?’ she queried.

‘It’s mine. I sold my sister’s townhouse and stored the contents.’

‘That must’ve been disruptive for the children…to lose their home and their parents at pretty much the same time.’

Leo sighed, long brown fingers flexing as he spread his hands. ‘I’m not a saint. I’ve given up a lot, but I wasn’t prepared to give up my home as well. There’s a lot more space here too and four kids and a bunch of nannies take up an enormous amount of space. My sister didn’t have nannies. She was a devoted mother, determined to do everything herself.’

‘She was younger than you…right?’

‘Five years younger. Our mother died bringing her into the world,’ Leo confided. ‘Although my father remarried soon afterwards, we didn’t have a happy family life as children. Ana met her husband, Ben, young and they were both crazy about kids. A large contented family was Ana’s dream.’

Letty picked up on the slight hoarseness of his voice. He had loved his sister and he missed her, regretting that the younger woman had not survived to live her dream.

‘I’m doing my best with Ana’s kids but it’s not working out well,’ Leo admitted stiffly.

‘It’s only been six months since they lost their parents. It takes a long time for a wound like that to heal,’ Letty said gently as she slid out of the car, suddenly feeling seriously underdressed for her grand surroundings.

The hall was huge, with a marble floor and a grand staircase with a wrought iron balustrade. A massive painting dominated the landing, a portrait of a beautiful smiling brunette. Leo urged her into a drawing room that was so opulent it took her breath away. The décor was country house stylish with wallpaper that looked hand-painted, capacious velvet sofas and a massive fireplace but there was a definite contemporary edge to the sculpture in the window embrasure and the glass tables. Absolutely no allowance had been made in the room for a family with young children, she realised wryly. It was an elegant showpiece room for adults and had the air of a space rarely used.

‘Unc’ Leo!’ a childish voice trilled.

Letty spun in time to see a small dark-haired child break free of a uniformed nanny’s hold and rush across the room to embrace Leo’s legs.

‘Letty, this is Popi,’ Leo announced as a smaller child bounded over to greet him, another little girl in a princess net outfit. ‘And this little minx is Sybella.’

The other nanny settled the baby in her arms down on the carpet with some toys and the little boy tugged his hand loose of hers and moved closer.

‘Cosmo!’ Popi hissed, grabbing his hand as she moved over to station him and herself behind her baby brother.

‘Cosmo and Theon,’ Leo completed with a frown as he dismissed the hovering pair of nannies with a quiet word.

Letty absorbed Popi’s defensive stance with her siblings and understood. As the eldest, Popi had taken on the role of protecting her younger siblings and Letty was perceived as a threat. She went down on her knees in front of the baby, who gave her the most adorable wide gummy smile of welcome, unaffected by his sister’s disapproval. He held up his arms to be lifted and Letty couldn’t resist the invitation, but she was very much aware of Popi’s dismay.

‘I’ll just sit here,’ she promised, gathering up Theon and settling into a seat beside the little girl. ‘You stay close in case he wants you.’

‘He won’t. He’s just a baby. He doesn’t even know who you are,’ Popi fired back at her, unhappy at her baby brother’s friendliness.

‘Popi…’ Leo’s intervention was clipped and cool and the little girl stiffened and dropped her head. ‘What did we talk about over breakfast?’

‘It’s fine,’ Letty interposed gently. ‘Change is always threatening.’

‘I don’t want a new mother,’ Popi whispered chokily.

‘I’m Letty and you can call me that. Nobody can take the place of your mother,’ Letty said softly, shooting Leo a warning glance when his lips parted as though he was on the brink of firmly disagreeing with that statement. ‘But I do hope that when you get to know me we can be friends.’

‘I have lots of friends,’ Popi told her.

‘It never hurts to have one more,’ Letty contended calmly as Theon clutched at her and went in for a kiss. She kissed him back, looked into his big dark trusting eyes and felt her heart literally thump because he was adorable.

Cosmo sidled over and leant back against her knee while he ran a plastic car over the arm of her chair. He ignored Popi’s calls to return to her side. Sybella clutched at Leo’s jeans and then ran over to twirl in her princess dress and be admired. Popi stood alone, frozen in the centre of the rug, and her expression of loss and anxiety almost broke Letty’s heart.

‘Would you like to show me your bedrooms?’ Letty asked, eager to leave that awkward moment behind as she stood up, cradling Theon on her hip. The minute the baby laid eyes on his uncle, he lifted his arms out and lurched in his direction instead.

‘Show you toys…’ Sybella offered, dancing and hopping on one leg like a tiny brightly coloured flamingo.

Upstairs they went, with Popi trailing reluctantly in their wake. Letty now understood Leo’s concern about his sister’s children. Popi was so busy trying to parent and protect her siblings that she couldn’t relax and simply be a child. It was equally obvious that Leo was the children’s place of safety, but possibly he wasn’t around enough to make them feel secure.

Letty strolled through a set of superb bedrooms crammed with toys. She was taken aback to note that even in Popi’s room there were no photographs of the children’s late parents and she mentioned that oversight in surprise to Leo.

‘I thought it was kinder not to remind them but there’ll be photo albums in the stuff I put into storage,’ he replied.

‘I think they should all have a photo. I also think that if you have a bedroom large enough and could bear the disruption,’ Letty whispered, ‘they could all sleep in the same room…just for a little while. I think it would help Popi relax more.’

It was a simple suggestion and not one Leo had considered. He hoisted his niece into his arms and asked her if she would like to share a room with her sister.

Popi beamed. ‘Oh, yes, it would be just like home then…’

‘You used to share with Sybella,’ he recalled.

‘Yes, but here in this house I’d like the boys too… I need to look after them,’ Popi told him, silencing Leo with that assurance.

Watching Juliet adjust the gauzy wings on Sybella’s fairy outfit and seeing the toddler come running back with a necklace she wanted to put on as well, however, Leo was content. He had brought the baby whisperer home, a kind and practical woman who would take the time and effort to work out what would make the children feel happy and safe in his house.

Lunch was served in a grand dining room. The same nannies appeared beforehand to whisk the children away. Evidently the children did not share their uncle’s meals.

‘For a first meeting that went very well,’ Leo proclaimed with satisfaction as the first course was delivered. His black hair was ruffled by Theon’s clutching hands, his stubborn jawline darkly stubbled, outlining the surprisingly full outline of his wide sensual mouth. As Letty looked, a tightness across her chest and butterflies dancing in her stomach, Leo glanced up, spearing her with narrowed dark golden eyes enhanced by thick black lashes. Those eyes were stunning, strikingly compelling, and heat flamed through her body without warning. She had to drop her attention back to her plate to gather herself again.

‘It’ll take time for the children to get to know and trust me,’ she pointed out, trying not to openly salivate at the sight of the tiny savoury tart and salad on the plate in front of her. ‘Don’t set the bar too high.’

‘Unlike the nannies, who have come and gone, for most of them don’t want the responsibility of four charges,’ Leo stated wryly, ‘you will be a constant in the children’s lives and that security is what they need most.’

It struck her that she had already given unspoken agreement to the marriage he had suggested and that shook her. That wasn’t how she operated. Even so, the children had touched her heart and Leo had already gone ahead and informed them that she was his intended wife. Consequently, backing out now wasn’t really a viable prospect, particularly when Leo had boldly reminded her that he was her only option. Suck it up, she urged herself impatiently. By marrying Leo, she could put her family’s life back on track and, eventually, she would be able to return to studying medicine. In any case, how could she possibly refuse an offer that would put her mother back on her own two feet?

‘All right, so I’m marrying you, but we still haven’t discussed that final stumbling block I raised at our last meeting,’ Letty reminded him resolutely. ‘Going into this, we both need to know exactly where we stand.’

Leo breathed in deep, knowing he couldn’t afford to tell her exactly how he felt about having a wife with a sex life separate from his own, a wife who slept with other men whenever she chose, an equal partner in every way to himself. He had never contemplated taking a wife who would enjoy such freedom and he honestly didn’t think he could live with that concept. ‘I suggest that we play that by ear. Why do we have to have a game plan?’

‘Rules agreed in advance ensure that things run more smoothly,’ Letty told him.

‘I’m more a spontaneous kind of guy,’ Leo quipped. ‘I don’t believe that everything can be laid out in black and white before we even know what it will be like to share our lives.’

There was a certain amount of sense in that statement but Letty preferred rules. Rules, as she saw them, prevented misunderstandings and provided firm boundaries. ‘I prefer black and white.’

‘You’re unlikely to get that with me,’ Leo admitted simply.

‘I disagree. I think you’ll want a prenup and other safeguards before we marry,’ Letty dared. ‘Or am I wrong?’

Leo tensed, recognising that he was dealing with an astute woman. ‘No, on that score you are correct. But financial arrangements fall into a very different category. Financial rules and safety measures are only common sense.’

Letty ate with appetite because everything on her plate was a treat. She told herself off for eating the dessert, reminding herself that she would have to work it off at the gym.

‘Do you want your grandfather to stage and foot the bill for our wedding?’ Leo enquired levelly over the coffee cups. ‘He has already made that suggestion.’

Letty almost choked on her coffee. ‘Has he indeed? Very generous of him, I’m sure!’ she exclaimed, biting back further uncharitable words but only with difficulty. ‘He wouldn’t help us when we really needed his help, but if I’m doing what he wants suddenly he’s ready to open his wallet. Sorry, that sounds bitter.’

‘But understandable. I had to give you the choice, but I would prefer to organise everything for us,’ Leo admitted quietly. ‘Your grandfather would probably want to stage the wedding in Greece, which wouldn’t suit either of us very well.’

A little embarrassed at having spoken so freely, Letty merely swallowed hard and nodded because travelling to Greece for a wedding certainly wouldn’t suit her or her family. Her head was swimming a little from the awareness that she was discussing wedding arrangements with a man she had only met that week. It felt surreal.

‘I will be inviting friends and business connections,’ Leo declared. ‘You, of course, will have your own guest list and I imagine your grandfather will also have names he wishes to put forward.’

‘There won’t be many on my list. We don’t have any other near relatives living and only a few close friends worthy of an invitation.’

‘What about your mother’s parents?’

‘They died years ago without ever having forgiven her for bringing me into the world,’ Letty stated with a grimace. ‘My maternal grandmother was in her forties when she had Mum and, like my grandfather, Mum’s parents viewed my birth as a social embarrassment.’

‘Thankfully, few are as judgemental these days,’ Leo observed, reaching into his pocket to withdraw a small jewellery box and passing it to her without ceremony. ‘It would please me if you wore this. In so far as it is possible for your family’s benefit and that of the children, we should behave as though this is a regular relationship.’

Letty lifted the lid on a magnificent solitaire diamond ring and gasped in complete surprise. ‘Gosh! You want me to wear an engagement ring?’

Leo lifted and dropped a shoulder as if to suggest that, regardless of his polite assurance that her wearing the ring would please him, he was, in fact, quite indifferent. ‘I think your mother would appreciate the conventional touches, particularly when we are getting married so quickly.’

Letty slid the ring onto her finger, relieved that it fitted, her face warming with colour. ‘How soon do you expect the wedding to take place?’ she asked apprehensively.

‘Within a couple of weeks.’

Letty was aghast at that short time frame. ‘But—’

‘Now that we’ve agreed on how to move forward, why would we waste time?’ Leo incised. ‘I would appreciate it if you tried to spend some time with the children between now and then.’

‘Of course. I only have to give a week’s notice at work,’ Letty mumbled, flustered by the fast pace of events and feeling more than a little overwhelmed by the prospect of marrying Leo, even though it wouldn’t be a normal marriage, no matter how hard they tried to pretend otherwise.

‘I’ll organise a list of surgeons for you so that you can have your mother booked in for the procedure she requires. I would also suggest that you look at a list of properties I have available to choose accommodation that would suit your mother and brothers better than your current home,’ Leo added. ‘My lawyers will contact you with regard to the legalities of our agreement. Unfortunately, I’ll be in Greece over the next few days handling the amalgamation of your grandfather’s company with mine. If you need to contact me, you have my number.’

Letty breathed in deep and slow to steady herself. All of a sudden she was seeing that her world was about to be turned inside out and that while the end result might be a great improvement, it would also be even more challenging than she had expected.

‘Er… I hate to mention it,’ she muttered uncomfortably as she considered her family’s most pressing problem and the state of sleepless anxiety that same problem kept her mother in. ‘That loan—’

Leo studied her, dark golden eyes hardening to a bright diamond glitter. ‘That will be dealt with without your input. It will be settled, and those men will never bother you or your family again,’ he swore. ‘You will also have a security team protecting you from now on.’

‘For goodness’ sake!’ Letty began in disbelief.

‘And a car and driver to take you wherever you want to go,’ Leo completed as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘I want you to be safe. I don’t want to take the risk of anything happening to you. On our wedding day you will become my wife and Isidore Livas’s heiress and such precautions are, sadly, necessary in the world that we live in.’

‘I disagree,’ Letty protested.

‘You don’t have to agree with me. As of today, I am taking full responsibility for your safety and that of your family. You will no longer need to keep a cricket bat behind the front door,’ Leo informed her grimly. ‘Anyone who threatens you now will have me to deal with!’

‘Careful, Leo,’ Letty murmured after she had got her breath back, her eyes colliding with his shimmering angry appraisal. ‘Your crocodile instincts are showing…’

Leo expelled his breath in a hiss. ‘The sight of that cricket bat incensed me,’ he admitted grudgingly. ‘I will not have you living in fear any longer.’