Powerful Greek, Unworldly Wife

The actress simmered like milk coming to the boil. ‘Me! And next time you’re in LA, don’t bother calling. And you.’ She glared at the girl on the bed. ‘If you think he’ll ever be faithful to you, you’re crazy.’ Checking that the diamond earrings were still in place, she stormed from the room and several moments later Leandro heard a distant thud as the front door slammed closed.

Silence closed in on them.

‘If you’re going to cry, you can leave now,’ Leandro drawled softly. ‘If you choose to wait in my bedroom, you deserve to get hurt.’

‘I’m not going to cry over you. And I’m not hurt,’ she said stiffly. ‘I’m past being hurt.’

Then she’d done better than him, Leandro reflected grimly. ‘Why are you here?’

‘You know why I’m here. I—I’ve come to take the baby.’

Of course, the baby. He’d been a fool to think anything else, and yet for a moment…

Leandro curled one hand into a fist, surprised to discover that his thick protective layer of cynicism could still be breached.

‘I was asking what you’re doing in my bedroom at midnight.’ Strolling across to the bedroom door, he pushed it shut. He trusted his staff, but he was also sharp enough to know that this story was the juiciest morsel the media had savoured for a long time. They were slavering outside his house, waiting for something to feast on.

And everyone had their price.

He’d learned that unpalatable truth in the harshest way possible, and at an age when most children were still playing with toys.

‘I’m intrigued as to how you got past my security.’

‘I’m still your wife, Leandro. Even if you’ve forgotten that fact.’

‘I haven’t forgotten.’ Keeping his gaze neutral, he looked at her. ‘You really pick your moments. Thanks to you, my night of hot sex just walked through that door.’

Her slender shoulders stiffened, her back rigid. ‘I’m sure you’ll find a replacement fast enough. You always do.’ Her chest rose and fell as she breathed rapidly and then her eyes flew to his, bright with accusation and pain. ‘You are a complete and utter bastard, she’s right about that.’

‘I’ve never heard you use bad language before. It doesn’t suit you.’ Leandro strolled across the bedroom and lifted a bottle of whisky from a small table. Funny, he thought, that his hand was so steady. ‘And I don’t understand why you’re angry. You walked out on our marriage, not me. I was in it for the long haul.’

‘Only you could make it sound like an endurance test. It’s nice to know you had such a positive view of our relationship. No wonder it didn’t last five minutes. You’re even more unfeeling than I thought you were—’ She broke off, as if she was trying to control herself. ‘You’re horribly, horribly insensitive.’

‘I’m living my life. What’s insensitive about that?’ Leandro’s hand remained steady as he poured. ‘There was a vacancy in my bed and I filled it. In the circumstances, you can hardly blame me for that. Drink?’

‘No, thank you.’

‘Such perfect English manners.’ Leandro gave a humourless laugh as he lifted the glass. ‘Don’t tell me—alcohol is fattening and you’re watching your weight.’

‘No. I’m watching my tongue. If I drink, I’ll tell you exactly what I think of you and right now that might not be a good idea because what I think of you isn’t very flattering.’

His hand stilled on the glass. ‘Don’t hold back on my account. It’s interesting to know you’re capable of expressing what you’re feeling providing you’re sufficiently provoked. Just for the record, I actually prefer confrontation to retreat.’

She closed her eyes, misery visible in every angle of her pretty face. ‘I hate confrontation. I didn’t come here to argue with you.’

‘I’m sure you didn’t.’ Leandro examined the golden liquid in his glass. ‘You don’t talk about problems, do you, Millie? And you were certainly never interested in fixing the problems in our relationship. It’s so much easier to just walk away when things become awkward.’

‘How dare you say that to me when you’re the one who—?’ She broke off as if she couldn’t even bear to say it, and his mouth tightened.

‘I’m the one who what?’ His silky soft voice was in direct contrast to the passion in hers. ‘Spell it out, Millie. Come on—let’s hear what I’m guilty of.’

‘You know what! And I didn’t come here to talk about that. ‘You’re a—a…’ She appeared to struggle with her breath and he gave her a long look.

‘You really must learn to finish your sentences, agape mou.’ His tone bored, he offered no sympathy. As far as he was concerned, she deserved none. He’d given her a chance. He’d given her something he’d never offered a woman before. And she’d thrown it back in his face. ‘I’m cold and heartless, isn’t that right, Millie? Wasn’t that what you were going to say?’

‘I wish I’d never met you.’

‘Now, that’s just childish.’ Leandro suppressed a yawn and she looked away.

‘Our relationship was a disaster.’

‘I wouldn’t say that. For a short time you were a revelation in bed, and I was reasonably entertained by your gift for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.’

‘It’s called telling the truth.’ She glared at him through lashes spiked with rain. ‘Where I come from, that’s what people do. They tell it like it is and that way there’s no confusion. When someone says, “Lovely to see you,” they mean it. In your world when someone says, “Lovely to see you,” they certainly don’t mean it. They kiss you even though they hate you.’

Leandro added ice to his glass. ‘It’s a standard social greeting.’

‘It’s superficial—everything about your world is!’ She sprang off the bed and walked towards him, her eyes flashing fire. ‘And that included our relationship.’

‘I’m not the one who called time on our marriage.’

‘Yes, you did!’ Angry and hurt, she faced him. ‘You blame me for walking out, but what did you think I’d do, Leandro? Did you think I’d say, “Don’t worry, that’s fine by me”?’ Her voice rose, trembling and thickened by pain. ‘Did you think I’d turn a blind eye? Maybe that’s what women do in your world, but that isn’t the sort of marriage I want. You slept with another woman and not just any woman.’ Her breathing was jagged. ‘My sister. My own sister.’ Her distress was so obvious that Leandro gave a frown.

‘You’re working yourself up into a state.’

‘Please don’t pretend you care about my feelings because you’ve already amply demonstrated that you don’t.’ Holding herself together by a thread, she wrapped her arms around her body and met his gaze.

Brave, he thought absently, part of him intrigued by the sudden strength he saw in her. Yes, she was upset. But she wasn’t caving in, was she? He hadn’t known that she possessed a layer of steel. By the end of their relationship he’d come to the conclusion that she was so lightweight that the only thing preventing her from being blown away was the weight of his money in her handbag.

Leandro’s hand tightened on his glass and then he lifted it to his lips and drained it. Then he placed the glass carefully on the table in front of him.

‘Given the circumstances of your departure, I’m surprised you chose to come back.’

Sinking back onto the side of the bed, the fight seemed to go out of her and she suddenly looked incredibly tired. Tired, wet, beaten. ‘If you thought I wouldn’t then you know even less about me than I thought you did.’

‘I never knew you.’ It had been a fantasy. An illusion. Or maybe a delusion?

‘And whose fault is that? You didn’t want to know me, did you? You weren’t interested in me—just in sex, and when that—’ She broke off and took a breath, clearly searching for the words she wanted. ‘I wasn’t right for you. To start with you liked the fact that I was “different”. I was just an ordinary girl, living in the country, working on her parents’ farm. Unsophisticated. But the novelty wore off, didn’t it, Leandro? You wanted me to fit into your life. Your world. And I didn’t.’

Watching her so closely, he was able to detect the exact moment when anger turned to awareness.

Her eyes slid to his bare, bronzed shoulders and then back to his. It was like putting a match to kerosene. The chemistry that had been simmering exploded to dangerous levels and she turned away with a murmur of frustration, although whether it was with herself or him, he wasn’t sure. ‘Don’t you dare, Leandro! Don’t you dare look at me like that—as if everything hasn’t changed between us.’

‘You were looking at me.’

‘Because you’re standing there half-naked!’

‘Does that bother you?’