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‘Frankly, no.’ Millie wished he’d sit down too. Staring up at six feet two of muscle-packed male wasn’t an experience designed to induce relaxation.
Her answer drew a frustrated growl from him and he muttered something under his breath in Greek. ‘Perhaps your sister wasn’t quite the person you thought she was.’
‘It isn’t fair to talk about her like this when she’s not here to defend herself!’
‘Fair?’ His voice exploded with passion. ‘Don’t talk to me about fair!’
‘You blame my sister, but you’re no saint, Leandro.’
He gave a twisted smile. ‘I have never laid claim to that title.’
‘You have a dangerous reputation. Before me you’d dated all those beautiful women and you hadn’t committed to any of them.’ Millie bit her lip, wondering how she could have been such a fool.
‘And what does that tell you?’
‘It tells me that you’re not good at sticking with one person.’
Tension vibrating through his powerful frame, Leandro stared up at the ceiling, apparently trying to control his response. When he finally looked at her again, h
is eyes glinted volcanic black and his body language was forceful and menacing as he loomed over her.
‘Given that you can only see one image, I am going to have to show you the rest of the picture. But I’m only going to say this once,’ he said softly, ‘so make sure you are listening.’
‘Stop trying to intimidate me.’
Shock shimmered in his eyes and his head jerked back as if she’d slapped him. ‘I am not intimidating you.’
‘That depends on where you’re sitting.’ Her voice was strong and steady and Millie had the satisfaction of seeing him take a deep breath.
Inclining his head by way of apology, he modulated the tone of his voice. ‘Understand that the only reason I’m prepared to give you this explanation is because you’re my wife and that allows you a degree of leeway that I would never grant to another person.’
Millie wanted to point out that she didn’t inhabit that role any more but she couldn’t push the words past her dry throat.
‘Millie—look at me.’
She looked.
‘I did not have sex with your sister.’ Leandro spoke the words with deadly emphasis. ‘At no time in our short, ill-fated marriage was I ever unfaithful to you. The baby is not mine.’
Millie’s heart jumped. She wanted to believe—and then she remembered her sister. ‘Why would Becca lie?’ She breathed in and out. ‘That would make her…’
Leandro straightened, his expression cold. ‘Yes,’ he said flatly, ‘it would.’
‘I know what I saw.’
‘I’ve given you the facts. You decide. I have never doubted your intelligence, just your ability to use it.’
Millie stared at him in confusion, thinking of what he’d just said. What she’d seen. Everything she knew, everything she’d believed was suddenly thrown in the air. It was as if someone had dropped a giant jigsaw puzzle and the picture was no longer visible. ‘One of you is—was—lying,’ she said hoarsely, and he gave a grim smile.
‘And your sister is no longer able to tell you the truth. An interesting dilemma, agape mou. Who are you going to believe? Live husband, or dead sister?’
Faced with that choice, her head started to throb. ‘Let me tell you about my sister, Leandro. Let me tell you what my sister was to me. It was Becca who held my hand on my first day at school. It was Becca who helped me with my maths homework. It was Becca who taught me how to do my hair and make-up. Every step of my life, she was there, helping me. She encouraged me when my parents barely noticed I existed. It’s bad enough to think she’d have an affair with my husband, but now you’re suggesting she made up this entire thing just to hurt me?’
His silence said more than a thousand words would have done and Millie gave a distressed sigh.
‘Obviously that is what you’re suggesting. That’s madness. What could she have possibly gained by that? And why would you expect me to believe you without question? I’ve known you a fraction of the time I knew my sister.’
‘I expect you to believe me,’ he said acidly, ‘because you’re my wife and that role should bring with it trust and commitment, two qualities that appear to be sadly lacking in your make-up. The truth is that our marriage started to go wrong long before you saw me with your sister.’ Leandro straightened. ‘I presume that’s why you started avoiding sex.’
