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‘I imagine he feels that you and your siblings were unfairly treated in his father’s will and he wishes to redress that. That is between you and your brother. As for the prenup, it is my wish too that we have one in place,’ Gio intoned gravely. ‘I didn’t think of that precaution before I married the first time and I lived to regret the oversight.’
Leah paled and her tummy twisted, consternation filling her. By the sound of it, his first wife had taken him to the cleaners, and he was keen to ensure that if they broke up she could not do the same.
Gio swung back to her, his broad shoulders rigid, his darkly handsome face tense as if the bad memories roused by the conversation had risen to the fore. ‘I’m not trying to suggest thatyou—’
‘Of course not,’ she incised tonelessly, keen now to drop the subject.
‘Such agreements deal with more than the disposition of money,’ Gio murmured in explanation. ‘Were we to separate, the agreement will also specify custody of our children and access to them.’
‘What a comforting idea that is,’ Leah countered tightly, and she walked back indoors, leaving him to depart without another word.
Gio was an inveterate pessimist, she reflected heavily. Did he think it so likely that they would fail to make a success of their marriage and break up? In her opinion that was absolutely the wrong frame of mind to get married in and she had fled before she told him so. After all, with a divorce under his belt, Gio had to have a more cynical outlook than she had and she couldn’t hold his past against him. She didn’t want to lose him, not after she had already lost so much of her family and, also, after the pain of Oliver’s rejection. She didn’t want to demand more and challenge Gio. In fact, she was scared to do so. It wasn’t a good idea to rock the boat at this stage either, she reasoned, particularly when he might receive the impression that she was reluctant to sign a prenuptial agreement.
Cleo urged her over to the laptop she already had sitting open. ‘Now we get to look at wedding dresses!’ she carolled with enthusiasm.
In a daze at the speed of events, Leah allowed herself to be drawn into that challenge. The next five days flew past. Gio attended the christening of her baby nephews, Andreas and Nikolas, before flying back to London for a board meeting. Leah was frustrated by the fact that they spent absolutely no time alone and she was plunged straight into choosing bridal options with Cleo, dealing with the wedding planner and selecting a dress. She also had to persuade Sally to make the trip to the island alone because her sister, Pam, had been swept off on holiday by the new man in her life.
The day before the wedding, Leah flew with Ari to Athens where the legal meeting to settle the prenuptial agreement was being held. She was anxious about what demands Gio’s team might make with regard to their unborn children and she wished she had had the chance to discuss those terms with Gio beforehand. The idea of discussing such serious and personal matters on the phone had made her cringe but the concept of discussing those same topics in front of a bunch of legal eagles made her shrink even more, so she had already briefed Ari’s lawyers on what she felt she could accept and what she would question.
It was a most unpleasant shock to walk into the spacious office and register that one of the lawyers present was Oliver Bartley, her former boyfriend.
She froze in her tracks.‘Oliver?’she said doubtingly, the blood draining from her cheeks leaving her pale as he rose from his chair with apparent alacrity, his good-looking face wreathed in smiles below his perfectly styled blond hair.
‘Leah?’ he questioned with unconvincing surprise. ‘I didn’t believe it could be you. You’ve changed your name.’
‘Yes,’ she conceded stiffly. ‘If you’re involved in this meeting, you’ll want to withdraw.’
Oliver stiffened in dismay, clearly not having foreseen the possibility that she might make that request and annoyed by the threat of exclusion.
‘You know this man?’ Ari queried with a frown.
‘He’s my ex-boyfriend,’ Leah admitted with a shrug. ‘It wouldn’t be appropriate for him to take part in this.’
Ari nodded slowly in agreement. Gio strolled in at that point and one of the lawyers on his team inclined his head to bring his client up to speed. Gio settled icy blue eyes on Oliver.
‘May I have a word with you in private, Leah?’ Oliver enquired smoothly.
‘Let’s not hold the meeting up,’ Leah countered quietly, taking account of their audience, sooner than say that she could not think of a single thing they could have to discuss, considering that they had parted on such thoroughly nasty terms the year before. Not once had he attempted to contact her after the break-up, so he had not a leg to stand on when he suggested they might now want to talk.
Aware of Gio’s burning scrutiny, Leah took her seat, nodding as Oliver’s boss recognised her with a neat inclination of his head and a broad smile. She might have seemed composed, but she was shrinking with mortification inside herself because she could not look at Oliver without a sense of burning humiliation, not to mention an unwelcome recollection of the pain he had inflicted on her. He had used and abused her without apology or regret because it had suited him to do so.
As the meeting concluded, Gio closed his hand over hers to help her rise from her seat and murmured, ‘We’ll have to talk about Bartley.’
‘I don’t think so,’ Leah responded, lifting her chin. ‘My past is a closed book, much like your own.’
‘But—’
A serene smile lifted Leah’s lips. ‘It’s not on the table for discussion,’ she said softly, and it felt good to hold back on Gio for a change, to say only whatshefelt comfortable saying at that moment.
Tension ignited in the air between them. She watched his beautiful stubborn mouth flatten at the corners. Somewhere down deep inside her as she clashed with those silvery icy eyes of his, her body clenched wickedly with piercing sexual awareness. Didn’t matter where she was, who she was with or what was on her brain, Gio’s raw sexuality engulfed her every time she got close. A flush on her cheeks, embarrassment claiming her at a time when she felt as though she should be more restrained in her responses, she turned away, relieved when her brother intervened and commented on how civilised negotiations relating to the agreement had been.
Leah stepped out of the office to be hailed by Oliver, who was hovering in the foyer. Her soft mouth down-curved. She really didn’t want anything more to do with her ex but her pride refused to allow her to avoid him by hiding behind either Ari or Gio. Although she hated being confronted with him again and remained angry with him, in every other way she had moved on. The young and naïve girl she had been with Oliver had grown up fast.
‘You didn’t do my career any favours in there. Your brother is my firm’s biggest account,’ Oliver told her grimly. ‘Couldn’t you have pretended not to know me?’
‘I don’t owe you any favours,’ Leah replied drily. ‘And your boss immediately recognised me, so pretending not to know you wouldn’t have worked—’
‘You should have told me that you were a Stefanos when we were together—’
