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‘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?’
