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CHAPTER EIGHT
LETTYREFUSEDTO be intimidated by Leo’s forbidding coolness on the flight back to the island and she was surrounded by the children when they walked into the big house. Popi, as lively as though that nightmare had never happened, wanted to know where they had been, what they had done, what they had bought. Cosmo had a car to show her. Sybella was lugging around a doll almost as big as she was and Theon just held out his arms to her, always eager for a cuddle.
‘We’re dining at the beach house,’ Leo decreed, unable to hang onto his reserve with Sybella trying to climb up him as if he were a tree.
‘Yes,’ Letty agreed. ‘Later. I’ll see the children to bed first…if that’s all right with you?’
Leo studied her, a muscle pulling at the edge of his taut jaw. His spectacular bone structure was visible beneath his bronzed skin, his dark golden eyes bright with a glint of impatience. And anger? Well, if he was angry, too bad, Letty reasoned. The prenup stuff had to be dealt with, whether he liked it or not. He jerked his chin in acknowledgement of her plans and swung round, bending to let Sybella slide down from his arms. ‘I’ll catch up with some work.’
Why did she want to mess around with the prenup? he was asking himself grimly. It was there as a safeguard, nothing more. Could she already be contemplating divorcing him? Why the urgency? Had he made a crucial mistake choosing Letty as a wife? Why should she hang around, playing mother to four kids who weren’t her own, when she could be living the life of a millionaire, free and clear? A dark brooding expression set his lean strong features hard. Why had he been so sure that she was different from other women? Money, after all, was the most persuasive power on the planet for many, many people. It made them turn their back on moral scruples. Yet the children were already attached to Letty, and Popi was finally behaving more like a little girl without the worries of the world weighing down her tiny shoulders.
Nothing was going quite as Leo had planned and he hated that. For a start, he was aware that he had underestimated the importance of the woman he had married and the value of the role she would play in his life. His sex drive had got in the way of pragmatism and possibly put everything else at risk, which was crazy, he acknowledged broodingly. Letty had warned him that she would make demands and have expectations and he hadn’t really listened. His sole focus had been on getting her into bed and, even worse, it still was. He hadn’t counted on wanting Letty as much as he did. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had wondered if a couple of weeks of her would sate him and if he would then eventually return to his former way of life…
Letty resolved to encourage Leo to get more involved with the children’s bedtime routine but acknowledged that perhaps today wasn’t the right day to make that suggestion. Turning a sophisticated tycoon into a get-down-and-dirty father would be a project and a half, she reflected, but his nieces and nephews did need more than the occasional hug from him.
The children all tucked up, Letty sped down to the beach house with Darius at the wheel of the buggy. He told her about his wife and children who lived on Ios, admitting that his wife refused to move because her family was there, and he travelled a great deal with Leo.
Arriving at the beach house, Letty hurtled upstairs for the shower she was desperate to enjoy. Her suitcases had been unpacked and she rifled through the slender collection of clothes hung for her, recognising that she had seriously misjudged the number of outfits she would need. Of course, that wasn’t likely to be a problem once she picked out new clothes. Selecting a flouncy skirt and cotton sweater, she went for a shower and broke out her even smaller collection of cosmetics. A lick of mascara, a touch of blusher and clear lip gloss and she was done. She scrutinised her reflection as she blow-dried her hair.
There was no point in kidding herself that she could compete in the looks department with women like Dido and Mariana. They were dark, she was fair. They were tall, she was short. They were well-groomed and sophisticated, she was more the girl next door, put together in a hurry and on a wing and a prayer. Would he even notice if she put on nail varnish? It would get chipped when she was messing about with the kids. What on earth was that man doing to her priorities? Why she was looking so critically at herself? Why was she only seeing flaws? Well, how was she to help doing so? Right now, she seemed to be continually meeting women like Elexis or Katrina panting for Leo’s interest, or exes like Dido and Mariana, more than ready for a sexual rerun with him!
And possibly she had always lacked confidence in herself, she acknowledged for the first time, hiding behind the needs of her family and putting them first. In a sense that attitude and intensive study had provided a shield between her and the world, but that shield was gone now that she was with Leo.
Leo awaited her downstairs, a balloon glass of brandy between his fingers. Just seeing him stopped her dead in her tracks. His luxuriant black hair was still damp and, like her, he had changed, the exquisitely cut designer suit he had worn earlier now replaced by narrow black pants and a white linen shirt left open at the neck.
‘A drink?’ he enquired.
‘Something soft if you have it.’ Letty knew that she needed to keep her head clear for the conversation they had to have.
‘We don’t need drama twenty-four hours into our marriage,’ Leo murmured with measured cool. ‘You’re not giving us a fair crack of the whip.’
Letty paled and stiffened, annoyed by his attitude. ‘This is not drama.’
Leo shifted a shoulder in a fluid shrug of brazen disagreement, lean muscles flexing beneath his shirt, and she dragged her attention away from him again, embarrassed by her need to savour him like a star-struck teenager. There would never be another Leo in her life. That went without saying. But she also knew that if their relationship was to have any chance of survival, she had to fight for that chance and ensure that he understood that she was serious.
‘In the prenup there was a clause relating to your freedom to sleep with whomever you chose and that not being grounds for divorce,’ she reminded him doggedly.
His shrewd gaze widened a little and lingered. ‘That was the deal.’
‘Was being the operative word,’ Letty stressed. ‘That was the deal until you changed it last night, when I understood that you are now prepared to commit to this marriage. If that is the case, why do you still need that clause?’
‘Commitment is a rather strong word,’ Leo countered, sipping his brandy. ‘In fact, it gives me chills. I’ve never been committed to anybody but my family.’
‘I’m supposed to be your family now,’ Letty pointed out stiffly as he passed her a drink.
‘Committing to a woman is a tall order. I said I was willing to try being married.’
‘And I said I wouldn’t be part of a “try before you buy” experiment!’ Letty riposted in sudden anger. ‘This isn’t a fluid situation, Leo. You can’t keep on changing the terms. You don’t want to commit? You don’t want to promise fidelity?’
‘No. I don’t want to hear either of those words,’ Leo admitted harshly, thinking of his father’s devotion to Katrina and her constant betrayal of his trust, not to mention the many other infidelities he had witnessed in both sexes over the years. ‘I will promise not to lie to you. I will promise never to go behind your back. But the best I can do on the fidelity front is to promise that I will always be honest. As I said once before, I can’t foretell the future.’
Letty felt as if she had been crushed against a brick wall and suddenly she was reeling with a sense of betrayal. Had she misunderstood him the night before? Surely she had been plain about what she wanted and needed? Her oval face tightened, her eyes veiling. ‘You know what? That’s fine, Leo…’ she said limply, turning with relief as the first course of their meal arrived and using the hiatus to take a seat at the beautifully set table.
Leo’s tension evaporated. He had been expecting all sorts of things from her other than what he had received. She was still hung up on the fidelity stuff, still striving to idealise their marriage into some perfect picture, but she wasn’t thinking of divorce. He refused to label the sensation strongly reminiscent of relief travelling through him. Obviously, he was grateful that she had staying power for the children’s sake. But she was still wilfully misunderstanding him, he reasoned in exasperation. It wasn’t as though he had any plans to cheat on Letty; he simply preferred complete honesty because he was a cynic about the promises of fidelity that people blithely made and then broke.
Letty shook out her napkin with a flourish, slight colour slowly returning to mantle her cheeks. ‘As I said, that’s fine. You do what you need to do. But you have to accept that I have certain requirements as well. If you’re not prepared to have that clause eliminated from the prenup, then you’re clearly not prepared to make a concrete commitment to our marriage. Sorry, did I use that nasty word again?’ she said as his arrogant head came up, dark eyes ablaze with gold challenge.
‘Letty…’ Leo began.
