by Lynne Graham
‘He couldn’t disown his son though, and naturally he didn’t want to make an enemy of his new daughter-in-law. He does regret, however, that he didn’t do more to help my mother, but at the time he was really struggling to repair the damage Dmitri’s extravagance and marriage breakdown had already done to the family and the business.’
‘Did you have much contact with your father after the divorce?’ Billie asked.
‘No, after that one meeting, I only saw him one more time. Marianne very much resented the fact that he had had other children. Love,’ Gio breathed witheringly, ‘can be a very destructive emotion. My father destroyed his family in the name of love and my mother never recovered from the treatment she suffered at his hands.’
Billie was thoughtful because she was finally seeing when Gio had reached the conclusion that the softer human emotions could be toxic. As a child, Gio had seen the consequences of what he believed to be love in all its selfish, dangerous glory when his father had sacrificed his family so that he could be with the woman he wanted.
‘You can’t say that a parent’s love for their child is destructive,’ she commented mildly. ‘Most people see it as supportive.’
‘A man of principle can do what he should do for his family without prating about love,’ Gio asserted with a slight shudder as he tightened his arms round her. ‘I don’t need to love you to look after you.’
Billie’s eyes stung painfully. He, most certainly, hadn’t been looking after her when he had chosen to marry Calisto two years earlier but that was not a memory she wished to rouse. Instead she set down her glass and pillowed her head against his shoulder.
‘I suppose,’ Gio said, after a great deal of unusually introspective thought, ‘I do love Theo but it’s because he’s little and helpless. He’s got all the appeal of a puppy or a kitten. I took dozens of photos of him on my phone before I left Yorkshire and I couldn’t wait to see him again.’
Billie thought it was sad that at that moment she envied her son for having that amount of pull with Gio after such a short acquaintance.
‘I couldn’t wait to see you either...as you know when I turned up today before you could even make it to the church,’ Gio confided, nuzzling his unshaven jaw line softly along the line of her creamy throat, feeling extraordinarily at peace for the first time in a very long time and wondering what it was about her that had that effect on him. ‘I don’t know why I did that. It was absolutely crazy.’
‘I didn’t mind,’ Billie interposed, squirming round in the circle of his arms to look down at him instead of up at the stars.
His lean, strong face was still a touch bemused by his own behaviour that morning and it was obvious that he was still mulling that over. ‘You know, somewhere in the back of my mind, I honestly think I was afraid you mightn’t turn up at the church... Isn’t that insane?’
If he had known how much she loved him, he would have known he was quite safe on that score, she reflected ruefully. No, no matter how mad she had been with him she would never have jilted him at the altar.
* * *
‘My goodness, it’s a huge house,’ Billie breathed as the four-wheel drive parked outside a very large sprawling villa set high on the hillside and surrounded by glorious tropical gardens.
‘It has to be big for family get-togethers and it’s been extended by almost every generation since it was built.’ His tension pronounced enough to attract Billie’s notice, Gio sprang out and turned back to unstrap Theo from the car seat while Irene and Agata headed up the wide, shallow steps that led to a front door that already stood wide.
The housekeeper hovering at the door fussed around them but Gio would not even linger long enough to perform an introduction and strode on past, knowing exactly where he was going and clearly determined not to be held back.
‘Gio!’ Billie exclaimed, hurrying out of breath in his wake. ‘If we’re going into a crowd, give me Theo. He can be awkward with strangers...’
His stubborn jaw line clenching, Gio passed their son to Billie, who settled the toddler comfortably on her hip. ‘And smile, for goodness’ sake,’ she urged, troubled by the forbidding cast of his lean, darkly handsome features. ‘It doesn’t matter if your family aren’t too sure about me...you have to give them time...’
The elegant reception room was in proportion with the house and very big and Billie was disconcerted to peer in the glass doors and see an absolute throng of people, both standing and seated, on the marble floor. Gio had a much bigger family than she had appreciated. As they entered the room every head turned towards them and Billie sucked in her tummy by breathing in deep and slow, striving to steady her nerves.
‘I asked you all here today to introduce you to my wife,’ Gio declared in the rushing silence, his dark deep drawl measured and carrying to every corner of the room. ‘This is Billie. We got married yesterday and—’
A noise erupted from the far corner as an older man stood up and banged his walking cane loudly on the floor. His lined face rigid, he shot a stream of furious Greek at Gio. Gio grated something back and then closed an arm to Billie’s spine to thrust her back in the direction of the door. ‘We are leaving,’ he said curtly.
‘Oh, please, don’t go, Gio!’ A tall, shapely brunette was chasing after them. ‘I’m Sofia, Gio’s youngest sister. Gio, why on earth didn’t you tell us that you were getting married?’
Billie stopped dead and swopped Theo to her other hip because he was getting heavy. ‘He didn’t tell any of you?’ She gasped in disbelief.
‘No, he said he had a surprise to share with us and that’s why we’re all here.’
‘We’re leaving, Billie,’ Gio reminded her doggedly.
But Billie spun round before he could open the door and marched back into the room. ‘Gio should have told you that we were getting married. I had no idea—’
‘Billie,’ Gio cut in, clamping an imprisoning hand to her shoulder.
‘Well, I’m sorry to criticise you in front of your family but you really should have warned them. Obviously everybody’s in shock and people say things they don’t necessarily mean when you shock them,’ Billie pointed out, studying the fuming older man, who she suspected was Gio’s grandfather, Theon Letsos. ‘There’s no sense in storming out in a huff over it.’
‘I am not in a huff,’ Gio ground out between clenched teeth, outraged that she was defying his lead and his wishes with his own family.
‘Perhaps we could talk about this,’ the old man said gruffly, scanning Billie with astute dark eyes that reminded her strongly of Gio’s. ‘Your wife is correct. I spoke in haste and without thought.’
‘He insulted you,’ Gio bit out harshly.
‘That’s all right. I can only be offended if you abuse me in English,’ Billie declared forgivingly. ‘I don’t speak a word of Greek!’
‘Gio and his sisters attended English schools,’ the older man told her with a sudden smile. ‘Now come and sit down and tell me about yourself. I find it hard to stand for long.’
In a state of disbelief, Gio found himself in the rare position of being assigned second string within his family as Billie, chattering away to his grandfather as though she had known him for years rather than seconds, walked slowly over to the closest seats available.
‘Forgive me for being so remiss in the courtesies,’ Theon murmured. ‘I am Gio’s grandfather, Theon Letsos.’
‘I’m Billie. It’s not short for anything.’
‘And your son?’
‘Our son,’ Gio corrected with pride. ‘Theon Giorgios, your great-grandson, known as Theo.’
Taken aback by the revelation, the older man studied Theo as he crawled across the floor with all the energy of a toddler kept in restraint for too long. ‘Theo...’ he mused in the crashing silence that had once again engulfed the entire room. ‘And you only married yesterday?’
‘Gio only found out that Theo existed very recently,’ Billie cut in hastily. ‘We hadn’t been in contact for a couple of years�
�’
Gio gritted his teeth. ‘There is absolutely no need for you to talk about that.’
‘Of course there is. I don’t want anyone thinking that I had an on-going affair with a married man,’ Billie declared without hesitation, marvelling at how slow on the uptake Gio could sometimes be because he was totally indifferent to what other people thought of him. But she didn’t want that stigma within the family circle. She might not have liked Calisto, nonetheless she would not have engaged in a relationship with Gio with or without his wife’s knowledge.
‘A great-grandson named for me...’ Theon was keen to concentrate on the positive and politely ignore Gio’s brooding protective stance beside Billie’s chair. ‘A fine boy...not shy either!’ he remarked with an appreciative laugh as Theo made his way over to another toddler with a small heap of toys in front of him and snatched at the first colourful item he could reach.
‘So, tell me about yourself,’ the older man invited.
‘Billie’s not here for an interview,’ Gio incised coolly.
‘My goodness, I’m so thirsty. I would really love a drink,’ Billie informed Gio, shooting him an expectant look.
Of course, Gio simply snapped his fingers like some desert potentate and a uniformed maid materialised.
Billie met Theon’s amused eyes and her own mouth twitched because her strategy had been lame but she really could have done without Gio standing over her in warrior mode as if she were defenceless in enemy territory. He had never acted that way around her before and the discovery that his reserve was as great within his own family as it had once been with her was a major shock to her expectations. Yet that insight saddened her as well. Gio was such a lone wolf. How had he contrived to become the guarded, unemotional male he was with such a large and, she sensed, loving family?
Theo crawled back and hauled himself up against Billie’s knees and then clutched at his father’s legs until Gio abandoned his rigid stance, smiled with a sudden brilliance that lit up his lean, strong face and swept his son up in his arms to carry him back to the toys.
‘It’s been a long time since I saw Gio smile,’ Theon remarked.
‘I don’t have a fancy background or any money. I owned and ran a shop. I’m just an ordinary working woman,’ Billie volunteered before Gio could return to censor the conversation. ‘You might as well know that upfront.’
‘In recent years, very recent years, I have learned the unimportance of such distinctions.’ Theon gave an emphatic shrug and relaxed back into his armchair. ‘And I’m afraid I must disagree with you on one point. No ordinary woman could handle Gio and the Letsos family with so much tolerance and common sense.’
That was Billie’s last private moment with Theon. One by one she received introductions to Gio’s uncles, aunts and sisters, including, to her surprise, his half-sister, Melissa, who had passed half a lifetime being royally ignored by her father’s family because she was the result of Dmitri Letsos’ illicit teenaged romance.
‘They’re not a bad bunch when you get to know them,’ Melissa, a collected blonde teacher in her forties, pronounced with a wry smile. ‘Oh, there’s the usual sibling rivalry, but they are, one and all—I assure you—devoted to Gio. He brought me into this family and he’s the first port of call for all of us when there’s a crisis. I hope you can handle that. Calisto couldn’t.’
From stray comments made and generally quickly leading to a subject change rather than risk causing offence, Billie began to suspect that Gio’s first wife had not been well liked. She cursed her own curiosity about her predecessor: it was pointless and the gratification of that curiosity was more likely to lead to hurt. Gio had married another woman. Get over it, she urged herself impatiently, determined not to be haunted by the shadows of the past.
‘If your wife is the woman she appears to be, she’s solid gold,’ Gio’s grandfather told him disconcertingly.
Tight-mouthed, Gio breathed, ‘When it comes to Billie, I have no need of anyone’s approval.’
‘But an invitation to the wedding would have been very much appreciated,’ Theon countered drily.
Once Irene had taken Theo up for his bath and guests had begun to disperse to their own corners of the rambling villa, Billie slipped away to explore the wonderful gardens, finally sitting down in the shade of an ancient chestnut tree to appreciate the glorious bird’s-eye view of the island and the ocean. Although she was exhausted she was quietly pleased that her meeting with Gio’s family had ultimately gone well when it had so very nearly gone badly wrong.
When had Gio become so hot-tempered? He had been like a stick of dynamite with a smouldering string attached, aggressively ready to attack anyone who attacked her, over-sensitive to every comment and question that came in her direction. Billie sighed over that mystery and slowly relaxed, letting the tension drain out of her.
‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you,’ Gio delivered in a minatory tone, striding down the gravelled path towards her. ‘Downstairs, upstairs...’
‘Maybe you should microchip me and then you would know where I am at all times,’ Billie told him deadpan.
Struggling to master his exasperation, Gio released his breath in a rush. There she was, curls foaming round her lovely face, eyes contemplative, clearly happy and content. He could not explain to her his personal fear that she had put on a fantastic sociable act all day for the benefit of his family while secretly masking her hurt at her less than welcoming reception. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Tired,’ she admitted, sleepy green eyes locked to him while a wicked little current of remembered pleasure travelled through her. ‘But then we didn’t get much sleep last night...’
The faintest colour stung his stunning cheekbones, brilliant dark eyes flaring gold, lean bronzed features breathtaking in their perfect symmetry as his wide mouth took on a sensual curve. She loved him; she loved him so much, she acknowledged helplessly.
‘What are you out here worrying about?’
‘I’m not worrying,’ Billie declared. ‘This is a gorgeous garden and I’m enjoying it.’
Recalling the window boxes and pot plants she used to keep at the apartment, Gio felt his conscience ping. Just as quickly he recalled the hollow sensation he had suffered when, following her disappearance, he had seen those plants dead and withered and as always he buried the memory deep of that period in his life. ‘I should’ve bought you a house with a garden a long time ago.’
‘My only experience of gardening was visiting my granddad’s allotment as a child,’ Billie confided quietly. ‘He used to plant vegetable seeds for me. That was in the days before the betting shop and the drink pushed him into a less active lifestyle.’
Gio frowned, astonished by the sudden realisation that he could know so little about his wife’s background. Momentarily he marvelled that he had never asked her anything beyond the most basic questions, but, after learning that she had virtually no living relatives that she knew of, he had seen no reason to probe deeper. ‘He was a drunk?’
‘No, that’s too harsh. He drank to escape my grandma’s nagging. She was kind of sour in nature. If he was a drunk,’ Billie extended, ‘he was a nice drunk because he was never mean, but his liver failed and he was ill for a long time. That’s when I first began missing school because my grandma wouldn’t look after him the way he needed to be looked after and I felt so guilty leaving him to her care every day.’
‘Surely there was some care offered by the state?’
‘No, there’s actually very little help available. Grandma was told he wasn’t sick enough to get a bed in a nursing home even though he was terminally ill. Once he had passed, it was just her and me...and she never liked me, said I reminded her of my mother.’ Billie grimaced. ‘You can’t really blame her. My mother dumped me on her and never came back. She was a bitter woman, who just never saw the good in anyone. I got to go back to school for a couple of years and then Grandma’s health failed too and that was the end of that.’
Gio
was stunned by what he was belatedly learning. ‘How is it that I’m only finding out all this about you now?’ he could not help asking, as if he thought the oversight might somehow be her fault.
Tactfully concealing her wonder at that question, Billie shot him a wry glance. ‘Gio, back then, in your eyes, when I wasn’t physically in front of you, I didn’t exist.’
Gio tensed. ‘That’s untrue.’
‘Do you recall that cabinet with drawers I once mentioned where I was tucked in my own tiny drawer, only to be taken out and appreciated by you on special occasions? Seriously, I wasn’t joking—that was what it was like.’
His lean dark features were grim. ‘What you’re really saying is that I’m a colossally selfish individual.’
‘You were self-absorbed and very driven. Let’s face it, when we were together your main focus was always business. I also think you were too posh to be comfortable with the difference in our backgrounds. Ignoring it was easier. I think as long as I was willing to be quiet about it, you preferred not to be reminded that I was once a humble cleaner,’ Billie told him gently.
‘I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation!’ Gio ground out angrily, his temper, kept on a short leash all day, whipping up in a sudden surge hotter than lava. ‘Or that you could ever have had such a low opinion of me!’
In mute frustration, Billie closed her eyes and counted to ten. ‘It’s done and dusted, Gio—it’s the past. I’m not attacking you. I’m only being honest. I wasn’t perfect either. I should have stood up to you, demanded more, but I was too young and in my very first relationship.’
‘You lied about your age.’ Gio was quick to pounce on that reminder.
Billie nodded peaceably, refusing to rise to the bait because there was no way she was about to engage in a massive row with Gio about their past. After all, everything had changed now and they were making a new start at a very different level of intimacy.