by Lynne Graham
CHAPTER TWO
‘I DON’T KNOW how important money is to you,’ Leo remarked deadpan.
‘When you don’t have money, but you need it, it’s very important,’ Letty countered with a toss of her head and a lift of her chin because she was telling the truth and didn’t care if he judged her for it.
Leo rose from his seat and spread his lean brown hands in an expressive gesture that was wonderfully fluid. ‘If you marry me, you will be able to have anything that you want. I am a very rich man,’ he told her bluntly. ‘I assume that you would want to organise private surgery for your mother and find a safer place for your family to live. You will also want the thugs, who are harassing your mother for payment of her loan, dealt with. Those are the difficulties that I can easily settle on your behalf. Only you can tell me what else you would want.’
Letty was astonished by how much he already knew about her life and her family’s problems. ‘Where did you get all that information? From Isidore?’
‘From a very discreet investigation agency. I had to know exactly who you were before I could consider allowing you near the children,’ Leo pointed out without a shade of remorse.
Annoyed by his invasion of her privacy and yet simultaneously understanding his reasons for doing so, Letty was bemused. ‘And what did you think that you learned about me?’ she prompted.
‘That you put family loyalty over personal ambition and that no one you have worked with or studied with or enjoyed a friendship with has anything bad to say about you,’ Leo recounted levelly. ‘I was very impressed and immediately keen to meet you. Such fine qualities are rare.’
Not entirely untouched by that accolade, Letty coloured and watched him move restlessly across the room. He drew her eyes to him, no matter how hard she tried to look away. He had an intensity to him she had not met with in a man before. Leo Romanos was so much more. He emanated physical energy in an aura of power. A very strong character, a mover and shaker, a pretty dominant personality, but it would be a dominance laced with intelligence and control. Emotional, very emotional—she had seen that emotion flashing in his eyes when he’d referred to his late sister and the children in his care. When he was in a bad mood, she imagined people walked on eggshells around him. Women, she imagined, fell in the aisles around him, stunned by the raw sexual charisma he exuded.
And no, she was not impervious to his masculine appeal, she conceded ruefully. She doubted that many women were impervious to Leo and she was no different, her attention veering involuntarily to the pull of fabric across his long muscular thighs as he moved, the swell of his broad chest below his shirt as he breathed, the muscles there evident. Even fully clothed he was a disturbingly physical man, who would always attract attention and admiration.
‘You talk about acquiring a wife much like you’re shopping for a fine wine,’ she commented quietly. ‘It’s not the same.’
‘Isn’t it? I can purchase the finest wine at the highest price and I still may not like the taste of it,’ he fenced smoothly.
‘I consider marriage to be,’ Letty murmured levelly, ‘a sacred bond between two people.’
‘Yes, you are a practising Christian.’ Leo acknowledged that detail, shifting his expressive hands again. ‘But you are practical as well and you must know that sex causes a lot of grief in relationships. Take the sex out of the marriage and you have a working, reasonable partnership.’
‘And an unfaithful husband,’ Letty chipped in, again inwardly denying that she was having such a dialogue with him while wondering how she could possibly be intrigued by his attitude.
Leo shrugged a wide shoulder. ‘Is that so important in the grand scheme of things? It’s not as though you’re in love with me. It’s not even as though you know me.’
Letty’s head was beginning to ache with the stress of the meeting to which she had walked in totally unprepared. She was too tired to think with clarity and her mind was increasingly awash with irrelevant but seductive images, such as her mother able to walk again, her brothers attending a less crowded and tough school and being able to eat what they liked, rather than what was cheapest. Lack of money, she registered unhappily, controlled their lives, limited it and removed all the choices. But the escape that Leo Romanos was offering carried risks as well.
‘I’ve been up almost twenty-four hours,’ Letty admitted. ‘I need to sleep to process all this.’
Leo swung back to her, spectacular dark golden eyes locking to her. ‘But you’re not saying no out of hand,’ he breathed with satisfaction.
‘A drowning swimmer doesn’t reject a lifebelt unless it comes anchored to a crocodile,’ Letty responded wryly.
‘I’m not a crocodile,’ Leo told her.
‘You have strong aggressive instincts,’ Letty informed him.
‘I am not violent...in any way,’ Leo intoned, looking shaken that she might suspect otherwise.
‘But who knows what damage you could do in other ways?’ Letty fielded as she rose from her chair. ‘Right now, I’m going home to bed.’
‘You’re too tired to bike it back,’ Leo stated. ‘I will have you driven home and one of my security team will return your motorbike for you.’
‘I’m not into bossy men, Leo,’ Letty warned him.
‘I am considering your welfare,’ he parried.
‘My welfare is not your business.’
‘Yet...’
‘It’s childish to always need to have the last word,’ Letty said as she reached the door.
‘So, that’s why you’re having it, is it?’ Leo gibed, disconcerting her and pulling the door open for her with a smooth civility that she found equally surprising.
He escorted her all the way to the lift, the eyes of his employees swivelling in their direction. He stabbed the call button at the same time as he settled a business card into her hand. ‘My number. Let me know if you’re prepared to move forward with this. If you are, I will collect you on Saturday morning at ten and introduce you to the children,’ he announced.
Letty turned exasperated eyes onto his chest and then tilted her head back to study his lean strong face and the resolve etched there. ‘I don’t know how I feel but there is only a one in ten chance that I will agree! I don’t want to get married. I’m not ready to be a mother...and I loathe promiscuous men!’
‘I would take issue with that word,’ Leo framed, his strong jawline clenching hard. ‘But we will not discuss that insult in a public place.’
Breathing in deep to prevent herself from snapping back at him, Letty stepped into the lift. ‘Goodbye, Leo. It’s been...interesting.’
* * *
The most bloody frustrating woman he had ever met! Leo strode back to his office, his brain buzzing at top speed. So stubborn, so rigid. How dare she label him promiscuous? He was not and never had been promiscuous. Yes, there had been many women in his bed over the years, but he was thirty-one years old and a certain level of experience was natural. He was prepared to concede that keeping a mistress was a little less common but he never stayed with the same woman for longer than three months and while she was in his life, the arrangement was exclusive. He hadn’t had a one-night stand since he was a teenager and even then he hadn’t slept around.
Isidore’s granddaughter was fiercely intelligent though, not a woman to be pushed into a premature decision...but coaxed? Leo didn’t know how to coax a woman because he had never had to make that much effort with a member of her sex, but he also knew that he had just met a woman he would be satisfied to call his wife. As far as he was concerned the deal was made and only the date needed to be set. She didn’t have a choice, did she? Her life had been overwhelmed by family difficulties and, much as he admired her loyalty, it annoyed him that she had swerved from her own agenda and had allowed her mother’s foolish decisions and misfortunes to restrict her.
* * *
Letty rode home and L
eo need not have worried that exhaustion would make her a less than cautious rider. Leo had set off a chain reaction inside her head. Out of his presence, she could think again, see possibilities and spot the issues he had overlooked. What about her sex life? Was she expected to keep a male version of a mistress somewhere? Or was she supposed to cross her legs like the virgin she was and get by without sex?
In truth, Letty didn’t know if she would ever want sex with a man. Being a high achiever had never helped her social life. The more she had shone at school, the fewer friends she’d had and she had been christened a nerd and a geek. University and competing with her peers had provided a different learning curve but no boyfriend had ever contrived to make Letty want more than kisses and companionship. All of them had wanted more from her than she was prepared to give because she had always put her studies first. She had once toyed with the idea of just having sex with someone purely to find out what it was like, but she wasn’t sufficiently curious and was too cynical to expect fireworks from the experience, so she had retained her ignorance and her innocence.
A man like Leo, however, would have made her want more and would have incited her curiosity. She knew that instinctively and it made her wary of him. He made her feel vulnerable and she didn’t like that either. He was too clever as well, too clever to be trusted. Had she had more respect for her grandfather, she would’ve asked his opinion of Leo Romanos but Isidore Livas was scarcely a disinterested observer and she could not put her faith in him. Presumably her grandfather wanted this alliance to go ahead and he was equally keen for Leo to become his heir. Letty had no doubt that Leo was a blazing success in the business world.
When she arrived home, her mother needed painkillers and she went back out again to collect the prescription. The painkillers were highly addictive and that worried her, for her mother had been on them for quite some time. While she was out, she bought food for dinner and when she returned for the second time her mother was standing rapt in front of the table, on which sat a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, delivered in a vase and ready for display.
‘For you...’ the older woman said with warm appreciation, turning to study her flushed daughter with curiosity. ‘You’ve been keeping secrets. Who’s Leo?’
Letty grabbed the card. It just said ‘Leo’, but that was all it needed to say.
‘Leo?’ she repeated, her mouth running dry. ‘He’s one of the residents’ relatives at the care home,’ she fibbed in desperation.
‘Is he young?’ Gillian pressed.
‘Yes, and good-looking.’
‘Well, don’t freeze this one out, the way that you do when men show an interest in you,’ her mother urged worriedly. ‘Be nice to this one.’
‘Mum, I’m only twenty-four. I’ve got plenty of time to meet someone. Stop worrying about me,’ Letty said wryly, giving the older woman a hug. ‘I’m off to bed.’
She had hoped to climb into bed and go out like a light but her mind had other ideas: visions of her mother restored to mobility and no longer reliant on painkillers, her family in a home in a decent area with furniture that wasn’t worn and shabby and the boys clad in the sports gear of their dreams. Seductive images, she conceded ruefully, cursing Leo Romanos for tempting her before grabbing her laptop to look him up online.
The Greek billionaire, the shipping heir, consummate tycoon...giver of flowers, charming when he wanted to be.
Also a womaniser, she reminded herself, discovering a whole slew of images in which Leo appeared in company with various women but all of them were identikit brunettes. It seemed he had a type and his type was tall, curvy dark-haired women. Of what interest was that to her? Why was she even looking? Scolding herself, Letty returned to trying to sleep while attempting not to recall that Christmas was only just round the corner and that the coming festivities would be just as cheerless as the last.
Christmas was impossible to do on a strict budget and, what with the loan payments due every month and keeping up with the household bills, there was no room for treats or extras. Her brothers were still children and it was hard for them to do without what other boys their age took for granted. If she married Leo, a persuasive little voice whispered inside her head, she could give her family a fantastic Christmas. All their worries would disappear, wouldn’t they?
Of course, she would be taking on a whole fresh set of worries, striving to meet Leo’s high expectations of a wife and mother to four orphans, but if her family was happy and secure, did that really matter? She was good at coping with challenges, in fact the tougher a project was, the harder she worked to complete it. She did her best work under pressure...and Leo would put her under pressure, she had no doubt of that.
Letty pillowed her weary head on her hand and stretched out. Obviously, she would have to deliberate on his proposition because nothing more promising was likely to come her way. If she said no, she would be condemning her family and herself to their current lifestyle for the next few years, at least. That was depressing but it was a fact. Her moral scruples were in conflict with her practical nature. There were too many unknowns for her to reach a decision. What would happen when she wanted a child? Or he did? And how long was he expecting the marriage to last? And what about the medical studies she wanted to take up again?
* * *
That Thursday evening, thinking longingly of her approaching weekend off, Letty performed her usual round of the patients, checking who was settled, who might need the attentions of the doctor on call later on, while stopping to speak to regular visitors, who wanted information about their relatives or had requests to make. She returned to her office to take her break at eleven and on her path through the quiet reception area she was shaken to see Leo.
In the sleek cashmere overcoat and red silk scarf he wore over a dark suit teamed with a gold silk tie, he looked exactly like the legendary international business mogul he was. His dark carnal beauty flooded her with mesmerising force and momentarily she felt boneless and her knees wobbled, butterflies careening frantically in the pit of her stomach. Letty froze in reaction, disconcertingly aware of her hair in an unglamorous bun and the plain green nursing-type tunic and trousers she wore with a logo badge on her collar.
‘Time for a break?’ Leo murmured calmly. ‘You look tired.’
‘It’s been a busy week,’ she muttered, colliding warily with glittering dark golden eyes, her breath snagging in her throat.
‘I have coffee and tea out in my car... You didn’t phone,’ he censured.
Her cheeks warmed and she gave a little shake of her shoulders, unsure what to say because she hadn’t made her mind up yet and didn’t want to admit that. In her own head she was a very decisive person but there were too many unknowns attached to Leo Romanos. ‘I haven’t made up my mind yet,’ she admitted grudgingly.
‘Then discuss your concerns with me over tea. It’ll be very civilised and no doubt we can pretend we’re not sitting in a car park,’ Leo pointed out.
Letty went to inform her next in command that she was taking her break outside. A big black and unbelievably long and glossy limousine sat double parked.
‘Why are you here?’ she prompted as his driver pulled open the door of the car for them and stood to attention as though they were royalty.
‘I won’t introduce you to the children unless I know you’re planning to go ahead. I’ve never brought a woman home to meet them before and they’ve had enough upsets in their lives.’
Letty suppressed a sigh as he pressed a button and an incredibly well-stocked refreshment bar complete with refrigerator, hot water and china swung out. The limo was massive and the upholstery was palest pearl grey leather. Her seat was comfier than her bed and, keen to busy her restless hands, Letty selected a cup and a teabag from the wide variety available in a small drawer and added hot water.
‘Would you like anything?’ she enquired politely.
‘No. I’ve just
had dinner,’ he responded with an impatient sigh.
Letty sipped her Earl Grey tea and reluctantly glanced at him, encountering the devastating eyes that she would’ve preferred to avoid, hating his effect on her. He was a force of nature, his temperament lava-hot and dangerous. ‘I’ve spotted four major stumbling blocks to your proposition,’ she admitted, her heart suffering a sudden thud as he tensed and his stunning golden eyes narrowed.
‘Four?’ he stressed in disbelief.
‘Yes, you really haven’t thought this marriage idea through thoroughly enough,’ Letty informed him gently. ‘What happens when you decide you would like a child?’
‘I’ve already got four of them. That’s not going to happen at any time in the near future,’ Leo contended dismissively.
‘Unfortunately, I don’t have as big a window of fertility as you will have,’ Letty pointed out quietly. ‘I am likely to want a child of my own some time in the next ten years. I don’t want to leave it too long and risk missing my chance to become a mother.’
Leo frowned, level black brows pleating. ‘So, we use a laboratory and give you what you want when you want. I don’t see a problem.’
Letty noted that he wasn’t suggesting that they consider sex for her to conceive, not that she would’ve agreed to that while he was sleeping with other women, but it really bothered her to recognise the faint sense of disappointment rising inside her. Disappointment allied with curiosity, she acknowledged ruefully. He made her curious in a treacherous way. Letty was not in the habit of looking at a man and thinking of sex but Leo made her think of sex, wonder what it would be like, wonder what it would be like with him. And in that thought progression lay one very good reason why she shouldn’t marry Leo Romanos.
Her breasts were peaking inside her bra, her thighs pressing together in reaction to the dull ache that was infiltrating her. She couldn’t possibly marry a man who awakened her long dormant sensuality but who planned to break his marital vows on a weekly basis, for all she knew even on a daily basis. It would be a recipe for low self-esteem and unhappiness because she would feel rejected.