Modern Romance December 2019 Books 1-4. Maisey Yates

to cool off before pulling on jeans and a shirt. Letty would be with the children, he knew that, but he also knew that they needed to spend alone time as a couple and if she couldn’t even go a few hours without checking in with the kids, how were they going to get to know each other? Righteously annoyed, Leo left the beach house and found Darius seated bleary-eyed with lack of sleep on a chair on the veranda.

      ‘Popi had a nightmare,’ Darius told him. ‘The nanny phoned before I could advise her not to.’

      ‘Go to bed, Darius. You don’t need to be on call twenty-four-seven here on the island,’ Leo responded ruefully.

      ‘I stayed up to try and prevent you from shooting yourself in the foot,’ his oldest friend admitted ruefully.

      ‘And how am I going to do that?’

      ‘You have to share her with the kids and you’re accustomed to women who make you the centre of their world,’ Darius remarked warily.

      ‘There speaks the father,’ Leo quipped, for Darius had three children.

      Darius stood up and grimaced. ‘Children change the dynamics of things,’ he said wryly.

      Leo knew all about how the arrival of children changed life, but it still bothered him that Darius had stayed out of bed to intercept him before he confronted Letty for sneaking off before their wedding night was even over. Did he seem that intolerant? Was he, in fact, spoiled by too many women who had unquestioningly put him first? Was he suffering from wounded pride? After all, why was he concerned in any way? Everything had gone according to plan and the sex, the marital sex, had been superlative. Letty was also the one and only woman who had ever been his alone and he liked that; indeed he was surprised by how much he had revelled in being the first.

      As Leo appeared at the door of his nieces’ bedroom, Popi held a finger to her lips, urging his silence. Letty was fast asleep on the little girl’s bed with Sybella tucked in at her back. Leo smiled and crossed the room to lift his bride gently off the bed and carry her down the corridor to his bedroom, where he settled her down on the big bed and, as an afterthought, tugged up a throw to toss over her.

      Letty stirred, opening drowsy green eyes to take in his vibrant presence.

      ‘Go back to sleep. We’re heading out shopping later and you’ll need your energy.’

      Her smooth brow furrowed. ‘Shopping?’

      ‘You need clothes,’ Leo reminded her.

      ‘I should tell you about Popi’s nightmare first.’

      ‘Later…’ Leo stressed. ‘She’s quite happy now.’

      Letty subsided back against the pillows.

      ‘I also thought we could consider consulting the island doctor. You may deem it safer to take the contraceptive pill,’ Leo framed with caution.

      ‘Yes…that would be a good idea,’ Letty conceded, thinking that the last thing they needed was an unplanned pregnancy but that, in time, she would probably want to have her own baby. A family of five and a career and Leo into the bargain? She almost rolled her eyes at that enormous challenge. Other women coped though and so would she and she could hardly complain when she would have all the help she needed on the home front.

      By that afternoon, they were walking into a designer atelier in Athens, where Leo was received like returning royalty. That started her thinking that Leo was disturbingly knowledgeable about where to buy expensive female clothing. The thought made her uncomfortable because it reminded her of her many predecessors. She swallowed hard, conceding that, for a womaniser, such familiarity went with the territory.

      She was disconcerted to recognise her aunt, Elexis Livas, in conversation with a fawning assistant, a tall, voluptuous brunette by her side. The brunette instantly gave Leo her attention, throwing him a lingering look and a flirtatious smile before breaking away from Elexis to say, ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you here today, Leo. Elexis has been telling me all about the wedding.’

      ‘Letty…’ Leo murmured smoothly. ‘Dido Bakas… How’s the theatre run going?’

      ‘Brilliantly!’ Dido exclaimed, resting a hand on Leo’s sleeve with the familiarity of a lover. ‘You should try to make the show before it closes. I’d love to see you in the audience.’

      Letty felt invisible. The other woman had ignored her extended hand and continued to focus solely on Leo.

      ‘Sadly, I’m a little too busy right now,’ Leo parried as Elexis joined them.

      ‘I can’t believe you’re out and about the day after the wedding,’ Elexis commented, shooting Letty an amused look as if it were a mortification for a bridegroom to be seen in public so soon after the wedding.

      ‘Letty doesn’t enjoy shopping, so I’m here to do it for her,’ Leo said lightly. ‘Excuse me. We have a private viewing organised and we’re running a little late.’

      ‘Are you sure you can’t make it to my engagement party on Saturday?’ Elexis pressed, big brown eyes pinned to Leo as though he hung the moon.

      ‘Unfortunately, we have a prior engagement,’ Leo countered. ‘My new nightclub is opening up in Athens on Saturday.’

      Elexis looked pained. ‘But I thought that was next week.’

      ‘I moved it forward. Saturday is Letty’s birthday… It seemed fitting to change the date,’ Leo suggested lazily, spreading his hand across Letty’s taut spine and guiding her towards the woman waiting to welcome them.

      ‘How did you know it was my birthday?’ Letty whispered.

      ‘Marriage licence,’ Leo told her as they were ushered into a large showroom, shown to seats and offered champagne.

      ‘And you moved the opening date forward?’ Letty questioned in disbelief. ‘Because of my birthday?’

      ‘You’re my wife. It seemed appropriate, even if it did cast the organisers into a loop.’

      ‘And we’re attending this event together?’ Letty prompted.

      ‘Even I would not leave you alone to celebrate your birthday,’ Leo chided as models began to stroll out of the changing rooms behind the small catwalk and strut their stuff. It was an entertaining show, but Letty was intimidated by the height and slenderness of the models and could not picture her more ordinary self wearing such elegant, exclusive garments.

      Leo, however, had no such inhibitions. He signalled the designer and indicated the outfits he preferred, seemingly impervious to the reality that she was very different in shape from the models and would not look the same.

      An assistant escorted her into a changing room to be measured and within a very short space of time she was trying on clothes and the tailor was taking note of the adjustments to be made. A rack of lingerie was brought to her to try on next.

      Her phone buzzed while she was striving not to think about Dido, who was clearly an ex of Leo’s. It was a text from Leo.

      Come out and model the lingerie for me.

      Letty was aghast at that suggestion, and the thought of displaying herself that way for Leo made her grow uncomfortably hot. Wide-eyed and flushed, she studied her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a very pretty bra and briefs combination in pale blue. The bra fitted much better than the bras she usually wore. In fact, it seemed that she had been wearing the wrong size for years.

      What’s made you so shy?

      And Letty went pink. It was as if the wretched man was inside her head, rooting about and forcing her insecurities into the light of day.

      In her head was an image of Elexis, pencil-thin in tangerine, and Dido, curvy but still skinny in all the right places with long legs. Letty was different, shorter and rounder, but she was still the woman Leo wanted, the woman he had made passionate love to the night before.

      Only