What The Greek's Wife Needs - Dani Collins Page 0,51

family. Ah, Cornelius.” She let go of Tanja and twined her hands around the arm of a heavyset older man Leon had met a few times. They exchanged nods. “Cornelius, this is my daughter-in-law, Tanja. Come. Let us introduce you to everyone.”

They made the rounds. Leon stayed close, but Tanja quickly began to look less like herself. Her smiles became forced. Her cheeks grew pale, her responses careful. Was she feeling sick again? Or was she hating this as much as he was?

“Did I hear you’re a model, Tanja?” someone asked.

“A CPA. In Canada, that stands for chartered professional accountant,” she explained to all the faces that went blank. “I articled at a firm that serves hotels and other tourism-related businesses on Vancouver Island.”

A man laughed, then abruptly sobered. “Oh, you’re serious.”

“Yes.” She looked from face to face. “Why is that funny?”

“Well, it’s just...” One of the women looked between them. “I mean, you work? Why?” She seemed genuinely perplexed. “You’re married.”

Leon drew a tested breath.

“She just had a daughter,” his mother reminded. “Tanja isn’t working right now.”

“Oh, of course. Well done on getting your figure back.”

His mother smoothly shifted them along to the next group, saving Leon from having to blister the ears of a stranger. He loosely encircled Tanja’s wrist and felt the way her pulse was racing. Her gaze was darting like a mouse seeking a safe path through a roomful of cats. He wove their fingers together and tried to convey that he would keep her safe.

She brightened slightly as she was asked where she was from.

“Tofino,” she replied with obvious fondness. “It’s a small fishing and whale-watching town on the West Coast of Canada.”

“Oh, yes. We stopped there once when we were sailing. A bohemian little place,” one woman told the rest of the group. “Pretty enough to visit, but I can’t imagine growing up there.” She gave a small shudder.

“Greta,” Leon warned the woman against being so rude.

“Many of my friends couldn’t wait to get away,” Tanja said with forced lightness. “It’s a place you don’t appreciate until you no longer have it. Will you excuse me a moment?” She extricated her fingers from his. “I want to call the nanny. Make sure everything is going well.”

Tanja was so far out of her depth she was hyperventilating. Drowning.

Leaving.

“Tanja.” Leon was right behind her as she reached the threshold.

“I can’t do this,” she said in subdued panic.

“It shouldn’t have been this.” He shot an impatient look back to the party. “But it’s only a few hours.”

“This.” She waved between them. “I can’t believe I thought I could even pretend to be your wife—”

He caught her hand as comprehension flared in his eyes. His mouth firmed and he pushed her into a powder room, closing the door on them.

Tanja had a brief impression of ivory wallpaper with silver stripes and roses, gold fixtures and burning candles that gave off a scent of bergamot and lavender, then Leon was all that was in her senses. Tall and intimidating, broad and commanding.

“What happened? What did she say?” His tone nearly took out her knees.

“Nothing! It’s all of this.” She waved a hand toward the rooms they’d left and the one they were in. “I mean, I knew I wasn’t in your league when we first got together. That’s why I expected it to be an affair. And I get it now, why you left me, but I thought I could at least pretend we’re happily married for Illi’s sake. I just feel like such an idiot, though. Such a milkmaid to your—”

“Stop it.” He caught her elbow, stilling her flailing gestures, not hurting but firm. Forcing her to look at him and pay attention.

He was the one who wasn’t paying attention!

“I don’t fit in, Leon.” She tried to shake off his grip as though she could shake reality into him. “I’ll do anything for Illi, but I can’t act like I belong here.” Hot tears of despair hit the backs of her eyes. “No one is going to believe you want me.”

“I do want you. Exactly as you are.” A fierce light flared to life behind his gaze as he drew her into him with a small crash of their bodies. “You know that.”

“How?”

“It doesn’t matter how. It just is. Feel it.” His mouth burned across hers in one hot sweep, then another. “It’s here. It’s always been here,” he muttered between kisses that tasted of anger, but not a kind that was directed at her. His hands