The Maid's Best Kept Secret (The Marchetti Dynasty 1)

Nikos grimaced. ‘Yes, that’s the new perfume—a little overpowering, but it’s one of our biggest sellers already.’

Maggie saw cars starting to appear in the driveway, and as everyone arrived she got split up from Nikos. She did her best to mingle and make small talk with people, but found that this crowd looked at her as if she were a curiosity, and seemed more interested in speaking behind her back when she walked away.

She caught more than a few snide glances from other women. And one woman looked at her and openly laughed. To Maggie’s intense shame, she was transported back in time to when the girls and boys at her school would laugh at her and call her Beanpole. And even though she wasn’t the tallest woman here, in this place, that old feeling of exposure was hot and crippling and immediate.

She had a sense of having been found out. She was a fraud. She wasn’t from this world and they knew it. She didn’t belong here—she would never belong here. And that was the realisation Nikos had come to too. The only thing keeping them together now was—

Suddenly Nikos was there, looking at her. Specifically at her breasts. He came forward and took her arm, leading her to one side.

‘What

is that? Did you spill something?’

‘What’s what?’

Maggie looked down and groaned. There were two wet patches over her breasts. She was leaking milk. She’d ignored the signs of her breasts growing tingly and heavy, too intent on making a good impression at the party. Now she’d made an impression, all right.

Mortified, she said, ‘I need to feed Daniel.’

She pulled away from Nikos and hurried upstairs, conscious of whispers and muffled laughter. Face burning, she went into the bedroom.

Marianne took one look and handed her Daniel, saying, ‘I’ll find you another dress.’

Maggie undid her dress and settled Daniel on her breast, taking a look down at the terrace, where all those honeyed people were milling about.

She shook her head when Marianne came back in with an armful of clothes. ‘No way. I’m not going back down there—they’re piranhas.’

Marianne made a huffing sound. ‘He needs you.’

Maggie could see Nikos, head and shoulders above everyone else. Surrounded by sycophants.

‘Does he? I don’t think he does, Marianne. And clearly I’m not really suited to this milieu.’

Marianne said enigmatically, ‘All the more reason for you to go back down and remind him of that.’

The last thing Maggie wanted to do was expose herself to that snooty crowd’s ridicule again, but she wasn’t that shy, over-tall girl any more. She was a woman. A wife and a mother. And she’d made a pledge to honour her husband even if theirs wasn’t a love match. And never would be.

So when Maggie had fed and changed Daniel and put him down, she changed into a black silk maxi-dress and flat sandals. She shook her hair loose, put on some red lipstick and went back to the party.

All the guests were sitting at the long dining table. Waiters were serving. Nikos was at the head. As one, everyone seemed to stop and look at her when she appeared on the terrace. For an awful moment Maggie thought she couldn’t do it—and then Nikos stood up and held out a hand.

‘Everyone, if you haven’t yet met her, this is my wife, Maggie.’

She walked towards him, his gold and green eyes holding her. Whatever was going on with him, and this new distance he was putting between them, she would be grateful for ever for this show of solidarity.

She sat down at his right-hand side and the woman on her right put a hand on her arm. Maggie looked around warily, to see the friendly face of a woman a bit older than her.

She said, ‘Oh, my God—I felt so sorry for you. The exact same thing happened to me at a function after I had my first baby—in front of hundreds of people.’ She stuck out her hand. ‘I’m Melissa, and this is my husband Klaus—he’s one of the chief parfumiers in the company.’

Maggie smiled with relief and shook her hand, confiding, ‘I almost didn’t come back down.’

Melissa said, sotto voce, ‘I’m glad you did. Those women don’t deserve a second thought—they’re just insanely jealous that you’ve managed to tame one of the world’s most notorious playboys.’

Maggie smiled weakly. Had she tamed Nikos? No... But maybe Daniel had. The problem was, she suspected Nikos was already chafing at the reality of being tamed.

Later that night, Maggie woke up with a start. She’d fallen asleep in the chair where she’d fed Daniel, who was now back in his cot, fast asleep. She’d come up to feed him after dinner.

She stood up and went to the window which overlooked the terrace. All was quiet now, the guests all departed. Her insides clenched when she saw the lone figure of Nikos, looking out over the view. It made her heart ache—especially now that she knew just how bleak his childhood had been.