Powerful Greek, Unworldly Wife

‘Then why aren’t you eating any of it?’

‘I’m not that hungry.’

Leandro leaned across and spooned some creamy tzatsiki onto her plate. ‘When I first met you, you were always hungry. When I took you out to dinner, you ate three courses.’

‘I had a very physical job,’ Millie said defensively. ‘I worked on a farm. If I didn’t eat properly, I would have passed out.’

Leandro sat back in his chair, watching her across the table. ‘Now I’ve upset you and I have no idea why.’

‘You were criticising me.’

He tilted his head and she could see him rerunning the conversation through his brain. ‘Exactly how and when did I criticise you?’

‘You complained that I ate three courses, and—’

‘It wasn’t a complaint. It was a comment.’

‘Same thing.’

‘No, Millie,’ he said gently, an ironic gleam in his eyes. ‘It is not the same thing.’

‘You mix with women who don’t eat.’ She ignored the food he’d put on her plate. ‘In the circles you move in, eating is a bigger sin than adultery or wearing the wrong shade of pink. All the women are thin. A visible rib cage is as much a status symbol as a pair of Jimmy Choos. So when you point out I ate three courses, what am I supposed to think?’

His gaze was thoughtful. ‘You could think that the fact that you enjoy food and eating is one of the things I like about you.’

‘Actually, I couldn’t,’ Millie said hotly, the defensive movement of her head sending her hair spilling around her face. ‘Because I’m seeing no evidence to back it up. Apart from your momentary lapse with me, all the women you mix with clearly share DNA with stick insects. Take that actress—she’s enough to give any normal woman a complex and a major eating disorder.’

He inhaled slowly. ‘Your weight is clearly an issue.’

Millie played with her fork. ‘You noticed that? I’m a woman,’ she said sweetly. ‘Of course my weight is an issue.’

‘You have a fabulous body.’

‘By fabulous, you mean fat.’

‘I mean fabulous.’ His eyes gleamed with lazy amusement and a trace of exasperation. ‘Clearly I need a man-woman dictionary. Man says “fabulous”, woman translates that into meaning “fat”. Are there any other words in this unfathomable language I’m likely to need help with?’

‘I’ll let you know as we go along.’

‘Thank you.’ His tone dry, he leaned forward, and spooned some spicy sausage onto her plate next to the tzatsiki. ‘Eat. Alyssa has spent all day in the kitchen in honour of your arrival. She remembered that you loved all Greek food, especially this. It was your favourite.’

‘That was until someone told me how many calories were in each spoonful.’

‘Who told you?’

‘Oh, someone.’ Millie felt the colour flood into her cheeks as she recalled that particular encounter. ‘I expect she thought she was doing me a favour. Helping me fit into the strange world you live in.’

‘I live in the same world as you, Millie.’

She glanced around her, looking at their privileged surroundings. ‘If you think that, you’re deluded. You move in a whole different world to most people, Leandro. It’s no wonder I didn’t fit.’

He was very still. ‘Is that what you think?’ His tone was soft. ‘That you didn’t fit?’

‘It doesn’t take a genius to see I wouldn’t have had too much in common with some those waif-like celebrities you called your friends. My idea of a facial was splashin

g cold water to wake myself up at five in the morning during the harvest.’

He didn’t answer immediately but she sensed a new tension about him and bit her lip, feeling suddenly guilty.