Once in Paris. Diana Palmer

not making you any promises,” he assured her. “I said I’d think about it.”

      She shrugged. “Take your time. No rush. But if that lobo wolf comes looking for me, I’m coming after you, and I don’t care what time it is.”

      “How is he supposed to know, at your age, that you’re still virginal?” he asked reasonably.

      She glowered at him. “Because, unknown to me, Kurt had a private detective following me from the day I went off to school,” she muttered. “I was watched like a hawk, and two months ago Kurt demanded that I have a physical to make sure that I hadn’t caught some virus he said I’d been exposed to.” She shivered at the thought of what the doctor had done to her. “Part of the physical included a gynecological exam,” she added. “I had no idea that the doctor was going to do that, until I was in the examination room and the nurse had me on my back.” She let out a breath. “I yelled the place down, but the doctor had the information Kurt wanted.”

      “No reputable doctor…” Pierce began furiously.

      “He wasn’t a reputable doctor,” she returned. “He was barred from practice in the States and came down here to run some sort of clinic.”

      “I see.”

      “I never connected it until Sabon started turning up at the house at all hours and watching me like a hawk.” She lifted her gaze to his hard face. “I’m not scared of much,” she said, “but that man gives me the shivering willies.”

      “Don’t feel bad. He has that effect on some men.”

      She lifted her eyebrows. “On you?”

      He chuckled. “I was a drill rigger for a couple of years.” He held out his big hands and showed her his knuckles, replete with tiny white scars.

      She pursed her lips. “Tough guy, huh?”

      “Yes,” he said simply. “And I’m not afraid of much, either.”

      She searched his eyes. “What scares you?”

      He leaned close to her, so that his eyes filled the world. “Sex-crazed virgins,” he whispered.

      He looked and sounded so wicked that she burst into helpless laughter. “I asked for that one,” she murmured through her chuckles.

      He laughed with her. He’d never known anyone like Brianne. She was changing him, changing his life, his world. She made the sun come out again, brought back the rainbows. He didn’t dare consider the implications of what he was feeling. He turned away and went to find Arthur to tell him to bring the car around, so that he could drive them back into Nassau.

      

      In the weeks that followed, Brianne became Pierce’s shadow. To her stepfather’s dismay, she kept a mile away from his friend Philippe Sabon and spent so much time with Pierce that rumors began to abound. They were seen together everywhere, fishing and swimming and just sunbathing. Mostly they did the latter at Pierce’s house, but occasionally they went to the beach.

      The companionship they shared was as rare as the humor that bound them together. Pierce didn’t realize how necessary Brianne was beginning to be to him, but the hours he spent alone brooding over Margo were dwindling with time. He looked forward to Brianne’s wry insight on the world around them, to her savvy sense of politics. For a young woman, she had a mature outlook. He was impressed with her. More than impressed. He didn’t mind her constant presence in his house.

      But Kurt did. Things came to a head when Philippe sailed into port on his yacht to see Brianne and she wasn’t at home. Worse, his private detective had a very thorough report of where she’d been most recently.

      Sabon’s rage was all the more intimidating for being quiet. He glowered at Kurt, his black eyes flashing, his lean fists clenched at his side. “You know that your stepdaughter has become special to me,” he began. “I have even told you that my plans for her might include marriage. Yet you have permitted her to practically live with Hutton. What must I do to keep her around when I wish to see her, kidnap her?”

      Kurt held up a hand, his face worried. “No, you have it all wrong. You have the medical report,” he said quickly, wary of his wife’s presence somewhere nearby. He didn’t want her to hear this. “I assure you, the girl is fastidious, chaste, regardless of the time she spends with Hutton!”

      Sabon didn’t speak for a moment. His eyes caught every nuance of expression in the other man’s face, from the fear that made him pale to the greed that made his eyes hot. Brauer had no idea at all of his real plans, or his true desire. He had made certain of it. The man’s cooperation was essential at this point. He had to ensure it any way that he could.

      “I know how badly you need my help,” he told Kurt coolly. “I have had your financial assets examined most thoroughly. If I should back out now, before the oil is discovered and processed, and replace you with someone else, you would be left destitute, would you not?”

      Kurt swallowed. He was in over his head, with no way out. The man knew too much. “Yes, I would,” he confessed heavily. He drew out a spotless white handkerchief and wiped his sweaty forehead. “I have no option but to go right through to the end. But this business about involving the United States—I don’t know. I don’t know if it will work.”

      Sabon’s thin lips pursed thoughtfully. “Of course it will.” He studied Brauer. “I have told you that I think a marriage between Brianne and myself might be advantageous for both of us. A…seal on our agreement.”

      “Marriage.” Kurt’s greedy eyes glittered as he turned the thought over in his mind. Sabon had millions. He was supposedly one of the wealthiest men in the world. He would certainly take care of his wife’s relations. Even if the oil deal fell through, Kurt would have all the money he needed, without having to fall back on his usual means of making money—a tricky enterprise these days, with so many customers who reneged on their promises of payment. He would never have to worry about money again! He smiled from ear to ear. “What a wonderful proposition! Yes, yes, it would be the perfect seal on our bargain!”

      Sabon didn’t meet his eyes as he bent his head to light one of the small, thin Turkish cigars he liked to smoke. “I thought it might appeal to you.”

      Kurt almost drooled with pleasure. His future was assured. Now he had to talk to his wife, quickly, to make her understand how important Brianne’s acquiescence was in all this. She would back him up. She was the girl’s mother, and Brianne was still a minor. She could be made to comply. And so, he thought with cold reason, could her mother.

      “And you will handle the chore I require of you in America,” Sabon added.

      “Of course.” Kurt waved a careless hand. “You may consider this done. It will be my pleasure, in fact. Brianne will make you a lovely wife, give you many children!”

      Sabon said nothing. The thought of joining their families by marriage had turned the trick. He would have no more worries with Kurt. Briefly he thought of the young, bright Brianne in his arms and the torment almost bent him double. Brauer would sell his stepdaughter, anything he owned, in his headlong search for power. Sabon hid the contempt he felt for the unscrupulous man before him and wished, not for the first time, that he had other options, other means, to accomplish what he must for his country. Although he’d sorted Brauer out, Pierce Hutton would pose as big a threat as the too-close enemy on the borders of Qawi. He had to keep the man at a distance before Hutton learned anything from Brianne that might tempt him to interfere.

      By demanding Brianne’s company, by dangling the bait of marriage with her before Brauer, he hoped to accomplish that. Sabon gave one regretful thought to Brianne, so desirable and kind, who would suffer at her stepfather’s hands because of his proposal. But he couldn’t hesitate now, when so much was at stake! He had to think of his people.

      Kurt watched him curiously. “You weren’t serious about kidnapping her?”

      The more Philippe thought of the idea, the more it appealed to him.