Once in Paris

He jammed his hands hard into his pockets and grimaced when he saw how it outlined the raging, highly visible arousal he couldn’t help.

Margo was the only woman who’d ever been able to do this to him instantly. It seemed that the long abstinence was making him careless, and vulnerable. He had to get this wide-eyed innocent out of his life.

She was already inside the house by the time he turned around, heading right toward the front door.

He went after her, noticing when he joined her at the curb that she wouldn’t look at him.

“Sorry,” she said through her teeth. She was clutching her purse as if she expected it to make a break for freedom. “I don’t honestly know what came over me. Maybe it’s some tropical virus that makes your mouth independent of your brain.”

He chuckled in spite of himself. “Not quite. But it seems to be contagious.”

She wouldn’t look at him. “Don’t make fun of me, please.”

“I don’t know what else to do,” he said bluntly. “I’m not seducing children this week. Sorry.”

She glared up at him. “I was trying to seduce you,” she pointed out. “With no success whatsoever, I might add. I guess I’ll have to find some sort of school where they teach seduction and take lessons.”

He burst out laughing. “You shameless hussy!”

“Thanks. I’ll file that compliment along with all the others.”

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

“If you don’t do it, he will,” she said, suddenly serious. “I’ll throw myself in Nassau harbor right in front of the Prince George Wharf before I’ll let Sabon touch me!”

“What do I have to do with him?” he asked, genuinely puzzled.

“He likes virgins. Virgins!”

“Ah,” he murmured. “I begin to see the light. If you become suddenly experienced, he’ll lose interest, you think?”

“Yes, I do. And if you’d cooperate, I’d be right off the endangered species list. But, oh no, you can’t make one little sacrifice for my whole future! Excuse me for asking you to risk your body in bed with me!”

His eyebrows levered up as he stared down at her. “Careful,” he said softly. “You’re walking on broken glass.”

“I’d like to create some,” she muttered. She looked away from him and sighed loudly. “Well, I’ll go to the casino over on Paradise Island tonight. Surely there’s some man desperate enough to give me what I need….”

He jerked her around and held her bruisingly by one arm. His black eyes blazed down at her. “Don’t you dare,” he said in a voice that sent chills down her spine.

“Well, you won’t!” she protested.

“Maybe I will,” he murmured. He was disturbed, and he looked it. He felt Margo’s loss keenly, still, and even to think of sleeping with another woman seemed like adultery. But Brianne was young and sweet and loving, and it wouldn’t be any hardship to give her what she wanted. On the other hand, she was painfully young and impressionable. If it hadn’t been for the specter of Philippe Sabon lurking somewhere in the shadows, he wouldn’t even be considering this harebrained proposition in the first place.

“You just hold your horses,” he said shortly. “Don’t lead with your head.”

“Advice, advice,” she muttered. “Why don’t you just back me up against a wall and give it your best?”

He dropped her arm. “You incredible child!”

“I’m not a child, thank you.”

“You’re outrageous,” he continued.

“Totally. It comes from living among idiots.” She stared at him with quiet, soft eyes. “I’ll wear you down,” she promised. “Day by day.”

He stared at her with mixed emotions. “Whatever happened to virginal terror?”

“I don’t know. I’ll ask someone.”

“Aren’t you afraid of the first time?”

“With someone like you? Are you crazy?”

He laughed in spite of himself. His eyes twinkled with humor. “All those expectations. I’m getting older. What if I can’t live up to your expectations?”

“Oh, but you can,” she said with solemnity. “You want to. You just think I’m too young. I’m not, you know. I grew up around people older than me, and I’ve always been more mature than my own age group.”

“I’m 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. His dark eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “It would be one way to ensure her…cooperation, would it not?”

Kurt scowled. Brianne was an American citizen, and Hutton was possessive of her. “It could complicate matters,” he persisted.

Philippe smiled coolly. “Indeed it could.” He said no more, but there was a new and introspective look about him that made Kurt nervous. He had so much riding on this endeavor, almost too much! He simply could not afford to let Philippe double-cross him. And the best way to accomplish that was to get in the first blow. Kurt had half the rights to the long-protected mineral wealth of Sabon’s little country. If he could overthrow the government—and what sort of defense was a sick old sheikh with a small army?—he could cut Sabon right out of the loop and deal directly with the oil consortium. He’d have all the wealth he’d ever need, and he could put his shady friends on the payroll to protect his investment. He would never have to resort to arms dealing, his true business, again. The more he thought about it, the better he liked the idea. Sabon was so trusting, really. He thought he held all the aces. He would discover that he had nothing. Nothing at all.

Chapter Four

The minute Philippe left to return to his yacht, Kurt Brauer went immediately to find his wife. She had told him that Brianne and Pierce had gone to Freeport on a shopping trip. She didn’t know that the shopping trip had been a last-minute invention, because Brianne had seen Sabon’s yacht coming into port and she’d run to Pierce’s house to keep out of his way. In fact, she’d stayed there until she was sure that Sabon had sailed away.

Kurt had been impressed by Sabon’s threats, and his finances were such that he couldn’t afford to back out. He was between the proverbial rock and the hard place, and Brianne was slowly crushing him with her determination to avoid Sabon.

He was upset that she wouldn’t help him keep in the good graces of Sabon, and angry that she seemed determined to outflank him. He didn’t know if Philippe had been serious about kidnapping her, but he was beginning to think it might be the only way to make her see sense. He spoke firmly to his wife, but he couldn’t find Brianne until the next day. He cornered her in the living room of the beach house the minute he saw her and spoke to her about it.

“Philippe went away angry about the way you avoided him. He knows that I can’t afford to back out of the deal, and he’s talking about new partners. I don’t like your refusal to help me entertain him,” he said in his faintly accented English as he glared at her, both hands shoved into the pockets of his trousers. “And I especially don’t like you hanging around with Hutton. You must know that he and I aren’t on good terms.”

“He’s my friend,” Brianne said simply. “And I like him.”

“Bosh! He’s years too old for you,” he said, conveniently forgetting that his friend Sabon was the same age as Pierce. “I don’t want you spending so much time with him. It looks bad. Besides,” he added uneasily, “Philippe has heard of it, and it made matters even worse. He doesn’t approve.”

“Philippe doesn’t app—” she burst out.

He silenced her with a raised hand. “You don’t understand how I’m placed!” he said angrily. “I can’t afford to upset him in any way! Everything I have is invested in his country’s oil exploration and development. I’m risking all of it!”

“You shouldn’t have let him talk you into the investment in the first place,” she pointed out.

He glared at her. “I talked him into it,” he corrected her, “because I saw the chance to triple my investment. My finances are not what they once were,” he said coldly. “If I do nothing, I will lose what little I have left. This is a perfect investment opportunity, absolutely foolproof. But in order to make it work, I must remain friendly with Philippe. I cannot afford to antagonize him—or permit you to do so.” He cleared his throat, aware of the building resentment in her young face. “It is time you married,” he said harshly. “Philippe has said that he wishes it. It will be the best way to cement our business partnership.”

“Marry…him!” she burst out, appalled. “Listen, I am not marrying your friend Philippe! He scares me to death! You must surely have heard the gossip about him, about what he does to young girls!”

He turned and looked at her down his nose. “Your mother is quite happy here, ja?” he asked slowly. He smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “She and the child. You wouldn’t want anything to…upset her, now, would you?”

As veiled threats went, it was a masterpiece. She felt her body going numb as she considered what he was hinting at. She knew that her mother was afraid of him and that she was deeply regretting her marriage. Brianne also knew that her mother was vulnerable with the new child. She couldn’t really afford to make Kurt madder than he already was, for her mother’s sake. But there was no way on earth she could marry that repulsive man, even to save her mother and half brother!

She stood there, defiant but frightened, uneasy, searching for the right words. Pierce could save her. She couldn’t tell her stepfather that; her words might inflame him to the point that he would do something desperate to her poor mother. For almost two years she’d blamed her mother for her hasty marriage and equally hasty pregnancy, but blood was thicker than water. She couldn’t cause her only remaining parent to come to harm, regardless of her feelings of betrayal.

“You understand me, Brianne?” Kurt continued slyly. “You will do as I say?”

“Do I have a choice?” she replied quite calmly.

He smiled, not a pleasant smile at all. “No,” he returned. “So I think we might discuss plans for the wedding. Your mother will be happy to assist you, I am sure.”

“Not today,” she said, and searched desperately for an excuse. She squared her shoulders and came up with the perfect one. “I’m meeting a girlfriend for lunch at the Lobster Bar downtown.”

“A girlfriend?” He was immediately suspicious. “Who is she?”

Her mind would barely cooperate. “My friend Cara, from school,” she invented. “She’s on a cruise and will only be in town this afternoon. I haven’t see her since graduation.”

He hesitated, still not quite trusting her. He pursed his lips and thought for a minute. “Very well. But Philippe has sailed to one of the outer islands and is to arrive back here tomorrow. I will expect cooperation from you.”

“Certainly.”

She was pale and not as confident as she sounded, but she forced a smile for him and went to dress.

Brianne’s mother, Eve, having left the baby with the live-in nurse, slipped into her room as she was changing into jeans and a green silk shirt that matched her eyes.

“Has he spoken to you?” the older woman asked quickly.

“Yes,” Brianne replied. She stared at her mother, seeing the new lines in her pretty, soft face, the new haunted look in her pale eyes. “Indeed he has.”

Eve twisted her hands together. “I had no idea that he was going to take it this far, Brianne,” she said miserably. “I know you don’t like Mr. Sabon. I know what people say about him. But he’s very rich and powerful—”

“And you think money is the most important thing in the world,” she replied with cold eyes.

Her mother averted her gaze quickly. “I didn’t say that. He could give you anything you wanted, though. And it would make Kurt happy.”

“Making your husband happy isn’t my main goal in life, Mother,” Brianne said with an unfamiliar iciness in her tone. “And if you think I’m going to marry that man to keep Kurt Brauer happy, you are sadly misinformed.”

Her mother looked horrified. “You…you didn’t say that to him?” she asked with real fear.

“Of course not!” she replied quickly. “Mother, I’m not a fool. He did make certain threats about you, and the baby,” she added reluctantly. She and Eve had never been close. At times like this, it was sad, because they could have confided in each other, comforted each other. Eve had always lied about her age. Brianne’s very presence, not to mention her age, was a visible contradiction. Like many pretty women, she had a hard time accepting the advance of her years.

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