King's Ransom (Man on a Mission 2)

But she couldn’t sit. And at first she thought she couldn’t tell her friend what Andre had accused her of. What if deep down Bree suspects that, too? Juliana felt like crying. She didn’t want her friend to think she would betray her trust. I don’t have that many friends in Hollywood that I can afford to lose Bree...and Dirk, she thought with dismay.

Sabrina made it easy on her. “So the king thinks you and Dirk are lovers?”

Juliana gasped. “How did you know?” Then she stumbled over herself to deny there was any truth to Andre’s accusation. “Not that we are... We aren’t... I would never... Dirk wouldn’t...”

Sabrina laughed, and it was such a carefree sound it put to rest Juliana’s sudden suspicion that her friend might have thought... “You’re right. You wouldn’t. And Dirk wouldn’t, either. But I don’t think the king knows that.” Her smile turned empathetic, but it wasn’t just for Juliana. “I think he looks at you...and he doesn’t think at all, he feels. And he transposes his own feelings for you onto every man around you.” She patted the sofa beside her, coaxing Juliana to sit next to her. When Juliana perched on the edge, she said kindly, “Don’t you think it’s time you told me what this is all about?”

Warmth surged up into Juliana’s cheeks again, and she couldn’t meet her friend’s eyes. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Dirk and I have eyes, you know,” Sabrina said softly. “He told me you freeze on the set whenever the king shows up. He affects your performance, which isn’t like you—no man ever makes you flub your lines like that. And we saw the two of you together at the reception, don’t forget that. Add up everything we’ve seen, throw in the fact that you never wanted to come back here, and it’s obvious there’s history between the two of you. I hope you know I would never betray a confidence you gave me. Not even to Dirk.”

Juliana linked her fingers together and twisted them subconsciously, then glanced over at Sabrina. “You’re right,” she admitted in a tight little voice. “Andre and I knew each other a long time ago.”

“He’s part of your mysterious past?”

Juliana’s tone was harsh. “He’s all of it.” Sabrina made an encouraging sound, and she continued. “I was eighteen. He was twenty-two. I thought he loved me. He didn’t. End of story.”

“Nice try,” Sabrina said drily. “Try again.”

Juliana took a deep, shuddering breath. “We had one night together. One. Then I went back to the States to attend college in Virginia. I wrote to him...more than once. Love letters. Emails. Pouring my heart out to him. It makes me sick now to remember just how pathetic I must have seemed to him.” She stopped, unable to continue for a minute. “He never wrote back,” she said finally. “No letters. No emails. I waited for him to call me. He never did.” Her eyes filled with tears. “So I called him. Several times. But he never answered. I thought he loved me, even though he never said the words. I was so sure. But—”

“He does love you.”

Juliana rubbed the heels of her hands against her eyes like a little girl, wiping away the tears. “He wants me. Just like nearly every other man in the world except Dirk. He thinks I’ve slept around and figures why shouldn’t I sleep with him, too? After all, I did once before.”

Sabrina’s smile was gentle. “What makes you think Dirk doesn’t want you?”

Chapter 8

“What?” Shocked, Juliana stared at Sabrina.

“Don’t get me wrong. I trust Dirk completely. I know he would never cheat on me, would never have an affair with you or any other woman.” Sabrina’s eyes shone with her complete confidence in her husband’s loyalty. “But he’s a man—very much so. And you’re an incredibly beautiful and sexy woman. He’s held you in his arms. He’s kissed you. He’s made love to you on-screen, sometimes with very little in the way of clothes between you. He wouldn’t be human if he hadn’t thought about it at times.”

She waited for Juliana to digest that. “But that’s as far as it goes. Even if he wasn’t married to me, you’ve got Touch Me Not signs everywhere. And Dirk is too much of a gentleman to ever risk hurting you. He knows there was a man in your murky past who shattered your trust in men. And since we’ve been here in Zakhar, I’m sure he’s figured out who, the same way I have. Just not why.”