Husband By Request

“No—” She spread her hands in despair. “I don’t blame you for anything. But it was wrong of Olympia to force you to keep a secret like that from me. I’m so sorry she was raped. I can’t imagine anything more horrible. But no matter how much pain she was in, she didn’t have the right to ask that of you.”

Heat scorched her cheeks. “Whether intentionally or not, Olympia relied on your goodness and years of constant friendship to manipulate you into a position that damaged what little communication you and I had going for us.” Her voice shook.

“Look, Andreas—I’ve made up my mind to be her friend because of her importance in your life. But what if she gets into another kind of trouble and relies on you to bail her out again? Are you going to fly to her defense without telling me? I can handle anything as long as there’s total honesty between us.”

He raked a hand through his hair. “I swear I’ll never hold anything back again.”

His admission didn’t make her feel any better. Not when she knew how Olympia operated.

“You say that now, and I believe you, but—”

“But nothing—” He cut her off before crushing her in his arms. “I’ll make you a promise that anything she has to say to me must be said in front of you too. No exceptions. Not ever again.”

Dominique clung to him, but her heart quaked because he didn’t realize how strong a psychological hold Olympia had on him.

By saying what he’d just said, he’d admitted there were going to be more times in the future when Olympia came to him because she was in trouble. Her need of him wouldn’t end.

He hadn’t seen what Dominique had seen on the films tonight. Olympia’s teenage crush had flowered into a womanly obsession. Knowing what Dominique knew now, since dinner, Paul’s blunt statement that he could never be interested in Olympia made perfect sense.

Twice since she’d come back to Greece he’d started to say something, then thought the better of it. She had an idea it all had to do with Olympia.

In her office in Sarajevo, when he’d told her Olympia was on board the yacht, she’d thought it had been Paul’s way of hurting her because she’d hurt Andreas, his closest friend. But what if it had been a warning?

“Dominique? You’re not saying anything. If I thought you didn’t believe me…”

Slowly she eased out of his arms. “Yes. Of course I do.” She lifted her eyes to his, determined to stay dry-eyed.

“Actually, my mind was on your sister. Tonight it was apparent to me from the videos that Paul and Maris had a strong attraction for each other. Every time the camera zoomed in on him he was staring at her, and she would respond with laughter and long yearning looks.”

He studied her face intently. “We all grew up together, but neither one of them ever discussed their feelings for each other with me. As we got older, they both dated other people.”

She smoothed a strand of hair off her face. “Don’t you find it odd that neither of them were married by the time Maris was involved in that accident?”

A frustrated sound came out of his throat. “Paul’s his own man. Most of our friends didn’t marry till their late twenties or early thirties. I never gave it any thought. As for Maris, I didn’t think any of the guys she met measured up to her.”

“Did you tell her that?”

“Only with a few of them. It’s a brother thing. I believed that one day the right man would come into her life and that would be it.”

“Something tells me Paul was that man.”

His eyes flashed in pain. “If that’s true, then I don’t know why in the hell he didn’t say something to me years ago!”

“Maybe he was afraid of your reaction. Perhaps he thought you might not approve.”

“That’s not possible. He’s the best man I know.”

“I’m afraid he may be the last person who knows it.”

He kneaded her shoulders urgently. “You’re serious?”

“Yes. Until recently I didn’t realize how really sweet and shy he is.”

“Paul?” Her husband was incredulous.

“Yes. He hides it behind a stony façade, but I saw through it when he was playing with Ari.”

“He doesn’t have any trouble finding women.”