“Don’t, Olivia,” he begged. Incredibly when she looked in his eyes, she saw pain and pleading.
“Don’t what?” her voice shook. “Have you any idea what it’s like to be compared to a piece of fruit everyone has picked over? A fruit rotten at its core?”
She could see his throat working. “You know I never meant any of those things, mon amour. You’ve got to hear me out.” The pleading in his voice was a revelation to Olivia. “I had a long talk with Cesar.”
“For his sake I’m thankful—” she blurted, unable to hold back after so much suffering. “He deserved to be let out of the prison you put him in when you
wouldn’t let him explain anything. If anyone understands what that feels like, I do.”
“There are different kinds of prisons. I’d like the chance to tell you about mine while we take the Olivier out for a sail. This will be her maiden voyage under her new name and colors.”
Oh, Luc.
He could make her do anything. Greer would tell her she had no spine. But like the pushover she was, she let him help her into the boat. Before jumping in after her with an agility he hadn’t been able to demonstrate before now, he untied the ropes.
She put on the life jacket he handed her. Soon he revved the motor and they made their way to open water.
“Would you like to do the honors?” he asked after cutting the engine.
She walked over to the mast and released the sail. The night breeze filled it.
“Oh—” she cried softly when she saw the stylized design, against the white, of a graceful olive tree whose branches reached out in every direction.
Luc—
He came to stand by her. They guided the sail together. “While I was at that robotics seminar at M.I.T., I noticed a message from Genevieve on my voice mail that said she’d been at the hospital and wanted me to come home quick.
“I couldn’t imagine what had happened, and she’d turned off her phone. I flew back to Nice and drove straight to her apartment only to learn that she’d had a miscarriage.”
Olivia moaned.
“It came as a tremendous shock because I’d taken precautions and didn’t have a clue she was pregnant. She admitted it wasn’t mine. Then she confessed to having had a secret affair with Cesar before getting engaged to me.
“She knew it was his baby and had gone to see him since he needed to be told the truth before she broke her engagement to me. According to her story, Cesar wanted nothing to do with her and said it was her problem. His rejection brought on her miscarriage.”
“And you believed her over the brother you’d known all your life?” Olivia cried.
“No. Not until the hospital did a follow-up call while I was there to make certain she had someone taking care of her. Apparently she lost a lot of blood. When I asked the attending physician the age of the fetus, he told me ten weeks.
“I’d only started having relations with her after our engagement a month earlier. That meant it couldn’t be mine. I walked away from her and never looked back. But I still couldn’t believe it was Cesar’s child. If he’d been interested in her, I would have known about it before she came to my office looking for a job.
“Because I was so certain she’d lied about my brother’s involvement with her, I sent a friend to the garage to learn what he could. Mechanics love to gossip. All it took was a few glasses of wine for Etienne to admit Cesar and Genevieve had been a hot item for a while. The date for the baby’s conception fit.”
Now it was Olivia who was feeling sick.
Luc’s eyes grew bleak. “That began a nightmare from which I never awakened until you forced me to rethink the situation. Olivia,” he whispered. His hands slid up her arms. She could hear his shallow breathing, feel it together with the wind on her lips.
“If you hadn’t provoked me, I would never have gone to my brother to learn the truth. I heard some of it from Bianca, then he repeated to me exactly what he told you, and a lot more.”
“A lot more?” she asked emotionally.
“Yes.” His hands tightened on shoulders. “I found out he toyed with you about an engagement ring to test your love for me.”
“Yes, darling.” Her eyes filled. “He loves you that much. He’s an amazing brother.”
“He is.” Olivia heard him clear his throat. “After we’d made our peace, we confronted Etienne.”
“The mechanic you thought I was after,” she said in a wounded voice.