LITMIR.BIZ

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before lifting his head. “Why are you showing me a pic-ture of you? I don’t understand.” He handed it back to him.

      “If you’ll notice the date, this headline is a year old. When the picture was taken, I happened to be in the States on business with our big brother. As usual, the paparazzi got you and me mixed up. That was during the time you and Deline were separated. This tall, raven-haired beauty who’s looking over at you was the woman, right?”

      Only now did it strike Andreas that Thea bore a superficial resemblance to both Deline and Irena. Sometimes it astounded him that he and Leon had similar tastes, not only in certain kinds of foods and sports, but in women. They were all striking brunettes.

      “Yes,” he whispered. “And if I hadn’t gone to Deline and told her the truth about that night, it could have cost me my marriage. I still marvel that she forgave me enough to give us a second chance.”

      Leon unexpectedly grabbed the paper out of his hand and balled it up in his fist. “Why are you reminding me of it? Look here, Andreas—” His cheeks had grown ruddy with unaccustomed anger.

      “I have been looking,” he came back in a quiet voice. “Because I love you and Deline, for the last twenty-four hours I’ve been doing whatever it takes to protect you and keep this news confidential.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “I thought you’d like to know the name of the woman you spent that hour with on the yacht. Her name was Thea Paulos, the divorced daughter of Richard Turner, of the Greek-American Consulate on Crete. Her ex-husband Dimitri Paulos is the son of Ari Paulos who owns Paulos Metal Exports, one of the subsidiary companies we acquired a few years ago.”

      While his brother stood there swallowing hard, Andreas removed the twins’ photo and DNA results from the manila envelope and handed everything to him.

      Stunned into silence, Leon sank down on the couch to stare at the children he’d unknowingly produced. Though Andreas had it in his heart to feel sorry for his brother’s predicament, a part of him thought Leon the luckiest man on earth to have fathered two such beautiful sons.

      “I had our DNA compared to theirs. It’s a match.”

      Leon’s face went white.

      “I’ve seen them,” Andreas confided. Thanks to Gabi, he’d held and fed both of them, an experience he’d never forget.

      His brother’s dark head reared back. “You’ve seen them—” He sounded incredulous.

      “Yes. They’re three months old.”

      “Three months?” He mouthed the words, obviously in shock. “How did Ms. Paulos contact you?”

      “She didn’t. Tragically for the children, she died on the operating table giving birth to them.”

      “She’s dead?” He kept repeating everything Andreas said, like a man in a trance.

      “It was her half sister, Gabi Turner, who came to my office yesterday. She’s the one who arranged for me to see the boys at a park near the consulate today.”

      His brother jumped up from the couch looking like a caged animal ready to spring.

      “Take it easy, Leon. I know what you’re thinking, but you’d be dead wrong. In the first place, she believes I’m the father.”

      Leon jerked around. “You didn’t tell her I was the one in that news photo?”

      “No.”

      His brother averted his eyes. “How much money does she want to keep quiet?” he asked in a subdued voice.

      It was a fair question since the same one had dominated Andreas’s thoughts when she’d first pulled out the photograph. “Forget about her desire to blackmail me. This has to do with something else entirely.”

      “And you believed her?” Leon cried, grabbing his shoulders.

      Andreas supposed Gabi could have been lying through her teeth. If that were the case…He saw black for a moment before a semblance of reason returned.

      “I’d stake my life on the fact that her only agenda for coming to me was to make sure I knew I had two sons before she left Greece.”

      “Why would she do that?”

      He sucked in his breath. “Because she said they deserve to be with their real father if it’s at all possible.”

      Leon’s eyes clouded for a moment before he flashed Andreas a jaded look and released him. “It could be a ploy. Where’s she supposedly going?”

      “Alexandria, Virginia.” To her home and her life, as she’d put it. “Her father started his diplomatic career there. I have confirmation of it.”

      While Leon stood there tongue tied, Andreas’s cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID and clicked on. “Mother?”

      “Where are you?”

      “In my villa.” He glanced at his brother. “Leon’s with me.”

      “Can’t you two stop talking business for one evening?”

      “Yes. We’ll be right over.”

      “Good. Everyone’s wondering where you are. Deline’s been looking everywhere. We’re going to start some family movies.”

      “Tell her we’re coming,” Leon called out loud enough for her to hear before Andreas clicked off.

      He went into the study and locked the envelope in his desk, then eyed his brother soberly. “Since Gabi thinks I’m the father, we’ll leave it that way for now.”

      As soon as Leon handed the wad to him he set it in an ashtray on the coffee table and put a match to it. When the evidence was gone, he lifted his head. “Before you make a decision about anything, you need to see the twins for yourself.”

      Another odd sound escaped his brother.

      “I’ll phone Gabi and see if we can’t arrange it for Monday. We’ll make up some excuse to the family about a business emergency. We won’t have to be gone long.”

      Leon buried his face in his hands. “How am I going to be able to act like everything’s normal until then?”

      A shudder passed through Andreas’s body. “We’re both going to have to find a way.”

      His dark head reared back. “When Deline finds out about this…I swear I’ve been doing everything to make our marriage work. It only happened that one time, Andreas. It’ll never happen again. I love Deline.” The tremor in his voice was real enough.

      “I believe you.”

      “You know the reason why we separated for those two months. We’d been fighting over my working too much. She got on that old rant about my being married to you instead of her. She said she was tired of being neglected and told me I was the reason we hadn’t gotten pregnant yet.

      “When she told me she wanted a separation because she needed time to think, I was in hell. After weeks of trying to get her to talk to me, she told me she was thinking of making the separation permanent. I was so hurt, I ended up taking the yacht out. Some of my friends came along and brought women. There was too much drinking. I never meant to lose my head.”

      Andreas had heard it all before. He’d seen his brother was in anguish then, but this news added a terrifying new wrinkle.

      After pacing the floor, Leon stopped and faced Andreas. “I know that was no excuse for making the ghastliest mistake of my life.” His mouth formed a thin line. “Sorry you got involved in this mess.” There was a lengthy pause. “It isn’t your problem. It’s mine, but I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do about it yet.”

      At least Leon had admitted responsibility. “Once you’ve seen those babies, you’ll figure it out.”

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