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“Florian. It’s nice to see you again.” Alia came in to shake his hand and offer one of her winning smiles. Her hair swung in a ponytail and her face was bare of makeup. She looked casual and very fetching in a sale-rack sundress with braided straps.

Florian was dazzled by her, flushing with attraction as he stammered, “And you.”

She’s my wife, Spiro thought with a stab of possessiveness, even though he didn’t want a wife. He had never given thought to marriage beyond “maybe someday.” He wasn’t the type to need others or see himself capable of fulfilling another person. And there was that trust factor it required, where he would have to give someone complete access to his inner life. No. Even his trust in Khristos had boundaries. Look what his brother had done to him the minute he’d had power over him!

Whether he wanted to have a wife or not didn’t matter, though. She currently was his wife and this mutual admiration irritated him. He leaned back in his chair and asked suspiciously, “When did you two meet?”

“The day after we married.” Alia’s smile faltered as she read his dismay. “Khristos took me to the office so I could video chat with the board.”

“Hmph.” He was becoming paranoid. Yet something green-eyed within him brought his hand up. He twitched his fingers, commanding Alia to come around the desk to his side.

She blinked in wariness, then came to stand next to him and accepted his hand.

A flashpoint of electrical heat crashed through him. The tiny twitch in her fingers told him she felt it, too. She almost pulled her hand away, but left it when he tightened his grip, the way a small creature might resign itself to being held, but was ready to dart away at its first opportunity. Her gaze delved into his, searching. Nervous.

The sound of a foot scuff dragged Spiro out of his locked stare with her and back to Florian. He was attempting to fade into the noise-dampening wall panels.

“Step into the hall and close the door,” Spiro said. “I need to speak to my wife. Don’t go far. I’ll have more instructions for you.”

Florian ducked his head and left.

Alia tried to withdraw her hand.

Spiro kept it, keeping her close while he looked into her eyes. Her velvety gaze was mesmerizing. No wonder Florian wanted to lose himself in it.

“Is there something going on between you two?” he asked.

“Who?” Her shocked gaze flew to the door. She firmly yanked her hand from his. “That’s the second time I’ve seen him in my life!”

“Just checking.” He swiveled his chair to face her and rested his arm on the edge of his desk. “I need you to go to the office with him. Get my laptop and bring it back to me.”

She stopped her agitated working of the sparkling rings on her finger.

“The doctor said you’re supposed to stay off work another week. Otherwise, I would have asked Florian to bring it with the phone. Do you not trust him to get it for you?”

There was a desktop computer right here that he could log in to if he wanted to. That wasn’t the point.

“Florian is extremely loyal and discreet. When he gets back to the office, he’ll only speak of me to relay my instructions. It would never occur to him to say anything personal about me. But as my wife—” he overlaid the word with heavy sarcasm “—you can be more forthcoming.”

She tucked her chin. “In what way?”

“Tell everyone how warmed I am with the card.” He flicked where it sat on his desk. He hadn’t read it, but that didn’t matter. “Rave about how quickly I’m bouncing back. Say it’s all you can do to keep me away from the office and working from home.”

Her brows went up in a skeptical Really.

“I don’t need to fool you,” he muttered. “I need you to fool everyone else. Can I trust you to do that for me, Alia?” Could he trust her at all? That’s what he was really asking. His own mother had betrayed him by marrying a viper. Relying on this stranger—who was only here as a favor to his brother’s friend—was galling.

But she was his only option when he was as weak as a kitten.

“Will you do it for Julian?” he added with another layer of irony.

“I would do anything for him.” She lifted her chin, hiding all her thoughts behind a remote expression.

What would it feel like to have that sort of devotion? he wondered. Then immediately dismissed a desire to have any such thing. Why would he want or need it?

“Good. Send Florian back in. I have a few more instructions for him before you go.”

Spiro couldn’t outright block Lambros from the MSPM building, not when his mother had essentially ceded her share of the company to him, but Spiro told Florian to issue a memo that Lambros should no longer attend meetings that weren’t open to the board or other shareholders. He used his new phone to call security himself, informing them that Lambros’s pass should be downgraded to “guest” again.