“Is that right?”
“Caine, someday soon, I believe you’ll actually thank me for this deception. Besides, it’s over now, finished.”
He slowly shook his head. He smiled too. Jade didn’t know what to make of that reaction. Because she didn’t dare take her gaze away from him, she didn’t look behind her and suddenly found herself backed up against the corner of the wall. She’d misjudged the distance to the entrance by several feet.
She was trapped. His smile widened, indicating he was well aware of her predicament and was thoroughly enjoying it.
“It’s done,” she stammered out.
“No, it has only just begun, sweet.” His hands slammed against the wall on either side of her face.
“You’re referring to this hunt for the Tribunal, aren’t you?”
He slowly leaned down. “No, I’m referring to you and me. Did you let me touch you because you were protecting me?”
“What a ridiculous question,” she muttered.
“Answer me.”
“No, of course not,” she whispered. She stared at his chest while she admitted that fact.
“Was it out of guilt for deceiving me?”
“No,” she cried out. She realized she sounded frightened and immediately changed her tone. “I never feel guilty about lying. I do it very well. I’m proud of my talent, not ashamed.”
Caine closed his eyes and said a quick prayer for patience. “Then why did you let me touch you?” he demanded.
“You know why.”
“Tell me.”
“Because I wanted you to touch me,” she whispered.
“Why?”
She shook her head, then tried to push his hand away. He didn’t budge.
“You aren’t leaving this room until you’ve given me the full truth. No more lies, Jade.”
She stared at his chin now. “You ask too much of me.”
“I ask only what I can give in return,” he countered. “And we’re going to stand here all day until . . .”
“Oh, all right,” she replied. “I wanted you to touch me because you were such a kind, gentle man and I realized how much I . . . cared for you.”
She looked up into his eyes then, for she needed to know if he was going to laugh or not. If he showed even a hint of amusement, she swore she’d use her fist on him.
He wasn’t laughing. He did look pleased with her admission, arrogantly so, but she decided he was entitled to that much. “Caine, you weren’t anything like the man I read about in your file. Even your director doesn’t know the real you.”
“You read my file?”
She decided she shouldn’t have mentioned that fact when he grabbed hold of her shoulders and began to squeeze fresh bruises on her skin. “Yes, I read your file,” she announced. “It took most of the night. You have quite a history.”
He shook his head. He was more astonished than angry. “Jade, the file should have been sealed . . . locked away, the name wiped clean.”
“Oh, it was, Caine. Yes, the security was actually quite good. No faulty latches on all the doors, sturdy locks on each cabinet . . .”
“Obviously the security wasn’t good enough,” he muttered. “You were able to get inside. You found and read my file. My God, I haven’t even read it.”
“Why would you want to read it?” she asked. “You lived each event. The file only related assignments you’d handled. There wasn’t much about your personal life. Why, the incident with the Bradley brothers wasn’t even mentioned.”
“Caine, why are you so upset?” she asked. She thought he might be trying to crush her bones now.
“You read everything? You know everything I’ve done?”
She slowly nodded. “You’re hurting me, Caine. Please let go.”
He put his hands back on the wall, blocking her exit again. “And yet, knowing all this . . . you still came looking for me. You weren’t afraid?”
“I was a little afraid,” she confessed. “Your history is most . . . colorful. And I was worried, yes, but after we met, I found myself doubting the accuracy . . .”
“Don’t,” he interrupted. “There wasn’t any exaggeration.”
She shivered over the briskness in his voice. “You did what you had to do,” she whispered.
Caine still wasn’t absolutely certain he believed her. “What was my operative name?”
“Hunter.”
“Hell.”
“Caine, do try to understand my position. It was necessary for me to find out everything I could about you.”
“Why was it necessary?”
“You were in danger.”
“Did it not occur to you that I could take care of any threats that came my way?”
“Yes,” she answered. “It occurred to me. Still, I had made a promise to your brother and I was honor bound to keep you safe.”
“Your word is very important to you, isn’t it, Jade?”
“Well, of course it is,” she countered.
“I still don’t understand why you thought you needed to read my file.”
“I needed to find your . . . vulnerability. Don’t look at me like that. Everyone has an Achilles’ heel, Caine, even you.”
“And what did you find? What’s my flaw?”
“Like your father, you have a reputation for being a champion of the weak. That isn’t necessarily a flaw, but I used that part of your character to my advantage.”
“By pretending to be in danger? Jade, you were in danger. Those events did take place. You . . .”
“I could have taken care of the threat on my own,” she boasted. “Once I got away from Nathan’s carriage, I went to Shallow’s Wharf. Jimbo and Matthew were there, waiting for me. The three of us could have taken care of the problem.”
“Perhaps,” Caine said.
Since he was being so agreeable, and looking so distracted, she tried to duck under his arm. Caine simply moved closer to stop her. “You believed I was weaker and you therefore became my champion, my guardian angel,” she finished.
“As it turns out, you were my guardian angel, too,” he said.
“Does that injure your pride?”
“No,” he answered. “Being manipulated has already done quite enough damage to my pride.”
“You have enough arrogance to suffer this paltry blow,” she whispered, a wisp of a smile in her voice. “You would have given your life to keep me safe. I heard you whisper that promise to me when you thought I was asleep.”
“Damn it, Jade, was there ever a moment when you weren’t deceiving me?”
She didn’t answer him.
“Jade, I gave you my protection. Do you know what you gave me?”
“Lies,” she answered.
“Yes, lies, but something else as well.” He could tell by her blush that she understood what he was saying. “What else did you give me?”
“Well, there was . . . that,” she whispered. “I was a virgin . . .”
“You gave me your love, Jade.”
She shook her head.
He nodded.
“I didn’t, Caine.”
“You did,” he replied. “Do you remember what I told you that first night we made love?”
She remembered every word. “No,” she said.
“You’re lying again, Jade. You have a knack for remembering everything you read or hear.”
“Just everything I’ve read,” she whispered. She started struggling to get away from him. She was suddenly filled with panic.
Caine moved closer, until his thighs were touching hers. “Then let me remind you, my little deceiver,” he whispered. “I told you that you were going to belong to me. Now and forever, Jade.”
“You didn’t mean it,” she cried out. “I won’t hold you to such a foolish promise, Caine.” She closed her eyes against the memory of their lovemaking. “Now is not the time to . . . Caine, stop that,” she rushed on when he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I tricked you, lied to you. Besides,” she adde
d. “You didn’t know I was Pagan. Anything you said that night must be forgotten.”
“I don’t want to forget,” he said.
“Caine, I can’t possibly stay with you. You don’t even like me. I’m a thief, remember?”
“No, my love, you used to be a thief,” he said. “But all that’s finished. There’s going to be some changes, Jade.”
“Impossible. You’d never be able to make so many changes, Caine. You’re too rigid.”
“I was referring to you!” he shouted. “You’re going to be making these changes.”
“I won’t.”
“You will. You’re giving it all up, Jade.”
“Why?”
“Because I won’t have it, that’s why.”
She didn’t want to understand. “What I do is of no concern to you,” she argued. “My men depend on me, Caine. I won’t let them down.”
“They’ll have to depend upon someone else then,” he bellowed. “Your thieving days are over.”
Her ears were ringing, but she was suddenly too angry and too frightened to worry about that. “Once I leave here, you’ll never see me again. Don’t worry, I won’t come back to rob you.” She decided she was finished with this conversation. She shoved away from Caine, then saw Nathan and Black Harry standing in the entrance, watching her. She assumed they’d heard most of the conversation. She had been shouting, she realized, almost as loudly as Caine had. And this was all Caine’s doing anyway. He’d turned her into a raving shrew.
“Why do you care what she does?” Nathan asked.
For Jade’s benefit, Caine kept his expression mild, contained. “Nathan, I believe it’s time you and I had our little chat. Jade, wait in the dining room with Harry. Sterns?” Caine added when the butler joined the group. “See that we aren’t interrupted.”
Black Harry seemed to be the only one who fully understood what was about to happen. “Just a moment, me boy,” he said to Caine as he made his way past Nathan. He rushed through the drawing room, snatched the silver bowl from the top of the mantle, then hurried back to the entrance. “It would be a shame to have this ruined, now wouldn’t it? I’ll be taking it with me,” he added when Jade started to protest. “Caine would want me to have it, girl, so quit your frowns.”
Nathan had moved into the drawing room. With a whispered nod of good luck, Sterns dragged Jade out of the room and shut the doors.
“What do they have to talk about?” Jade asked Black Harry. “They don’t even know each other.”
The crash cleared up her confusion. “My God, they’re going to kill each other,” she cried out. “Harry, do something.”
Jade gave that command while she tried to push Sterns out of her way. Harry rushed over and put his arm around her shoulders. “Now, girl, they’ve been itching to get at each other since the moment they met. Let them alone. Come along with me back to the dining room. Cook’s about to do us with dessert.”
“Harry, please!”
“Come along,” Harry soothed. “Me men are waiting on me.”
Her uncle gave up trying to persuade her to join him when she started in shouting. The sound didn’t bother him much at all, considering all the noise coming from the drawing room. “You always were a mite stubborn, girl,” he muttered as he moved back to the dining room. The cherished silver bowl was tucked under his arm.
A pounding began at the front door just as the dining room doors shut behind Harry. Sterns was immediately torn between duties.
“Will mi’lady please see who’s come calling,” he shouted so she could hear him above the noise.
Sterns’ arms were folded across his chest. His back rested against the doors. Jade moved to stand beside him, then imitated his stance. “Mi’lady will guard these doors while you go see who it is.”
The butler shook his head. “You cannot trick me, Lady Jade. You’re wanting to get inside with the Marquess.”
“Of course I want to go inside,” she argued. “Caine’s fighting with my brother. One’s bound to kill the other.”
Another loud crash shook the walls. Sterns decided one of the two men had thrown the settee against the wall. He mentioned that possibility to Jade. She shook her head. “Sounds more like a body hitting the wall, Sterns. Oh, please . . .”
She didn’t bother to continue pleading with him when he shook his head.
The front door suddenly opened. Both Jade and Sterns turned their attention to the two guests who just walked inside.
“It’s the Duke and Duchess of Williamshire,” Sterns whispered, appalled.
Jade’s manner immediately changed. “Don’t you dare move away from these doors, Sterns.”
She rushed across the foyer and made a curtsy in front of Caine’s parents. The Duke of Williamshire smiled at her. The Duchess was barely paying her any notice, for her attention was centered on the entrance to the drawing room. Another loud blasphemy radiated through the doors. Caine’s stepmother let out a small gasp.
“You took her innocence, you bastard.”
Nathan’s bellowed accusation echoed throughout the foyer. Jade felt like screaming. She suddenly hoped Caine would kill her brother.
Then she remembered their guests. “Good day,” she blurted out. She had to shout so the Duke and Duchess would hear her. She felt like a simpleton.
“What is going on here?” the Duchess demanded. “Sterns, who is this lady?”
“My name is Lady Jade,” she blurted out. “My brother and I are friends of Caine’s,” she added.
“But what is going on inside the drawing room?” the Duchess asked.
“A little dispute,” she said. “Caine and Nathan, my brother, you see, are having a rather spirited debate about . . .”
She looked over at Sterns for help while she frantically tried to think of a plausible explanation.
“Crops,” Sterns shouted.
“Crops?” The Duke of Williamshire asked, looking thoroughly puzzled.
“That’s ridiculous,” the Duchess announced. Her short blond curls bobbed when she shook her head.
“Yes, crops,” Jade stated. “Caine believes the barley and wheat should be planted only every other year. Nathan, on the other hand, doesn’t believe a field should go fallow. Isn’t that right, Sterns?”
“Yes, mi’lady,” Sterns shouted. He grimaced when the sound of glass shattering pierced the air, then said, “My lord feels quite strongly about this issue.”
“Yes,” Jade agreed. “Quite strongly.”
The Duke and Duchess were staring at her with incredulous expressions. They thought she was crazed. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “Upstairs, if you please.”
“I beg your pardon?” the Duchess asked.
“Please come upstairs,” Jade repeated.
“You want us to go upstairs?” the Duchess asked.
“Yes,” Jade answered. “There’s someone waiting to see you. I believe he’s in the second room on the right, though I can’t be certain.”
She had to shout the end of her explanation as the noise had once again risen to ear-piercing dimensions.
The Duke of Williamshire came out of his stupor. He clasped Jade’s hands. “Bless you, my dear,” he said. “It’s so good to see you again,” he added. “You kept your word. I never doubted,” he added. He realized he was rambling and immediately forced himself to calm down. “Come along, Gweneth. Jade wants us to go upstairs now.”
“You know this woman, Henry?”
“Oh, dear, have I given myself away?” Henry asked Jade.
She shook her head. “I’ve already told Caine I came to see you,” she said.
Henry nodded, then turned back to his wife. “I met this lovely young lady early this morning.”
“Where?” Gweneth asked, refusing to let him tug her toward the steps. “I’ll hear your explanation now, Henry.”
“She came to see me in my study,” Henry said. “You were still sleeping. Now come along, sweet. You’ll understand after you’ve . . .”
“Henry, she has red hair!”
“Yes, dear,” Henry agreed as he prodded her up the stairs.
Gweneth started to laugh. “And green eyes, Henry,” she shouted in order for her husband to hear her. “I noticed her green eyes right off, Henry.”
“How very astute of you, Gweneth.”
Jade stared after Caine’s parents until they’d reached the hallway above the stairs. “The fat’s in the fire now, isn’t it, Sterns?”
“I do believe that is a most accurate evaluation, mi’lady,” Sterns agreed. “But have you noticed the blessed lack of noise?”
“I have,” she replied. “They’ve killed each other.”
Sterns shook his head. “My employer would not kill your brother,” he said. “I believe I shall fetch the decanter of brandy for the two gentlemen. I imagine they’re quite parched by now.”
“Not parched,” Jade wailed. “Dead, Sterns. They’re both dead.”
“Now, mi’lady, one must always look on the bright side.”
“That is the bright side,” she muttered. “Oh, go and fetch the brandy then. I’ll guard the doors.”
“I trust you to keep your word,” he announced.
She didn’t want to go inside now. She was furious with Caine and her brother, and so humiliated because the Duke and Duchess of Williamshire had strolled right into the middle of the brawl, she wanted to weep.
And just what did she care what Caine’s parents thought about her? She was leaving, and that was that. She would have gone upstairs to pack her satchel then and there but she didn’t want to take the chance of running into the Duchess again.
When Sterns returned with the crystal decanter and two glasses, Jade opened the door for him. Both she and the butler stopped when they saw the destruction. The lovely room was in shambles. Jade didn’t think there was a single piece of furniture left intact.
Sterns found the two men before Jade did. His initial surprise wore off much faster, too. The butler straightened his shoulders and proceeded over to the far wall, where Caine and Nathan were seated on the floor, side by side, their backs propped up by the wall.
Jade stumbled after the butler. Her hands flew to cover her mouth when she looked at the two warriors. Neither looked victorious. Caine had a jagged cut on his forehead, just above his right eyebrow. Blood trickled down the side of his face, but he seemed to be oblivious to his injury. God’s truth, he was grinning like a banshee.