'Yes, you did.'
'I repeated the vows before you and God.' Her voice had risen an octave. He could also see her panic, her insecurity.
'Well? What more do you want from me?'
She was shouting now, wringing her hands together. Caine decided she still wasn't ready to surrender wholeheartedly.
He felt like an ogre for upsetting her. 'Jade…'
'Caine, I don't want to leave you,' she blurted out. 'I do trust you. Yes, I do. I know you'll keep me safe. I know you love me, but there's a part of me that still…' She stopped her explanation and lowered her gaze. Her shoulders slumped in dejection. 'Sometimes the feelings locked inside me since I was a little girl do get in the way of being logical,' she admitted a long minute later. 'I suppose you're right. I'm not at all logical about this, am I?'
He pulled her into his arms and held her close. The hug was more for his benefit than hers. In truth, he couldn't stand to see the torment in her eyes.
'I want to tell you something, sweetheart. The first time you tried to leave me… when Harry told me you'd left, it threw me into a panic. I've never had such a god-awful feeling before, and I sure as hell hated it. Now I'm beginning to realize that you've lived with that feeling a long time, haven't you?'
She mopped her tears away with his shirt before she answered. 'Perhaps.'
'And so you learned how to make it completely on your own,' he continued. 'You've been teaching yourself not to depend on anyone else. I'm right, aren't I?'
She shrugged against him. 'I don't like talking about this,' she whispered, trying to sound disgruntled
and not terrified. 'I love you with all my heart,' she added when he squeezed her. 'And I know you
love me now, Caine. Yes, I'm sure of that.'
Neither said a word for a long while after she'd made that statement. Jade used the time to calm her racing heart. He used the silence to think of a logical way to ease her illogical fears.
'What if we make this a short period?' he suddenly blurted out.
'What?' She pulled away from him so she could see his expression. Surely he was jesting with her.
The look on his face indicated he was quite serious. 'You want to make our marriage a short union?
But you just told me you loved me. How can you…'
'No, no,' he argued. 'If we just make this commitment to each other for six months' time, if you can
just promise me you'll stay with me for that length of time, won't some of your panic ease away?'
He sounded so enthusiastic, looked so arrogantly pleased with himself. She realized then he was quite sincere in this absurdity. 'You already said you'd never leave me. Now you're telling me six months…'
'I won't ever leave you,' he snapped, obviously irritated she wasn't embracing his plan wholeheartedly. 'But you don't believe I mean what I say. Therefore, you have only to promise to give me six months, Jade.'
'And what about you, husband? Does this promise hold for you as well?'
'Of course.'
She threw herself back into his arms so he couldn't see her smile. She didn't want him to think she was laughing at him. Odd, too, but she suddenly felt as though a weight had been lifted from her chest. She could breathe again. The panic was gone.
'Give me your word, wife.'
The command was given in a low growl. 'I give it,' she replied.
'No,' he muttered. 'It won't work. It's too short a time,' he added. 'Hell, if I ever forgot, you'd be gone before I… I want a full year, Jade. We'll start from the day we were married. I won't ever forget our anniversary.'
He squeezed her shoulders when she didn't answer him quickly enough. 'Well? Do you promise not to leave me for a full year?'
'I promise.'
Caine was so relieved, he wanted to shout. He'd finally come up with a way to keep her happy; He'd
just given her the edge he was certain she needed. 'Say the words, wife,' he ordered, his voice gruff.
'I don't want any misunderstandings.'
The man really should have become a barrister, she decided. He was so logical, so clever, too. 'I'll stay with you for one year. Now you must promise me, husband.'
'I won't leave you for one full year,' he announced.
He tilted her chin up with his thumb. 'You do believe me, don't you?' he asked.
'Yes, I do.'
'And you're relieved, aren't you?'
She didn't answer him for a long minute. The truth wasn't at all slow in coming, either. It hit her like a warm bolt of sunshine, filling her heart and her illogical mind all at once. He would never leave her… and she could never leave him. The vulnerable childlike feelings hidden inside her for so many years of loneliness evaporated.
'Sweetheart? You are relieved, aren't you?'
'I trust you with all my heart,' she whispered.
'You aren't in a panic now?'
