She shook her head. 'Caine, I want to tell…'
'I took the panic away, didn't I?'
Because he looked so supremely pleased with himself, she didn't want to lessen his arrogant satisfaction. A man had to have his pride intact, she remembered. 'You have made me sort this all out in my mind,' she whispered. 'And yes, you have taken my panic away. Thank you, Caine.'
They shared a long sweet kiss. Jade was shaking when Caine lifted his head away. He thought his kiss had caused that reaction.
'Do you want to go back upstairs, love?' he asked.
She nodded. 'After you've fed me, Caine. I'm starving.'
He took hold of her hand and started for the dining room.
'Do you know, husband, I have the oddest feeling now.'
'And what is that?' he asked.
'I feel… free. Do you understand, Caine? It's as though I've just been let out of a locked room. That's ridiculous, of course.'
Caine held out the chair at the table for her, then took his own. 'Why is it ridiculous?'
She immediately looked disgruntled. 'Because there isn't a locked room I can't get out of,' she explained.
Caine ordered their breakfast, and when Anna, the servant, had left the room, he asked Jade to tell him about some of the adventures she'd had. 'I want to know everything there is to know,' he announced.
'You'll only get angry,' she predicted.
'No, no,' he argued. 'I promise I won't get angry, no matter what you tell me.'
'Well, I don't mean to boast,' she began. 'But I do seem to have a natural ability for getting in and out
of tight spots. Uncle Harry says I'm a born thief and liar,' she added.
'Now, sweetheart, I'm sure he didn't mean to criticize you,' Caine replied.
'Well, of course not,' she returned in exasperation. 'Those were compliments, husband. Uncle's praise meant all the more to me because he doesn't usually give compliments to anyone. He says it isn't in his nature,' she added with a smile. 'Harry worries that others will find out the truth about him.'
'And what might that truth be?' Caine asked. 'That he's actually a little civilized after all?' 'How did
you guess?'
'From the way you turned out,' he explained. 'If he was such a barbarian, you wouldn't have become such a lady.' She beamed with pleasure. 'It is good of you to notice,' she whispered. 'Uncle is very intelligent.' 'He's the one who taught you how to read, isn't he?' She nodded. 'It proved fortunate, too, for his eyes started failing him. At night I would read to him.' 'From memory?'
'Only when there weren't any books available. Harry stole as many as he could get his hands on.'
'The way he speaks,' Caine interjected. 'That's all part of his deception, too, isn't it?'
'Yes,' she admitted. 'Appearances, after all. He doesn't even use proper grammar when we're alone, fearing he'll slip up in front of his men, you see.'
Caine rolled his eyes. 'Your uncle became a bit of a fanatic about his position as leader, didn't he?'
'No,' she argued. 'You misunderstand. He enjoys the deception, Caine.' She continued to talk about
her uncle for another few minutes, then turned the topic to some of her most memorable escapades. Because he'd promised not to get angry, Caine hid his reaction. His hands were shaking, though, with
the true need to wring good old Uncle Harry's neck, by the time she'd finished telling him about one particularly harrowing incident.
He decided he didn't want to know all about her past after all. 'I think I'd better hear these stories one
at a time.'
'That's what I'm doing,' she countered. She paused to smile at the servant when the woman placed a
tray of crusty rolls in front of her, then turned back to Caine. 'I am telling them one at a time.'
Caine shook his head. 'I mean I want you to tell me one every other month or so. A man can only take so much. I promise you I'll be thinking about the story you just told me a good long while. Hell, Jade,
I can feel my hair turning gray. You could have been killed. You could have…'
'But you aren't getting angry,' she interjected with a smile. 'You did promise.'
Caine leaned back in his chair. 'I think we'd better change the subject. Tell me when you realized you love me,' he commanded. 'Did I force you?'
She started to laugh. 'You can't force someone to love you,' she said. 'I believe, however, that when
I read your file, I was already falling in love with you.'
She smiled over the astonished look on his face. 'It's true,' she whispered.
'Jade, I'm not very proud of some of the things I had to do,' he said. 'You did read the entire file, didn't you?'
'I did,' she answered. 'You were determined, methodical too, but you weren't inhuman about it. In every accounting, you were always so… reliable. People depended upon you and you never let them down. I admired that quality, of course. And then I met you,' she ended. 'You were a little like McKindry, because you snuck up behind me and stole my heart before I even realized what was happening. Now you must tell me when you realized you loved me.'
'It was during one of our many heated debates,' he said.
