all.'
His soothing voice did calm her a little. She was still trying to strangle him, but her grip had lessened. It was only a halfhearted attempt now.
They floated at least a good mile down the winding river before he finally pulled her out of the water and onto the grassy slope. Jade was too cold, too miserable, to blister him with her opinion of his conduct.
She couldn't even get in a decent whimper. Her teeth were chattering too much. 'I smell like dead fish,' she stammered out in a pitiful wail.
'Yes, you do,' Caine agreed. He sounded amused.
'So do you, you… pretender.'
'Pretender?' he repeated while he tore his jacket off and tossed it on the ground behind him. 'What do you mean by that?'
Jade was trying to wring the water out of the hem of her gown. Her hair covered most of her face. She paused to toss the clumps out of her vision. 'You needn't act so innocent with me,' she muttered.
She gave up her task and accepted the pitiful fact that her gown now outweighed her, then wrapped her arms around her waist and tried to hug some warmth back into her bones. Her voice took on her shivers when she added, 'Pretending to be the pirate, Pagan. He would never throw a gentle lady in the Thames.'
'Jade, I did what I thought was best under the circumstances,' he defended.
'I lost my cloak.' That announcement came out in a loud gasp.
'I'll buy you another one.'
'But my silver coins were in that cloak,' she said. 'Well?'
'Well, what?'
'Go fetch it.'
'What?'
'Go fetch it,' she ordered again. 'I'll wait here.'
'You can't be serious.'
'I'm perfectly serious,' she countered. 'We only drifted a mile or so, Caine. It shouldn't take you any time at all.'
'No.'
'Please?'
'I'd never find it,' he returned. 'It's probably at the bottom of the river by now.'
She mopped at the corners of her eyes with the backs of her hands. 'Now I'm a pauper and it's all your fault.'
'Don't start,' he commanded. He knew she was on the verge of tears again. 'Now isn't the time for hysterics or complaints, even though they seem to be the only two things you're any good at,' he continued. He caught her gasp and smiled. She was getting her temper back. 'Do you still have your shoes on or do I have to carry you?'
'How would I know?' she asked. 'I've lost all the feeling in my feet.'
'Look, damn it.'
'Yes, damn it,' she muttered when she'd done as he ordered. 'I'm still wearing them. Well?' she added. 'Are you going to apologize or not?'
'No,' he answered in a clipped voice. 'I'm not going to apologize. And lower your voice, Jade. Do you want every cutthroat in London after us?'
'No,' she whispered. She moved close to his side. 'Caine? What would you have done if I didn't know how to swim?'
'The same thing,' he answered. 'But we would have jumped together.'
'I didn't jump,' she argued. 'Oh, never mind. I'm cold, Caine. What are we going to do now?'
He took hold of her hand and started up the bank. 'We're going to walk over to my friend's town house. It's closer than mine.'
'Caine, you're forgetting your jacket,' she reminded him.
Before he could tell her to leave it, she rushed back, lifted the jacket, rung as much of the water out of it as she could manage with her numb fingers, and then hurried back to his side. She tossed the hair out of her eyes again, just as he put his arm around her shoulders. 'I look terrible, don't I?'
'You smell worse,' he told her quite cheerfully. He gave her an affectionate squeeze, then remarked,
'I'd say it's more like rotten meat than dead fish though.'
She started to gag. Caine slapped his hand over her mouth. 'If you lose your supper, I'll become very angry with you. I have enough to contend with now. Don't you dare complicate matters by getting sick.'
She bit his hand, gaining both her freedom and another blasphemy from him. 'I didn't have any supper,' she announced. 'I wanted to die on an empty stomach.'
'You still might,' he muttered. 'Now quit talking and let me think. Why the hell did you want to die on
an empty stomach?' he couldn't help but ask.
'Some people become ill when they're frightened. I thought I might, you see, right before you… oh, never
