'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 added.
'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, 1 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.'
