It Takes a Thief

by Kay Hooper

  Her smile widened. "Several things he thought I should know. And he was right. He obviously loves you a lot. Can I guess that you're older?"

  Dane smiled despite himself. "By ten minutes."

  Jennifer nodded, unsurprised. "Most of what he said didn't really surprise me. I did tell you I already had all the answers I needed, you know. That was true. But I suppose I can hardly blame you for doubting me after the way I acted."

  "Doubting you?"

  "Isn't that what you were doing?" she asked gently. "Thinking that when I heard the truth about your life, I wouldn't love you anymore. That it would change me somehow."

  Roughly, he said, "Jenny, there are dangers in my life."

  "I know that. I've known it for days. Those promises in your eyes. Promises of happiness and excitement – and danger. You always keep the promises you make, and I'm looking forward to all of them."

  "Are you sure, honey?" he asked huskily.

  "All of them, Dane. Because what you promise most of all, is life. It's the reason I fell in love with you."

  He bent his head and kissed her deeply. "I don't deserve you," he said as he lifted his head.

  Jennifer fought to keep her voice light. "You probably angered the Fates. I'm half Italian, remember?"

  That reminder made Dane recall the papers he was still holding, and he hesitated before saying, "There's one more thing I wanted to tell you."

  "You don't have to. Skye didn't just visit me; he took me back to Belle Retour. We watched that last hand between you and Kelly." She was smiling again.

  After a moment, Dane said, "I'm going to shoot him."

  "Kelly?" she asked innocently.

  "No, dammit. My interfering brother." Dane was obviously uncomfortable, and cleared his throat before continuing. "Jenny, the plantation belongs to you and your mother. It's been legally transferred."

  "And you hate debts," she said mildly.

  "You don't owe me anything," he insisted.

  Ignoring that, she mused, "You've got at least a million dollars in that plantation. More than that, probably, since I'll bet you paid off the mortgage. I don't see how I'd ever be able to pay you back." She shook her head ruefully.

  "Jenny – "

  "This is dreadful," she told him in a solemn tone. "I can't have the both of us worrying about that debt. Maybe I could sell the place, and then – "

  "Are you out of your mind?" he exploded. Then he realized she was smiling again.

  "Just wanted you to put it in the proper perspective," she said gently.

  He almost shook her, torn between relief and exasperation. "Dammit, Jenny."

  "Well, there really is only one solution." She reached behind her to take the packet of papers from his hand and tossed them on the couch, then slid her arms back up around his neck. "You keep Belle Retour. You won it fairly, after all."

  "I didn't cheat," he admitted, wanting her to know that. "But I spent this whole morning – "

  "And I'll live there with you," she interrupted calmly. "I'll be in my home again, and I won't owe you a million bucks for it. Simple. Even an international gambler should have a base of operations, and think how your stock will rise when people find out yours is a two-hundred-year-old Louisiana plantation. Besides, it fits you even better than a riverboat."

  He stared at her for a moment, then blinked as if to clear away mental cobwebs. "You must have gotten it from your mother," he said reflectively. "I noticed she had it too."

  "What?" she asked guilelessly.

  "The ability to make the most insane things sound perfectly reasonable. Jenny, I won't take your plantation."

  "Of course you will. But we'll argue about it later."

  He eyed her warily. "We will?"

  She smiled up at him. "You should get some steep first, though. You must be exhausted."

  His mouth curved. "Slightly. Jenny, will you marry me?"

  "Yes."

  He lifted her off her feet again, kissing her. "Who's hitching whose fate to a rogue star?" he murmured against her lips.

  "We both are, I think. And isn't it nice that I'm wearing them again, just like the night we met?"

  "Wearing what?"

  "Garters." Held on a level with him, she peered solemnly into his vivid eyes. "You know, those sexy little devices used to hold up stockings? They came before some total moron invented pantyhose."

  He cleared his throat, then said, "Lace garters?"

  "Uh-huh. The same as before."

  In a single strong movement, Dane shifted his hold on her so that he cradled her completely against his chest. Then he headed for the bedroom.

  Breathlessly, Jennifer said, "I suppose you can always sleep later?"

  "Much later," Dane said, and kicked the bedroom door shut behind them.

  Epilogue

  "I still can't believe it," Raven Long said, studying Skye intently. "I always thought Dane wore more than one hat – but I never suspected there were two of you."

  "You weren't supposed to," Skye reminded her in amusement.

  She sighed, then looked at her husband, who was sitting beside her on the couch in their hotel suite. "And if Dane hadn't bolted off on his honeymoon, we'd probably never have known." Parenthetically, she added, "I knew he'd get sidetracked by that blonde."

  Josh smiled at her, his normally hard blue eyes softened, as always, when he looked at her. "By now, we should have learned to expect this sort of thing," he commented.

  Raven smiled in agreement, then returned her gaze to Skye. "But you said that security man of Kelly's had some interesting information?"

  Skye nodded. "Very interesting. It appears he had a brief stint as a federal agent about the time he was leaving thumbprlnts on the lock of your apartment."

  Raven stared at him for a long moment, and then said hollowly, "Don't tell me – "

  Clearing his throat, Skye murmured. "Afraid so."

  Thirty seconds later. Raven was on her feet and pacing violently. "Hagen," she uttered in a voice that made the name a curse. "He's gone too far, Josh, this time he's really crossed the line! I'll kill him with my bare hands."

  Her husband lit a cigarette, watching her calmly. "Don't waste energy getting mad, darling," he told her. "This time, we're going to get even."

  Skye, watching them, felt a stab of pity for Hagen. He'd seen smiles before like the kind these two were wearing; he'd even worn a few himself . . . just before all hell broke loose.

  The End