Mine Until Dawn (36 page)

He cupped her face with trembling hands and brushed the wetness with his thumbs. “Never ever.”

“I love you so much.” She pressed a kiss on his lips and the salt in her tears mixed with the sweetness of her mouth.

Something lifted in his chest and Vince closed his eyes. He fought against the feelings burning the back of his throat. It felt so good to see her, touch her, kiss her. He was at peace. He opened his eyes and tried to tell her that he loved her, but emotions had seized his vocals. Instead, he showed her with lips and tongue. Then he pulled her down so she lay beside him and just held her without speaking. She settled like she belonged, her hand on his chest, right above his heart. Blissful peace.

After a while, he had his emotions under control enough to ask, “Why didn’t you tell me about your arrhythmia?”

She lifted her head to look into his eyes, hers wary. “I wanted to, but the time just didn’t seem right.” She released a shaky breath. “A part of me was worried that you would leave me if you knew.”

He ran his knuckles down her cheek and smiled. “You couldn’t get rid of me that easily if you tried. In sickness and in health, you’re meant to be mine, Jade Fitzgerald.”

She smiled through her tears. “Then you forgive me?”

In his present mood, he could forgive her just about anything. “That depends,” he teased.

She rolled her eyes. “On what?”

He wanted her to promise never to jump into a situation that could trigger her arrhythmia, but he couldn’t see her agreeing to that. “Promise to be mine forever.”

“Forever is a long time. I thought you wanted me until dawn?”

“I’m never going to live that down, am I? No, I won’t settle for less. Not with you, Jade. So you either marry me or—”

“Yes.” She kissed his neck, his cheek, and his lips. “Oh, yes. I won’t settle for less either. Only you, Vince Knight. I’ll settle for you.”

He sealed her answer with a hard possessive kiss.

A brief knock on the door, then Eddie’s voice said, “Save it for later, you two. There’re people out here dying to come in.”

“Go away,” Vince said without looking up.

“Give us five minutes,” Jade mumbled along with a giggle.

“Ten,” Vince corrected.

The door closed, but before Vince could start showing her just how much he adored her, Jade placed a hand over his mouth. “We need to talk.”

“Later.”

“Now, please. Your father and aunt are here.”

Vince paused, thought about it, then shrugged. “Good. I can personally tell them I don’t want to inherit the statue. It’s brought me nothing but trouble.”

“You could always accept it, then return it to the rightful owners.”

“Which country?” He arched an eyebrow. “Peru, Mexico, Guatemala….” He paused and reached a decision. “I’ll give it to this country. How many days before you have to go back to work?”

“Three, but I, uh, I can squeeze in another week. Why?”

“I want you to meet Uncle Remus. I want to show you all the places I used to hang out when I was kid. I want to take you—”

“Oh, honey, that would be wonderful and yes, I’d love that,” she said, laughing, then glanced toward the door. “Before they come in, I want to tell you about the statue. How my mother came to have it.”

He buried his face in her neck. “I don’t care—”

“Please.” She grubbed his head, then gripped and titled it to look into his eyes. “ Humor me.”

He ran his knuckles down her side. “We could be doing a lot more interesting things,” he growled. “But okay. Out with it.”

“According to my mother, Bouchard approached your father a few months ago and introduced himself as a long lost relative. During the first few visits, they talked about the Descartes in America and Saint-Noel. After a while, he steered talks to artifacts, then asked your father to see the statue. Once he saw it, he changed. He started pushing your father to sell it to him. He even went as far as to say the general sent him to buy it back, that it was rightfully their property. When your father refused, Bouchard attempted to blackmail him. He hinted that he knew your father’s secret and your father thought he was talking about you. Since he’s running for public office, something like that would have destroyed his chances of winning. He saw the effect it had on Wilkinson when Bouchard told him. Wilkinson wanted your father to bow out of the race instead of losing them the election. When your father confided in my mother, she was livid. She stopped supporting Wilkinson’s campaign.”

“When she said she’d never heard of me…”

“She was lying. I mean, she already knew about you, but wasn’t sure you were really the person you claimed to be. Anyway, the two of them did a background check on Bouchard, learned about his obsession with artifacts, and came up with a crazy scheme. Cohen agreed to help.”

“The replica?”

“Yes. It was supposed to pass for the real thing. Since he’d already seen the real thing, Bouchard recognized it as a fake.”

Vince scowled. “What about the story of how it was stolen?”

“They made it up to fool Bouchard. The plan was to claim the statue was stolen during the party, then have the fake one appear in Cohen’s gallery.”

Vince shook his head. “Did my aunt know about this?”

“No. Your dad fed her the same lie before he slipped into a coma. When Bouchard’s people started breaking into the homes of people who’d been at the party, my mother took off to Saint-Noel to learn more about Bouchard and the general. The general knew nothing about the statue or Bouchard’s interest in it.” She quickly filled him on what Bouchard had planned to do with the statues. “I highly doubt that they have such powers.”

Vince shuddered at the thought of what Jade must have gone through. More so now than ever, he was happy the creep was dead. “Is there any truth to the story about the general killing his family?”

“Not according to my mother. Bouchard’s family sided with the French during the revolution and got caught in the middle. I think he needed someone to blame and the general was handy, especially since he bought their land. It’s sad really. The general was planning to will him everything. Tonight, he bragged about killing the general’s only son and grandson in front of my mother.”

“He wasn’t going to let her go, was he?”

“No. It’s a good thing you guys arrived when you did.”

He kissed her forehead. “You had things under control way before we got there, baby.”

“You think so?”

“Oh yeah. My very own ninja woman.” He kissed her, again, then nodded at the door. “Do we have to talk to them?”

She giggled. “Yes. Give them their five minutes.” She stood up, a gentle smile on her face. “You know why?”

“Why?”

“Because you and I have forever.” She winked at him and walked to open the door for his father and aunt. Sassy woman. Life was going to be fun with her around. He couldn’t wait to get her away from all these people and start living.