Julie Garwood - Guardian Angel

Caine leaned against the rickety railing, holding her close against him. "That was close. Damn, my instincts were off tonight. I never saw it coming."

He hadn't sounded a bit winded when he made that remark. She was amazed by his stamina. Why, her heart was still pounding from the exertion. "Do you do quite a lot of running through alleys, Caine?" she asked.

He thought that was an odd question. "No, why do you ask?"

"You aren't at all out of breath," she answered. "And we never once ran into a dead end," she added. "You do know your way around the city, don't you?"

"I guess I do," he answered with a shrug that almost sent her flying over the railing. She threw her arms around his neck and held on. Then she realized he was still holding her in his arms.

"You may put me down now," she announced. "I'm certain we lost them."

"I'm not," Caine drawled out.

"I've already explained that I don't like being touched, sir. Put me down." She paused to give him a hard look, then asked, "You aren't going to blame me for your instincts tailing you, are you?"

"No, I'm not going to blame you. Jade, you ask the damnedest questions."

"I'm not in the mood to argue with you. Just apologize and I shall forgive you."

"Apologize?" He sounded incredulous. "What for?"

"For thinking I have an overactive imagination," she explained. "For telling me I'm confused, and most

of all, for being terribly rude when you said those insulting things to me."

He didn't apologize, but he did smile at her. She noticed the wonderful dimple in the side of his left cheek then. Her heart took notice and started pounding in a wild beat again.

"We're standing on a bridge in the middle of London's most disreputable section with a band of cutthroats chasing us, and all you can think about is gaining my apology? You, sweet, really are mad."

"I always remember to apologize when I've done something wrong," she remarked.

He looked downright exasperated with her now. She couldn't help but smile at him. Lord, he was a handsome rascal. The moonlight softened his harsh features, and she barely minded his frown now.

In truth, she wanted him to smile at her again.

"Jade? Can you swim?"

She was staring intently at his mouth, thinking to herself that he had the most beautiful white teeth she'd ever seen.

He shook her. "Can you swim?" he asked. There was a little more urgency in his tone now.

"Yes," she answered with an unladylike yawn. "I can swim. Why do you ask?"

In answer to that question, he tossed her over his right shoulder and started climbing the rail.

Her long hair brushed the back of his boots. The wind was knocked out of her when he slammed her against his shoulder, but she soon recovered. "What in bloody hell are you doing?" she cried out. She clutched the back of his jacket. "Put me down."

"They've got the exits blocked, Jade. Take a deep breath, sweet. I'll be right behind you."

She only had enough time to shout her denial at him. Then she let out a bellow of outrage. The sound echoed off into the inky blackness when he threw her away from the railing.

She was suddenly flying like a disc into the biting wind. Jade kept right on screaming until her backside

hit the water. She remembered to close her mouth just as the frigid water closed over her head. She

came up sputtering, but immediately closed her mouth again when she got a good whiff of the stench surrounding her.

Jade vowed she wouldn't let herself drown in this filth. No, she was going to stay alive until she found

her new protector and drowned him first.

Then she felt something brush against her leg. She became absolutely terrified. In her confused mind,

she was certain the sharks had come for her.

Caine suddenly appeared at her side. He wrapped his arm around her waist, then let the swift current

drag them under the bridge and away from the enemy stalking them.

She kept trying to climb up on his shoulders. "Hold still," he ordered.

Jade wrapped her arms around his neck. "The sharks, Caine," she whispered. "They're going to get us."

The terror in her voice and her grip told him she was close to losing all control. "There aren't any sharks," he told her. "Nothing could live in this water long enough."

"You're certain?"

"I'm certain," he returned. "Just hold on a little longer, sweet. We'll be out of this muck in no time at 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?"