Chapter 13

My nightly craft is winged in white, a dragon of night-dark sea.

―Anne McCaffrey,?Dragonsong

Oh God, this is bad. This is so bad. I've committed a crime, and now I'm on the run with a jewel thief.

The thought kept racing through Piper's mind in an endless loop. Somehow this man had convinced her to help him steal the Cheapside hoard. All of it. How the hell had he done that?

He just looked into my eyes, and I went all gooey.

She couldn't erase that feeling, the heavy compulsion to do exactly what he'd asked. Had he hypnotized her? Didn't someone need to swing a pocket watch or something to do that? She was in a hot mess, and now he was taking her to God knows where against her will.

But he'd also kept assuring her she was safe. Her natural instincts were torn between trusting him and wanting to knee him in the balls and escape.

Mikhail still had her trapped beneath him, his hands gripping her wrists. She'd stopped screaming once the car started moving. Some part of her was staying rational despite everything that had happened tonight. That voice was now warning her to save her energy. No one would hear her. She was being held hostage in a black Range Rover. Getting free was going to be difficult, and she wouldn't make it far, being barefoot in a party dress.

Mikhail watched her intently, his gaze hot and frightening. Dark hair fell into his eyes, and he licked his lips. How could she have fallen for a jewel thief? She'd been head over heels for him, kissing him and letting go of her control to just feel everything with him, only for it all to have been a lie. He'd been using her and had somehow gotten into her head. The memory of his mouth on hers now tasted bittersweet.

"Are you ready to behave?" he asked.

The word sparked a new fire inside her. Even though he'd hauled her into the car, she didn't think he would hurt her on purpose. It gave her the courage to stand up to him.

"Behave?" she echoed, her voice dangerously silky. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? A little slave who would do whatever you tell her to?"

Mikhail chuckled. "You are no slave, not unless you wish to be." His own tone now turned dangerously soft. "Do you?"

It was then she became truly aware of her body in relation to his. He was lying on top of her, her thighs parted, his slender hips cradled by her body with her skirt bunched up to her waist in black and red ruffles. Memories of their kisses came back to her, and she hated how much she already missed them. Kissing a damned jewel thief. She was going to need some serious therapy after this, because his damned natural dominance was turning her on.

"You said you wouldn't hurt me," she warned. If he tried to do anything to her, she would castrate him, no matter how good a kisser he was.

"And I keep my promises, but sometimes a bit of pain intensifies pleasure." He let go of one wrist to twine his fingers in her hair and tug lightly, prompting a rush of heated memories from their kiss earlier when he'd done the same thing. It had felt so good, so hot, and it spiked new desires inside her.

She shook off the memories. This was not the time to let her fantasies play out. He'd made her help him steal a fortune in jewels somehow and then kidnapped her. Shame filled her at the thought that she was still turned on by him. She'd always thought Stockholm syndrome took longer to set in than this.

Piper turned her shame into anger. "Get off me!"

Under other circumstances, if she'd trusted him, the thought of him dominating her would have made her wet, hot, and panting. Right now she was just angry. He wasn't going to abduct her, turn her into a felon, and just expect her to swoon.

Mikhail's eyes softened. The strange gold gleam swirling at the edge of his pupils faded, and the summer-green jade returned.

"Easy, easy now." She felt that strange desire to do exactly as he said wash over her again. For a long while they simply stared at each other until she felt relaxed and collected. Not brainwashed, justcalmed.

He sat back, let go of her wrist, and loosened his fingers from her hair. She scrambled to the opposite side of the seat and curled her arms around herself. Strangely, being farther away from him made her feel vulnerable in a way that made no sense. As mad and scared as she was, when he touched her it feltsafe. Why the heck would it make her feel safe? Not having an answer to that question wasn't exactly comforting.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Cornwall."

"Cornwall?"

"Yes. To my home." His haunting green eyes entranced her even as they frightened her.

"Whywhy are we going there? Are you planning to sell the jewels there? Have you already found a buyer? Or is that your hideout?" She didn't understand why he had brought her with him unless he was worried about witnesses. Didn't witnesses to crimes usually end up dead? The thought made her stomach roil and blood roar in her ears.

He chuckled. "All understandable guesses, but no. I've no intention of selling them, and I would never call my home a hideout."

"Why not?"

Mikhail smirked. "Perhaps it is, after a fashion."

She lowered her arm slightly, shivering. Mikhail removed his coat and held it out to her. She stared at it, then him, wanting to decline.

"Take it. It won't bite." Something about his tone made her think he was teasing her.

Piper took the coat hesitantly, but then after another shiver she slipped it on. The large coat made her feel so small, like a child wearing an adult's clothes.

"What are you planning on doing with the jewels then?" she asked.

"I'm taking them to Russia." He seemed to wait for her to react to that.

"Russia? But" Her brow furrowed as she tried to puzzle out his intentions. "You really don't plan to sell them?" Why would a man steal jewels worth millions, leave some of them behind, go through all the trouble and risk to smuggle them to another country, and not get his money's worth?

"No." He settled back against the seat and put his arm around the back of it, his fingertips inches from her shoulder. Her body hummed with tension at his close proximity, and she noted privately that not all of that tension was from fear.

"So why steal them if you don't plan to sell them?" Piper asked, burrowing deeper into his coat. She lifted the edges of his coat up, inhaling his scent. Damn, it smelled good. She shouldn't like it, but she did.

"How about I ask you a question first?" His eyes glinted with mischief, which put her more at easenot that she wanted to feel that way.

"Okay. Ask." She was curious to know what he wanted to ask, and she hoped that if she played along it might give her some small advantage. A hostage who did what she was told didn't give the hostage-taker much warning that she was planning to escape, right?

"Why did you become a gemologist?" His green eyes were a pretty shade in the dark, like emeralds covered by shadows.

"Iwell" She'd never really thought about it before. She'd started out in geology, then "I've always been drawn to jewels and gemstones. I guess I'm just fascinated by the array of colors and knowing that they are found that way in nature. It's amazing."

"It is." He smiled wolfishly, but Piper didn't feel threatened. She'd learned one thing about him tonightthat was a playful smile, not something to be afraid of. Maybe he wouldn't kill her after all. Her gut didn't think he would, even though her mind insisted there was no other reason to kidnap her after using her to steal the jewels.

"I like gems. There's something about their purity, the depth of their colors, and the endless facets that are possible. It's fascinating."

"I quite agree. I could spend days holding a ruby in the palm of my hand." He lifted one hand in the air, palm up, as though imagining a large red stone sitting there. "And watch the light play upon it." He tilted his head as though thinking about something. "When we reach Cornwall, I wish to show you something."

Piper bit the inside of her cheek as she tried for the hundredth time to figure out how she was going to get out of this mess.

"Why don't you sleep awhile? It will be a long drive before we reach my home," Mikhail said.

"Sleep?" She straightened her shoulders. "I couldn't sleep here"

"Piper," Mikhail sighed, shifting his body closer to hers. "No one is going to hurt you."

"You're not planning to kill me?" The question popped out. She'd had no intention of alerting him to her fears, but it was too late now. She was exhausted, and it had just slipped out.

"Kill you?" Mikhail gaped at her. Belishaw chuckled from the driver's seat, and she glanced between them.

"Yes. Kill me. It's what the bad guys do with hostages, right? I'm a witness"

Mikhail shook his head. "I swore to you that I wouldn't harm you. It should be obvious that includes killing you." He rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger. "Foolish little creature."

Piper studied his face for any hint that he was lying to her. He glanced back to Belishaw, then to her, and cupped her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes.

"I didn't want to do this again, little dove, but you give me no choice. You're exhausted, and you need rest. Nowsleep." His deep, rumbling voice and the gold flecks in his jade eyes, like dancing flames, lulled her into a strange, hazy, dreamlike state.

She felt her eyelids droop, and her brain went fuzzy. She could just close her eyes for a few minutes, catch a catnap