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“You know why I won’t do that.” Her eyes were suddenly glittering. “Because I love that feeling of power it gives me when I do something right. And one of these days I’m going to get you down in a headlock or knock you down with a single kick.”

“Yes, you will.” Celine was smiling. “It’s only a matter of time.”

“And did I really do better today?” she asked eagerly.

“You had me worried.” Celine laughed. “I was wondering if I should sprain your other wrist.”

“Don’t you dare,” Kontara said. “Or I’ll draft you for kitchen duty.”

Dominic was smiling with amusement as he helped Kontara to her feet. “Celine, you’ve built a monster in your own image.”

“I did not do any such thing,” Celine said.

“I wouldn’t dare. For one thing, I know very little about cooking, and you’d have a mutiny on your hands if I tried to take Kontara’s place.

She’s superb and your entire staff knows it and worships at her feet.

All I did was give her a few lessons so that she’d feel more confident when a situation became too difficult to handle.

” She glanced at Kontara. “I believe I did that very well. You agree?”

“I agree.” Kontara winced as she limped toward the door.

“But now I believe I need a hot shower to unstiffen some very sore muscles or I won’t be able to function to cook dinner.

” She glanced over her shoulder at Celine.

“And I’ve got to have all my strength by our session tomorrow.

” She smiled slyly. “Because tomorrow is the day I take you down.” She ignored the laughter from Celine and Dominic and gave them the finger as she strode out of the exercise room.

“I like her,” Celine said when she finally stopped chuckling. “I don’t believe I’ve ever met any woman I’ve liked more. Usually women don’t seem to like me, or they say one thing and mean another. Kontara always means every word she says. Tomorrow I’ll have to be very careful.”

“That goes without saying,” Dominic said.

“But you should consider that most women probably have a deep fear that you’ll successfully compete with them over either a mate or a job.

And the fact that they seem to mean one thing and yet say another is a sign of insecurity.

Either way, it’s a little sad. You should feel sorry for them. ”

She made a face. “I’m too busy trying to protect myself.” She tilted her head. “But there are two women I’ve met recently that I like besides Kontara. I liked Catherine Ling very much.” She smiled. “And of course, I liked Eve Duncan.”

“Of course,” he said. “Your heroine. I liked her, too.”

“But you seem to like most women. I don’t remember you talking badly about any of them.”

He shook his head. “I’m not that forgiving. You just conveniently forgot how angry I was at Barnaby’s wife, Judy, that day in the cemetery. But that was purely an individual antagonism. She’d made you cry, and I automatically wanted to punish her if I could.”

“She had reason.”

“No, she didn’t. You’d done nothing wrong.

If she thought you had, it was probably all mixed up with how she felt about you being friends with her husband and his wanting to save you at any cost.” He shook his head.

“Stop trying to take the blame for how people feel about you. It annoys the hell out of me. It’s all surface judgments, and you should ignore them. ”

“But it didn’t stop you from becoming angry at poor Judy.”

“‘Poor Judy’ attacked you. You’ll have to forgive me if that ruffled all my protective instincts.

And that’s another thing. The male sex hasn’t been very fair toward women in the last few thousand years.

If someone steps up and tries to protect you, it’s rare enough so that you should accept it gracefully. ”

She blinked. “Yes sir, Dominic. Duly noted.” She was trying to keep from smiling. “You appear to have strong feelings on the subject. I wouldn’t want to upset you.”

“Liar,” he said. “Sometimes you do. It comes and goes with you. You just happened to tap a subject that I’ve been thinking about lately.”

“Thousands of years of mistreated women?” she asked teasingly. “What a heavy issue to be carrying around.”

“Well, your situation actually brought it to mind. I found myself thinking of how women had been used by men as chattels all through the centuries and weren’t even allowed to vote or be issued their own credit cards until very recently. It kind of pissed me off. After all, fair is fair.”

“And yet you told me that your mother had left your father and you when you were little more than a small child. Evidently, she didn’t stick around to be mistreated. Didn’t you resent her leaving?”

“What’s to resent? If I hadn’t been too young to figure out how to leave my father and survive, I’d probably have done it, too. Who knows what she might have gone through before she decided to strike out on her own. Like I said, most women were treated as chattels.”

Her smile faded. “You’re a very unusual man, Alex Dominic.

I don’t appreciate the fact that you seem to think of me as some kind of victim.

Considering that I had a fantastic and understanding father who raised me and tried to run interference to keep me safe, it’s completely misplaced.

You should have chosen Kontara if you’re looking for someone to save. I can take care of myself.”

“I’ve noticed. But so can Kontara now that you’ve taken a hand in her development.

I’ve enjoyed watching that process enormously.

” He shook his head ruefully. “And I’m afraid it’s not a question of selecting what I feel or which person I feel it for.

Which is very frustrating considering that I’m usually such a cool and calculating individual.

So you’ll have to accept it until you decide you can’t tolerate it any longer.

” His gaze was suddenly holding her own.

“But you may have to be the one to walk away since I appear to be having difficulty with it. You’d better prepare yourself to assume the responsibility. ”

Heat. Electricity. Celine could scarcely breathe. The intimacy had come out of nowhere, and she couldn’t look away from him.

“I want to touch you,” he said softly. “May I?”

Dear God, she wanted it. The pulse was pounding in her wrists and her breasts were taut, the nipples hard and burning. Her lips trembled as she tried to smile. “Are you asking because you want to prove you don’t think of me as a chattel?”

“I’ll think of you any way you want me to think of you. You set the pace. Whatever you choose. Let me inside you and I’ll make sure you won’t regret it.”

He wasn’t even touching her yet and her muscles were tightening as she thought about how it would feel to have him over her, in her.

It was so intense, she could scarcely keep from trembling.

“I can’t be sure of that. Because you’re a very complicated man, and you told me yourself that you take any means to complete a mission.

I might not regret it today, but I might tomorrow when you decide you need to go down another path.

I think that Kontara is even afraid you’ll talk her into using her to find those men who brutalized her.

” She searched his expression. “And she has a right to be afraid, doesn’t she? ”

“Yes, but I’d take care to keep her safe. Though I won’t lie to you—if I can persuade her, I’ll do it if it means saving all those lives.”

She nodded. “And I can even understand it. But I’d have to think long and hard over whether I’d be able to watch you do it now that I know and care about what happens to Kontara.”

“It’s never easy,” Dominic said. “It’s always much simpler to risk your own neck than someone else’s. That’s why I’ve been putting off taking action for the last few days and hoping I’d get a break that would keep me from having to make the decision.”

“Which must be rare indeed for you,” Celine said. “Since you seem to have no trouble at all running the entire show.”

“Evidently, I do,” he said wryly. “Or this conversation would have had a much more positive ending. But I’ll continue to persevere on all fronts.

” He turned to leave the gym. “I’ll see you at dinner.

I hope that your session with Kontara won’t cause her to—” He stopped as his phone rang and he glanced down at the caller ID.

He gave a low whistle. “Or perhaps you might want to stay around for a bit. It’s your old friend Eve Duncan. ”

“What?” She stiffened. “Why would she be calling you?”

“I have no idea. But I’m going to find out.” He pressed SPEAKER and then answered. “Hello, Eve. How delightful to talk to you. I trust there’s not been any trouble with the team I assigned you? I’m sure they would have let me know if there had been a problem.”

“You’re wrong. There’s been a big problem here,” Eve said grimly.

“I’m surprised that no one has let you know yet.

But then why would they if it didn’t involve your damn guards that you were so sure would make everything okay for me.

” Her voice was suddenly shaking. “Well, shock and surprise. They didn’t, Dominic.

Your friend Caldwell came knocking on the door today and turned everything into a nightmare. ”

“Caldwell?” Dominic repeated. He heard Celine gasp next to him as he stiffened on the stool. “Are you all right? What happened? Were you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. Because he didn’t knock on my door, Dominic.

He went straight to what would hurt me the most. My son, Michael, was kidnapped from his school in Scotland today, and Joe found a note written on Michael’s computer from Caldwell that described the damage he’d do to my boy if I didn’t do exactly what he told me to.

” She was obviously trying to keep her voice steady.

“My son is only eleven years old, but I could tell Caldwell didn’t give a damn.

Joe said there was blood on the floor of Michael’s room. ”