A mound of bubbles popped gently whenever Cameron shifted. The hot water soothed his tired muscles and calmed his ardour. For the moment at least.

He raised his head from the sloping curve of the deep claw foot bathtub and stared at Sarah. She shared the opposite end of the large tub. The drain entered from the middle. He’d always though the tub would be a good fit for two people but he had never tried it.

Sarah’s honey eyes shifted to his face. She offered a small smile that he believed was genuine. He couldn’t be sure. Just when he thought she was settling in, she crept to his room in the middle of the night and held a knife to this throat.

His reaction to her on the beach had been driven by sheer male need. He had been unable to banish the wicked temptress from his mind since the second he laid eyes on her.

He knew he shouldn’t have given in to his base desires. He should have been strong, but he’d been strong his entire life and he was tired. He longed to let down his guard just for an instant. What was it about Sarah Redden that drove him to the brink? He’d never felt so out of control in his life.

“You look like you regret what we just did.” Even Sarah’s voice was soft and sensual. She shifted slightly and the bubbles at the top of the water danced with her movement. The lush swell of her breasts peeked above the water’s line.

“No.” He didn’t regret it. He was on edge though. Confused and wary. Uncomfortable. Disbelief flickered over her face. He could tell she didn’t believe him. He wasn’t going to ask her if she regretted her part. He doubted she would answer him honestly.

Sarah sunk down lower in the bubbles. A strange wistfulness stole into her eyes. “My father was killed in a car accident when I was nine. Trace was eleven. We had a normal life before that. A happy childhood I would say. We lived in a small bungalow. We always had food on the table, clothes on our backs, that kind of thing. It all changed after dad died. He had life insurance so we didn’t have to sell the house. My mom should have been fine but she lost it. I always thought doctors are there to help people. Not her. I suppose some people are past redemption. They gave her everything she asked for. Anti-depressants, sleeping pills… they even gave her pain killers when she said she hurt her back. After that she just milked the system. Went from one doctor to another getting pills. Trace and I were left to fend for ourselves. I always knew mom wasn’t going to get better. I think that the best part of her died with dad. Trace was fifteen when she died of an overdose.”

Cam went cold inside. A violent chill ripped up his spine. He didn’t know what prompted Sarah to tell him any of this. His heart ached for her because he knew exactly what it was like to grow up rough. Even his hatred for her brother waned just a little at her admission. “I’m sorry,” he said uselessly.

Sarah shrugged. “Yah well… Trace knew what would happen. He was fifteen and I was thirteen. He knew we would be sent into the system and probably even separated. I begged him not to let them take him away from me as well. I’d already lost everything. He took me and we disappeared. We packed a backpack each and took what food we could carry. Trace found us a hole in the wall apartment. The landlord didn’t care who he was renting to.” Sarah shuddered visibly. “It was the kind of place that resembled all nine shades of hell. Drug addicts, prostitutes, gangs. It wasn’t long before Trace found a job. I have no idea what he did. I knew he was running with gangs, doing stuff for them but I didn’t ask him. I couldn’t bear knowing. He made sure that I went to school though. It was as rough as the place we lived and it made me tough. We changed our names. He got us fake ID’s from somewhere. He changed his age. He became eighteen so he could legally look after me. No one could come for us then.”

Cam’s mouth fell open and he quickly shut it. “So your name isn’t really Sarah Redden?”

“It is now. Sarah Redden is who I am. My name before that was Amelia Pathwick. Quiet. Unassuming. I don’t even know who that girl is any longer.” Sarah blinked quickly but when she looked back up at him her eyes were dry. “Trace made sure I was able to graduate. He made sure I was able to go to college and get a legal, legitimate job. He gave up everything, all his dreams, to look after me. He became a man at fifteen.”

Cam swallowed hard. “So you think I shouldn’t be so hard on him?”

“I’ll leave it up to you what you think. I’m just trying to be honest with you so that you can see that Trace isn’t so different from you.” She glanced down, studying the bubbles lapping around her shoulders as though they held the secrets to the mysteries of the world.

Cam bristled. He didn’t want to believe he was anything like Trace Redden. “I did grow up rough and I did care for my sister but I’m not like your brother. My father shipped out right after Veronica was born. My mother had always been a functioning alcoholic before that but caring for us, trying to support us by working three jobs- it was all the working that killed her. She drank more. Binged more often. Passed out at night and barely woke in the morning to do it all again. I remember one night I came home and she had passed out with a lit cigarette. I don’t know why, I just knew that she wasn’t going to last much longer. She drank herself to death. Choked on her own vomit. I was nineteen. Veronica was nine. We had nothing and I was frantic to support her, but right from the start everything I did was legit.”

Sarah’s blonde brow arched. “Does that matter?”

“To me it did. I vowed that one day we wouldn’t live in a slum apartment with bugs in the bed and on the walls and floors and in the food. We wouldn’t hear the neighbors screaming and yelling, kids crying, things breaking. I was always good at numbers. Math was the only thing in school I ever was half decent at. I turned to gambling because I could figure the odds. I thought about doing it professionally for a while but I didn’t want to be on the other side of risk. I wanted to be the risk. I borrowed money from a loan shark and set myself up. There was no shortage of people I knew who needed loans. People are always desperate for money. I had a set clientele before I even started.  I paid that loan back within a month and borrowed more. I paid that back even faster.”

“And the rest, as they say, is history.” Sarah gave a sardonic smile as she waved a sudsy hand in the air.

Cam’s stomach clenched when he realized she was mocking him. He jumped to his own defense. “I really did want to help people. I know what you’ve heard and what you’ve read about me but it’s not true. I’ve never hurt a single person. One of my men broke some guy’s finger once and the stories spiralled out of control from there.”

“Why did you let them if they weren’t true?”

“In my line of business, stories like that make sure your loans are paid back. Threats and intimidation never really harm anyone but they do ensure you stay in business. I’ve taken property but then again, so does the bank. I’ve never taken anything unjustly. People know the risks. I’m no different than any money lender. What is put up for collateral I expect to have if that person can’t make the repayment terms of their loan.”

“Well isn’t that sweet? The bank of Cameron Spade?” Sarah was still smiling but her voice was hard.

Cam ground his teeth so hard his jaw locked. He was not going to rise to her baiting. It was what she wanted. “I’ve forgiven more debt than you can imagine. I’ve lent more money to people who couldn’t pay me back when they truly needed it. I have given people the opportunity they need to get out from the bottom and better themselves. I’ve given money to people who show real promise to get an education. I don’t expect repayment. I’ve supported small businesses that banks wouldn’t dare touch. I have tried to do good things for people, whether you believe it or not.”

Those honeyed eyes blinked in disbelief. “Why doesn’t anyone know about that then?”

He allowed himself a self-depreciating grin. “I wouldn’t be a very scary loan shark if people knew about the good that I tried to do. Like I said, you only stay in this business if people are afraid of you. I’m very careful about who I lend to. It ensures I can recoup my losses. The people who can’t pay me back and need a little intimidating are few and far between. Usually I just send my guys over and they raise their voice and make threats and it’s enough to ensure repayment eventually although sometimes I just have to write it off. People keep their peace about that when it happens. Again, threats and intimidation go a long way.”

“So why are you telling me this?”

Why indeed? “I… thought if I was honest with you perhaps you might be honest with me. You told me about how you grew up so that I could try and understand your brother. I know that’s your slant. You don’t have to bother to hide it.” Sarah’s face fell. Cam didn’t know why he wanted to reassure her. It half infuriated him that it killed him to see her upset. “I just want to know why you need ten million dollars. Maybe then I can help you.”

Her brow furrowed again. “So you told me all of this about yourself so that I could see that perhaps you would help me.” She shifted again, sitting upright in the tub. The bubbles lapped against her creamy shoulders leaving wet, foamy marks. “I could never ask you for a loan. I could never hope to pay it back. I’m a school counselor. At least I was before you took me. Hopefully I don’t lose my job since I rather liked it.”

Cam tensed. He hadn’t even thought about how he would change Sarah’s life by kidnapping her; how he might even ruin it. And now he’d done the unthinkable and taken her down on that beach because he’d snapped. He hadn’t had a thread of self-control left. He should never have kissed her. It all stemmed from that one, burning kiss that he had not been able to deny himself.

“I’m sorry,” he said. His voice was softer and contained more feeling than even he knew was possible. “I never meant to ruin your life.”

Sarah leaned forward. She moved slowly, with feline grace. He didn’t stop her careful advance. She wrapped her arms around his neck and straddled his waist. “Yes you did,” she whispered. He wasn’t entirely shocked when she bent her head and kissed him.

The fires of desire that he dismissed as a weakness, roared back with the fury of a freight train. He was utterly powerless against the startling heady sensations that threatened to bring him to his knees. He realized that Sarah herself was far more dangerous than that knife she’d held to his throat. He should have stopped her, should have walled himself off and kept her at a safe distance but he didn’t. Instead his hands closed around her shoulders and he kissed her back with all the passion contained within a heart that wasn’t quite so black, or as dead, as he thought it was.