His petulant scowl made him look half his age. “You’re late.”

“The mist confused me. If I could have come by carriage—”

“You know the rules.” His voice was as youthful as his figure, his face as smooth as a schoolboy’s. When she’d first met him, she’d made the mistake of thinking him weak, foolish, and lacking in capabilities.

She’d only made that mistake once.

“So the box wasn’t there, was it?” he asked.

“You don’t look surprised.” Of course, he already knew it wasn’t there. She hid the bite of disappointment. Knowledge was power, but with Aniston she could never get ahead. He always knew. It was one of the things that made him so dangerous.

“After you left town, I received word that the artifact I seek was sold to a collector in the highlands.”

“So Bancroft never had it.” Anger simmered through her. “You sent me on a wild-goose chase.”

He shrugged. “I can send you on any sort of a chase I wish. I own you.”

No, you don’t. No one owns me. Ever. She burned to rage at him, but there was more at stake than her pride. She said in a tight voice, “I could have done more good elsewhere.”

“Perhaps. I sent you to fetch a different onyx box almost a month ago. If I remember correctly, you failed at that small service, too.”

He called making her an accessory to blackmail a “small service,” and she feared that to him, it was nothing more.

She met his gaze evenly. “Don’t blame me for that. You didn’t tell me Miss Beauchamp had William Hurst with her.”

The heavy lids drooped over the icy blue eyes. “I didn’t expect that development. Still, I would have thought that for someone with your . . . skills, a little surprise like that wouldn’t have been insurmountable. And then there was the time you told me that you’d found one of the boxes in a collection in Edinburgh, but then found you were mistaken.” His gaze narrowed. “I still find that tale difficult to believe.”

“It wasn’t the same style of box. It was gold and onyx, but far too large.” She met his gaze steadily though it cost her dearly. She hadn’t dared tell him the truth–that she’d had one of his precious boxes in her grasp and it had disappeared from her lodgings. Of course, now she knew what had happened, but at the time she’d had no good explanation as to why the box had gone missing and couldn’t risk him thinking that she’d sold it, or worse, and so she’d lied.

“Do you or do you not wish to end this debt between us?”

“Debt?” Her voice was sharp and bitter. “You stole from me; I don’t owe you anything!”

His mouth tightened and before she could say another word, he was before her, his words hissing through his teeth. “Don’t you ever speak to me like that again. I own you, worthless fool that you are, and I won’t take such disrespectful behavior!”