Her arms circled his waist, and she kissed the swell of his cheek. “I know…”

“No, I don’t think that you can imagine what it’s like—seeing you every day and not being able to touch what is mine.”

“Yours? Possessive, aren’t you?” she quipped sarcastically.

“Absolutely!” His grip on her tightened, and when she tilted her face to meet his, the warmth of his lips captured hers in a passion that spread fire through her veins. With great difficulty she pulled her head away from his.

“What did you say about packing my bags?” she inquired, trying to ignore the warm intimacy of his breath as it tickled her face.

“You and I are getting away for the weekend,” he stated, and with apparent effort he released her from his tenacious embrace. “Hurry up,” he ordered. “We don’t have all day. I want to get moving before we run out of daylight!”

“Kane!” Erin said with mild irritation. “What are you talking about? Where are we going? Why do I need to pack?”

His smile twisted grimly and Erin saw the weariness and cynicism deep in his crystal gray eyes. “You and I are leaving this city, the bank—” his eyes swept the homey apartment “—this house, everything! We’re going to get lost in the wild for a couple of days!”

“The wild?”

“That’s right!” Half dragging her into the bedroom, he opened the closet, against her protests, and found her suitcase. “I’m tired of sneaking out of your bed in the middle of the night like some…gigolo!” He ignored Erin’s gasp of indignation and began opening her bureau drawers. She caught his reflection in the mirror and saw that a hard, tense mask had come over his angular features. He looked up, his gray eyes held hers and he said with disgust, “And I’m tired of not being able to touch you in the light of day!” His hands were pressed firmly on the dresser top, and he pinioned her with his gaze, cold and distant, in the looking glass. Tense fingers slowly rubbed the wooden surface of the dresser. “Damn it, woman!” His fist pounded against the cool wood. “I’m sick of hiding, and I won’t do it anymore! So, beginning tonight, we are not going to keep this affair in the dark, as if we’re ashamed of it! You and your paranoia over rumors can go to blazes!” He spit the words out as if they were a bad taste in his mouth. His anger was burning in the darkness of his gaze.

“Kane,” Erin implored. “Why are you so upset? What…”

“Look, Erin. We’ve played the game your way for nearly two weeks, and it’s tearing me apart!” His entire body tensed for a second before he took in a long steadying breath and controlled the note of rage that had entered his speech. In a softer voice he continued, “Let’s have an entire weekend alone together—what do you say?”

“I don’t understand…”

“Let’s go somewhere where we can walk in the sunlight together—where we can be seen kissing….”