“Probably come after me,” he said quietly. “As you did just now.” He gently took her hands from his shoulders. “And start crying again.” He reached out and touched her damp cheek. “After you saved my life, of course. Because don’t tell me that you can’t take anything I throw at you. I know you better than that.”

“You don’t know anything.” She jerked her hands away and wiped her cheeks on her fists. “You’ve never known. I’ve tried to tell you, but there’s no way. I thought someday, but it’s all coming too soon. And then you do something like—” Her hands clenched. “Why did you do that? I wasn’t expecting it. You’re the Hunter. I knew I was going to eventually be the prey. Then I was planning on just starting the hunt again. But that move you made was reckless and stupid.”

“And necessary,” Caleb said. “Because I couldn’t stand going through this again. We have to get this straight. So I couldn’t win this one, Jane. You had to win it so that I could show you that I’d never put you in a position again where you’d feel that helpless and yet totally responsible.”

“So you put yourself in a position where you couldn’t save yourself and had to rely on me?” she asked incredulously. “Talk about responsibility.”

“I trust you,” he said. “And you had to realize that from now on in situations like this, we’ll work together. I won’t keep anything from you to protect you. If there’s a problem, we’ll figure it out.”

She gazed at him dazedly. “That will be…difficult for you.”

“It will damn near kill me,” he said bluntly.

“That’s what I meant.” She was silent. “It probably won’t work, you know.”

“It will work. You’ll be keeping an eagle eye on me, and I’ll be too scared of losing you to screw up.” He leaned toward her, and his voice was caressing. “We’ll do it together. I promise you. Everything together. We’ll start right now. Believe me.”

She did believe him. How could she help it when he was sensual and coaxing and so damn wonderfully beloved? “I believe…you think it will work. I hope you’re right.”

He smiled crookedly. “You’re not making it easy. But you’ve had a tough time lately, and we’ll have to figure out how we can put Humpty Dumpty back together again.” He brushed his lips along her cheekbone. “I’ll take my time and maybe we can talk about it. We’ve never had trouble communicating.”

“Stop treating me like a child, Caleb.” She frowned. “I do want this to work out. I just believe it may take longer than either of us think. I’m not sure there are any simple solutions.”