“I’d like to visit Lord Kincade, please,” CC requested demurely.

Douglas shook his head in amazement as he wondered just how many beautiful women Kincade knew.

CC, aware of his hesitation, worried that something had happened to Noah, and she quickly asked, “Is there a problem?”

“Oh no, ma’am. I don’t have a problem.” He grinned almost slyly as he made the statement. He had thought the blond woman good-looking, but this one was even prettier…and younger.

CC was puzzled by his attitude but dismissed it as unimportant. The only thing that mattered was that she see Noah and let him know how she felt.

“Then may I see him, please?” she pressed.

“Yes, ma’am. Just go right through this door.” He held the door wide to admit her. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find him without any trouble. He has someone with him already.”

“Oh? Well, thank you.” CC wanted to rush to Noah, but she moved with a calm deliberateness that belied her true feelings. She assumed that Matthew was the person he was seeing, and she was relieved to think that Matt would be there to take the edge off the first moments of their encounter.

The hall stretched long and narrow before her as she headed on her way. She was nearly to the end when the sound of a woman’s voice-Eve’s voice-came to her!

“I know you’re the type of man who’s not averse to making a profitable deal.”

“Yes…so?”

“If you cooperate, I can arrange for you to be out of here before the day is done…” Eve’s tone was husky with sensuality.

The rest of the conversation blurred as CC froze, and her heart jolted painfully within her breast. Miserably, she realized that it was not Matthew who was visiting Noah, but Eve. Noticing that it had suddenly become quiet, she took that last fateful step forward to see Noah and Eve wrapped in a passionate embrace. CC was disconsolate as she backed away, and it took all of her willpower to muster the cool demeanor she possessed as she left the jail. She was so immersed in her own agony and so desperate to get away that she didn’t notice she passed one of her father’s business acquaintances on the street as she fled the scene.

When the kiss ended, Eve gazed at Noah longingly, the desire she felt for him plain to read upon her lovely features. “I’ve wanted you since the first moment I saw you. We were meant to be together.”

Noah’s expression was inscrutable as he stared down at her dispassionately, not speaking, only listening.

“It was just a quirk of fate that I happened to be at Geoffrey’s last night, but I was.” Eve smiled up at him confidently. “I saw everything. I know exactly what happened between the two of you. It was self-defense, Noah. I know that Geoffrey was planning to shoot you, and that you fought over the pistol. I was watching even when it went off during the struggle.”

Noah went rigid in his anger. She had been there, yet she had allowed him to be arrested for Geoffrey’s murder! What kind of vicious viper was she?

“What terms are you setting for your testimony?” he asked icily as his gaze was steely upon her.

“I want you to marry me, Noah,” she told him archly.

“What?” He couldn’t prevent the disbelief that entered his tone.

“Make me your wife. I’ll be a good wife to you, and I’ll make a lovely Lady Kincade.” She preened knowingly, thinking her victory assured.

“No.” There was no hesitation in Noah’s reply, for the thought of spending a lifetime tied to this conniving witch filled him with revulsion. There was only one woman he cared about, one woman he wanted to marry-and she wasn’t Eve.

Eve stared up at him in confused outrage, shocked by his quick reply. “You’re refusing?”

“Yes, Eve. I’m refusing.” His answer held a note of finality to it.

“But that’s ridiculous!” she shrieked. “You’ll hang for sure if I don’t testify in your behalf!”

“That may well be, but I am Lord Noah Kincade, and I do still have my pride.” He walked away from her and stood looking back at her with regal contempt. “As you well know, I am innocent of the charges against me. I will not prostitute myself, not even to gain my release from this hellhole.”

“Are you saying that you find almost certain death preferable to a marriage to me?” Eve was furious and crushed at the same time.

Noah’s silver eyes raked over her in disgust, and without his saying a word, she had her answer. Eve flushed painfully at his unspoken insult.

“You’re a fool!” she hissed at him.

Noah shrugged.

“You’ll be sorry!”

“I sincerely doubt it,” Noah replied.

“I hope you rot in hell!” Eve snarled, wishing Geoffrey had shot him!

A faint, derisive half smile touched his lips at her remark. “That is a very definite possibility.”

At his answer, Eve glared at Noah scathingly and then stormed from the cell. Slamming the barred door shut as she left, she never looked back. She had been defeated, and in a most personal way. Never before had Eve been rejected or denied something she’d really wanted. Ever the actress, she disguised her emotional turmoil as she bid the guard good-bye, then quit the building and climbed into her waiting carriage.

Her feelings for Noah had undergone a drastic change. The pain of his open rejection had pierced her heart and hardened her. What once she’d considered love was now converted to hatred. Filled with the desire to see him suffer, Eve vowed to herself never to reveal to anyone what she had seen and heard that night at Geoffrey’s. If Noah didn’t want her and preferred to die rather than marry her, so be it. He would face the gallows without her testimony, and she thought it a suitable end for him. Content that he would pay the ultimate price for his arrogance, Eve settled back on the seat in the coach and smiled as she envisioned Noah’s execution.

CC returned home, raced upstairs to her room, locked herself in, and threw herself upon her bed. Only then, when she was certain she was alone, did she allow herself to cry. Noah and Eve…She had thought that there was nothing between them, but she’d been wrong. Obviously they were lovers. Why else would Eve have come to him at the jail?

The memory of their embrace and the snatch of the conversation she’d overheard thundered through her thoughts. “I know you’re the type of man who’s not averse to making a profitable deal.”

“Yes…so?”

“If you cooperate, I can arrange for you to be out of here before the day is done…” The conversation lingered hauntingly in her mind, and CC tried to think clearly for a moment. Eve had been promising to arrange Noah’s release, and she wondered how that could be possible when he’d already been denied his freedom at his arraignment. Something wasn’t right. Something didn’t fit.

Sitting up in the middle of her bed, she frowned in concentration as she wiped angrily at the tears that still dampened her cheeks. How could Eve guarantee Noah would be freed? Did the other woman know something vital about the shooting, or did she have a connection with someone of influence? The latter thought sent a chill of fear through her as she considered the possibility that Eve was fronting for the authorities and perhaps trying to get information from Noah regarding the rebels in exchange for his release. Certainly, after hearing of Noah’s arrest for Geoffrey’s murder, her father had been convinced that he was involved with them. Were they the ones behind Eve’s “deal”?

Suddenly realizing that Noah might reveal everything in order to save his own neck, CC charged off the bed. She had to warn Ryan and the others of Noah’s possible treachery. After taking only a few moments to bathe her face in cool water so no one would know she’d been crying, CC started from her room, intent only on getting to Ryan as quickly as possible. She was just starting down the staircase when her father’s study door opened, and he stepped out into the hall with Thomas Highland. CC backed away from the stairs and down the hall, waiting for Highland to leave. She had too many important things on her mind right now to waste any time making pleasant conversation with her father or one of his business associates.