The di LiCossa estate was much prettier in the sunshine; Janna decided as she was admitted past the front gate and drove up to the entrance. She was willing to bet that in the spring the place was going to be absolutely magnificent. A little quiver of excitement went through her as she envisioned herself visiting in the spring as well. There was no way anyone could deny that there was really something there between her and Antonio now. It was so strange, but they had plenty of time to explore out what was going on between them and decide what they wanted to do about it.

They hadn't been able to talk much since leaving Egypt. Just a couple of phone calls really, one to make sure her parents hadn't killed her on the way home and then another to let him know when she was going to be coming to return something to him. It had been quite an argument for Janna to go back to Europe, but since the twins weren't going to be anywhere around, Max and Logan thought a visit would be safe enough. Especially considering that it was a victim that had invited her back for a social visit and not entrapment.

They weren't going to have to come back and clean out their warehouse either. Cole, Xander and Zane had taken care of that. Anything that was incriminating was now completely gone and everything else was shipped back. Even the painting she had done for Cameron had been removed. Janna wouldn't have been surprised to learn that the paint had been stripped from the walls and the carpet ripped up. The parents made their opinion quite clear that the little ring they had going was completely over now. Not that it would have been able to continue anyways. After what happened, the whole world had changed for the trio.

Actually, there were a lot of changes for a lot of people, starting with when Janna and Antonio got back into the chamber with everyone else. Cameron was rapidly trying to explain Emilie to his parents and how much she had helped and how she could be trusted. Zack wasn't looking convinced and Alicia had the weirdest look. Finally Cameron wore down and Alicia spoke up, her words making everyone else in the room look at her like she had flipped out. Well, all except Emilie who jumped about a mile and paled. "Amelia O'Brien."

When Emilie jumped, Alicia smiled. "It's the eyes," she said with a smile. "I knew Amelia had a daughter and I thought it was you when I was reading a magazine article on a certain linguistics progeny, but it wasn't until now that I knew for sure. You look very much like your mother."

Emilie's eyes were huge. "You're Molly, aren't you?" she breathed. Alicia gave her a small nod. "Mum said she didn't think Molly was quite human. Bloody right she was."

Cameron looked at Emilie and then at his mother. "Is there anyone on this planet you don't know?" he complained and the asked Emilie, "what the hell was your mother doing that she knew mine?"

Alicia smiled wickedly. "Precious few. Keep that in mind the next time you decide to go haring off to do something this dumb."

Emilie was still in awe of actually meeting the woman that had taken on legendary status in her mother's eyes. "Mum was in the IRA when she was younger. I know what she did and because of it she had to change her name and technically drop out of the IRA. I found out about her being in the IRA and some of the things she did and I promised to never tell a soul." Emilie paused. "She wanted to name me Molly, you know."

Alicia's smile softened. "It's no coincidence that my elder daughter's name is Heather." Zack almost laughed, but managed to keep his stoic expression. When they were trying to decide on a name after they found out they were having a girl, Alicia had said she wanted it to be Heather. That was the middle name of a good friend of hers, someone that she had respected a lot even though she was a norm. Zack had no objections to the name although they did switch Heather's middle name from their decided-upon Teresa to Jhondie after Heather ended up being the first child that Jhondie delivered after getting her M.D.

"Think she can keep a secret?" Zack asked, his tone serious, but Alicia knew him better. He was teasing her.

"If she hasn't told anyone who assassinated Prime Minister Fitch back in '18, then this shouldn't be much."

"Mom!" Cameron blurted. "You did not! A militant Islamic group took credit for that one." He paused. "Did you?"

"I was supposed to," Alicia admitted. "An no lectures young man, we're talking about someone who was looking at the Irish in a way that made Hitler seem tame about his Jewish policy. But after all this planning and work, I get called away at the last minute. But Amelia stepped in and took care of things and got away just as planned. I don't think I could have done a better job myself."

"Mum thought you really were Irish," Emilie breathed.

Alicia smirked. "I've been a lot of things in my life."

There was a slight secondary rumble and Zack glanced around. "We need to get out of here." Alicia nodded. Janna and Antonio were back up. Max looked like she was going to take care of that situation. But now the kids were focused on the entryway.

"I don't suppose anyone has any digging equipment," Liz said meekly, looking at the heavy rocks now blocking the entrance.

Alicia snorted. "Do you really think I would let one of my children go back through that mess? The whole place has been rickety since I first saw it. We're leaving through the upper system where it's all been reinforced."

Cameron's jaw dropped. "Wait a minute," he gasped out. "This astounding archeological find and you've known about it for years?"

"Of course," his mother replied with a shrug. "Got to have some place for a staging area for Middle East operations." Then she sauntered off casually to the base of the outcropping, scaling the rope easily to start helping the others get up.

Alicia had been serious. The rock passages turned into concrete and steel and then through long-abandoned hallways with metal doors and thick dust everywhere. They went through a circular room that looked like it was probably a gym and then another hall took them to the surface. Once the door closed behind them, there was no way to tell that the door wasn't a natural part of the stone it was cut in.

From there they had separated. Antonio and Emilie were sent off; knowing that one breath of what they had seen was going to come at the cost of their lives. Emilie had an exception though. She couldn't wait to tell her mother whom she had met and said that Alicia should drop by if she were in Ireland. Alicia said she might just do that. And then came the flight home. All four kids, and to a lesser extent Jon, got the lecture of a lifetime. From Egypt to New York, they heard about what they had done, why it was stupid and all of the things that might still result. For Janna, the worst part was when her father simply looked at her and sighed, his blue eyes usually so happy to see her, this time filled with such disappointment. That was all that was needed to break her and make her sniff and say how sorry she was.

The three of them swore to their parents that this last time had been the scare they needed. It was over. It had been just a lark at first to see what they could do but now it was serious. They would have been in major trouble had backup not arrived just in time. It was over. A thousand times, it was over. They were going to move back to the States and never make any kind of trouble again. Ever. So help them God and a fear of duct tape and jumper cables.

Although Heather did think that her mother was going to kill her father for a moment when he was looking at the twins thoughtfully and then asked them if they had ever broken into a bank. They said no and he asked them if they wanted to. Even Aunt Max took a step back from the blue fire that shot from Mom's eyes. Dad smirked at Mom for a second and then told them how his partner, Carl, had friends in the banking industry that wanted to really be able to test security systems. They would have to give back whatever was taken and write reports. Both of the twins' faces fell at the "r" word. Heather knew what they were like in school and nothing could be a worse punishment than making them do something that they liked, and then write a report on it. It was fitting though. Mean as hell, but quite fitting.

The holidays had been slightly strained. Things got back into their normal groove a little more by Christmas though. Cyra and Daniel's big announcement of an impending new arrival had helped turn the tide into something much more festive. And Janna had to admit she got a kick out of seeing the pictures that Jon and Heather had prepared for them as welcome home gifts. Had she not been an intended recipient, it was an awesome idea. Of course nothing went normally in this family. There always had to be a twist in there somewhere and this year it was both Cameron and Heather's turn.

Two days after Christmas, there was a knock on the front door. Liz got it, and was stunned when Emilie strolled right on in. She was greeted warmly and told Alicia that her mother nearly had a heart attack, not that she met Molly, but that Molly had kids. Until she found out what Molly's kids were up to and then it made perfect sense. There was no mistaking the look on Cam's face when he asked her what she was doing in New York.

Emilie gave him her most charming smile. "Blackmail," she replied jauntily. A hush filled the room as she pulled out a notebook. "You see, if one happened to have been doing some translations and found out that a certain Spanish ship had sunk on it's way back from the New World and that on it's sister ship there was a young woman who was a cartographer's daughter, one might realize that she could accurately describe land formations that she saw. She had helped her Papa, or so she says in her diary. Every 'expert' is in the thinking that this ship ended up being blown to the North, but according to her, they ended up to the South and where she was describing is still there to this day. So, if one were enterprising and had this bit of information and knew someone that was full of ill-gotten gains, one could put it together quite nicely."

The flare of anger that had cropped on Cam's face up when Emilie used the word blackmail was turning into amusement. "Could one?" he said lightly.

"One could," she replied in the same vein and then her eyes got serious. "I've got it down to barely a few square miles, Cameron," she said very softly. "Nobody's looked in the right place. Don't you dare tell me you never wanted a chance like this before."

Cameron couldn't deny it. But, he did have a little problem with his family letting him out of their sight. And then there was no way that he could ever leave his...

"Yeah, right, you can't," Liz snapped at him. She pointed to the door. "There's FedEx for your stuff and Swiss bank accounts can be accessed from anywhere." Their eyes met and everyone in the room knew there was a lot more said between them than what was verbalized.

Still one other problem though. "Emilie," he said, "I would love to, but after everything that I've done, I'm sort of on probation right now and..."

"It's okay," Alicia spoke up. Cameron blinked and looked over at his mother. Alicia glanced at Zack, got the confirmation that she needed and continued. "She's Irish, my darling son. You get out of line with her and you're going to pay far worse than anything we could think of."

Emilie smiled brightly at that. "Quite right at that. And if you think you can pull those little mind games on me, then I'll get a few nips of some real Irish whiskey in you. You'll be under the nearest table and then trust me, the hell can be paid then."

Cameron blushed as everyone in the room exploded into laughter. He grabbed Emilie's arm and swung her body into his, capturing her mouth with his, trying not to laugh when Cyra covered Tanya's eyes. "How does New Year's Eve in the gulf of Mexico sound?" he asked softly, finally breaking away from her.

Her eyes met his. "Sounds quite bloody right to me."

Cameron and Emilie were gone on New Year's Day, going to Texas to get an expedition started. It was better to do it in the winter where the weather tended to be calmer. But then it was also time for Jon to go back. He had stayed away far longer than he should have, and it was a heartbreaking sight to see Heather clinging to him at the airport, trying not to cry and ask him to stay with her forever.

She almost wished right then that Chambers had kicked her out of HRT or something. Then she would have quit altogether and gone with Jon. But Chambers heard about their adventures and actually got a laugh out of it. He had actually been the one to find that central cavern in the Egypt base and had never thought anything of it. Too funny. In the end, the decision was simple. He would continue to be tough on her like he was to all rookies, but she would be used so that she could augment her teams subtly with her extra skills. And nothing was to ever be mentioned about X- anything. He had met back up with Alicia, as she explained to Xander why he better never, ever pull a stunt like that again with her children . Ty could only marvel. So many years, and some things hadn't changed a bit.

So instead of defiantly taking off with Jon, Heather was going to have to let him go. The tears she had held back gamely began to fall when it was time for him to get on his plane. "Don't cry," Jon had murmured, "it's not forever."

"I know," she sniffed. "We're going to make it work, just with the expansion you're not going to have as much time. That's okay though. We'll deal, right?"

"Right," he said softly. And then his eyes had lit up devilishly. "Besides, once you get used to taking long flights across the Atlantic, Virginia to Pennsylvania isn't going to be hard at all."

Heather's whole face was a question mark. "Where to what?"

"I told you it was an expansion, just not how big," he said with a grin. "At the time you were still in Chicago and I don't know...if we were both in the States, then I started thinking things might get weird, but you know you had a boyfriend, and I had a stick figure and I don't know..."

"Jon..." she breathed, her heart pounding at what she thought he was saying.

"A lot of people don't want to go to Aspen to ski," he said, picking up a snobby tone. "Aspen is so, "done". They want to go somewhere more exclusive. Somewhere that when a place is special for them, it's not right next door to another special place." Jon caressed her face lightly, voice returning to normal. "One year. It's going to be crazy and I won't be able to see you much when I fly over here to oversee some things, but one year from now and the expansion is going to be complete. And I think I'll be able to find a competent manager to oversee the place in the summer while I'm in Virginia."

"And I think I'll be stocking up on Dramamine for all of the flying to Pennsylvania during the winter," Heather said, her eyes shining. There might have been more to say, but her arms were around his neck and the kiss that followed made the entire rest of the world seem totally unimportant.

The only one who didn't come out of this mess with someone special was Liz, Janna thought as she drove up the final way to Antonio's home. But she had her Ferrari and was already planning her first solo break in for her dad. She said she didn't care. If she could find someone that wouldn't try to get between her and her Ferrari, then she would give him a second look, but in the meantime, she was good.

Janna was wondering how good she was. This was pretty nuts. Her parents thought she was crazy and her mother wanted to take the necklace back herself and be done with it. Oddly enough it was her dad that understood why she had to do this. More to the point, he understood why Antonio wanted her to do this. So here she was with a fortune in her purse at the place where she had helped steal it from. As an invited guest. Too weird. Just too weird.

Antonio answered the door, drinking her in with those incredible dark eyes. No more cute little suits for her. He had been right thinking that such things were Jaqui only. Her blouse was nice enough, but she looked so much more comfortable in jeans. "You really are here," he greeted, his words a caress on her skin.

"Girl's got to keep her word," Janna replied, a trembling smile touching her mouth.

They were in each other's arms in a second. All of the behavioral etiquette that Antonio had been taught about how to act in front of servants was gone in a flash as their lips met, the softness of her body pressing into his. A maid entered, froze for a moment, her eyes wide, and then slipped out quietly and completely unnoticed. Had a blast of cold air not come through the open door, then chances of them ending up on the marble floor of the entryway would have been quite high.

Both of them gasped with the sudden rush of cold air, which made them, break apart slightly. Janna grinned up at Antonio. "You certainly know how to make a guest feel welcome," she teased.

Antonio shut the front door and then took her into his arms again, relishing how she was just tall enough so that her head could rest right on his shoulder. "I would hate for this visit to be anything like your first," he said softly, making Janna laugh.

She patted the large purse hanging against her hip. "Trust me, everything is different this time." She had to admit that she was torn on if she could just stand there for a while watching him or if maybe they could go straight up to his bedroom. He was wearing slacks and a golf shirt, but somehow he just made casual look so good. This was just so not right. She barely knew him. So what if they had already made love once. That could be discounted as a weird situation. But she had missed him fiercely while she was in New York.

Janna glanced around, trying to look at anything but Antonio. "It's beautiful," she said, indicating the house. "Camera just doesn't do it justice."

"Would you like a tour?" Antonio asked with a devilish glint in his eyes, "or do you already know your way around."

Janna glared at him playfully for a second. "I know you might not remember, wallowing on the ground in agony that you were, but I was a little busy walloping squirrels to get the full tour."

Antonio laughed and offered her his arm which she took gladly as he showed her the ballroom and grand reception and dining room. Janna loved the huge library. When she was young, she wanted more than anything to be able to slide around a room on the ladders attached to the bookshelves that went to the ceiling. Had it not been slightly rude, she might have tried seeing if it was really as fun as she had seen in a hundred kids movies. He told her what he knew about the history and she surprised him when she filled him in on quite a few of the antiques and the paintings. He just knew that most of the stuff had been there for generations and it was important in a sentimental sort of way. There were quite a few changes that he would have liked to make, but his mother would have fainted at the mention and it wasn't that important to him. He had an office on the first floor that was his domain and his mother had sighed and moaned over his refusal to use this antique desk or lamp, but, much like his private rooms upstairs, as long as guests didn't see them, she could handle it.

The family suites were on the second and third stories. There were a dozen guest rooms that were unoccupied and a large room that Antonio said had once been a nursery filled with some covered furniture and sealed boxes and a beautifully handmade rocking horse. There were, obviously, no children to fill it for now, but one day it would be nice if that were to change. When he said that, Janna thought her heart was going to jump out of her chest. It wasn't the words. Most people wanted kids. It was just the warmth in his eyes and the sudden image she got of what a child of theirs might look like. She tried to scold herself, but the thought alone was enough to take the chill off a warm night. Antonio noticed the slight blush that rose to the golden cream of her skin, but said nothing.

"Does the whole family usually live here?" Janna asked when Antonio pointed out his mother's suite after they passed his sister's rooms. The door to his mother's suite was tightly shut and Antonio had explained that she was recovering from her trip and it was best not to disturb her for a few days while she did her beauty regime that de-aged or whatever that meant. Louisa had left with some friends for a few days. Pity. Antonio would have liked her to meet Janna.

"Sometimes," he replied. "Younger sons in old times were expected to marry well and receive a manor of their own in the dowry. Daughters lived with their husbands on their estates. Now, the heir of course lives here, and the younger children are free to do as they wish. Louisa moved out for a few years and lived with a friend in Venice, but when that relationship ended, she chose to come home."

The third floor was uncomfortably familiar. That was where the twins had broken in and Janna knew every inch of the layout. If Antonio knew, he didn't say anything. He pointed out the door to his rooms, but to Janna's surprise he didn't ask if she would like to see them. She only caught a glimpse of a sitting room through the partially opened door, and then he swept her to another door that was locked. It wasn't where the necklace had been kept either. Weird.

Antonio led her up a short flight of stairs and Janna noticed that this was one area that was actually unkempt. There was dust on the handrail of the stairs in a house where she had not seen so much as a fingerprint smudging any of the glass. Antonio unlocked another door at the top of the stairs and led her in. Janna didn't have to be told that whatever this room is, it was special to him.

The room was a long rectangle, dominated by a large window that looked over the forest beyond the estate. Dust motes danced in the air, made visible by the afternoon sunshine streaming in. The wood floor was dusty, but Janna could tell that once it had been well taken care of and polished to a shine. Then a row of art easels against the far wall caught her eye. Reverently, she went to them, aware that Antonio was watching her from the door, but unable to stop herself from sliding back a sheet and staring at the half-finished painting still on the easel.

The picture was that of a young woman, standing on a mountain ledge, reaching out to the point where she must topple over with just another inch of stretching. The expression on the woman's face was so tragically poignant that Janna could almost feel her agony as she reached for something she could never have. And then Janna noticed the strong resemblances between her and the picture of Louisa that she had seen earlier. Janna looked up at Antonio, one eyebrow raised in question.

"My great-grandmother's room," he answered quietly, walking over to her to observe the painting. "She was a gifted painter. She did the paintings downstairs of my great-grandfather and both of my father's parents."

"She seems so sad," Janna breathed, her eyes still focusing on the painting, catching the tiny teardrops on the woman's face and the way she was standing as if the act of drawing in a breath was too painful for words.

"She was not well in her mind for many years until she finally died," Antonio explained. "She had five children and her eldest son had been accepted to Oxford. The other children, two boys and two girls thought it would be fun to accompany him and help him get settled in. When they were supposed to leave, her second son was ill and could not go. The other four went and there was a terrible plane crash and they were all killed. The bodies of her elder son and youngest daughter were never recovered and she always thought that one day they would come home."

"She put it all in here." Janna could understand what it was like to vent emotions onto a canvas.

"She spent much of her time up here, painting, but rarely finishing. I was ten when she died and I can remember one night a few weeks before her death when she dragged me out of bed and up here. I was terrified at this old woman that was only marginally sane dragging me off. She had ten easels lined up and demanded that I look at the paintings on them. At first all I could see was random lines on each one but she kept insisting. And then suddenly I saw it. If you layered the paintings on top of each other, they would form a complete picture. I told her what I saw and she smiled. And then..." he broke off his words, before completing what the old woman had said that he must marry an artist.

"And then?"

"And then she let me go back to bed," Antonio finished, trying to sound perfectly natural. "When she died, I actually felt as if the family had lost a treasure it didn't know it had."

Janna was still contemplating the blank part of the canvas, unable to keep her fingertips from brushing against the blank area, the rest of the picture forming in her mind. "Does anyone ever come up here?"

"Luisa has a key. We used to come up here when we were younger and try to scare each other with ghost stories. Mother thought about changing this room to a family reception room of a sort but I refused to let her. It didn't seem right and she couldn't deal with both of her children putting their foot down."

"There needs to be lots of foliage over here," Janna murmured. "Green. Life. Garden of Eden kind of colors and lushness. Reaching for her, but not able to touch."

"Had I known you would like to finish this, I would have had paints up here. Hers dried out and were thrown away years ago."

Janna blinked and glanced up at Antonio, color suffusing her cheeks. "I didn't mean..." she stammered. "I'm just one of those artists that can't stop. I get a blank piece of paper; I'm sketching on it. I see an unfinished canvas, then I'm thinking of how it should be done."

Antonio chuckled. "You did not offend me. Maybe it is time for these to be completed." His fingers caressed her face lightly. "I am not sure why, but I would like to watch you paint one day."

Janna's eyes narrowed. "The only way someone gets to watch me is if they're modeling."

Antonio pulled her closer, his dark eyes gleaming devilishly. "I could probably have some paints delivered in an hour." Janna's breath caught for a second and then she realized that he was teasing her. They both laughed. For now, Janna thought. One day she was going to pin him down and sketch him, just the way he looked standing in the doorway of this room, leaning back casually, arms crossed, secure in himself and the world around him.

"But I think there's something that we need to do first," Janna said softly. Antonio nodded, understanding exactly what she meant. His hand caught hers and they walked out of the room, making sure the door was locked behind them.

"So you don't have any other brothers or sisters?" Janna asked as they walked down the long hallway.

"I had a younger brother, Sabatino. He died a few days after he was born from a congenital heart defect. I suppose my parents decided that it would be too painful to try again." He looked at her curiously. "Do you have any? I only met cousins."

That question caught Janna. "You saying you haven't done a ton of research on my family in the last few weeks?"

"After what I found out already, there didn't seem to be much more to dig up."

Janna blinked. It hit her suddenly. He didn't know. She had been a little worried that he was willing to be nice to her now and forgive because of the whole Cale Enterprises thing. But she had no doubt that he had no clue about her father's family. "I'm an only child," she answered softly. "My mom, after one of her adventures when she was young, and trust me, if half of what I've heard is correct, then I'm pretty tame in comparison, but she ended up with this implant thing in her neck that had done some stuff to her nervous system. They think that's why her first three pregnancies ended up miscarrying. The third one was really bad and had my aunt not been there, she's a trauma surgeon, Mom probably would have died."

"And she still tried again?"

"I was a serious accident. My Dad had gotten a vasectomy to make sure that there wouldn't be any accidents, but in rare cases, spontaneous regeneration can occur and well, surprise. Mom's doctor told her to have an abortion so the miscarriage would be under controlled circumstances and she wouldn't be endangering herself." Janna laughed. "If there is one thing that you do not do in this world, it's to tell my mother she has to do anything." Antonio laughed. After meeting Max, he could believe that. "Anyways, four months was when she had lost the others and it came and went with no problems. She told me that this time, she had just known that I was going to be born and she was right. Personally, I'm rather pleased with her decision to tell the doctor where to stick it and try one last time."

"Oddly enough, so am I," Antonio said as they reached another locked door.

Janna's forehead wrinkled. "Locked now?"

"Temporarily," Antonio replied, unlocking the door. "Neither my mother or sister knows what I brought back with me, so I am having the display redone as a surprise to them. They think it's a new security measure being installed." As they entered the unobtrusive side door into the jewel room, Janna saw the large arched entry had been blocked off and there were a few signs left of construction. Another day of clean up and it was going to be back to normal.

The display had been changed. Antonio had the found necklace cleaned and it now rested on the black velvet, a space beside its mate. Carved in the stone behind the necklace were the words that had been carved in the stone above Diego's body. The smaller pieces of family jewelry elegantly surrounded the two centerpieces. Antonio opened a false stone beside the glass and keyed in a code, lowering the glass.

Janna dug through her bag to the bottom and then pulled out a flat case. She opened it and the stolen necklace gleamed against the red velvet interior. "Was it difficult to get it back in the country?" Antonio asked.

Janna shrugged. "Not especially. But then I do have a little bit of practice."

"I suppose you would." He took the necklace out of the case, fingering the stones. "What did it look like on you?"

Janna looked mock offended, picking up her Jaqui voice. "Wear something that is not my own? That would not be professional." She smiled, dropping the accent. "This may sound weird, but it wasn't mine and I didn't have permission."

"You have a very odd sense of scruples." Antonio hesitated for a moment and then slid up behind Janna, letting the diamonds fall around her neck. Instinctively, Janna swept her dark curls to the side while he fastened the clip. There was a large gold-framed mirror on one wall and Antonio escorted Janna to it, looking over her shoulder, his arms wrapped lightly around her waist.

"Amazing," he murmured in her ear, making her shiver slightly. "I've seen this necklace on my mother and grandmother and even once my great- grandmother. This is the first time I have ever seen someone wear it that flattered the necklace instead of it flattering them."

Janna was trembling slightly. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. Antonio looked startled. She turned around, still in the circle of his arms, her eyes meeting his slowly. "I am sorry for everything," she repeated. "I mean, yeah, I gave it back, but I am sorry for everything I put you through in the meantime. It's my fault you ended up in so much danger and I'm the one that asked Liz to take that statue, and it got broke, so that's on me as well, and...and..."

Her words were cut off with a kiss. Janna couldn't get enough of the sweetness and comfort offered by that long, passionate kiss. She was just glad that he didn't let her go or else she would have ended up oozing to the floor. They finally separated and Janna was reminded of the moment on the golf course when he admitted that he had cared, worried that Marco had injured her.

"My father died when I was 22," Antonio whispered, his face still mere inches from hers. "I could not go to graduate school like I planned since I had to come home and take over the family. Mother was not capable and Luisa was still in college herself. Since then I knew that my first priority had to be taking care of the family and one of the things that I was supposed to do was meet and marry the right sort of woman and ensure the line went on. I have met women of nobility all over the world and not one was worth a second glance."

"And then all of sudden, there was you. You hit me with a stick, stole a family heirloom, lied to me, refused to tell me your name, ate all of my popcorn, kneed me, threw golf clubs at me and still, I have never been so scared in my life as I was when I thought you might be injured. I am not sorry at all for what happened. So what about the statue? It served its purpose. It led to a treasure beyond compare. You. I am well aware of how wrong it is to feel like this for someone I should despise. But I have had time to think about it and what I know is that I do not care. Whatever happened, happened and how can I complain with what I have received from it?"

Gently he brushed a tear off of her cheek. Janna sniffed. "I missed you," she admitted. "Isn't that insane? I should be digging a hole and hiding from you for the rest of my life but I can't imagine trying to live it now and never see you again."

"You don't have to." Antonio stepped back, still keeping her hands in his. "I would like it very much if you would stay for a while or however long you can." His eyes were hypnotically serious. "Janna, I..."

Things got rather jumbled from then until Janna was back in the cold winter air. A dozen men were suddenly flooding the room, grabbing Janna roughly and yanking her back. Her Italian wasn't great, but she knew words like "police" and "do not move". Cold metal was locked around her wrists and over in the entryway that had been smashed open, Marco stood, an icy grin curving his mouth and behind him an older woman stood triumphantly. Janna caught one last glance at Antonio as the necklace was pulled from her neck by one of the policemen. Antonio had the nerve to look shocked. Maybe they had come in sooner than expected. Her eyes closed to blot out the sight and then she was being shoved into the back of a police car and taken away, the estate dwindling to nothing behind them.