"Moping about is not going to be a solution to your problem."

"Go away."

Luisa glided from the door of their great-grandmother's studio over to where her brother stood next to the large window. He had done nothing but mope for two days straight now. Antonio was a man of action. He would do what he wanted and typically get what he wanted. He did not sit about and sulk in depression. And Mother was afraid to go near him now. She had tried to explain why she ordered Marco to call the police after he came to her, telling her what the new maid saw her son doing and with whom he was doing it. Antonio had merely given her a single look and she retreated to her bed with a violent headache.

"After you tell her that it wasn't you and you tell a court this was all a mistake, why do you think she is going to be upset?"

"You do not know her. Go away Luisa."

Most people would obey that particular tone. It once worked on Luisa as well until around the age of twelve. She put her hand on his shoulder instead of fleeing the room. "Antonio, I listened to what Marco had to say. He is convinced that she must be a witch to so have you at her defense. I think he is a fool and you are not. So why is it that you are so convinced of her innocence despite her own words?"

Antonio gazed out onto the trees surrounding them. It used to always be a scene that would act as a balm when his soul was troubled. It wasn't working this time. "She brought it back," he whispered. Luisa 's eyes widened. It was the first time since the arrest that he had admitted that Janna was guilty of anything. "She could have kept it and I would never have said a word. I wanted to know what she wanted more. And when she brought it back, I knew then. So now I have a pile of stones and metal. I will never have her again."

Luisa and her brother had always been close. For years, he was the only person that knew she preferred women to men. Their father would have disowned her and Mother...well, Mother brought one doctor after the next in to cure Luisa until Antonio put a stop to it. The two of them had rarely kept a secret from the other and now she knew without a doubt that this girl had struck him in a way that no other woman had. And it had nothing to do with knocking him out cold. Of course, after meeting Janna's cousin Heather, Luisa knew what was so intriguing about the women in that family. There was something indefinable that made them absolutely yummy.

"You fell in love with her," Luisa accused gently. "You knew what she had done but you fell in love with her anyways."

There was a long period of silence. Finally Antonio pounded the glass lightly with his fist in frustration and turned to face his sister. "You would not believe how cautious I was. I had all of the plans made. If I wasn't back in a certain length of time, if there was the slightest problem, I had that contingency plan in place. But then she wasn't the cold, calculating person I thought she would be. She was warm and funny and lost her temper and would not cower no matter the situation. I was prepared for any circumstance but one. And that was the one that happened."

"Go to her right now," Luisa urged. "Tell her it was a big mistake and that you are going to tell Mother that she has no right to try and press charges and that it was a bodyguard's idiocy that led to this. She will be angry, but when you prove what you meant by telling the court that it was a mistake, and Mother listens to you when you get angry with her, then how can Janna stay mad?"

"I can't get to her," Antonio snapped. He blew out a breath. "I tried to contact her, but her lawyer is none other than Santino Adamari himself. Nobody may speak to her without his presence."

Luisa whistled low at the lawyer's name. He had defended some of the big names in the Mafia and won acquittals for them. "How can she afford him? Or get him for that matter?"

Antonio shrugged. "It's possible that they worked for him at some point. The man has a rather large personal collection of art. And I believe that there was a great deal of money that they earned that is in anonymous accounts. One of Janna's associates probably has access to those funds and are making sure the money is there."

He shook his head. "Besides, Mother is not backing down on prosecuting Janna. Marco is behind her, telling her that a child cannot rule its parents and that she must do this to be independent. Janna will never trust me even if she goes free for the fact that she will assume it's because we are trying to get all of them and not just her. She will leave and never come back."

Luisa thought for a moment and then smiled at her brother, slightly bemused. "The answer is simple," she finally said.

Antonio rolled his eyes at her. "You cannot have a chance at her just because I ruined mine."

Luisa laughed. "For someone who is so intelligent, my darling brother, you can truly be an idiot. Who owns that necklace?"

"It belongs to Mother," Antonio said, getting more annoyed by the moment at his sister's secretive little smirk.

"Wrong!" she practically sang out. "Since you are so upset right now, I will give you another chance." She repeated the question, spacing out the words for emphasis. "Who...owns...the...necklace?"

It was as if a light had gone off in a dark room. Antonio looked up sharply, his sister's smile widening, becoming almost feline. "Her parents are here," he breathed out. "I am going to need their help for this to work."

"There isn't much time."

Antonio grabbed his sister and kissed her cheeks. "And why are you so intent on helping me?" he asked suspiciously. "There's going to be hell to pay when Mother finds out."

Luisa grinned. "You described some of the women in her family and I met the one cousin. My God, it should be a crime for so much beauty to rest in one family. My price to you is that you must find out if there are any women of my persuasion and if there are, I get to meet them soon. This is not negotiable."

Antonio grinned back. "I should say that the price is well worth the prize." And then he was running out the door. There wasn't much time. Luisa was right about that. But if there were a chance, the slightest chance, then it would be worth it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Max opened the door of her hotel room to give whomever was banging frantically on it a piece of her mind. She had way too much on her mind right then with her daughter being behind bars to be talking to some freaked chambermaid wanting to know if they got the right number of towels or some fool thing like that. She opened the door, the identity of the man standing on the other side taking a moment to register, and then she slammed it shut again without saying a word.

Antonio blinked. That kind of greeting must run in the family, he thought as he began knocking again.

The door practically flew back off of its hinges as Max yanked it open again, chocolate fire leaping from her eyes. "Did you not get the hint?" she snarled.

"Mrs. Cale," Antonio tried to get out, but Max cut him off dead, one hand in the air.

"No," she snapped. "The only noise I want to be from you is the sound of your ass hitting the pavement. And the longer you standing in front of me the greater your chances getting of learning the meaning of definistration."

Antonio had to admit, he was feeling a little intimidated. He had seen this women slap around a man twice her size without the slightest effort on her part. And her brother had snapped a human neck with one hand. He swallowed, trying to get down the lump in his throat and only partially succeeding. "You can throw me out a hundred times," he said in a low voice, "but I will keep coming back until you hear what I must say."

"Max, who is it?" a man's voice called out from behind her. Max didn't glance backwards, her eyes bent on Antonio.

Antonio felt a little better when another man came up behind Max that seemed vaguely familiar to Antonio. He seemed to be about ten years older than her and then Antonio recognized him from Janna's description. Her father. He had to be. Her mother was nuts and her father was the rational one. This could help his case or her father could coolly decide to kill him and his wife would be more than happy to help.

"Just the boy that got some serious nerve showing his face here after playing our daughter," she finally said. Max crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. "You got two seconds to explain why I don't toss your lying ass out of the nearest window."

"Because I know how to get her out without anyone thinking that she paid her way out of trouble," Antonio said quickly. Max didn't change expression, but her husband did.

"So?" she snapped.

"Let him in," Logan said quietly. Max whipped around on him, ready to do some serious battle. "We've been lucky so far about keeping things quiet," he added. "A media circus isn't going to do anyone good."

Media attention wouldn't be good for a bunch of transgenics, Antonio thought as Max stepped away from the door and let him into the hotel room. It could be more on the dangerous side than anything. Max sauntered over to the sitting area, grabbing a chair and flipping it around so that she could sit in it backwards, her eyes still snapping angrily at him.

"Mr. And Mrs. Cale," Antonio said, taking a breath, "this was not meant to happen."

"You damn right about that," Max shot back. She looked like she had plenty more to say on the subject, but a look from her husband quieted her for a minute at least.

"I swear to you that I did not ask her to come back so that she could be arrested," Antonio explained. "I know that is hard to believe right now, but it is the truth. Janna was recognized by one of my employees, a man that I had with me when I was trying to find the necklace that was stolen. He assumed he knew better than I and the police were called."

"I'm sure you can understand why that's a little hard to accept that you were planning on letting Janna just walk away but instead she ended up in jail," Logan said smoothly.

Antonio's eyes dropped. "I didn't want her to just walk away," he said softly. He didn't notice the look that Janna's parents exchanged. There was no mistaking the look on that boy's face right then. Max had to bite back a smile. She was going to be getting it tonight about passing on way too many traits to their daughter.

"If you care about our daughter so much, why were charges pressed against her?" Logan questioned, his tone becoming rougher.

"It...it's been a mess," Antonio admitted. "And until I was reminded of something earlier today, I thought that there wasn't anything I could do except deny that Janna was involved in anything. They would be hard- pressed to convict her of anything when the person that would know the most does not believe she is involved." His eyes met Logan's. "But I know her well enough to know that will not be enough. Not to her. And I refuse to accept that there is nothing that I can do to change things."

"So sit down and tell us what this plan of yours is."

It took a surprisingly short amount of time to explain his idea and how it would work, but he had no doubt that it would only work with their support. Yes, it was strange and he understood how they wouldn't see the wisdom in it, but he knew it would work and that it was the right thing to do. There was no question of that and he was able to explain to her parents why he was so sure of that as well.

When he was done, Max glanced over at Logan. "And I thought you were the tops on the creepy invites," she said, reminding him of how he had gotten her to come back to his penthouse after she had broken in the first time. Max looked doubtful. "Logan, I don't know about getting the boy's back on this one."

"I am not asking for you to insist or force, but to..." Antonio's words trailed off and he looked at Janna's father closer. Logan. Logan Cale. Holy Mother.

"Cale Enterprises?" Antonio questioned, his shock giving away that he had previously not had an inkling of an idea of what family Janna was part of. Logan nodded. Antonio could only bury his head in his hands for a moment. Not a big deal. She was merely from a family whose fortunes made his family look like a group of paupers. "She's not going to spend a day in prison no matter what I do," he finally said flatly.

"It's not that we want Janna to escape punishment for what she's done," Logan said, "but because of her unique heritage, she would be a prime target for anyone that might be looking for transgenic technology. There have been a few scares before in the family. Having her locked away would only increase her chances of being a target."

"My baby did wrong and I'm still not happy with her over the whole dealio, but she's not getting sliced and diced for it, you know?" Max added.

Antonio was still trying to assimilate it. "Why was she stealing?" he finally blurted out. "I thought at first it was for money, but...I cannot imagine the heiress to Cale Enterprises ever knowing what it is like to not have all the money she could ever want."

Logan looked at his wife meaningfully. "She didn't get it from my side of the family."

"Let's not talk about the hacking deal," came the quick reply. She looked back at Antonio. "Janna never mentioned anything about the family business?"

"Nothing to indicate how vast it was."

Max gave him a long searching stare. Then for the first time since he had arrived, she smiled. Logan quietly took her hand, giving his blessing on what she had to say. "You still going to get your ass bitch-slapped a few times, you know that right? But when that's done and over, me and her daddy here, we got your back."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was amazing that Jaqui could be there even without the accent, Janna thought to herself as she was taken into a courtroom. The poise and the self-confidence had stayed even if Janna herself wanted to scream and cry and throw a god almighty temper tantrum every hour on the hour.

It was that poise that had gotten her through five and a half hours of interrogation. Of course she did have a lawyer, much to the dismay of the Italian police. Janna thought that someone must have owed her father a favor. They couldn't stop the arrest, but they could notify him. And nobody could get things done like Logan Cale when he was in the mood. They had barely gotten Janna through the door of the police station when an extremely well dressed man breezed in and announced that he was her lawyer. Janna wasn't sure who he was really, but the cops were impressed. During the interrogation, Janna learned why. The man was really a shark in a silk suit.

Having him there made the process go easier. They weren't about to try and physically abuse her with him present and once they learned about what family she was from, they were doubly careful. "The Truth" was popular in Europe as well and that magazine would have been rather vicious if the daughter of the co-owner and editor was injured in their care. But spending that long being questioned relentlessly was still a grueling process. Janna was glad that somehow Jaqui had shown up and taken control. For most of it she sat quietly, looking bored even as her lawyer spoke for her.

Finally, after hours, she got fed up enough. "Gentlemen," she said firmly, making everyone in the room stare at her with her snotty-brat tone. "We can discuss all this circumstantial crap later. There's just one little thing that nobody has bothered to address." She paused dramatically. "I'm rich," she said emphatically. "Filthy, stinking, hatefully rich. I have trust funds for my trust funds. So, why on earth would I steal anything? If I wanted it, I would have told my daddy and he would have bought me ten of them." She leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed.

"You fled back to America after the thefts!" one of the policemen accused.

Janna rolled her eyes. "Aunt Cindy's girlfriend has this little eclectic bistro place out in Seattle," she said truthfully. "It's this café with a gallery thing. Really trendy there. I am an artist. Tamara put a couple of my pieces in her showroom and it sold. One of the people that bought a painting loved it, saw some of my other stuff, loved it and wants me to do a display in her gallery." That was actually true. Janna had been so excited about it when her mother had told her on the flight back to New York and that was the only thing that was tearing her from being able to stay for a long visit with Antonio.

The questioning didn't go on much longer after that. They knew they weren't going to be able to get Janna to confess and her lawyer was far too brilliant to allow anything to slip out. So now she was being dragged in front of a judge for some pre-trial thing. And it was all in Italian, of course. Her lawyer was doing all of the talking and said he was going to use the language thing to make sure that she didn't have to answer any questions. Janna didn't care what he had to say. After the thrilling experience of being deloused, prison had lost its glamour and she wanted to go home now.

Antonio's mother was in the courtroom sitting next to a smirking Marco, but her parents weren't. That wasn't good. Maybe they were talking to someone that could get her released. Knowing Mom, she was casing the place and planning a jailbreak tonight. Yeah, right. The first thing her mother told her when she saw her was not to expect help from special quarters. Zack and Alicia had told the twins that if they got out of sight of the shoreline of the US, both of them were going to be drowned like kittens. They believed. They weren't coming. Janna didn't blame them.

The proceeding started when the door flew open with a flat bang and Antonio strode down the center aisle with his customary arrogant confidence. Janna went to give him her best dirty look, but her jaw nearly hit the ground to see her parents walk in right behind him. That was unexpected.

"Forgive the intrusion," Antonio said jovially. "But I am afraid there has been a terrible misunderstanding."

"Antonio!" his mother cried out, standing and fanning herself.

He barely spared her a look, but the one he did nearly burned her skin. "Sit!" he commanded firmly and then turned back to the judge. "I am very sorry to have been the cause of such a waste of time, but you see, no crime was ever committed."

Marco tried to stand up and object, say anything, but an iron grip clamped on his shoulder, shoving him back in his seat as he felt the bones in his shoulder grind together painfully. He glanced up to see a woman standing over him, so much an older version of that thief up front that there was no mistaking her but to be the mother.

"You do not want to interrupt," Max said softly. "'Cause Janna told me how you tried to go all godfather on her and do that nail thing. I don't appreciate. And what she did to you is sweet dreams to what I can do." All it took was that little smirk of superiority to go along with the grinding pain now running down his arm and Marco had no doubts that this woman was capable of all she claimed and more.

In the front of the room, the judge was confused. "How is it possible there was no crime committed?" As a matter of fact everyone was confused, including the lawyer and Janna once he translated. Janna thought that was what Antonio had said, but she wasn't sure.

Antonio smiled. "There was no crime because the necklace was never stolen. That is why I did not seem concerned that it would be gone forever. The necklace was in fact with its owner."

"You had it?"

"No, sir," Antonio corrected the judge. "The necklace does not belong to my mother as she has said or even to me. It belongs to my contessa." His eyes lingered on Janna as he spoke those words and there was no doubt she understood exactly what he had just said.

His mother let out a noise that would most appropriately be described as the wailing of the damned as Janna leapt to her feet. "OH HELL NO!" she shouted at him. "You think I don't know what you just said? Let me tell you this. I would rather falsely confess to everything they're accusing me of and spend the rest of my life in the deepest, darkest cell in the worst Italian dungeon, you clear on that?"

The judge was slamming his gavel trying to regain order. Lina di LiCossa had nearly fainted in her chair and Janna's lawyer was desperately trying to keep his client from jumping the young man at the center of the storm. Janna shot her parents a glance and it was obvious that they knew that he was going to say something like this. Mom had that look that clearly said she had just done something bad and was enjoying the hell out of it.

"Conte!" the judge finally said. "Exactly what are you trying to say?"

Antonio strode forward as if none of this was a bother. "I am saying that Janna never stole a necklace. It will soon enough be hers and she knew she could take it if she wanted it. I bragged that it could not be taken without my permission and she said she could prove otherwise. Her cousins work for a company that tests security systems for banks in America. With their help, she proved me quite wrong. But I knew who had it, so I was not worried. Keeping it for a few weeks was her way of teasing me."

Janna wasn't screaming. She was doing a good job of figuring out the Italian, but she figured that she must be way off somewhere in the translation. There was no way on earth that he was saying what she thought he was saying. But the judge was suddenly looking more amused than confused and it really explained Mom's smirk.

"You and the defendant are to be married?" the judge finally asked. Lina burst into tears, grabbing her rosary.

Janna snorted, about to say a few things that nobody in that room would ever forget, when a hand touched her shoulder. She glanced back and her father was standing there. "I know you're angry," Logan said calmly. "But you need to listen. He faced down your mother for you, princess."

If there was one thing Janna hated, it was when her father was reasonable. It was the one thing Mom couldn't get around either. Dad was just really good at it. Came from years of interviewing a lot of people and trying to give an impartial report of events, she supposed. But the man would make so much sense, people just wanted to believe him. No wonder he made such an awesome Eyes Only. Janna still wanted to kick him in the shin though. Or at least have a nice long pout.

Antonio glanced over his shoulder at Janna and his mother and then back at the judge. He was standing at the bench now and let out a small breath. "My mother and fiancée," he said low so that only the judge could hear him. "Mother did not know Janna and I had decided to make things official." His expression said more about the situation than words could. The judge's stern façade nearly cracked. He had been married for thirty-six years and for thirty-two of them learned exactly what it was like to go through what this young man was experiencing already. A sobbing mother and that young woman didn't look like she was going to forgive all this easily.

"I am going to allow you to adjourn to my chambers for a bit so that this can be discussed properly," the judge said, standing.

Janna would have much preferred to put Antonio in a world of hurt, but her parents were coming in with them and she knew there was no way that they were going to let her to do him what she really wanted. The judge had decided to allow them a few moments of privacy with the family to get this worked out. He had been a magistrate for a long time and he had seen much, but this had to be one of the most humorous cases he had presided over. He knew what the police had gone through with that young woman. He felt sorry for the Conte.

In the chambers, Max and Logan were standing on one side of the room while Lina sank into a chair on the other side. She was a frail-looking woman and seemed to be on the verge of collapse. Janna dropped herself in one of the chairs in front of the judge's massive desk, crossing her arms and glaring at Antonio.

"Forget it," she snapped. "I don't know what your sick little game is, but it's not happening. What? Someone put a scare into you? Make you regret what you did? Good. But I don't care now. There's no proof. I would have walked anyways."

"Janna, calm down and listen to him," Max commanded.

Janna jumped out of her chair, whirling around on her mother. "Calm down?" she shouted. "It's been a while since it's happened to you, so I'll give you a refresher. Getting played sucks. I don't care if you think I deserve it." She had to paused for a second, trying to fight back tears. Her voice dropped. "It still sucks."

Lina finally had gathered her composure. "My son, I forbid you from mixing your blood with a common harlot's," she declared firmly. She stood up, chin lifted firmly. "You will have to accept that it is my duty to the family to make sure the line stay pure and not mixed with such...such low breeding."

Antonio very calmly stepped up to his mother before Janna's mother could hurt her while explaining why her daughter was not to be called a harlot. Had he just done this a few days before when Janna first got arrested, he would only have to deal with one of them, and not have to try and convince Janna that he didn't take part in it. "Mother," he said gently, "I love and respect you as my parent. But you will respect my decision on this. I do not care what is best for the family or what titles need to be brought into it. Not this time."

Janna was planning on an angry retort at being called a harlot, but Antonio's response had diffused that for some reason. He sounded...sincere. Logan caught the slight change in Janna and took Max's hand and glanced meaningfully at the door. She wasn't thrilled, but she gave him a tiny nod in agreement.

"You and Janna need to talk," Logan said evenly, ignoring Janna's look of alarm. The last thing she wanted was to be alone with him. "We'll leave you alone to work this out."

Antonio gave him a tight smile. "Thank you." His eyes met his mother's. "I think it would be best if you would wait for us in the hall now, mother."

Her mouth opened to say something, but it snapped shut again until his stern glare. She turned and left the room with Logan and Max, glaring at them as the door shut behind them. "That girl will not get her hands on my son's fortune," she spat out bitterly. "I will make sure of a contract before they are married."

Logan's eyebrows rose. "Of course there will be," he said firmly. "Janna's the sole heir of Cale Enterprises and my half of "The Truth". What she does with it will be her business. But it won't be yours." He smirked. "By the way, I'm Logan Cale and this is my wife, Max." When Lina practically fell against the wall in shock, her jaw somewhere between her shoes, Logan smirked a little more and then grabbing Max's hand, walked down the hallway.

In the judge's chambers, the scene wasn't as pleasant. Janna sat back down, her face stony. Antonio thought of Max's words that Janna was going to slap him around first and realized she wasn't referring to a physical confrontation. "Janna, I have been trying to get to you to tell you that I had no idea what my mother and Marco were planning," he opened.

Her reply was more icy silence. Why did she have to be so stubborn, Antonio thought. He sighed. Because if she wasn't, she wouldn't be half as interesting. He knelt down in front of her and touched her arm, only to have her jerk back. "What can I do to convince you?"

"Go to hell."

"I have been there. I learned a great deal about what hell is like these last few days."

Janna finally looked at him directly. "What do you want?" she hissed.

"You."

She shook her head. "No. You had me. And then you ditched me. Let me guess, you found out who my parents are and don't want to lose out on that opportunity."

"Your family has money," Antonio said, frustrated. "Congratulations. So does mine. We share more in common than I thought before. And I didn't know until I met your parents earlier. I assumed quite the opposite when I handed you that necklace and asked you to return it to me."

"So you'd set up a poor kid but not a rich one, huh?" she asked bitterly.

Antonio stood, pacing, his frustration with her obvious. Finally he went back to the chair, grabbing the armrests and leaning over her. "I want you to tell me exactly when I ever indicated that I gave a damn about money? I cared about the necklace because of what it represented to my family. I thought you understood that. I told you at the estate that I admired your elegance. That has nothing to do with money. You have a natural classiness. You seemed like you understood what I meant when I said it then."

"I thought you were saying a lot of things," she said quickly, fighting back the tears that were threatening to overwhelm her. "I don't know why you went through all that you did just to set me up, but..."she had to break off her words and look away.

Antonio gently touched her chin, tilting her head back so that she was facing him. "You're right," he said softly. "It doesn't make sense to go through all of that just to set someone up. And this isn't about money or who has what. I know what you have. My heart." He paused for a second, gathering the courage to say what he had never said in his adult life to a woman.

"I love you, Janna."

Janna couldn't help a small sob as she pulled back from him. "No," she cried. "You're not allowed to say that. You're not allowed to pull that on me. You don't know me. You can't say that because you can't mean it."

"Don't you dare tell me what I mean," Antonio snapped back her. "I know the hell I have been through because of you. And it has nothing to do with some shiny rocks and metal. I have told myself a hundred times that this was impossible, but that doesn't matter. I know what I feel when I see you. I know what I felt when you came back to Italy. I love you, Janna Jacqueline. I want you to be with me forever. Not because your family is wealthy and powerful. Because I love you. Not your family. They're rather scary. Not your money. You."

Tears were flowing freely down Janna's face now. "That's too bad," she squeaked. "'Cause I hate you."

Antonio smiled. "If that was true, then it wouldn't have hurt you so much to think that I betrayed you. I did not, Janna. And if you ask yourself what you really believe, you will know that I am telling the truth."

For a moment, the speed of her movement could have rivaled any of her cousins. One minute Antonio was crouched in front of her while Janna was pulled back as far from him as possible, the next she practically knocked him over as she jumped forward, her arms wrapping around his neck, their lips meeting in a spellbinding kiss.

"I am going to make you miserable for what you did to me," Janna warned him when they finally pulled apart. She vaguely realized they were on the floor, but that didn't matter feeling her body intertwined with his.

He grinned. "Isn't that the point of being married? To have that one special person that you make miserable for the rest of their life?"

Janna gasped and then realized he was teasing her. She grinned and picked up a British accent. "That and huge tracts of land." Antonio caught the Monty Python reference and laughed with her. "You never really asked," she said softy when the laughter died.

"You never really said it back."

Janna groaned, her forehead touching his. "Is this the way it's always going to be?"

Antonio thought for a second and then kissed her until she was practically melting into him. "And like this too."

"As long as the making up is sweet, I think I can deal." Janna caressed his face softly. "I love you too." She leaned over, letting her lips brush against his again, their arms tightening against each other, pulling closer and closer.

A polite cough from the door startled them, making them jump apart. Janna couldn't help blushing hotly as the judge stood in the door, smiling bemusedly at them. "I see the two of you have worked things out," he commented, enjoying the embarrassment of the two young people.

"One more detail," Antonio said and then pulled Janna back down to him. "Marry me," he whispered. "I wasted half my life looking for you. I don't want to waste one more day."

Janna smiled, biting her lip with excitement. "Do I get to kick Marco's ass?"

"Every day, my love. And twice on Sundays."

"Now how's a girl supposed to get a better offer than that?" She smiled, their eyes meeting with such perfect contentment that there was no more room for doubt. "I would love to marry you."

"Then perhaps," the judge said, "you should hurry up. My court is quite busy today as is. If you walked out of here as the legal owner of what you are accused of stealing, then the charges must be dropped."

Antonio and Janna looked at each other. Now? It was crazy. It was stupid. But when their eyes met they knew one thing over and above all. It was right.