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"That was easy" Chris watched as the brunette strolled away "Why didn’t you ask if you could borrow her car while you were at it?"

"I did It’s an off-white Mercedes convertible She said that she left it in long-terer before pocketing it and taking her hand again "Cos as casually as other people used hand towels in a restroom What he needed or wanted, he took He added insult to injury by so it fro hi

No wonder he’d become a thief The world must have seemed like a free toy store to him

Chris knehy it bothered her As a foster kid, she’d never had anything but the clothes on her back and whatever her caregivers bothered to feed her She rown up to be a thief herself, if not for the Renshaws By adopting her they had saved her from the indifference of the syste mess it made out of the lives of unwanted kids left to its ht have turned her into a junkie or a whore, if not for herwith Robin’s criusted-- to her, as going tohis thu as if they were on their honeymoon

Or the fact that in a small, wistful corner of her heart, she wished that they were

Robin found the Mercedes and unlocked the passenger door for her as naturally as if the car belonged to hi with hi hatever he did

"Do you want the top down? It’s a lovely night" When she didn’t get in, he gave her hand a tug "We only have two days, Christal Get in"

"My na to you Neither do I" Chris twisted her hand, but he kept hold of her If he didn’t let go of her right now she was going to make a fool out of herself To remind herself of who he was, she said, "You can’t steal or bully out of people whatever you want, Robin No ic, whatever it is, eventually you’re going to get caught"

His dark brows rose "I don’t useinto the car?"

He didn’t care He genuinely didn’t care that they were, in effect, stealing this woht?" she de the day"

"You know exactly what I mean" She was sick of this va, too "Doesn’t it bother you knowing everything you have you stole fro," he told her "When I bought the Ar, for exah-rise building in don Atlanta for cash Of course he had; he was the son of the Magician He could probably buy Atlanta

"Where did you get the s did you have to steal to cover the down payle did very well for uard stroll past theentleman does not discuss his financial ee "What does happen to the art you steal? Are you warehousing it? Do you sell it to private collectors?" Maybe if she could convince hi and returning the artworks he had stolen, it ht reduce the ti to work out a plea agreeician’s son?

Chris backed up a step "I can’t do this I can’t go through with this"

"Yes, you can"

She looked at hirier than she ever had been in her life "I won’t"

"Get in the car, love," he said through his teeth, "or I shall pick you up and stow you in the boot"

Chris opened her mouth, closed it when he rattled the keys, and h Ro: with style, enthusiasm, and a lot of nerve On the way to their "borrowed" accoh different self-defense scenarios in her head, trying to use her training to settle her internal agitation and cool down the fla into her brain

It didn’t work very well, but it was better than talking to hi edifice and came around to open the door for her

Chris was out of the car before he got there "Nice Looks about a thousand years old"

"Four hundred, I’d say" He put her ar Italian couple passed the like that You resemble a tourist"

There was no elevator; they walked up an old but beautifully preserved marble staircase to the apartment on the top floor Robin unlocked the door and paused to input a code on the alarm system keypad inside

That upset Chris ive you her security codes?"