Thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed!

Hanging by a Thread

Chapter Eighteen

x x x

Back in Fenbrooke, there had been more than one man who lived in the bars, a slave to the bottle. Kylie's mother used to shake her head sadly when such a man stumbled down the lane in the early morning, her lips muttering a prayer for their souls, a hope that they would have the strength to look past the drink and remember their families waiting at home.

Kylie wished she could tell her mother that a serious threat, a threat from a man with arm muscles sculpted to perfection and a stare that could bore holes in your skin, would have been much more effective than a thousand whispered prayers.

She still yearned for the burn of alcohol in her throat and the cloud in her mind, but the memory of Adrian's dark eyes kept her far from the liquor cabinet. He had said he would not stand for it, and she knew that he was serious.

It had been three days since her drunken mishap, and although Adrian had stopped completely ignoring Kylie, he didn't look at her the way he used to. His eyes didn't linger anymore.

What had happened? She wondered. It was more than just that one night; she supposed he had grown tired of her demands, he had lost interest in the one woman who avoided him when there were so many others vying for his attention and throwing themselves at his feet. Exactly what she had wanted to happen only a few months ago.

She didn't want that anymore.

She had to think of a way to get him back, Kylie decided. She didn't know how to do it—she could never become as servile and sweet as the other nam-sa, and even if she did, Adrian had enough girls like that already. No, she needed to be different.

She sighed, and glanced at the clock. His upcoming wedding was keeping Adrian very busy, and he had yet to cancel her sittings with Kade, whom he had also forgotten to give paints. She would see the artist in less than a half hour, and surely he would help her think of something to do.

She had to do something. If this kept up, she would only fade further into the back of Adrian's mind. For a slave who wanted favors, for a nam-sa who wanted rare moments outside the manor walls, that was the very worst place to be.

x x x

Kade tried to keep his eyes focused on the parchment in front of him, on the piece of dark charcoal in his hand, but his gaze kept moving to Kylie. She was stretched across the long couch, her hair pulled back from her face so that it draped over the arm of the couch and dangled in the sunlight, copper curls straining towards the floor. The dark blue dress she was wearing held her waist tightly and pushed her breasts up, a position only enhanced by the way she lay, her back arched across the white sofa cushions. At her hips, the silk fell loose and long, pushed aside so that it draped over the edge of the couch and revealed her slender legs. If only she knew what those long, toned legs were doing to his art.

"What should I say to Adrian?" She asked, her gaze dancing about the ceiling.

"What are you trying to tell him?" Kade asked, dragging his eyes back to the sketch in front of him.

"I don't want to tell him something, really . . ." Kylie struggled with the right words. "I just want to make him completely infatuated with me."

"I thought you hated Lord Anawar."

"I do." Kylie's green eyes met Kade's. "But I've decided that the last thing I want is for him to hate me back." She smiled a wicked grin. "If he wants me more than any of the other girls, more than any other girl, then I can make him do whatever I want."

"I guess."

"I know." She grinned. "So what do I say?"

"I don't know." He didn't know how he was ever going to capture her dancing eyes on the page, how he was going to was going to go another week without gathering her into his arms and running away with her.

"Oh, come on, Kade!" She whined. "You have to help me. I want to promise him something completely irresistible . . ."

"It shouldn't be so hard." Kade muttered, but as they were the only two people in the room, she heard him.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

Kylie sat up, a teasing glint in her eyes. "Oh, come one Kade, don't tease me! What do you mean it shouldn't be so hard?"

"I just meant, I mean . . . you're pretty irresistible as it is. It shouldn't take too much work, to make him like you." He said hurriedly.

She laughed. "You're sweet." She was sitting up now, her elbows in her lap as she rested her head in her hands. "But you have to remember, he has as many girls as he wants, all waiting to do whatever he wants."

"But you're not."

"What?"

"You're not waiting to do whatever he wants." Kade felt his face growing hot. "Every time he's in here with you, you two are arguing, or you're telling him what to do, or you're acting like you don't care if he wants you or not. And he can't keep his eyes off of you."

Kade let out a long breath; he didn't know where that speech had come from; a life of enslavement had taught him to choose his words carefully and think before he spoke.

"That's true, you know." Kylie murmured. "I always wondered why he put up with me, when I was being such a bitch to him and trying to get him to want anyone but me."

Kade didn't know why this girl told him so much, didn't know if it was good for him or bad for him, but he knew that he was addicted to the movement of her lips, to the way she spun those locks of amber around her slender fingers.

She was pacing around the room now, walking in and out of the sunlight that poured through the tall French windows. He wished he could draw the movement of light across her body.

"Okay." She said, acting as if she were planning a business deal. "So I'm going to be the bitch. But I'm going to be the bitch who wants what Adrian wants, only I'll act like it's what I want, and he'll give it to me because he really is the one that wants it, and then he'll be so used to giving me what I want and he'll like giving me what I want so much that he'll start to do what I tell him even when he doesn't really want to."

"Okay . . ." Kade had lost her after the first "want." He wondered if all the nam-sa thought like this; if they did, he was glad he never had to deal with more than one at a time.

That grin was on her face again, the one he was starting to be wary of. "Can I practice with you?" She asked demurely. "I have to know how someone would react to me. I don't want to look like I'm putting on an act or anything."

"I don't know if that's a good idea—"

"Quiet." She cut him off harshly, but there was a gleam in her eye and she put a finger to his lip as she silenced him. Her voice dropped, huskier, sexier. "I want you." Legs on either side of him, she sat so that she was straddling his lap, her dress pushed up to expose her left leg. Her left leg, that was on top of his right leg. On top of his right leg. The charcoal fell from Kade's hand.

"I want you," she moved his hand so that it rested on her bare thigh. She laced her fingers in his blonde hair and pulled their faces closer together. "I want you to make up tomorrow morning, hoarse from screaming my name."

Anything she wanted, he would give. He couldn't speak, couldn't tell her that he was hers, mind and body, he couldn't do anything but try to control his breathing. If he moved his lips a millimeter further, he could capture his mouth in hers. If he moved his hand a few inched higher, he could . . .

She giggled, breaking spell, reminding him that he was Lord Anawar's slave and she was Adrian's nam-sa, and that all of this was practice. "How'd I do?" She asked in an innocent voice, as if she had no idea what she was doing to him.

"I think you achieved the desired effect." She hadn't moved his hand off her leg, and there was nothing in this world that would make him remove it himself.

He was hard under his pants, and noticing, she giggled louder, until the giggle turned into an outright laugh that he could feel rumbling through his whole being.

"You're too good to me." She brought her perfect lips, lips pink and soft, to his forehead, and kissed him lightly. Those kind of lips don't belong on

foreheads. She stood up, and as the dress settled back around her and his body lost its contact with hers, she was all business again.

"It's already 2:30!" She exclaimed. "I have to go change for my aerobics lesson—same time tomorrow?"

"I believe so." He choked the words out.

"See you then!" She flashed him a brilliant smile and glided out the room, leaving Kade alone with his desire and his sketches.