The sound of loud male voices interrupted whatever he was going to say. Jade looked around in disappointment and frustration at the interruption. Joshua cuddled her in to his side and turned as if to shelter her but she’d already seen who it was. Curtis, and one of his cronies, Gabe. She’d seen Curtis and some of the other men on the ship a few times but had been able to turn a different direction and avoid any confrontation.
Curtis’s eyes widened as they stopped a few feet away. “Joshua, Jade.” His voice was a little strained, but he smiled smoothly. “Good to see you both.”
Joshua nodded. “You too.” He focused on Gabe. “How’s your day been, Gabe?”
“Great, sir. Thank you.” His eyes were flitting nervously between Joshua and Jade. What had Curtis told him? “Will we see you before we fly home tomorrow?”
“For sure. I’ll ride with you to the airport.”
“Sounds great.”
They both raised hands, muttered goodbye, and then awkwardly walked away.
Jade was still in Joshua’s arms but she suddenly felt alone. Glancing up at him, she felt raw and exposed from their kisses and found she couldn’t hide from the real issue between them any longer. “What did your investigator find out?”
Joshua closed his eyes for a second and his lips pressed together. He opened his eyes and muttered, “Nothing on anybody but you.”
Jade gasped, pulled away from his embrace, and backed into the railing. “What?”
“I’m sorry.” Joshua pushed a hand at his hair. “In addition to the money donated to the charity you champion …” He shook his head. “The internal investigator found a paper in your desk with the name of one of the banks in Grand Cayman and numbers that matched the deposits.”
Heat flooded her face. “He was looking in my desk? That had to be planted. You have to believe me Joshua.”
Joshua simply looked sadly at her. “There’s no evidence pointing to anyone else.”
She let out a shaky breath, suddenly terrified. Joshua not believing her was scarier than the thought of him pressing criminal charges. “So you don’t believe me?”
He raised his hands. “Jade … it’s not that I don’t … I think you’re amazing, I’m falling in love with you. Of course I want to trust and believe you.”
“But you don’t.” She was more sad than mad at the moment. The anger would come though. “Being with me, getting to know me, kissing me like that, and you think I’m a thief who could steal from you while tricking you into falling for me?” Her hands were shaking so she clasped them together.
“I don’t know what to think. I hope somebody’s setting you up.” He shook his head. “We just need more time to get to the bottom of it.”
“You … hope?” The anger was coming quicker than she’d thought. “Somebody is setting me up and here you claim to be falling in love with me but you can’t trust that I would never do something so underhanded to anyone, least of all you.”
Joshua just stared at her as if she were a dry ice bomb and he didn’t want to shake her and see her explode. He seemed at a loss for what to say, how to proceed.
“I have never so much as stolen a candy bar,” Jade reiterated, “If you aren’t going to trust me without some investigator telling you to …” She almost couldn’t say it. She loved Joshua. Yet she couldn’t be with him if he couldn’t believe her on something this important. “We’re through,” she pushed out.
The pain radiating from Joshua’s eyes almost took her legs out from under her. She couldn’t back down though. She’d given him his time. She’d fallen in love with him. Now it was time for him to trust her, or she was done.
Whirling, she rushed away from him, running down flights of steps, tripping in her heels but catching herself on the railing. Hurrying through the ship she finally made it to her room and slammed the door behind her.
Pacing for a few seconds, she ripped off her heels and pushed open the patio door. Would Priest be out there? What would he think of this sob story? She didn’t even know what to think. Maybe it was unfair of her to expect Joshua to simply trust her when he’d lost over a million dollars, but how could any amount of money be more important than what they had together?
There was a rap at the door. Jade left the balcony door open and walked back to the door. It had to be Joshua. She wasn’t ready to talk to him, yet maybe he was willing to trust her, to take action. If not, she’d tell him off again and plan out the next week with Jesse. The idea left her strangely deflated.
Pulling the door open, her eyes widened in surprise.
Gabe pushed his way into the room, shut the door firmly behind him, and turned the deadbolt.
“Gabe? What are you doing?” Jade was confused. Gabe had always been very courteous, and sort of withdrawn. What did he want and why had he pushed his way in her room?
“You and I are going to have a little talk,” he said in a silky smooth voice.
Jade backed away, shaking her head.
Gabe glared at her. “I wondered when Joshua spent no time with us, and I caught glimpses of him at times with a woman, what was going on. Sadly I didn’t realize it was you who’d captured his attention, until tonight.” He took a menacing step forward and thrust out a blank paper at her. “You are going to write a nice note about how sorry you are for stealing his money.” He smiled silkily. “Before you throw yourself overboard.”