"What do you want from me?" she shouted.

She was thoroughly fed up. She couldn't please anyone, least of all herself, and she didn't even want to please him. Not right now. Not in this moment when she was agonizing over the choices she'd made and the position she found herself in. She was so caught up in her own inner turmoil that she did not know he'd come up beside her until he took her arm and turned her from the window. She braced herself to look up into his stormy face but there was no storm there. His eyes were full of compassion and his expression was pained - pained for her.

The tears came so fast she didn't have time to blink them back. She tired to pull away. She tried to hide the evidence of her sorrow and self-loathing. She even tried to jerk her arm out of his grasp. However, he wouldn't be put off. He'd seen through her. He knew she was weak and feeble now. He knew she was just a woman - like every other woman and she hated herself all the more. He wrapped her in his arms and she struggled against him. She didn't want his pity. She'd rather he scorn her than pity her. The tears kept coming and she felt so miserable - so bereft. She could not give in any more. She could not give up any more of her dignity. She had to get a hold of herself. She had to!

Only, the more she struggled in his embrace the more he pressed her to his chest. And then he began to call her name softly and kiss the top of her head in the most tender way possible and she gave up the fight. It was pointless. She was a joke. Her whole life a joke. Somehow there was something very comical about him of all people trying to console her and comfort her when all he'd ever done since the day they were introduced was provoke her. She supposed that it was only fitting that when she was undone he should witness it and forever be able to hold it over her head. She was sure she deserved no less. She was, after all, a terrible friend and a wicked woman. She would have no happy ending.

After a long while she managed to calm herself and just lay her cheek against his chest utterly exhausted. He hadn't moved. He hadn't complained. He hadn't said much more than her name very softly into her hair from time to time. She realized belatedly that it was her Christian name - Sarah - he'd used. Never before, in the 10 years they'd know each other, had he ever called her by her Christian name. She sighed feeling as if she'd aged a whole lifetime in the past few hours.

He loosened his hold around her and he looked down at her as she looked up at him. His face was handsome, as always, but maybe more so because his eyes looked softly and gently at her. The worry evident in them still. Sarah let her arms fall limply to her sides because she felt the embrace was over. He was surely going to let her go now that she was calm and in relative control of herself. He brought his hands up to her shoulders and gently squeezed them but instead of letting her go he drew her back and wrapped his arms around her shoulders once more. She was too surprised to protest. She just rested there in this soft embrace with her cheek against his silk cravat. She took in a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. Then, not sure what to do with her arms, that were limp at her side, she wrapped them around his waist and held them there. It was much more comfortable then leaving them dangling at her sides awkwardly.

He stiffened ever so slightly and his breath seemed to catch in his throat. She had surprised him no doubt and now he was disgusted with her. He thought her wanton. She cursed herself inwardly and immediately began to pull away from him. She could feel tears of regret stinging her eyes. She was such a fool. When would she learn. She could not even bring herself to look up at him. Why hadn't he let her go? Why was he still holding her? Didn't he loath her now?

"Stop this infernal struggling Sarah!" he ordered in his gruff voice.

That was the voice she knew. She stopped struggling and looked up at him. He looked very displeased. This was an expression she knew well and it comforted her. She smiled at him despite her tears.

"You will wrap your arms around me this instant" he commanded much to her genuine surprise.

She did not obey. She simply stared at him a bit dumbfounded her tears forgotten.

"Now Sarah!" he barked and at the same time he pulled her back firmly against his chest and tucked her head under his chin.

When she did not immediately place her arms around his waist he growled a little and this made her laugh a lightly. She turned her face to look up at him as she wrapped her arms around him for the second time that night. He stared down at her with one menacing eye. But with his hand he caressed her cheek, brushing loose strands of her hair from her damp cheek and behind her ear. It was such a sweet gesture and so tender that Sarah's mouth fell open in surprise. Who was this man and what was he doing?

He lowered his face to hers until his lips were just a breath away from her own and she felt an inexplicable thrill shoot through her entire body like a bolt of lightening. It startled her and in that very moment she watched him close his eyes as he pressed his lips to her open mouth. Any other day she would be sure that he was mocking her and making a fool out of her but not today - not in this moment. She wasn't sure how she knew but deep in her heart she knew his kiss was sincere and not even the result of the moment. He was not one to be caught up in a moment. He never let his feelings get ahead of him. He always thought everything through thoroughly. He never acted unless he'd planned the action out. Somewhere along the line at some point in the 10 years they'd known each other, this man had thought about kissing her. And he was not the type to trifle with a woman's feelings or to humiliate a woman to get the upper hand. He would never kiss a woman and so tenderly if his heart were not in it. If it wasn't something he truly wanted. Sarah felt breathless from the thought - from the knowledge that he had wanted this - wanted to kiss her like this. And for how long? How long had he felt this way?

He pulled his lips from hers and stared down at her. His expression was grim. He was watching her carefully. He was trying to gauge her reaction. But, she had not reacted had she? Not to the kiss. She had been so surprised that she hadn't even closed her eyes or taken the time to experience the kiss. She felt sick. What if he never kissed her again. Oh why hadn't she had the presence of mind to kiss him back? She was such a fool. Feeling an utter idiot she pressed her forehead to his cravat and sighed heavily. But, to her great surprise, he still had not let her go. In fact, she thought perhaps he was even holding his breath - waiting for something from her.

Sarah smiled into his cravat and said "Will you kiss me again?"

It came out muffled but she was sure he heard her. She hoped he had because she was far too embarrassed to repeat the question or to look up at him. He answered her by exhaling a breath and relaxing his body. She felt the tension leave him from under her hands but as it did so the tension in her grew 10 fold. Had she just asked her mortal enemy to kiss her? Had she not already given him all the fuel he'd need to roast her the rest of her life? What was wrong with her brain?

If his chest had been a wall she would have banged her head into it several times. As it was not, she took a deep breath, exhaled loudly and then with a frown looked up at him to gauge his reaction. His face was fierce and his eyes intense. He was searching her eyes like he'd never done before. He was looking for the truth or maybe he was looking for a lie. She could not tell which. Sarah would have looked away too if she could but she found she was transfixed. And then, all the sudden, his hand was in her hair and he was pulling her face to his. She leaned into his body and pressed herself up on her toes as his lips met hers. This time she closed her eyes and tried to savour the experience. His arm tightened as did his grip on her hair. She wriggled her arms out from around his waist and wrapped them instead around his neck pressing even closer to him. He did not protest. He did not stiffen up this time. He simply kissed her more. He kissed her until she was quite breathless. And when he pulled his lips away and gently set her back on her feet Sarah looked up at him with wonder. Who was this man?

He blushed and followed his blush with a curt and ungentlemanly, "You are grinning like an idiot Sarah." Then he quickly looked away but only for a moment.

Sarah laughed. She was indeed grinning. She could not help herself. This was the best kiss of her life. She had no idea a kiss could make her whole body, soul and heart sing for she felt that was indeed the case. When he looked back at her, his expression grim again, she smiled brightly at him - not phased in the least by the look on his handsome face - and said, "Will you promise me never to kiss another as you've kissed me?"

His eyes narrowed and he grimaced before nodding and saying in a soft voice the belied the look on his face, "I promise. And, what will you give me in return for such a promise?" he asked with his usual arrogance.

Sarah smiled broadly at him and unwound her arms from around his neck and pushed herself free of his arms. He looked puzzled and a bit annoyed. She stepped out of arms reach and walked a distance away pretending to be thinking about it. She then turned back to him. He seemed impatient. He had crossed his arms over his chest defensively. She waltzed up to him and took hold of his hands pulling his arms down and away from his chest. His face only darkened.

She smiled at him gently and said in a quiet voice, "I will give you all of my kisses."

He pulled her back into his arms and scrutinized her face, which she did not hide from him. She felt she was looking at him for the first time and could not take her eyes from his. She liked what she saw under the facade of arrogance and hardheartedness.  There was such a tender vulnerability there that she had never seen before and it moved her - moved her own cold heart. Bravely and boldly she reached up a hand and caressed his cheek. His eyes fluttered closed for a moment as he leaned into her touch. While his eyes were closed she reached up, on her tip toes, and placed a gentle kiss upon his lips.

He never opened his eyes or made a move to kiss her back. Instead he asked in his brisk manner, "All your kisses?"

"All of them," she replied against his lips and then kissed him again gently.

"Until death do us part?" he asked stiffly. Here he opened his eyes and stared her down with a fowl looking frown on his face.

Sarah wanted to laugh. Was this a proposal? How awful! And yet, in a way, it was entirely him. She let her hand fall to his chest and rested it there a moment as she grinned up at him.

"Is that what you want?" she asked softly as her eyes searched his own. "I'm not much of a prize," she remarked with a little self-deprecating laugh.

His response was to pull her back to his chest and to crush his lips upon her own, devouring her in the most passionate kiss she'd ever experienced. First, she clung to him surprised again by his fervency given his rather cold nature up until that point in their acquaintance, and then, she pulled on his lapels until he was down at her level where she could give as good as she got. He did not protest. He did not pull back. He deepened the kiss and consumed her heart and soul. It was bliss, pure bliss and she never wanted it to end.

When he did eventually break the kiss and pull away enough that he could look at her face, she saw right away that his scowl was gone. It was replaced by that same vulnerable tenderness she'd seen just a little earlier. That look in his eyes brought several tears to her own but this time they were tears of joy rather than self-loathing. His face filled with concern at the sight of them.

"Why are you crying Sarah?" he asked as he gripped her upper arms tightly.

Sarah was a wicked woman. She had used people badly and manipulated her friends for her own gains continuously. She knew she was not worthy of anyone's love and had thought, until now, that she wasn't truly capable of genuinely loving another human being. She'd always thought it was out of reach - that love was for the pure of heart. Cleverly controlling people was so much more her style and it had worked for her until everything backfired on her just a few hours earlier. And now, instead of finding herself an utter outcast on the most humiliating day of her life, she found herself in the tender care of the last man on earth she thought would ever have any love for her. The warm feeling blossoming in her chest and bringing her to tears could only be this mysterious thing called love. She had secretly ached and yearned for it all her life and now it was hers for the taking. What answer could she give him? How could she explain to him what she felt except to speak the simple unadorned truth. Sarah grinned up at him through her tears and said in  a choked whisper, "I cry because you've made me happy."

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