Great Falls, Virginia.

“Hey, beautiful. Wake up. You know the drill.”

At first Brenda automatically smiled at the sound of Jax’ s whispered voice so close to her ear. But then she groaned as she realized he was awakening her at this ungodly hour to accompany him on his jog around his eight acre estate. It was a ritual of his which he had put a halt to over the last couple of days due to her still recovering from the flu and his not wanting to subject her to long periods of time in the wintry cold. But he also did not want to leave her alone, even if it was in the relative safety of the house. And so he did his jogging around the vast, marble encased, in-ground pool downstairs instead, as a means of staying near her. But now she was pretty much recovered from the flu and so he wanted to get back into his routine and he had warned her last night that she would be going along with him.

Last night.

She’d had so much fun with him, she recalled, using the positioning of the blankets to shield her happy smile from his perceptive eyes. Yes, he had beaten her at chess all five matches they had played, but it had been a fun, playful and highly flirtatious experience. And she’d learned a lot of ingenious moves by watching him very closely too. He was masterful at the game, simply masterful, and darn if it didn’t just make her adore him all the more. Oddly enough, Jax had only asked for three things as his “winner takes all” reward for his victories. He asked that she agree to stop being so intentionally difficult all the time and try to be *friends* with him. Then he asked that she promise to always be truthful with him. Then he asked for her to come over to him and give him a long, slow kiss.

Brenda was both hopeful and wary of his reasons for wanting #1 and #2, but she had reluctantly agreed to it like a good little soldier. And #3 was something they both wanted very much and she had not been hypocritical enough to deny that. So she had walked right over to him, straddled him in that chair and given him that long, slow kiss he had asked for. She hadn’t bothered to hide the extent of her desire for him either, nor the fact that she wouldn’t at all mind if their kisses led to much, much more last night. But Jax had somehow managed to tear his lips away from her before his control was fully surrendered to his own desires. “Not like this, Brenda. Not until you trust me,” he had whispered to her. “Not until you love me.” And the last thing she had felt was the pulsing excitement at the feel of his aroused masculinity against her, followed immediately by a wave of sweet tenderness at the softness of his kiss against the tip of her nose as he lifted her off of his lap, set her onto the floor and made a smooth beeline for the shower.

She remembered being stunned that he had actually confessed to wanting to manipulate her into falling in love with him. It made perfect sense of course. Once he had her heart in that fashion, he knew there was nothing she would deny him. Undoubtedly he knew that was the key to controlling her. Getting her to fall in love with him. Well, she’d be damned if she’d let him know she was already more than half-way there. And knowing that he wanted, and intended, for her to fall in love with him only made her resolve *not* to do so all the more strong. Unfortunately, the strength of the resolve was all in her mind and her stubborn will. Her body and her heart shared none of it, she knew. They already belonged to him.

“Brenda, let’s go,” Jax’s voice said again and she felt the gentle swat of his hand against her behind.

She pulled the covers over her head. “I don’t want to.”

“I know that, but we already talked about this last night. So rise and shine,” he said, pulling the covers back down and marveling that anyone could look so beautiful this early in the morning, just waking up.

“Jax, it’s 5 a.m.”

“Your point being?”

Her arm swing out mutinously to hit his chest. “And it’s cold outside!” she complained.

“That’s what usually happens in the winter, my love. Let’s go,” he said, tugging on her hand to force her up into a sitting position. “I’ll meet you downstairs. And if you’re not downstairs in twenty minutes, I’ll come back up here and dress you myself,” he warned her, his eyes reflecting that he would take great pleasure in doing so too. He then brushed his fingers across her cheek and gazed at her as if hypnotized for a moment. Then he blinked, as if coming out of the ambush of some enchanted haze, and left her in the room to change.

Brenda showered and dressed in fifteen minutes but hung out in the room making Jax wait for an additional ten. Then she made her way down the elegant spiral staircase. She muffled her laughter as she saw Jax on his way up the stairs, obviously dead serious about his twenty minute time limit.

“Sorry about the extra five minutes,” she said sweetly to him. “But it was worth it, don’t you think?” she asked, indicating her snazzy sapphire blue snowsuit. “I got it at the *Gucci* store,” she added, hoping he would think it obscene that she would buy clothes form that insanely overpriced store. With *his* money, no less.

Jax regarded her with interest. “Well its very nice, Brenda, and yes it looks spectacular on you, as would a potato sack. But we’re going jogging, not skiing. That’s really inappropriate.”

She was amazed at her inability to push his buttons on how much money she had spent on the shopping spree yesterday. She was thinking his calm reaction yesterday only meant the shock had not hit him yet. But he was still as unaffected as ever, even now! It was as if none of that mattered to him at all. Almost as if he was glad she had gone out spending his money like a madwoman. Almost as if he was delighted by the idea!

“Well we’re not *really* going jogging are we?” she asked him. “I mean, I’m still not 100 percent, yet Jax. I don’t think I can run all over this huge expanse of land you have.”

“If you fall, I’ll be there to catch you,” he promised her. And she just knew he was speaking of more than a literal tumble she might take outside.

“Maybe I’d just rather not *fall* at all,” she responded, having a double meaning of her own.

“Maybe you won’t be able to stop it,” he said.
“Maybe I have a lot more control than you think,” she retaliated.

“Then I’m sure you won’t . . . fall,” he said, his eyes infuriatingly skeptical and making it clear he knew what her double meaning was and was not convinced of her resistance in the least

“Do we have to *jog*?” she asked. “Can’t we just do that power-walk thing or something?” Jax laughed and gave her quite the thrill by impulsively pulling her into his arms.

 “Tell me something, do you negotiate *everything*?” he asked, gazing down into her eyes. “I mean I actually enjoy that about you, although it can be quite exasperating. Oh, and the answer to your question is, yes, we have to jog, Brenda. I don’t think power-walking would be nearly as satisfying. So if I were to agree to do that it would be settling for far less than I desire.” One hand stroked her face. “And I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I don’t settle. Period.”

Oh there he went with his cute little double meanings again. And those irresistible blue eyes of his. And his touch, setting her on fire.

“Actually, I haven’t figured you out at all, Jax,” she said. “But I will.”

“I’ll look forward to the epiphany then,” he said, the arm that encircled her pulling her closer. “Now, are you really intending on jogging in that hot snowsuit?”

“I like it,” she said.

“So do I. But are you really going to wear it with that on it?”

“What?” she asked in confusion, looking down at her snowsuit.

Jax backed away from her a few steps, went over to the bar, poured a glass of wine, came back over to her, and to her shock tossed the wine on her insanely expensive snowsuit!

“That,” he said.

She stood there for a few moments with her mouth standing open. This
was not the first time Jax had done this. Last night at dinner she had paraded downstairs in one of her indecently expensive new dresses and in her on-going attempts to rile him up had said: “Jax, *guess* how much this cost?” He had played along, asking her to turn around and running his hands along the fabric so that he could better assess the merchandise. He had taken great satisfaction in her wildly leaping pulse as his hands had leisurely run down the curves of her body while pretending to be feeling the fabric of her dress. Then he’d finally said: “Well whatever you paid for it, Brenda, you paid too much. I mean, look at that spot on it.” When Brenda asked what spot he was talking about, he’d reached over for her glass of iced tea and proceeded to toss it on her dress and say to her “I hope you bought them in pairs so that you have another one.” She had been stunned by his actions, then had laughed hysterically, then had called him a madman and had marched upstairs to change. And now here he was this morning, spilling wine on this horrendously expensive snow suit! Was he insane? Or was he perhaps trying to tell her that she could not rile him up by buying a ton of expensive clothing, because there was nothing he would not get for her. After all, for everything he ruined, he went right on to suggest she replace it with one *more* expensive!

“Jax! do you know how much that cost!” she gasped, staring at her wine stained snow suit.

“I hope you bought them in pairs,” he said with a wink, unzipping the snowsuit down just past her breasts to reveal the snug, dark blue turtle neck she wore beneath it. He pulled her towards him, his hands resting on her hips. “Or you can always go get another one, I’ll be happy to take you back to the Gucci shop. Now, if I were you, I’d go change, but it’s up to you, of course.”

She relented, again thinking him mad. “Fine. It’ll only take me ten minutes to change,” she said, reluctantly slipping out of his provocative embrace and dashing back up the stairs wishing her heart didn’t feel so light and floating, and like something wonderful was happening.

Fifteen minutes later, Jax and Brenda were jogging down the path surrounding the house. “It is *freezing* out here!” she sang.

“You’re concentrating on the cold too much,” he told her. “Think about how invigorating it is instead. How everything is so clean, and crisp, and pretty. And the holidays are coming.”

She laughed. “Oh that’s supposed to make me not feel cold?”

He paused for a moment and gently held her arm. “Are you really that cold?” he asked, and she was blown away by the tenderness in those lethal blue-green eyes. How could this be an act? How could he possibly fake *this* expression she was seeing?

“No, I’m just — you know me, Jax, - I’m just giving you a hard time,” she said as they passed what appeared to be a small *house* in his back yard. “What’s in there?” she asked.

“That’s just the guest house,” he told her.

Her eyes looked astonished. “You have a mansion with 12 bedrooms and you think you still need a *guest* house?”

He shrugged. “It came with the place.” They continued down the path and Brenda was finding the run exhilarating, or perhaps it was just the company.

“Does your estate have a name?” Brenda queried. “Like how The Marick’s place is called Wildwind?”

“Ravenswood,” Jax told her. “And the other two estates on this private road are Ashton Manor and Baronsgate Keep.”

“Who lives in the other two?” she asked

“Ned and Lois Ashton live in Ashton Manor. Ryan and Gillian Lavery live in Baronsgate Keep. I’m sure Dimitri has told them all about you by now and they’ll be paying me a visit just to check you out,” Jax said.

“I’ll bet they were all friends of Ariel’s, weren’t they? They’re going to hate me,” she predicted, trying to hide the dismal feeling that gave her.

“They won’t hate you. And even if they do I’ll just buy them all out and move in better neighbors.” She laughed and he loved the sparkle he saw in her eyes.
“Jax?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still think Bastian Reese is going to come after me?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Is that the reason you want me here with you?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. And then he realized how she might take that. “I mean, no. Not as *bait*, Brenda. I’m not using you to get him. I swear, I’m not. I want you here so that I can protect you *from* him.”

He sounded so sincere . . .

“And I want you here for an entire host of other reasons as well,” he added perking up her interest. “

“What other reasons?” she asked as they jogged past the scenic frozen lake.

“Don’t you know?” his voice was soft, so appealing.

“You’re insanely attracted to me,” she guessed.

“That’s one,” he admitted.

One? There were actually *more* reasons?

“When’s your birthday?” he asked her, changing the topic.

“March 31st,” she told him. “Why?”

“What’s your favorite color?” he asked next, ignoring her question.

“Red,” she said. “Also black. And also blue. “Oh and I like gold - you know the color of the sun in the tropics. I like sunset orange too. Oh and violet - rich deep violet. You know what -- green too. Not green like olives, but green like emeralds, or jade.”

“Sorry I asked,” he teased her.

“Why *did* you ask?” she wondered curiously.

“Because you re my wife and I want to know about you, Brenda,” he said.

“Oh. So since you are technically my husband, I can ask questions about you too then, right?”

“Yes, you can. I would appreciate if you ask them of *me*, however, and not say... .my best friend.”

Was he jealous? Brenda wondered. And the absurd thought made her misstep and fall. But she never hit the ground as Jax was there to catch her.

“I told you, you would fall,” he reminded her. “With circumstances such as these, it really was inevitable.”

“Circumstances.. . you mean the weather, right?” she said, knowing perfectly well he did not.

“No, as a matter of fact, I don’t” he said and then he scooped up a handful of snow and tossed it at her. She laughed and threw snow back at him. And the jog was cut short as they instead spent the next hour racing around the snowy woods of the back yard laughing and slipping and sliding as they engaged in an impromptu, very competitive snowball fight.
 

********

FBI Headquarters, Washington, DC...

The snow was piled up high in front of the FBI building when Jax, Scott and Brenda made their way inside later that morning. Scott had been going in just as Jax and Brenda had arrived and he waited for them in front of the entrance. The warmth of the building was a welcome respite to the stinging cold of this dank, wintry day which had started out crisp, cold and invigorating, but was now filled with heavy, wet, swirling snowflakes being blown helter skelter by a biting wind.

They made their way to Conference Room D on the 12th floor, shrugging off their bulky winter jackets and heading straight for the coffee machine.

“Can you believe this weather?” Scott commented, in greeting to the receptionist.

“Oh, I hate days like this, even when they’re in season and even when the holidays are right around the corner,” Joan Midland muttered as she wrapped her hands around the warm paper cup of tea on her desk. “Nice to see you two though,” she added with a smile. Seeing any Special Forces team members was so rare since they were always out and about, and full fledged meetings of the whole 8 man or 16 man team, like today’s meeting, were rare indeed. Her eyes narrowed with interest on the stunning, petite brunette who stood next to Jax, gazing around curiously as he gently brushed some snow out of her dark hair and asked her what she wanted to drink. This must be the *wife* that the whole building was buzzing about, Joan realized with an inadvertent raise of her eyebrows. Well she was just as pretty as Arid, maybe even prettier, Joan thought as she gazed at Brenda. But this one had a warmth and a fire in addition to that god-given envy-inspiring beauty. Ariel always struck everyone as cold and unapproachable.

“Is everybody here?” Scott asked.

Joan shook her head. “No, you two are actually the first of the team to arrive. Commander Donnelly is here of course, and Director Scorpio. But the rest of A-team hasn’t arrived,” Joan stated.
“Is the B-team getting briefed too?” Jax asked.

Joan shook her head. “Nope. Just you guys. I don’t think B-team is involved in this one at all.”

Brenda tapped Jax’s chest. “What’s the difference between the A-Team and the B-Team?”

“The B-team has to be perfect,” Jax said. “The A-Team has to be better than that.”

Brenda gazed at him skeptically. “Better than perfect? What’s better that that?”

“Invincible,” Jax and Scott said quietly, in stereo.

The sound of footsteps preceded the entrance of Agent Peter Shakkour, one of the forensic scientists who worked over in the crime lab.

“Well check this out. We are graced by the presence of special forces on this beautiful day,” he greeted them cheerily, shaking hands with both Scott and Jax and dyeing Brenda with unhidden curiosity and typical male appreciation of so lovely a creature.

“It’s only beautiful if you’re partial to giant icicles falling from the sky,” Scott responded as he glanced briefly out the window at the bizarre weather. The heavy, wet snowflakes were now pellets of hail, and a few moments later they were back to heavy, wet flakes.

“Well, I’d say the beautiful part of the day is standing right behind you,” Peter said nodding in Brenda’s direction and hinting for an introduction.

“Pete, this is my wife, Brenda,” Jax said, judging by Peter’s lack of shock that the word had gotten around already.

“Well hello there, Brenda,” Peter said, warmly shaking her hand and holding onto it. “You’re quite the hot topic around here, you know. And I think once people get a look at you, you’ll be an even hotter topic.”

Brenda blinked. “*I’m* the hot topic? Me? Why?”

“Well, you know. Jax leaves on a mission engaged to one woman, comes back a month later married to another,” he said. “It’s the stuff office grapevines thrive off of,” he added with a shrug and a smile. Then he let her hand go. “I’d love to stay and get the 411 about everything, but I’ve got a date with a cadaver.”

“And I’ll bet he’ll just die if you’re late,” Jax said.
Peter chuckled. “Good one, Jax. But this cadaver is a she, not a he.”

“Oh, even better.”

“My sentiments exactly. And I hear she’s got a great sense of humor. A real cut-up,” Peter said.

 Jax shook his head, laughing softly. “Don’t quit your day job, Pete.”

As Agent Shakkour left to attend to his cadaver, Agents Kenny Sills and Connor O’Monahan rounded the corner and appeared in the conference room hallway.
At the same time, the conference room door opened and Director Scorpio peered out into the hallway to make sure his agents were arriving. He saw four of them, and then saw Brenda whom he smiled at and waved to, and then he nodding his head for the agents to start filing in.

“We better go in,” Scott said, checking his watch.

Jax nodded and then turned to Brenda. “Brenda, you wait right here,” Jax said planting her firmly in a chair directly across from the conference room door and his line of vision through the door’s window, and also adjacent to Joan’s desk. “And don’t move, please. Promise me you won’t.” He kissed her forehead.

“I won’t,” she promised as a smiling Joan offered her a stack of magazines to occupy her time with while she waited for the meeting to be over. Jax and Scott filed into the conference room. Sills and O’Monahan directly followed them, but not without staring at Brenda first and exchanging a look, wondering if this was the *wife*. Four other agents filed by five minutes later, each of them bidding hello to Joan and then gazing at Brenda who by now felt like a doll on display in a storefront window.

“Don’t worry, hon,” Joan said, “like Pete said, you’re just the talk of the office grapevine right now. Everybody’s curious about you,” she said. “And not just because you married Jax and we heard you were more beautiful than sunlight, but also because you are one of the few people on the planet who actually knows what Bastian Reese looks like. That is *so* major around here!” she said with a dramatic wave of her hands. Then she leaned forward, folding her hands together and whispering, “So tell me which description of him is true? The one saying he’s a distinguished older man with a limp, an eye-patch and one piercing blue eye? Or the one that says he’s young, suave and sexy as hell?”

*********
Cayman islands...

The leggy blonde emerged from the bedroom wearing only a sheet wrapped around her tall, lithe body, and sought out the lover who had taken her to heaven last night. She saw him standing by the window gazing out at his phenomenal view of the ocean.

“Bon jour mon amour,” she said in her throaty voice, her eyes eating up the sight of him. He was extremely attractive with his well built physique, sun-bronzed skin, glorious dark auburn hair and seductive gray eyes.

Bastian Reese turned around, his gray eyes falling on the delightful Marie Arsenault. A brilliant, lusty French jewel thief. She was a stunning woman, and yet, he really did prefer brunettes, he realized, as a flash of dark hair and beautiful dimples skitted across his mind.

“You’re still a late riser, I see,” he said.

“The fault is yours, Bastian. You kept me up all night,” she reminded him with a seductive smile. “So what were you thinking about just now? You seemed to be miles away,” she observed.

“Just making plans,” Bastian murmured.

“For the holidays? I was hoping you would come back to Paris with me,” she said, invitingly. “Rumor is that the legendary ice ruby collection of the Disputed lands will be showing there too,” she added dangling the opportunity to steal the priceless gem collection as further incentive for him to join her. “You know Rolf’s insufferable crew of arrogant imbeciles will be there to try and steal it. We should beat them to the prize, Bastian” she said, “the way we always do.”

But Bastian was shaking his head. “Let them have it. I have plans for the holidays. And I’m really looking forward to them,” he said, a genuine smile touching his lips and lighting his eyes.

“Plans can be changed, darling,” Marie purred, jealously thinking his plans were with another woman. Perhaps that new recruit of his, Jenna, who was far too pretty, far too young, and far too good of a little jewel thief for Marie’s comfort.

“Not mine,” he whispered, sultry gray eyes returning to the bewitching view of the gently rushing waves.

**********

Ravenswood, Great Falls, Virginia...

Jax was in the sitting room on the phone trying to calm down his irate grandmother while his brother was holding on the other line. In the living room, Brenda was learning the fine art of Mortal Kombat moves from Scott.

“I like the robot,” she decided. “Can I be the robot?”

“Which robot?” Scott asked. “There are two of them.”

Brenda flipped through the manual. “Cyrex,” she said, choosing him, while Scott chose his favorite combatant, SubZero. “And take it easy on me this time,” Brenda requested.

“You’ll never learn if I do that,” Scott said.

She knocked her fist against his knee. “I’ll never learn if you keep beating me to a pulp either,” she countered.

“I showed you the moves,” he reminded her. “Just defend yourself. And try to be the aggressor. Don’t just run around backing away from me this time.”

Hey!” she said suddenly. “What about those secret lessons you’re supposed to be giving me, Scott. The Wildwind party is a little less than two weeks away now. I need to learn these ballroom dances right away . . .

He glanced over at her. “Do you play the drums?”

She gazed at him blankly. “What? No.”

“Do you want to learn how?”

She rolled her eyes. “No.”

“Well I suggest you tell Jax that you do. That’ll give you an excuse for me to bring you over to my place and I’ll teach you everything from the Viennese Waltz to the Black Diamond Tango.”

She grinned. “You play the drums?”

He nodded. “Excellently,” he added with a grin of his own. “And Jax can play the piano,” he informed her, figuring she didn’t know that. “Anyway, tell Jax you want drum lessons. I know him, he won’t trust anyone but me to give them to you. In the meantime, when you get a chance go into the parlor. Do you know where that is?”

She nodded.

“Jax has a ton of CD’s in there. You need to go in there and pick out some waltzes and ballroom dancing style tunes. You should listen to them and familiarize yourself with the tempos and the flow.” Scott said as he reset the game on the Playstation so they could have a new match. “You sure you don’t just want to ask Jax to teach you? He’s as good a dancer as I am, you know.”

“I can’t. . . ummm. . .concentrate... with Jax,” Brenda murmured. “Besides, I don’t want him to know that I don’t know any of those dances. I want him to be really shocked and impressed when he sees how good I am,” she said with a little smile. “I want him to be captivated and enchanted and not want to leave my side the whole, entire night.”

“Okay,” Scott agreed, thinking Jax was way captivated and enchanted by her already. Back in the sitting room Jax had finally managed to get his grandmother off the phone and was speaking to his brother again.

“So how much is left of you, or has grandma chewed my baby brother all to bits,” Jerry inquired with a robust laugh.

“I am in tact,” Jax responded. “And she is as relentless as ever. But then again, God only knows what Ariel and Mom told her about Brenda.”

“It’s your own fault, Jax,” Jerry said. “You don’t up and get yourself married to a young girl we’ve never met and not say a damned word to your family members about it. So tell me, has Ariel put out a hit on Brenda yet?”

“I think she values her life too much to do that,” Jax remarked.

“Ah yes, mum did tell me how protective you are of the newest addition to our family. So when do we meet this veritable goddess who has stolen your heart and your bloody senses along with it?” Jerry asked.

“Christmas,” Jax responded. “And I swear to god if any one of you does *anything* to make her want to leave...”

“Simmer down, simmer down, kid. Look, I can’t speak for the rest of our family, but you know me, Jax. If you love her and she loves you, that’s good enough for me and I’ll back you 100 percent. The only one I think you’ll have to worry about is grandma. You know she got all attached to the idea of you and Ariel as a lifelong duet in the song of life.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Jax said. “Brenda can win grandma over in a heartbeat.”

“Oh yeah? She a sorceress, this wife of yours? This is *grandma* we’re talkin’ about, Jax. Your brand new bride verses our grandmother is like pitting David against Goliath, here.”

“Maybe,” Jax conceded. “But then, we both know who won that match, don’t we?” he added, and he heard Jerry’s laughter ringing out on the other end of the line.

Several hours later when Scott was gone and Jax and Brenda were once again alone, Brenda was downstairs in the parlor rifling through some CD’s to find the type of music that Scott had suggested she look for and listen to, when Jax entered the room. She shoved the CD’s under a nearby chair and swirled around to flash him a smile of innocence.

“Hi!” she said.

“Hi,” he responded, a little taken aback by her enthusiasm.

“Is dinner ready?” she guessed.

“Do you really think the only time I seek your company is when I want us to share a meal together?” he asked. And something about the way he looked at her when he said that made her knees feel unsteady and made her thankful to be sitting on the floor.

“No, I actually don’t think that,” she said. “So.. .what did you want me for then?”

“Well, we did make a bargain last night to try and be friends, correct?”

“Yes,” she said, gazing at him warily.

He reached down and extended his hand to her. She took it, doing her best to not react to the exciting pulsation flowing through her at his touch. He drew her gently to her feet.

“Well my friends and I usually have snowmobile races in the back,” he said.

He saw her eyes light up with excitement, but then she frowned. “But I don’t know how to ride a snowmobile,” she told him in disappointment.

“I know that. I’m going to teach you. You can drive a car, can’t you?”

Brenda nodded. “Yes. Oh, but not a stick shift,” she quickly added.

“That’s not a problem. Ready?”

Brenda’s sudden smile was like a pleasant whiplash through his heart. “You’re really going to teach me?”

Jax nodded, fascinated by the way her eyes lit up when she was happy about something.

“Okay, wait for me then!” she said as she tore away form him, excitedly, and raced down the long hallways towards the stairs that would take her to the bedroom where she could change her clothes.

The next week Brenda’s days were so full that all the days seemed to merge into one another. Aside from her daily “drum lessons” a.k.a. dance lessons with Scott at his house in Georgetown, Brenda spent a lot of time learning new things with Jax. Not only did he teach her to ride the snowmobiles, but also to drive his Porsche. When he saw how skittish she was whenever she saw him putting away his gun, he sat her down and patiently explained every part of the gun to her, showed her how to load and unload it, how to put the safety on and off, and then took her with him and Scott to the firing range to get her accustomed to holding and shooting it. Her subsequent familiarity with the weapon and her knowledge of how to properly and safely use it, took out all the mystery of the unknown and made her fear of it disappear.

When Jax challenged her to a swimming contest, one afternoon, she had to confess to him that she didn’t know how to swim. He offered to teach her how, but she froze the minute he submerged her in the water and frantically told him she didn’t want to do this. Ironically enough, she loved watching *him* when he was doing his laps in the pool, and she laughed every time he would stop and flick water on her. And she enjoyed sitting pool-side, her feet dangling in the water, while listening to CD’s on her discman, reading the newspaper or thumbing through magazines. But whenever Jax broached the subject of teaching her to swim, she just shook her head and would distract him with a

As their first week at Ravenswood together came to a close, the fact that they were rapidly growing closer was not lost on either one of them. And neither was the blistering sexual tension that increased tremendously as the days went by. Jax knew he could have her. He knew that her desire for him was equal to his for her and that she would not deny him if he grabbed her in the hallway, or coming out of the shower, or if he climbed into the bed with her one night and proceeded to make passionate love to her until the dawn. But he knew what he wanted. Her love. And he knew that went hand in hand with her trust. He needed that. But he also needed her physically; it was driving him to the point of insanity. He never in his life recalled having such an insatiable, maddening need for a woman as he had for this woman.

And so on the Wednesday of the following week, one day before the Crystal Ball and three days before Christmas, Jax woke Brenda with a sensual kiss that stole her breath away. Her eyes fluttered open and she wrapped her arms around him, welcoming his unexpected, passionate good-morning and letting him know she was ready for whatever came next.

As the kiss heated up to feverish boiling and Brenda was pulling him down on top of  her on the bed, Jax found the tiny sliver of will he had left to stop and say what he had come in there to say to her.

“What are you doing today?” he asked her, his eyes blazing with intense beauty and a desire he could not hide to save his life or hers.

Brenda was stumped by the question and too dizzy and breathless from his passion and her aching desire for him to even know what to say.

“I want you to come to the airfield with me,” he said, his lips perilously close to hers and his will wavering like mad.

“Airfield?” she managed to repeat, her eyes dazed and confused, his lips so close and yet so far. Emotions and yearnings whirling madly inside of her like a tempest.

“I’m going to teach you how to fly,” he told her.

“A plane?!” she gasped, grabbing his arms, her body jolting with pleasure as the muscles moved smoothly beneath her fingers.

“Yes,” Jax said. Because when they were up in the air eighteen thousand feet above solid ground, and she was at the control with only him beside her, she was going to *have* to bloody well trust him, damn it. And she would have to admit that, and he would know that, and it was all he wanted. It was the only thing standing between them and the volcanic passion they could barely keep a lid on any longer.

“I don’t understand . . .”  she said looking more confused than ever. “I don’t want to learn how to fly, Jax.”

But Jax was not about to take no for an answer. “Well, how do you know that until you try it?” he asked, his words coming out rapid fire and making Brenda wonder what the heck was wrong with him. Then he thought of something that would spur her into action. “Ariel always wanted to fly my planes.”

Brenda was livid at the mention of the ex-fiancee. The house had been so blessedly Ariel-free for these many past days. It had been bliss! No mention of her, no sight of her, no phone calls from her. Why did he have to go and drag up that horrid woman’s name now?

“Was she a good pilot?” Brenda asked blandly, the jealousy tingling down her spine.

“She was terrible,” Jax confessed.

Brenda’s grin escaped before she could hide it from him. She was sure *she* would not be terrible. “Maybe *one* little lesson would be fun,” she decided.

“That’s my girl. Let’s go,” he said. And he gabbed her hand and pulled her out of the bed so fast she was surprised she didn’t get whiplash.

The initial flight lesson aboard the Cessna Skylane RG went very well, and Jax couldn’t wait to teach her how to fly the jet one day. She was a natural and with time she would be fantastic. When they left the airfield, Brenda was babbling excitedly about how it felt to be up in the air behind the controls. And although it had only been her first lesson and she had not done all that much without Jax’s assistance, she was anxious to do a lot more. From the airfield, they went out to dinner, since they were both starving, and they had run into Dimitri at the restaurant. He reiterated how excited he was about them being at the gala tomorrow and mentioned that he hoped Jax wouldn’t mind that Ariel would be there as his date. Brenda looked up sharply to see Jax’s expression, but either she missed it or he had no reaction to Dimitri’s news. But he *had* to be reacting, Brenda told herself. The woman he loved was going to be at this party with another man! On the way home she glanced at Jax often and for long periods of time, but to her bafflement, she could find nothing indicative of his being upset or in the least bit bothered by Dimitri’s news.

In a change from the constant snow, it was raining when they got back to the house. A cold, hard, rain that sent them rushing inside, trying to beat each other to the front door. Once they were indoors, Jax started a fire and then went to go check his messages to make sure HQ had not given the green light yet for the Omega Cult mission. In the briefing, the date for execution of the mission was December 29th, but the possibility existed for it to be moved up or pushed back depending on what the President or the attorney general ordered.

Before returning to the living room to see what Brenda was up to, Jax stopped in the kitchen to get them both some hot beverages. When he walked back into the living room he saw her by the fire, the glow of the Christmas tree off to her right. She was laying on her stomach, her legs up in the air, swinging back and forth, while her fingers were leafing through one of his photo albums with interest.

He joined her on the carpet and she glanced over at him with a smile.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she said.

“No, of course not,” he said, gazing down at the photo she was now gazing at. It was a picture of him and Jerry as kids at Jax’s tenth birthday party. “That was my tenth birthday,” he explained to her.

She laughed. “You were one gorgeous little kid,” she observed, thinking this must have been the only ten year old boy that fifteen year old girls would be lusting after. Then her eyes went to Jerry. “Your brother doesn’t really look like you.” She flipped to the next page which showed a bunch of laughing kids tugging on a rope with a kiddie pool in the middle.

“That’s me, Jerry, my cousin Lance, my cousin Trey, Ariel , and her sister Flossie. We were having a tug of war — that was the fourth of July, I believe. I was 12.”

There was another picture on the page of Jax dressed up as an Old West Marshall, his brother and cousins handcuffed together behind him, dressed as outlaws. Ariel in a ballerina costume, in mid-twirl, was trying to give Jax a kiss as he backed away from her and made a face just as the camera snapped.

“That was Halloween — same year,’ Jax said as Brenda was laughing at, what in her opinion, was a *great* shot!

The next page had a picture of Jax and his cousin Trey blasting each other with water guns at some theme park, Jax and Jerry hiking up a trail in the pouring rain and smiling like lunatics and then Jax and Jerry caught sleeping in the woods beneath a massive evergreen looking not like the mischievous little boys they truly were, but more like two little angels. There was a picture of Jax and his cousin Lance squirting ketchup on each other in front of a barbecue pit and Jerry sneaking up behind Lance with a bottle of mustard, and there was also a photo of Jax and Trey kicking back in a big back yard on a hammock, their arms and ankles crossed identically, their eyes both focused subtly on a cute girl handing a glass of lemonade to Jax’s mother, while Ariel and Flossie could be seen in the background staring with girlish glee at the boys. The following page had Jax, Scott and their SEAL unit all looking positively dashing in uniform, and then looking perfectly dangerous and wildly attractive in their combat gear. And then there was a picture of Jax and Scott sipping margaritas on the French Riviera with two beautiful, scantily clad women sitting in between them and fawning all over them.

“Hmmmm,” Brenda said.

“I don’t even remember who they were,” Jax insisted, giving her a smile that could have melted a mighty glacier.

She giggled and closed the book, turning to him and accepting the hot cider he offered her. “Jax, today was incredible,” she said. “I want to thank for taking me.”

“You’re welcome,” he said touching his cup to hers. “And you were very good.”

“I was, wasn’t it!” she agreed.

He smiled. “Yes, you were. Getting through the pre-flight check alone was a major accomplishment. You remembered *everything,*” he said in amazement. “It’s funny, when you’re up in the air like that you have to completely trust in your instincts and your judgment. But you also have to have that same kind of complete trust in your co-pilot,” Jax mentioned to her. “Or, do you disagree?”

“No, I completely agree with you,” she said. “Trust is crucial up there.”

“Did you trust me today?” he asked her, his eyes holding hers captive in his gaze of molten blue.

She nodded. “I did.”

He reached forward and his hands brushed against her face. Her eyes closed as she absorbed the splendor of his touch.

“You know that I want you to trust me, Brenda - I make no pretense of wanting otherwise” he said. “But I also want you to be truthful with me. This trust that you felt today in the plane with me... is it a one time thing? Or can you honestly say that you trust me now?” he asked.

She opened her mouth to answer him and the phone rang. They both heard the distinctive ring of his Bureau issue phone.

“I have to get that.” he said getting up with remarkable speed, agility and alertness for one who had looked so relaxed only a moment ago.

“I know,” she said as she watched him take the stairs two at a time and disappear into the study, closing the door as he went in.

Brenda gazed into the fire, wondering how she would answer Jax when he came back downstairs. While she waited for him she turned on the radio, the seductive lure of the fire making her feel in the mood for a soft music station. She kicked off her shoes and stretched out on the couch gazing into the fire where dreams seemed to leap to life. One of the songs that she and Scott had danced to in his ballroom dancing instruction came on, and Brenda’s fantasies came to life.

The violins seems to flow through Brenda’s body as she gazed into the fire and saw herself in Jax’ s arms, the two of them in the center of a massive ballroom with chandeliers sparkling above them and awe-struck guests gaping at them as they danced like two prefect partners meant for each other.

Someday, when I’m awfully low
When the world is cold
I will feel the glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight

Brenda wasn’t sure how she knew that there were other people in the room, for she only had eyes for Jax. And she wasn’t sure how she heard the music playing because the sound of her heartbeat was deafening.

Oh but you’re lovely
with your smile so warm
And your cheek so soft
There is nothing for me but to love you
Just the way you look tonight

He tilted her chin to kiss her lips and she felt a wild panic swell within her. Her hands reached out to push against his chest and stop him “Can I trust you?” she asked him. And then to her mortification she felt tears in her eyes. “Please tell me I can trust you, Jax,” she whispered, terrified of putting her heart on the line like this when she knew he was in love with someone else. She had been rejected by him once already. She knew how it felt, and she never wanted to feel that again.

“You can trust me,” he swore, and there was nothing on earth that would have made her doubt him. But weren’t things always perfect in dreams and fantasies? The real world was something else entirely, wasn’t it...

When Jax came back downstairs half an hour later, he found Brenda on the couch fast asleep, the stereo on.

He gazed down at her and then settled himself on the couch and lifted her into his arms, cradling her face against his chest.

“How convenient that you would fall asleep without answering my question,”  he murmured, stroking her hair adoringly. “I still love you though,” he said. God, he’d actually said it out loud. He loved her. And he knew he did, damn it. Then he kissed her closed eyelids and leaned back against the couch, satisfied for now with the sweet sensation of her sleeping in his arms and the way she automatically snuggled as close to him as possible.
 

*********

The day of the Crystal Ball had arrived and the town of Great Falls was abuzz with the news of the rich and famous that would be gracing their town to attend the gala. As the hour neared, everyone was donning their most beautiful clothing and sensational jewelry as they prepared for an evening of magic and elegance.

Scott stopped by Jax and Brenda’s before he went to pick up his date. And while Brenda got ready, Jax entertained Scott in the parlor, the two friends sharing a glass of Tequila, while Scott teased Jax about the impending Christmas dinner at his house in which Brenda would be subjected to his family as well as Ariel’s family.

“I’m not going to let anyone make her unhappy,” Jax said. “I’ll throw out the whole bloody lot of them into the snow if I have to.”

Scott laughed because he knew damn well that Jax would do that too. “Why don’t you just tell her?” Scott asked out of the blue, drumming his fingers against the black marble top of the bar.

“Tell who, what?” Jax asked. Both men were dressed in black tuxedos and looked absolutely magnificent.

“Tell Brenda,” Scott clarified, “that you love her. Or at least tell her that you *don’t* love Ariel. She still thinks you do, Jax.”

Jax swallowed the rest of his glass of Tequila. “I’ve wanted to tell her a million times,” he confessed. “But I know she won’t believe me. She doesn’t trust the things I say yet — I can tell. She wants to, but she doesn’t. So I have to show her I love her and get her to trust that — get her to trust what she *sees*. Then she’ll also trust what she hears, and so when I do tell her she’ll believe it’s true and she’ll believe it with all of her heart. And no one will ever be able to make her believe anything differently. That’s the way I want it to be for us. And I’m very close to that point,” he shared. “But not quite there.”

Scott nodded. “Where is she?”

“Upstairs getting ready,” Jax said.

“I’m just going to go up and say hi and then I have to get out of here,” Scott said, checking his watch to make sure he would have time to pick up Aurora and not be late. When he went upstairs and knocked on the door, he found a nervous Brenda pacing in front of the mirror looking simply drop-dead-resurrect-and-drop-dead-again gorgeous in a slender winter-white, off the shoulder gown made of soft velvet. It had a sheer white middle, giving an enticing view of a flat, curvaceous stomach, and showcased glittering gold and silver accents throughout. The thigh-high side slit was the icing on one hell of a beautiful cake. Silver and gold ribbons were entwined in a lovely French braid in her hair and Scott was pretty much speechless at the sight of her.

“Has Jax seen you yet?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Wowwww,” he said softly, giving her a smile. “Well I definitely pity him trying to keep the roving Romeos away from you tonight. He’s going to have his hands full.”

She smiled back, but still looked nervous and shaken and sort of miserable, he thought.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting on the velvet covered bench by the mirror.

“Scott,” she said sitting down on the bed, and folding her hands together in her lap. Her head was bent and the shine of her glossy, dark hair was bewitching. She just looked utterly angelic in the white, sparkling gown. “Do you know that despite all the things I’ve said and done ever since I came here to this house, that the *truth* is that I’ve been in a battle for Jax’s deepest affections ever since I first kissed him and he rejected me back in Port Charles?” She raised her bent head and Scott saw her amber-brown eyes glittering with tears. “I want him to love me *so* much. I feel like an idiot for thinking I can ever have that, because I know he loves someone else, but I can’t let it go,” she confessed miserably. She stared at the ceiling, shaking her head, “And every day I’m with him I want him more and I love him more and I know I should just leave before I fall too deep, but I can’t leave.” A tear slid down her face and she brushed it away as if it were a nuisance. “I know I’m a total fool to keep fighting for this, but I just. . I want it so much and...I don’t know how to *not* want it. I don’t know how to make myself give up and...”

Scott couldn’t stand to see her this way when she had no bloody reason to feel like this at all, and so he cut off her heartfelt confession. “Brenda,” he said, “I want to tell you something. You should just listen to me and say nothing.” He instructed her. “Brenda, I know you *think* you’re in a battle for Jax’s affections. But you aren’t. Trust me, you aren’t. I’m your friend, and I wouldn’t lie to you about this.”

She felt her heart stop and start. “How do you know that?” she asked, wondering why he sounded so sure. ‘Tell me,” she pleaded, grasping his hands.

Scott phrased his response carefully. “Well, you can’t have a battle without an opponent, right? And you have no opponent, Brenda, “he told her, hoping she would be able to correctly infer that Ariel was a total and complete non-issue. “You also can’t have a battle if the person you think you’re fighting against, or *for*, has already conceded the victory to you,” he added, hoping she’d be able to figure out he was telling her that Jax’ s deepest affections were already hers for the taking.

Brenda felt her heart racing. “Oh, please don’t talk in riddles to me now, Scott. What are you saying. .*exactly?*” she asked, thinking she knew what he was saying, but wanting him, *needing* him, to just spit it out and tell her so she could remove all doubts, toss off this shroud of misery, and leap about the room with rapturous joy at what Scott was implying.

But Scott was not going to elaborate because he felt he’d said enough. It was Jax’s place to say the words, not his. “I’m saying, relax, okay?” he said. “Go to this party tonight and have a good time. Dance all night and shine like the Borealis star that you are. And, most of all, put down your battle gear because you *don’t* need it. You never have,” he added softly, and then he fondly chucked her beneath the chin, kissed the top of her head and left her to finish getting ready, hoping she had gotten the gist of his veiled revelations.

Brenda sat on the bed staring at her reflection and thinking about Scott’s parting words: ‘and put down the battle gear because you don’t need it. You never have...’

“I never have?” she whispered, not daring to hope he meant what she thought he meant. “I have no opponent.. .and. .the one I’m fighting for has already conceded the victory to me?” she murmured, drumming anxious, beautifully manicured fingernails against the satin bedspread. She got up and took a deep breath. Scott was Jax’s best friend, but he was *her* friend too. He wouldn’t lead her astray. He wouldn’t try to bolster her hopes based on lies. He would not deceive her, he wouldn’t. But maybe he had to help Jax keep her happy and keep her around? After all, she did admit to Scott that she had thoughts of leaving. They didn’t want her gone until Bastin Reese was found.

Then she shook her head. No, no, no. She had to stop thinking like this! Scott would never use her like that. And he wouldn’t let Jax use her like that either. And Jax... Jax would never use her like that. The one time they had wanted to use her as bait they had told her to her face. Jax also could have lied about having a fiancee. He could have kept it a secret until he had gotten his passionate fulfillment from Brenda and then dropped the bomb on her, but he had told her right away. He had allowed himself a few, very hot stolen kisses, but in the end he had told her the truth. She had no reason to be so distrustful of him now, did she?

He had been nothing but wonderful to her ever since he had taken her from Port Charles and taken her into this home. He was kind and sweet and playful in a wicked sort of way that she liked very much. And he was tender and considerate and he made her feel more desired than any man could ever hope to. He was wild and he was high-spirited and fun-loving and more gorgeous than any man had any right being, and he alone held the key to passion’s secret door that she longed to walk through. He held the key to her heart too, she realized with a helpless sigh. What could she do but trust him and try to grab this happiness? The alternative was to give into the doubts and fears of being rejected and played the fool, and to run from him without ever knowing if the paradise she saw offered in his eyes was all just a show, or if it was real -- and just within her reach.

She drew her lipstick expertly along her full lips, picked up her handbag and left the room. As he watched her walk down the stairs Jax felt the room swirl around him.

My head started reeling
She gave me the feeling
The room had no ceiling or floor...

Good god above! How in the hell was he supposed to keep the howling wolves away from her tonight? And in his mind he saw himself right there among the wolfpack howling like mad.

“Do I look okay?” she asked, at first delighted by his star-struck look but then confused by the scowl she saw skitter across his brow.

“You look more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen in my life,” he responded, but again, he said it as if it were somehow a burdensome thing, and Brenda was confounded.

“I can go and change if you’d like,” she offered.

Who was he kidding? She could walk in there in a burlap sack and she would still capture the eye of every man within a ten mile radius, he realized.

He reached out and took her hand in his and then pulled her towards him and brushed his lips against the side of hers. “No. Don’t ever change,” he whispered in a voice that made her heart quiver with an odd joy and she actually felt herself tremble slightly in his arms.

Jax slipped her chic, silver-velvet coat on for her, donned his own coat and they were off to the ball.

Wildwind, Great Falls, Virginia...

Jenna walked up the steps of Wildwind, flashed her invitation, took her mask and slipped it over her eyes and then entered the ballroom which was beginning to fill up with guests. Her emerald eyes scanned the throats and wrists of the women and she saw bounty all around her in the form of diamonds and rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Oh yes, the pickings would be good tonight! She tugged on her hair to make sure the black wig was firmly in place hiding her lustrous auburn hair. Then she turned around to find one of those roving waiters and grab a glass of expensive bubbly, when she crashed right into a couple who had just arrived.

“Sorry,” the man apologized.

Jenna’s eyes shot up in shock at the sound of the deep, Australian accent. The beautiful, exotic woman next to him had her mask on, but he was just putting on his. And even without it she would have known him anywhere, she realized. An unintentional gasp, escaped her lips and drew Scott’s attention back to her.

He stared at her eyes wondering why they seemed so strikingly familiar — that vibrant, fire-lit, shade of green that glittered like no jewel known to man, and seemed like it had been burned into this very soul somewhere.

Jenna did a swift turn to get out of his vicinity before he recognized her, her heart hammering against her ribcage, but she felt his hand touch her arm and her skin tingled with a rush of heat that nearly sent her to the floor.

“Excuse me,” he said wondering why in the bloody hell his blood was rushing wildly in his veins all of a sudden, “but, do I know you?”
end chapter 13
“Mission Irresistible” Chapter 14
 

Wildwind - Crystal Ball...

“No, we don’t know each other, monsieur,” Jenna said, her uncharacteristic nervousness making her screw up her fake “Gelina Soulis” Greek accent and use her Genavie Dumond fake French accent instead. “If you will excuse me please.”

Scott did not let go of her. He leaned forward and whispered, “Save it, little thief. Do you really think I would ever forget those eyes of yours? Not bloody likely.” And she swore his whisper burned her like the sweetest fire there was.

She was so cool and collected, however, that Scott would never have had any idea of the lovely turmoil going on inside of her. “Sir, are you on ze medication? Or overindulging in ze spirits?” she asked, gesturing to a waiter passing by with a silver tray of wines and champagnes. “You make no sense to me,” she said giving him a look of baffled innocence. “I must really insist zat you let go of me,” she said. “I do not know you.”

Scott’s date, Aurora, watched the interaction with curiosity. “Scott, are you shamelessly hitting on this girl?” she asked, smiling wickedly at him. “And you came here with *me,* no less. I don’t think I will ever recover from the insult,” she said with a sigh.

Scott glanced back at her and grinned. “I’m sorry. I’m just.. .this is a friend of mine.”

“No, I am no friend of yours. I ‘ave never zeen you before in my life!” Jenna insisted, thinking if he didn’t let go of her soon she was going to give into the hysterical urge to kiss him quite wantonly at any moment, snatch his date’s rare black pearl choker and then run away laughing into the freezing winter night.

Scott turned back to her, still holding onto her. “Oh, so you want to play that game, do you?” he said softly. “Well games can be fun, so I’ll play. As long as you realize that I *know* who you are, so the game’s outcome is predetermined,” he said. “You got away from me once. It won’t happen again.”

A sliver of panic went through her. How could he possibly know her just from her eyes? He was bluffing.

Scott saw the flash of panic in her eyes and knew for certain that she was exactly who he knew she was. “You know, luv, they say confession is good for the soul,” he said, his dark brown eyes holding hers quite captive. His voice grew softer, for her ears only. “And I do believe at the very least you owe me a bloody apology for the way you left me incapacitated in the woods the last time we ran into one another.”

Ran into? What a selective memory he had, she thought. Why, he had leapt on her like some wild jungle cat! Well, there was no doubt anymore that he knew who she was, she realized. But she intended to keep right on denying it anyway.

“Monsieur, I zink you are miztaking me for zomeone else. And you are bozhering me. Now let me go,” she said yanking her hand away from his and nearly ending up on her rear end for her efforts. Scott’s gasp on her arm saved her the embarrassment of a tumble at the extravagant ball, however.

She felt a rush of heat harass her as his eyes slowly surveyed the alluring ruby-red dress she wore that fit her svelte body like a glove. She had to marvel at the boldness of his gaze as his dark lashes lowered, following the path of his eyes, assessing her from beautiful face all the way down to pretty, red-satin evening shoes.

“Very, very nice,” he murmured and her heart enjoyed a most pleasing series of palpitations. “However, how exactly do you breathe in that thing?” he asked her - it was all but molded to her exquisite little body. “And did you steal it by any chance?”

Jenna was annoyed to find herself feeling flattered and charmed like a hapless schoolgirl by his compliments, and then highly irritated by his references to her thievery. To infer she would steal a *dress,* of all things, the gorgeous, infuriating bloke! Did he take her for some common criminal?

There was nothing common about her, she thought defensively. And she only stole jewels and occasionally objects d’art. Stealing a dress, indeed!

She slapped his face. “It is rude, senor, to look at me like that, non?” she insisted, wishing she could keep her damned accents straight! She had just done both Spanish and French and she could tell by the glint of amusement in his heavenly brown eyes that her mistakes did not go unnoticed by him.  In fact he was trying very hard not to laugh.

Scott had a hold of the hand that slapped him. “Oh, but what could be ruder than what you did to me in the woods?” he said. “By the way, I do prefer that auburn hair of yours. I hope you’re not planning on wearing that ridiculous wig all night to cover it up.”

She glared at him, finding it more and more difficult to keep up the pretense when he was so obviously convinced of her identity and not about to change his mind.

“I tell you, I do not know you or anyzing you are speaking about,” she said coolly.

Aurora was laughing at whatever was going on between Scott and his lovely young “friend” who didn’t seem too friendly at the moment, and yet the chemistry between them was incredibly palpable. “Scott, maybe you really are confusing her with someone else,” Aurora offered helpfully, thinking the lovely dark haired girl with those attention-grabbing green eyes could use some assistance.

Jenna nodded vigorously. “Merci, mademoiselle. You will please keep ze leash on zis very aggressive, arrogant and delusional boyfriend of yours,” she said, casting Scott another glare, her shapely lips twitching with the laughter she was trying to keep locked away. She was having so much fun insulting him that she failed to notice her accent had now gone into her natural soft, British dialect.

“I’m not overly fond of leashes and I’m no one’s boyfriend at the moment,” he snapped. “And *you*, lovely lady, have a terrible French accent,” Scott said, still holding onto her wrist. “Or is it Spanish? Or British? Do tell.”

It was true. In her growing state of fluster at being found out, combined with her undeniable attraction to him, Jenna’s accent was all over the place, more noticeably odd than ever. She had to get away from him before she began slipping into German and Japanese!

“Well zis has been very entertaining, monsieur,” she said, keeping the French accent steady now. “But, If you will excuse me, I must meet my friends,” Jenna said yanking her hand away from him once more.

Scott’s eyebrows rose sharply. “Your friends?” he said, thinking Bastian Reese might be among the guests as well, and he’d better alert Jax.

“Yes, there they are,” Jenna lied pointing to a couple way across the room whom she had never seen before in her life. “Excusez moi,” she said walking away as quickly as possible.

Scott stared after her making sure he had an idea of where she was in the room and then he turned to the thoroughly confused and amused Aurora.

“Scott, what is *up?*” she laughed. “Do you really know that girl, or is this your newest pick up routine? In which case it needs a lot of work.”

Scott laughed and shook his head. “I do know her. I swear, I do. I’m not crazy or on the make.  Listen, I have to find Jax, Aurora. Have you seen him yet?”

Aurora looked around. “No, not yet,” she said.

By the elegant entrance hall of Wildwind, Ariel stood next to Dimitri, impatient with anticipation of Jax’s arrival. She had taken great care to look positively smashing this evening and she was determined to set Jax afire with both desire and jealousy. If things went her way tonight he would barely spare a glance for the young girl he had so impulsively wed.

Ariel smoothed her stunning silver silk gown which had cost her a fortune to have designed especially for her. She peeked down to make sure she had a goodly amount of cleavage showing as well, and admired her porcelain complexion which a week at the spa had made look just wonderful. Her blonde tresses were flowing about her shoulders, the way she knew Jax always used to like it, and she was wearing the perfume he loved too. That little Brenda would not stand a chance.

As they went up the steps that led into Wildwind, Jax held Brenda’s gloved hand and despite his annoyance about having to share her with staring men this evening, he got such a kick out of the excitement he saw glowing in her amber-brown eyes. She was expecting to have a magical evening and he intended to make sure she did. To that end he was trying to think of all sorts of ways to chill himself out over the jealousy and aggravation he knew he would feel as he watched the wolf pack setting their sights on her and conspiring to find ways to lure Jax away from her so that they could whisk her off into dance after dance.

And despite her excitement and anticipation about this evening, Brenda also felt a queasy nervousness. Ariel would be there. She would be there with Dimitri, and Brenda knew she would just die if Jax reacted with jealousy or looked at Ariel with the slightest bit of longing. Or what if they shared a dance? A long, slow, intimate dance — laughing together, their bodies swaying closely together, their fingers linked, their eyes exchanging intimate glances. Everyone knowing they were in love and that Brenda was just a temporary stop for Jax on his way to the altar with Ariel. Those thoughts made Brenda furious and worried and nauseous all at the same time, and her hand gripped tighter onto Jax’s in a panic.

He felt the increased pressure and glanced over at her. He noticed a dubious look, part scowl, part panic, on her beautiful face.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She seemed unsure of what to say to him. She finally looked up at him with a face so sweet and vulnerable he just wanted to take her into his arms and tell her that whatever was bothering her, he would make it go away.

“Jax,” she said, “you will remember tonight that *I’m* your wife, won’t you?” She chewed on her lip as her eyes watched him, waiting.

“You actually think there’s one moment when I would ever want to forget that?” he asked her, and she felt that incredible melting sensation that Jax often stirred within her.

Oh, she wanted to believe him so badly! And he saw that she was struggling as to whether to do just that.

“You can trust me, Brenda,” he said, brushing his hand against her face. “You can.”

She gave him a tentative smile, and touched the hand that was brushing her face. She looked like she wanted to trust him more than anything in the world, but he could still see the resistance and little embers of doubt in her eyes — although it seemed the embers were much less than usual which he took as a positive sign. God, he loved her so much. He wanted her to love him more than he wanted anything else in the world, and he knew she was finding her way there little by little, but the walls would not come down completely. His desire for her was making it increasingly difficult to continue his patient waiting game, but he had to try. She was worth it. She was worth everything.

She was more than just the woman he loved.  She was the love of his life. He knew that now.

“Would you believe me if I promised you something right now?” he asked her.

She smiled up at him. “Maybe.”

“I promise that this will be the most perfect, perfect night for you.” And then he kissed her like she was the one most desirable thing in the world to him, and for her the night was perfect already.

They entered Wildwind which was decorated like some beautiful winter wonderland and already full of beautiful people dressed magnificently. The butler took their coats and gloves, and Brenda slid her hand back into Jax’s. As they walked into the entryway where Dimitri and Edmund stood greeting their guests, Brenda tensed up as she saw Ariel there next to Dimitri, looking ravishing in a clingy silver gown, and full of confidence. But still cold, Brenda noticed. The woman’s blood must surely run cold, there was just not a glimmer of warmth or fire to her.

As they got closer to the trio Brenda’s grip on Jax tightened again and he realized she was somehow expecting the worst. He tried to reassure her that she had nothing to be nervous about by raising her hand to his lips and kissing it. And then Dimitri was there smiling brightly at them, especially at Brenda, although it looked much more like leering to Jax. But, then again, it looked like every blasted guy in the place was leering at her.

“Now Jax,” Dimitri chided him, shaking his head. “Didn’t I specifically say in the invitation that there were no deities allowed? And here you’ve gone and brought along a young goddess,” Dimitri flashed his pearly whites at Brenda as he kissed her hand. “You, my dear,  bring the very starlight into my home this evening, Brenda,” he said, kissing her hand again and irritating Jax.

Ariel was standing there tightlipped, her hand linked through Dimitri’s arm stiffly as she stared at Brenda who looked too beautiful for words. The girl was attractive, so Ariel had prepared herself for the fact that Brenda would look very nice this evening, but she had not been prepared for this — this vision of exquisite young beauty. And Ariel felt an icy cold rush of jealousy attack her at the way Jax was both looking at and holding onto
Brenda. Not to mention how obvious it was that Jax was ticked at Dimitri’s attentiveness to Brenda, but was not in the least bothered by Ariel being Dimitri’s date and playing hostess.

“Hello Jax,” Ariel managed to say, plastering a smile on her face as she leaned forward and touched her lips to his cheek, intentionally brushing her breasts against his tuxedo jacket as she did so.

Brenda stiffened at the kiss and the brief bodily contact, but she felt Jax’ s arm slide around her waist pulling her closer to him.

“Hi Ariel,” he said, giving her a smile, and then sliding his other arm around Brenda so that she was encircled in his arms. The warmth that flooded Brenda was like the feel of a Caribbean ocean running over her skin. She wanted to burst with excitement that Jax was apparently completely uninterested in Ariel’s being with Dimitri, but very interested in letting it be known that Brenda belonged to *him.*

“So this is the famous Brenda Jacks,” Dimitri’s brother Edmund said, kissing Brenda’s hand. “Enchanted,” he said, giving her a smile. “I’m Edmund, and in my opinion, it’s taken us way too long to meet considering that we’re neighbors, you know.”

“Hi Edmund,” she said, giving him a friendly smile. Jax saw Edmund’s besotted reaction to the sight of Brenda’s irresistible smile and he pulled her even closer to him, thankful for the way she nestled against him contentedly, her fingers stroking his hands which were wrapped around her waist. God, getting through this night and the antics of the men here was going to be a miracle.

“Jax keeps her all to himself,” Dimitri said to his brother. “Not that one can blame him. I’m the only neighbor lucky enough to have come across her,” he joked.

“Oh no, I’ve met Ned and Lois Ashton too,” Brenda said. “Two days ago. Jax and I went to see Shakespeare In love, and they were there too.”

Dimitri smiled. “Well unfortunately the Ashtons can’t make it tonight. So how do you feel having a famous rock star for a neighbor?”

“It’s great,” she laughed.

“Ah, you’d better beware, Jax,” Dimitri said, clasping Jax’s shoulder. “Your intoxicating young bride may have set eyes on a man she finds more desirable than even you,” Dimitri teased, although in the mood Jax was in upon taking a quick glance around and seeing far too many male eyes on his wife, he found zero humor in Dimitri’s jesting and wished Dimitri would just shut the hell up already.

“Oh, there’s not a man alive I find more desirable than Jax,” Brenda said matter of factly, and then she spotted Scott. “Jax, there’s Scott! Let’s go,” she said turning her head to glance up at him and hitting him with a smile that made the whole world seem suddenly perfect to him. He couldn’t resist planting a swift kiss on those beautiful lips of hers.

“Enjoy your evening,” Edmund said.

“And do save me a dance,” Dimitri added chuckling at the look of sheer annoyance Jax shot him as Brenda dragged him away.

“What corner of heaven did Jax find that angel in?” Edmund murmured to his brother as they gazed after Brenda while Ariel was so upset she thought steam might be coming out of her ears.

Scott headed straight for Jax and a waving Brenda the minute he caught sight of them. “What happened,” Jax said, “did Aurora have the good sense to not want to be seen with you?”

Scott laughed. “She’s right over there talking to Mrs. Scorpio,” he said, nodding in the direction, and then gazing there a while longer as if looking for someone. “Jax, listen, don’t let Brenda out of your sight for a second tonight,” he said.

Jax gazed at the numerous, covetous male eyes on Brenda and murmured sardonically, “I didn’t intend to.” Then he glanced at Scott. “Why, is something up?”

“There’s a possibility that Bastian Reese is here,” Scott said.

“Are you serious? How do you know that?” Jax asked, since neither he nor Scott knew exactly what Bastian looked like he had no idea how his partner could be sure the man was here.

Scott hesitated in his response. “Well. . .this might be a good place for him to strike, don’t you think? A well publicized party, wealthy guests, all these jewels,” he murmured vaguely, gesturing to all the bejeweled women.

The orchestra struck up a rich melody and several guests took to the dance floor. Jenna was trying to make her way through the crowd to the front door to leave, while still avoiding Scott, when she halted, staring at a dazzling ruby and sapphire necklace being sported by a matronly woman who was talking too loud. Maybe she could just get her hands on that one lovely piece before leaving, Jenna thought. Just then she felt a hand at her elbow pivoting her in another direction. But she did not react the way she had when Scott touched her so she knew it was not him. It must be yet another one of these bothersome men who seemed to be roving the ballroom in a well-dressed pack, salivating over the women.

“Lovely piece, isn’t it?” the clipped German accent said into her ear.

Jenna spun around, her eyes wide. “Rolf?!”

“Hello darling,” Rolf Ganzenmuller said smoothly, his cloudy blue eyes drinking her in. “Here alone? Or is my most worthy rival with you?”

“Bastian isn’t here,” she said, shoving his large hands away from her. “And I’m surprised *you* are.”

“Well I knew you would be,” he said. “And I thought I should make it a point to show up in case you needed some assistance in this caper. I also came to ask you once again to marry me, of course,” he added with a smile that made her nauseous.

“Well in the first place, I don’t need your help, and in the second place, your monthly marriage proposals bore me to death, so please stop asking. I’m never going to say yes, understand? N-e-v-e-r.  If you must know you make me quite ill.”

“Have a yen for that partner of yours, do you?” Rolf sneered, thinking of the far too attractive, young Sebastian Reese who walked through crowds and seemed to have women falling at his feet as he did so. Rumor was he could steal the jewels off of an heiress in broad daylight just by luring her into a state of hypnosis with his infamous gray eyes.

Jenna was finding Rolf even more obnoxious than usual. She knew he was incredibly jealous of Bastian not only because he held the title of master thief which Rolf and his partners so desperately wanted, but also because Bastian did have an extraordinary effect on most women. Jenna was not about to tell him that she was not one of them. She wasn’t about to enlighten him that Bastian was like an annoying brother to her, more than anything else.  They even often used the fact that they shared the same hair color to pass as siblings in certain capers. She would let Rolf go right ahead and think she had this ‘yen’ for Bastian if it would get this giant of a man away from her.

“Yes, you’ve found me out,” she said dramatically. “And listen, if you want to heist this party, go right ahead. It’s all yours,” she said, patting his arm condescendingly and slipping through the dancing crowd, away form him, headed for the door. Between Scott being here and Rolf being here, this was not a good place for her to be at all. She grabbed another glass of champagne from a passing waiter on her way towards the door, oblivious to the fact that Scott stood talking to two people in close proximity to her. He spotted her instantly and excused himself from Jax and Brenda.

“Did your *friends* abandon you already, little thief?” he murmured, relieving her of her glass of champagne as a startled Jenna realized the best way to evade him now was to join in the dance. As it came to the point where everyone was changing partners in an eye-catching zig-zag formation, Jenna backed up into the line, her waist caught by an eager youth of about 18 who began to twirl her about and purr absurd compliments into her ear, only to lose her in the next few minutes as the changing line of partners began once more and the chorus of singers began to join in with the orchestra, truly bringing the song to life.

See the moon slink down in the sky darling
Every dream is a lie darling
They say life is cold and the game is old
Just see how dreaming repays you
You turn and someone betrays you
Betray him first, and the game’s reversed

For we all are caught in the middle
Of one sweet, dangerous riddle
Can I trust you? Should you trust me too?
And we’re all caught under this spell
And we all have secrets to tell
Will there come a day
our hearts give them all away?

Jenna glanced around anxiously to see where Scott had gone. And there he was about ten partners away from her, having followed her right into the dance. She saw Scott gazing down the line counting to see how many partners it would take him to reach her. To make matters worse, Rolf, seeing her in the dance, had joined in too. Eventually she would be partnered with both of them she realized, trying to think of a way to avoid that. Skirts swirled and laughter and gaiety lit up the crowd as the partner switch began once more. Jenna glanced up trying to see where the two she was trying to evade were, but she saw only the leering giant Rolf She glanced about but did not see Scott anywhere and she felt a twinge of disappointment run through her. Would he really give up so easily? The blasted man!

Her hand absently slid into that of her next partner as she was looking around and to her shock, her body warmed and then shivered and she immediately knew who was holding her. She glanced up and saw him as they moved in a circle, mimicking the other couples. How had he gotten there so quickly? He had been at least ten partners away from her!

Here’s the one sweet lesson of history
Every soul is a mystery
Faces change, tempted hearts act strange
And we all have so many faces
The true self often erases
behind those lies dancing in our eyes

“I meant to mention to you before that escape is futile,” he said conversationally.

“Monsieur, you are a mad man. I think I will have to complain to ze host about you,” she said, her French accent once again faltering.

“Only ze host?” he asked mimicking her strange accent. “Why not complain to ze authorities?” Scott asked. “I understand ze FBI Director himself is here. Why don’t we just go over to him and tell him all about what a mad man I am, mademoiselle?”

He saw the shock register in her emerald eyes at the mention of the FBI Director being at the party. And with Scott there, and her undoubtedly knowing he was FBI as well, she must be wondering if the place was not crawling with feds just waiting to pounce on her and cart her off to prison. He felt her heart racing against him as her eyes scanned the room seeking an escape route, no doubt.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he assured her. “So are you finally going to drop the act now?” he asked her.

She felt an odd and heady breathless sensation as he maneuvered her expertly into the complicated moves of the dance, and then to her consternation she realized that he had somehow managed to get her as a partner at the point in the dance where they would stop changing partners for several minutes. They moved through the lines of dancers, an eye-catching duo, as Rolf stared angrily at them having instant dislike for this dark haired man who seemed to have the unshakable Jenna Robertson, nicknamed the “Ice Girl” among jewel thieves for her absolute coolness under all circumstances, uncharacteristically flustered.

Jenna was appalled to feel her knees seeming to give way like some lovestruck idiot as Scott slid her closer into his arms for a series of thrilling dips and twirls. ‘It must be the cologne,’ she told herself Certain men’s colognes did have that affect on her.

And we all are caught in the middle
Of one sweet, dangerous riddle
Can I trust you? Should you trust me too?
We’re all caught under this spell
And we all have secrets to tell
Will there come a day
our hearts give them all away

As Jax gazed at Scott wondering who that girl was he seemed so captivated by, an excited Brenda realized that she knew this dance. It was one of the complicated ones Scott had taught her.

“Jax, dance with me!” she said, tugging on his hand excitedly.

Jax glanced at the dancers and then shook his head. “Not to this, Brenda,” he said. “This is a complicated European dance.

“I know. I also know how to dance to this, Jax,” she told him with a confident, flash of dimples.

Jax looked skeptical. Did she really? Well, even if she did, he wanted to decline dancing to this. This was one of those multi-partner group dancers. And he knew that once Brenda was a part of the dance, all the men who were acting like wall flowers would suddenly flock to the dance floor in droves knowing that with this type of dance they would eventually get a turn with her.

“We just got here, Bren. Let’s mingle,” Jax suggested. “I know, let’s go find the Scorpios.”

Brenda had a silly grin on her face at his having called her ‘Bren.’ He’d never done that before, and it sounded so intimate and like they had been a part of each other forever, not just for a few months.

“Jax, please. Please dance with me. Come on!” she said with a laugh, not giving him a chance to refuse her again as she literally pulled him into the dance while a seething Ariel watched them. But then, realizing it was the type of dance where partners were exchanged often, Ariel quickly grabbed Dimitri.

“I want to dance!” she said.

Dimitri withdrew her hands from him. “I still have guests to greet, Ariel. If you’re longing to wind up in your ex’s arms again, then simply join the dance. It’s not the kind of dance you necessarily need a partner for.”

Ariel shot him a scowl of annoyance and grabbed Edmund instead. “This has *nothing* to do with Jax. I simply wish to dance. You’ll do, Edmund,” she said, dragging him into the dance with her.

As Jax had known would happen, the moment he and Brenda became a part of the dance the men who had been chatting over champagne in little groups, and others who’d just seemingly been holding up the walls, descended into the dance in droves. Jax was only dancing with Brenda for two minutes and marveling at how excellent she was, when it was time to change partners and a dark haired man Jax recognized as the lecherous Timothy Townsend swooped Brenda into a merry twirl, his eyes devouring her. Jax had to count to ten. Hell he had to count to a hundred as he tried to be as calm as he could be, watching Brenda change partners again and again and seeing the salivating glances and eager glowing of their eyes once they had her. Meanwhile Jax was ignoring every woman who ended up in his arms; spinning, dipping and circling them automatically with no thought, his eyes never connecting with them as he was not about to let Brenda out of his sight.

“Jax, you dance so divinely! Although you do appear to be somewhat in a coma,” Millicent Adams commented to him in an attempt to be the first to tear his eyes away from his wife. But she failed, as did all the others, as Jax did not even acknowledge that she had spoken to him.

Edmund found himself extremely dizzy and aggravated as Ariel refused to let him lead, swirling him madly in her efforts to move up the line fast and be partnered with Jax.

As she smiled while pretending to care about the complimentary prattle of her brown haired dancing partner, Brenda sought out Jax and saw him watching her. She also saw that Ariel was swirling like a madwoman, plowing down everyone in her path in an attempt to end up in Jax’s arms.

“I don’t think so!” Brenda said out loud, spurred into immediate action, as the partner exchanges were going way too slow for her taste.

“Pardon me, my dear?” her partner asked, gazing wolfishly down at her. At that moment the consecutive partner switch began again. And Brenda fled out of her partner’s hold and then proceeded to skip over four men in the line so that she could get to Jax before the swirling mass of silver silk could. Jax saw Brenda cutting off partners left and right and only grabbing the hands of men who were relatively near him and realized she was trying to get back to him. He grinned and followed her lead, skipping women, leaving them with scowls of disappointment and occasional angry outbursts at not getting a chance at him, as he finally had the prize he sought captured in his arms and she too had her prize as she laughed with relief to be with him again, her arms sliding around his neck as he held her close.

“Whew. Don’t let me go,” she said softly, somewhat breathless, still laughing and delighting in being with him again -- where she belonged -- as he spun her about the room. His arms were like her own private heaven.

His kiss against her cheek heated her entire body like some heavenly fire. “Never,” he responded.

A foiled Ariel, who had been only two partners away from getting to Jax herself, stomped on Edmund’s foot in anger. It was all his fault, he was so slow and always whining about wanting to lead! Edmund cursed her and hobbled off the dance floor.

Meanwhile Jenna found herself in the arms of Rolf who pressed her up against him to her disgust.

“Excuse me, but, you’re crushing me, you mutant ogre. Please stop it!” she said, pushing against his chest to try and break his crushing embrace.

“Oh, but my sweet, you didn’t seem to mind when that dark haired man had you plastered to him like a second skin!” Rolf snapped jealousy. “Who was he, Jenna? Eh? Who was he! Bastian’s latest recruit? Your latest love slave! I will kill him if he has had you!”

“Kindly, go to the devil, Rolf,” Jenna said, shoving the brute away from her as the partner switch began once more and she found herself actually seeking out Scott. Although she knew he would find her, which he did. He was a bit caught off guard by the relief he saw in her eyes when they were together again. Relief? How exactly does a criminal feel relieved to be captured in the arms of an enforcer of the law?
 

Can I run to you, will you be true to me?
I’ll do unto you, as you do to me
As we slowly turn, feelings start to burn
I want you, and you want me but....

A Judas once loved a Jesus
But oh betrayal will seize us
And only fools, follow golden rules
We all are caught in the middle

Of one sweet, dangerous riddle
of who’ll trust who
Maybe I’ll trust you
But can you trust me?
Wait and see

The song ended to laughing applause and many winded dancers who needed to take a break.

“Don’t you think you should be getting back to your girlfriend now?” Jenna suggested to Scott who had to laugh at her still keeping up the ridiculous facade of being a French woman.

“Don’t you think you should go directly to jail now?” he countered.

She pursed her lips thoughtfully and looked at him, sure he had to be bluffing. He didn’t really want her to go to jail. She could feel several things he wanted, but for her to go to jail was not one of them. It would only be a last resort for him, she was sure.

“What would you arrest me for?” she asked innocently. “I haven’t done anyzing wrong.”

“But the night is still young. So much time for so much crime,” Scott sighed. “And I can always have you arrested for trespassing on the safe house property and assaulting an FBI agent -- namely me. Once we have you in custody I’m sure we can find a way to get you to confess to your crime spree and help us in finding your annoyingly elusive partner in crime,” Scott said. “He’s the one we really want, you know.”

Rolf s eyes blazed as he watched Jenna once again in the presence of the dark haired man, once again seeming to be flirting with him.

“You talk in riddles, monsieur,” she said with a laugh. “And you talk such nonsense,” she chided, trying to ignore the exasperated amusement in his eyes at her refusal to give up the charade. “If you insist on harassing me, I would prefer zat you dance with me more and talk to me less,” she said, pressing her fingers against his lips in a gesture for him to be quiet as the song changed to a sexy tango for two.

Brenda and Jax were going to get some refreshment when Jax heard the song. The sensual strum of the Spanish guitar, the rhythmic click of the castanets. The occasional dramatic swell of the violins and distant echoes of the conga drums.

“Do you think they have cranberry juice?” Brenda asked, looking around at the huge bar. But Jax began to lead her away from the refreshment bar. “We have to dance to this,” he told her. “We *have* to?” she echoed with a giggle. “Is this some crazy Virginia law, or something?”

He grinned at her and impulsively kissed her. “I dreamed about you to this song, Brenda,” he revealed. “It was while we were back at the safe house -- and it was the first dream I ever had about you,” he said.

Her eyes softened with feeling. “Really?” she whispered. Then her eyes narrowed a bit. “It wasn’t a nightmare, was it?”

His enticing laughter made her long to be kissed by him. “Not the part about you,” he assured her as he took her in his arms to the sexy tango. The tango was such a sensual, expressive dance that not everyone was willing to give it a go. So most of the guests stepped back to watch those daring to take on the expressive dance. About twelve couples remained on the dance floor as the rest of the guests watched in fascination, although certain guests, like Rolf and Ariel were watching with envious fury.

Jax held Brenda’s hands as he circled her in a semi circle, his eyes riveted to her, silently speaking of a passion he felt for her that was deeper than anything she could ever imagine. Oh, but she could imagine it, he thought, as they exchanged a secretive little smile.

Echoes will die
But whispers return
Fevers will break
But a memory will burn
Drunk on a dream we were
In those warm cafe’s
We were aroused
In our separate ways

I was the wind
whipping your heels
You were my desire

Sweet, enchanting, ideal
How could we know our hearts
In those restless days?
How could we go
Our separate ways?

It was captivating to watch the body language between the couples as the lure of the music even had the onlookers swaying and feeling the erotic fire in the air. Some of the partners used the entire floor, swirling and spinning and doing the tango march along it’s length. Other couples were barely ever separated, using very little of the floor space and so enraptured and attuned to one another it was like watching something intrinsically private.
Jax and Brenda were perhaps the epitome of category #2 as they seemed completely unaware even of the eyes on them as they moved together in an intimate and fun choreography that had love, desire and a devil-may-care attitude written all over it.

We were caught in a wave you and I
How we rode the tide
Oh we were alive, you and I
Must the dream now die?

No one was surprised when Jax’s lips touched down onto his wife’s capturing her in a searing kiss. Intensely passionate and completely captivating to watch. The kiss dashed the hopes of the eager Romeos plotting to sweep Brenda off of her feet, and the equally anxious Juliets who were hoping that Jax’s sudden marriage was not based on entirely on love and they could cleverly entice him away from the young beauty. The kiss silenced all such foolish notions, as anyone with functioning eyes could see that there was no separating those two by hook or by crook. Their passion for each other was potent and fiery, and the air swirling about them tingled with the molecular energy of a deep and secret love.
 

Come back again
Think what we have
Freedom and fire
And sweet passion gone mad
I see that fire move
through your trembling gaze
We’ll never go
Our separate ways

Director Scorpio and his wife Anna were among those watching Jasper and Brenda Jacks, transfixed by the sensual beauty of their dance and the uninhibited passion of their kiss.

Anna sighed and leaned her head against Robert’s shoulder. “Do you remember when we were so carefree and wild about our passion like that?” she asked him with a smile. “We were just this unstoppable force of love that no one could slow down, remember?” she laughed. “And now I see it in them.”

Robert nodded. “There’s no doubt that it’s love, is there?” he asked her, kissing the top of her head. “None whatsoever,” she told him. “So whatever doubts you had about the reasons behind that marriage, you can chuck them, honey.”

He laughed. “Consider them chucked. I just had to be sure,” he explained to her.

“The only thing I think *isn’t* so true,” Anna said, glancing over at the livid Ariel, “is Jax’s claim that his ex-fiancee was fine with his decision. Look at her, Robert. She’s halfway apoplectic,” Anna observed.

Robert gazed at Ariel and indeed the woman had taken on the appearance of a jealous loon. “That part of it is between Jax and her,” he said with a shrug. “It’s no concern of mine although I do think he’s well rid of her.”

“And who is that beautiful girt that seems to have your other agent so enthralled?” Anna asked, gazing curiously over at Scott and Jenna. Robert Scorpio followed his wife’s gaze...

“Look, if you help us set up Bastian, I’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” Scott whispered to her as he dipped her over his knee.

She rose up gracefully from the dip, her arms around his neck, and gave into her desire to run her fingers through the rich dark waves of his hair which seemed to annoy and delight him at the same time. The first time she did it, he moved her hands away. But when she did it again a few moments later, he didn’t stop her.

“Who iz thiz Bastian?” she asked, her fingers playing idly in the back of his hair as she gave him a smile.

Scott did not know whether to admire her obstinate refusal to cry uncle, or to strangle her for persisting in the inane deception, and deliberately distracting flirtation.
 

Jax took Brenda to one of the enclosed balconies in Wildwind and he turned her around so she was facing the windows. “You can see our house from here,” he said pointing it out to her.

She looked in the direction Jax was pointing to. “That’s our house? Wow, it looks so far away. Like it’s in another town, not just down the street.”

“There’s a lot of land separating the homes,” Jax concurred. “You know how you’re always making jokes about how far our driveway is from the actual street? Well, all of the houses are like that here.”

Brenda turned from the window and looked up at him, something like happy merriment dancing in her eyes.

“I really do feel like it’s my house too now,” she told him.

“I’m glad,” he said. “I’ve always wanted you to feel that way. Everything that’s mine is yours.” Hmmm, a strange thing to say for someone who she had been so sure was worried about her getting her hands on his fortune, she thought.

Her brown eyes gazed at him thoughtfully, and he wondered what she was thinking.

“Thank you for keeping your promise,” she said, pulling him out of his own thoughts.

“Which one?” he asked with a boysih smile that sent her heart reeling happily.

“The one you made tonight. The one where you said you’d give me a perfect night.” He smiled at her. “Is it perfect then?”

She nodded. “Too perfect for words, so far. And I realized something tonight, Jax,” she said looking as if she would suddenly burst with some kind of emotion — glee, he thought. “You don’t love Ariel anymore!” she said, giddy with happiness. And then she sobered for a moment, not wanting to set herself up to be the ultimate fool again. “Do you?” she added.

“What do you think?” he asked, wanting her to trust what she saw.

“I think from what I’ve seen, no, you don’t love her anymore. Am I right?”

“No,” he said, running the back of his hand up and down her throat in a very sensual stroking pattern that had her fidgeting with stirring feelings despite her horror over his negative response. “But if you drop the word ‘anymore’ then you are absolutely, 100 percent correct.”

The giddiness returned as she held onto his arms and did a happy little dance with her feet. “I knew it, Jax! I knew it because of how you were with me tonight. You kissed me in front of everybody, even *her*! I know you, and I know you would have never done that if you loved her. You didn’t even mind that she was with another man. It didn’t bother you one bit,” Brenda said, still amazed by that fact. “But you *did* seem to mind when other men were dancing with me, right?”

He laughed. “I think that was fairly obvious, don’t you?” he brushed warm lips against hers and held her face in his hands. “Have you realized anything else tonight?” he asked her. “Like maybe how I feel about you? Or, maybe, how you feel about me?”

Suddenly the lights in Wildwind went out and the estate was in darkness save for a few flickering candles.

“What the hell is going on?” Jax wondered taking a protective hold on Brenda’s hand and going back inside.

The moment Wildwind was plunged into virtual darkness Jenna knew that it was Rolf’s doing. He was undoubtedly making his move to gather up his booty of jewelry now. Well, good for him, the insufferable cyborg. She would just use the opportunity to vacate the premises although she was reluctant to leave her bantering flirtations with a certain incredibly attractive, dark-haired FBI agent, but alas he was the enemy. She had to remember that he was trying to get her partner arrested, and he could easily decide she belonged in jail as well. She had to go. In the very faint, wavering candlelight she could see Scott who was looking for her and undoubtedly figured that she was somehow responsible for this. Some idiotic women were screaming for no reason as if afraid of the dark, and Dimitri Marick was imploring them to be silent and asking for calm, insisting that it was just a blown fuse and his household help was seeing to it.

Jenna decided she would run up to Scott, brush her lips against his cheek, whisper good-bye and leave him with the memory of her lips touching him and her triumphant laughter as she escaped. As she made her way towards him she gasped as she saw Rolf stalking angrily, purposefully over to Scott who had no idea the giant cyborg was behind him, obviously intent on doing Scott serious bodily harm.

Jenna grabbed a solid brass candlestick and quickly maneuvered her way behind both men and then brought the butt of the candlestick down on Rolf’s bald head with a thunk. He made a grunting sound and slumped to the ground and Scott spun around just missing having someone who strangely resembled the Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator fall down on top of him. He saw Jenna standing behind the hulk of a man and Jenna quickly slipped the brass candlestick behind her and gazed down at Rolf curiously.

“Big guy, huh?” she said, completely forgetting her French accent and once again slipping into her natural British. “I guess he fainted. He must be afraid of the dark like those screaming women. Or maybe he saw a mouse,” she whispered with a wink and the cutest smile Scott had ever seen.

Scott willed himself not to laugh at the image of this big hulk of a guy swooning into a dead faint at the sight of a mouse. He saw that the big guy was carrying a blunt object which he had obviously intended on bashing into someone’s skull. Scott had a feeling the skull in question was his. He glanced at Jenna who was trying to keep something hidden behind her back and he stepped forward, thinking the engaging little jewel heist expert looked truly enchanting in this dimmest of candlelight, although he longed to see that ravishing auburn hair.

Jenna stepped back. “What are you doing?” she asked, the on again/off again French accent returning, he noticed.

He stepped forward again and reached behind her, yanking the candlestick from her. “Most women just carry a purse,” he murmured.

She laughed and then bit her lip to stop.

“It looks like I owe you a thank you,” he said.

“For what?” she asked. “I didn’t do anything,” she insisted, accent off.

 “Who is he?” Scott asked her.

“I have no idea.”

Scott sighed. “It’s been fun,” Scott said, “but I think the games need to be over now,” he added as he reached back and tugged off the black wig, then pulled her real hair out of the tight bun it was in to keep the wig in place. He watched as a cascade of tall, silky auburn curls fell in slow motion down past her shoulders, framing that exquisite face, those stunning eyes, the very faint dash of freckles across the bridge of her perfect nose. Of all the women on the entire earth that he had to feel this magnetic pull for, why the hell did it have to be this damned little thief?

“Hello again, Madison Kennedy,” he said. “And if you deny it now I just may have to strangle you.” For some reason Jenna could not stand to have him call her by the alias.

“Jenna,” she said softly. “My name is Jenna. And I hope you don’t think I’m going to just stand here and allow you to arrest me.”

“Jenna,” he repeated. “Well Jenna, I hope you don’t think I’m going to just let you walk out of here,” he countered.

“You should!” she insisted. “I saved your life, *Scott*” she said, her eyes lighting with triumph at his shock that she knew him by name. “That fallen giant on the floor over there was going to beat you within an inch of your life.”

“So, you *do* know who he is,” Scott said. “Who?”

 “I’m not saying,” she told him. “What I’m going to do is leave.”

He reached out and held her wrist. “I can’t let you do that.”

 “And I can’t let you stop me,” she said.

“Then it would appear we are at an impasse. Which is the same thing as saying, you lose and I win,” Scott told her, holding her in such a way that she could not attempt her kick-in-the-groin-and-flee tactics as she had done the first time they had encountered one another. He made sure to have her backed up against a wall so she had no escape from the rear either.

But Jenna had another way of stunning him. And it was as unexpected as that kick had been last month. He had her hands pinned behind her, so she was not able to encircle her arms around him, but she was near enough that if she just stood up on her toes a tiny bit she could reach his lips and initiate an ambush kiss which was exactly what she did. The hot rush of pleasure shock had the effect Jenna had hoped it would, rendering Scott stunned for a moment. She could snatch her lips from his and run right now and he would never catch her. But she had not anticipated wanting this kiss so much, and being unable to stop it once she had begun it. Their lips connected in a tantalizing urgency, and he freed her imprisoned hands allowing her to slip them behind his neck and pull them both deeper into the spontaneous moment of passion, while his hands slid into the luxurious softness of her hair
angling her perfect lips to deepen the kiss and throw kerosene on the fire she had started. His lips glided along the velvet heat of her skin as his mind asked him: ‘excuse me but, what the *hell* are you doing?!!’ while his body said to him: ‘have you ever felt *anything* more perfect that this?’

When the lights came on, everyone had grown so accustomed to the dark that the lights were blinding, causing momentary confusion, and allowing Jenna, although dizzy with passion and a desire that was screaming to be fulfilled, to give Scott the slip and vanish from the premises, leaving him with nothing but the sound of her triumphant laughter and the burning memory of her kisses. She was not the only one gone, so was the big hulk of a man that had wanted to beat Scott senseless for some reason, he noticed, gazing at the ground where the giant had fallen.

Scott looked all over for Jenna, but he knew he would not find her.

“Damn,” he muttered. She had done it to him again.

Across the room, Jax saw Scott. Leaving Brenda safely in the hands of Director Scorpio, Jax crossed the ballroom until he got to Scott.

“Did that blackout have anything to do with your hunch that Bastian Reese was here?” Jax asked, urgently. “I mean, I’ve had Brenda looking all night and she didn’t see him.”

Scott shook his head. “I don’t think he was here after all. I have no idea what caused that blackout,” he admitted.

Jax nodded. “Yeah well maybe Dimitri needs to pay his damned electric bill,” Jax said. And Scott laughed at Jax’s remark. “Hey who was that girl you were with all night?” Jax asked curiously. “You know Aurora is going to kill you for neglecting her so shamelessly.”

Scott just glanced up at Jax and smiled tentatively, thinking he didn’t want to lie to him so it was better to just not say anything at all. Then Scott saw Ariel approaching Brenda.

“Hey Jax, you might want to go play interference over there,” he suggested, nodding in the direction of the women.

Ariel exchanged some meaningless chit chat with the Scorpios before asking to speak to Brenda alone. Brenda, feeling a zillion times more optimistic about her own future with Jax, was obliging to his ex and moved just a few feet away from the Scorpios to talk to Ariel.

“What is it?” Brenda asked.

“I hope you’re happy,” Ariel said, her blue eyes lit with hostility. “You have taken from me the one thing that I love more than anything in the world. You stole from me my future! The man that I was going to marry and live with for the rest of my life and be happy with and have children with! Have you no shame?! You just seduce my fiancee and get him to dump me so he can fulfill his lust for you or whatever it is! Don’t you care about how much Jax and I love each other? Don’t you have a heart at all?!”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Brenda said. “You are not seriously trying to paint *me* as the villain in all of this, are you?”

“No, * you* wait a minute! You ruined my future, do you comprehend that little girl? You waltzed into *my* fiancé’s life and bat your eyelashes at him and charged him up with so much lust to the point where he had to have you at the expense of everything else. Including his beautiful, perfectly planned out future with me!”

“Beautiful?” Brenda muttered sarcastically. “Perfect?”

“*You* have no place in his life! And if you were a real woman you would have enough dignity and human decency to get the hell out of his life so he could come to his senses and come back to me where he belongs, where he has *always* belonged. I’ll have you know that I knew I was going to marry Jax from the time we were both ten years old! I have loved him all my life. I love his family and they love me. And most importantly, I LOVE JAX. He is my life and my future. You need to get out of this picture, do you understand that? Do the right thing, Brenda.”

Brenda rose an eyebrow. “And the *right* thing would be for me to leave my husband so that he could do.. what? Be alone? He’s not going to marry you Ariel. Whether I’m in his life or not, he’s not going to marry *you.* Jax cares about you, I know that. But he doesn’t love you.”

Ariel’s eyes glinted with blue fury. “And *you* don’t love him!” she shot back.

Brenda folded her arms. “Excuse me but, who the hell are you to think you know what I feel? You don’t *know* me. You think that you have exclusive rights to loving Jax? Well get over that delusion Ariel, because I love him. I love him more than you will ever know; more than you’re probably even capable of comprehending in that cold shell of yours. Jax is everything to me! He’s the most important thing in my life, and he’s who I love the most in this world. You will get him over my dead body.”

“Everything all right here?” Jax asked, smoothly inserting himself between them and instantly feeling the cold hostility bouncing back and forth.

Ariel plastered another fake smile on her face for Jax’ s benefit and Brenda was surprised the woman’s face did not crack open.

“Everything is fine, Jax!” Ariel insisted cheerily. “I was just telling your wife that I look forward to a wonderful Christmas dinner at your house.” Then she turned sweetly to Brenda. “Would you like me to bring anything?” she asked.

“Oh, no thank you,” Brenda said just as sweetly. “I’m sure you’ll be bogged down enough carrying around those two faces.”

Ariel gasped.

“Just a little joke,” Brenda said, smiling at her. “I can’t wait to see you on Christmas, Ariel.”

Ariel looked as if she would choke the life out of Brenda. She turned to Jax, managed to smile stiffly and then stalked over to the refreshment bar.

When they were alone, Jax turned to Brenda. “So.. .you want to tell me what that was all about?”

She considered it and then shook her head. “It was nothing major,” she decided, leaning against him and watching Ariel down two rum and cokes and then proceed to fling herself at every man in the room.

Nothing major? Jax thought, his heart racing with a shivering exhilaration inside of him. You think that admitting to someone that you’re in love with me is nothing major?

*********

Ravenswood - Great Falla, Virginia...

It was one o’clock in the morning when Jax and Brenda got back home. Brenda was still on cloud 9 from the magical evening she had just spent with him and the glorious revelation that he was not in love with anyone. She felt that they were closer than ever and had real optimism that she could really have him forever if she put all of her efforts into it. Then that annoying voice of pessimism leapt into her head: ‘Just because he’s not in love with Ariel doesn’t mean that he’s not still just using you and playing games with you. You saw the way his eyes lit up tonight when Scott thought Bastian Reese might be at the party somewhere. He knows you are his key to finding this man.’

‘His eyes did light up at the mention of Bastian Reese, yes’ her heart confessed, ‘but he loves his job, he loves the challenges of doing the impossible, like tracking down this elusive master thief But surely you noticed that as much as his eyes lit up at the mention of Bastian Resse, that they lit up one hundred times more and with an intensity unmatched, whenever he hapened to look at you.

While her head continued to quarrel with her heart, Brenda slipped off her shoes and ran a bath, foregoing bubbles and instead pouring in peach bathsalts.

Jax knocked on the bathroom door. “Brenda? I need to talk to you,” he said.

“Sure. I’ll be out in a little bit okay? I’m just taking a bath,” she said.

“Okay,” he said, turning to leave, and then he stopped. No, it wasn’t okay. If she couldn’t see how much he loved her after tonight, then she was never going to see it. Not even if he gave her all the time in the world. He loved her. He adored her. He would walk through fire for her and he wanted to tell her that. He also didn’t want them to (and quite frankly didn’t think he had the willpower to) spend one more night in separate beds in this house and he thought he could act on that now because he knew she loved him. She had said so and he had heard every word of it, and he couldn’t believe she would deny it if he told her he’d overheard her. She would probably be relieved that he knew and be overjoyed when he told her that he felt the same way.

“Actually, no, this can’t wait,” he said walking into the huge bathroom. The soft, pleasing scent of peach filled the air and Brenda stood in front of the mirror pulling the gold and silver ribbons from her hair and undoing the French braid so that her dark hair fell loose, settling alluringly about her shoulders. She was barefoot but still had on that sensational dress. She turned around and smiled at him when he entered, and her smile had the same pleasantly paralyzing effect on him that it had ever since he had met her. She was everything he ever wanted and the desire to take her into his arms to make slow, sweet love to her was turning him into a madman. He couldn’t even recall the last decent night’s sleep he had gotten. Oh yes, it was just the other night, when she had fallen asleep on the couch in front of the fire and he had taken her into his arms and subsequently fallen asleep too. The difference between sleeping with her and without her was mind boggling. It was like existing on two completely different planes; one that you wanted to escape from and one that you never wanted to leave.

He was half-dressed. He still had on his pants, but his jacket was off and his white shirt was open tormenting her with the mouthwatering vision of his bare, muscled chest. Secret yearnings she had been plagued with ever since meeting him, ran rampant through her once again and she had to shift her eyes away from him, somewhat embarrassed at the thought of him seeing the wildness of her desire.

Jax sat down on the edge of the champagne-colored marble tub, thinking there was no point in trying to build p to this, he should just come out and say ‘I love you. I want you. Forever.’

Before he could say one world, however, she spoke first and her voice was breathless as if she could barely contain the feelings inside her, her words tumbling out. “Jax, if you’re here because you have this wild, burning desire to make love to me and you feel like -- like -- you’ll just *die* if we’re not together like that soon” she said echoing her own feelings, “then I just want you to know that’s what I want too. I’m ready, Jax. I am. And I want you so much,” she blurted out. And he half expected her to jump on him next, a thought that was highly arousing indeed. His eyes burned a path over her body and to his shock her eyes were doing the very same to him.

“Come here,” Jax said. His voice made her feel as if she had just been audibly caressed. She hoped her damned knees wouldn’t shake the whole way over to him. She walked over to him wondering if she should be taking her dress off or let him do it? She stood in front of Jax, her heart racing, her desires a glorious tempest inside of her. He didn’t get up, but reached forward and placed his hands on her hips, pulling her closer to him. Her hands immediately went to his hair, her fingers sliding through the deep gold. He closed his eyes, and then she swore she saw some kind of a wickedly playful smile flash across his lips and realizing her error a second too late to back away from him, she screamed with laughter as he grabbed her and pulled her down into his lap as they both fell, fully clothed into the tub of warm, peach scented water. Water sloshed over the sides of the tub and Brenda heard Jax’s soft laughter mingling with her own

“You’ve ruined my dress,” Brenda gasped, splashing around in the water to wet him as much as possible in retaliation.

Jax shrugged. “I’ve ruined others,” he reminded her with a wicked grin. He cupped the sides of her face and kissed he passionately for many long minutes. Then he held her face gently and made her look at him. “Brenda, I heard what you said to Ariel at the Crystal Ball,” he told her. “You told her that I was the most important person in your life. You told her that you loved me,” he said, stroking her hair as he said the words reverently, as if they were worth more than anything on earth to him.

Brenda felt caught off guard and terrifyingly exposed emotionally, and she tried to think of a way to feel safe again and in control. “Oh, you heard that, huh? Well, I...” she stammered finding it difficult to lie about this. “You must heave heard her arguing with me then, right? So you know I...ummm... .I just said that for her benefit, you know. I just…” her voice trailed off as she struggled with what to say.

Jax was amazed and stunned. He had been so sure she would not deny it. But she was. She was denying it. And so what was he supposed to do now? He had come too far to let her go, to let this go. To let all of his dreams vanish on the wings of one very suspiciously unconvincing denial from her.

Over time I’ve been building my castle of love
Just for two, though you never knew you were my reason
I’ve gone much too far, for you now to say
That I’ve got to throw my castle away
Over dreams I have picked out a perfect come true
Though you never knew it was of you I’ve been dreaming
The sandman has come from too far away
For you to say come back some other day
And though you don’t believe that they do
They do come true
For did my dreams come true when I looked at you
And maybe too if you’d just believe
You too would be overjoyed, over love, over me

Brenda glanced down at the water, unable to continue the stupid lie and ready to recant and just admit her feelings and trust him. Jax took her face and forced their eyes to meet.

“Well, I love you, Brenda,” he said.

Her eyes filled with tears. Of what, he wondered. Shock? Why was she shocked? He didn’t understand this. What more could he have done to make it any more obvious that she was the most important thing in the world to him? That he loved her beyond all reason and could not even bloody well conceive of a life that did not include her in it?

Over hearts I had painfully turned every stone
And by mere chance I have found what I’ve searched for forever
I’ve come much too far for me now to find
The love that I sought can never be mine
And though you don’t believe that they do
Dreams do come true
For did my dreams come true when I looked at you
And maybe too if you’d just believe
You too would be overjoyed, over love, over me

“I love you,” he repeated in a low whisper as he felt the frantic racing of her heart against him and felt her hands gripping his arms as if to make sure that he was real. “And I thought that you loved me too. Tonight, I thought that,” he continued. A single tear slid down Brenda’s face. Jax wiped the tear away. “But I can’t speak for you, Brenda. And I can’t play these games anymore either,” he told her. “I can’t do this anymore; it’s…it’s going to make me crazy,” he murmured, lowering his head for a moment. And he felt her hand brush first against his wet chest and then softly, tenderly against his face. “So.... this has to be the moment for us. Right here, right now.” He glanced up at her again, his eyes very serious. “Tell me you love me, Brenda,” his eyes held hers in a steady gaze, “or tell me goodbye,” he whispered.
 

(The songs used were “The Riddle” and “Separate Ways” from The Scarlet Pimpernel album and “Overjoyed” by Stevie Wonder.)