Disclaimer: Not mine no matter how much I might wish it…

A/N: My humble offering, because there is something dynamic and beautiful between these two...she is his angel, and he, her hope.


"I could have loved a man like you."

~ Ninon De Larroque


At first glance she believes him a mirage, for truly she has glimpsed his face in every crowd since they parted. Hoping he would come, knowing he could not.

She turns fully, pressing back against the cool stone of the bridge for strength, bracing as the vision continues to draw nearer.

His face is much as she remembered. His eyes deep and soulful, a small smile pulling at his mouth. He pauses a few steps away, his eyes searching hers, his smile growing wider. There is a lightness to him…his cloak of melancholy gone.

His voice murmurs her name as if it were a prayer.

Her knees grow weak as reality sinks in. He is no mirage. Tears flood her eyes, a few slipping free. He steps closer, and his hand cradles her face, his thumb brushing the tears aside with a gentleness that makes them flow all the more. She closes her eyes in an effort to clear them, pressing her face deeper into his hand, her own rising to wrap around his.

"I dreamt that you would find me."

Her words are but a whisper. He draws nearer still, and she feels the heat from his body, his breath upon her face. She opens her eyes, and what she sees in his leaves her breathless.

Love

Desire

Hope

"Forgive my delay."

She laughs, her heart free and light, and wraps her fist his tunic, closing the distance between them. His lips are as soft and gentle as she remembers…in her thoughts, and her dreams. But this is better than a dream, or a memory. So much so. His arms pull her closer, securely but not trapping. Her lips part beneath his and his answer sweeps all thought from her mind.

An eternity…in a moment.

He presses his forehead against hers as they part, lingering…unwilling to break the spell. His breath mingles with hers, his words soft against her lips…lighting her heart.

"I have nothing to offer you but my honor, and all that I am. My every breath is yours…to my last."

She smiles, feeling no fear…only freedom.

For this is the man that she loves.

"Perhaps we are the marrying kind after all."