Chapter 2

February 1920…

James remembered the moment he stepped into the grande ballroom at the Astoria Hotel that night.

" That's him. James Patrick March, the one with all the new money...oil they say" James heard the people around him whispering about him as he walked the room a flute of champagne in his hand, as always, looking flawless in his tuxedo each whisper invigorating. Every eye seemed to be on him then, James didn't need to ask to know why. He was new money.

" I wonder how he managed it being as young as he is?" whispered a woman as he passed making James glance at her before smiling, he wouldn't grace her with an answer, for her knew the truth, hard work, he had done it with a lot of hard work, many sacrifices, all of which had paid off.

James didn't envy them their money passed from generation to generation. He wasn't ashamed of the way he'd worked his way up, but more proud instead. For he understood what it was to struggle, it made him appreciate what he had all the more, but these people couldn't say the same. They had never worked a day in their lives, but instead always had everything handed to them. No, James was proud of his hard fought for fortune, and he didn't care what anyone else thought about it. James was standing against the bar lost in these thoughts when he spotted her from across the room. She was on the arm of another man, but she looked bored to death by him as she stood there a mere ornament. It was clear she didn't appreciate this status as she let her eyes stray across the room idly. James couldn't remember having seen such beauty in all his days. She stood like a goddess, every eye on her even as they weren't, her body encased in black and silver as her whole body seemed to shine like fresh spun gold. James was in a trance over her, so much so that suddenly no one else in the room mattered. Until suddenly he looked up into her face to find she was looking right at him. It took him aback. She seemed to be giving him a once over until finally her eyes met his and she turned fully to face him. With a hand still on her gentleman's arm, she flashed him a fleeting smile that made something inside him flutter. It was gone though before he had the chance to savior it, her hand raising to give him an equally fleeting wave before she turned away from him altogether. James wasn't deterred though. Because there was something about her, something that he couldn't shake. The fact that she was with another man didn't matter, James would have her, woo her, make her fall as deeply in love with him as he was already falling for her. Because he found no one had ever intrigued him quite so much.

" Who is that woman?" whispered James to no one in particular. The people all around heard him though and a few laughed while some only shook their heads. For a moment, James let his temper rise prepared to show his contempt, but he stopped himself. He watched them all walk away until standing alone at the bar, he ordered a drink, downing it before ordering another. The barkeep was looking at him as he ordered his third.

" The woman you mentioned sir, that's Ms. Bastet, sir. She comes to a lot of these parties" whispered the barkeep his voice low so only the two could hear. As he spoke the man wouldn't look at him, but James paid that no mind. He only leaned closer wanting to know all there was to know about this beautiful Ms. Bastet. The man didn't disappoint him in that.

James raised his eyes to look at the man before sliding a hundred across the bar.

" What else can you tell me?" said James watching as the man pocketed the bill.

" Truthfully, sir, there isn't much to tell you. Her name is Joanna Bastet, she comes to many of these parties, but no one knows much about her. They say she has more money then God, all family money though no one knows quite how her family made their fortune. Some say diamonds, others more sinister things, but no can know because she's the only one to ask. Supposedly her family died when she was a child of an illness. There's a lot of mystery surrounding her. The only sure thing we know is at every party she has a different escort, never the same one twice either" the man told him it all in a hurried whisper. James held on to his every word and the more he told the more intrigued he became. James found her history made him fall all the more in love with her. He wanted her, promised himself he would have her. He just didn't know how he would snag her as he watched the man walk away as another man called for a drink. James didn't say anything as he did. He only turned, his drink in his hand, and he searched for her with his eyes. He spotted her immediately, her in all her beautiful radiant glory, and he smiled as he sipped his drink. Her gentleman had disappeared, she was alone now though she looked content with that as she rose, leaving the ballroom with a fluid elegance he'd yet to see in any other woman.

When he started to follow her, James' legs seemed to move on their own until he found her.

" The light doesn't do her justice" thought James when he found her, his eyes on her as she stood leaning out on the balcony to look over the city, her whole body encased in dull moonlight, smoke billowing from the cigarette between her gloved fingers. She wore a dress of shining silver that sparkled in that same light, the flares of black accents meshing perfectly with the fabric. He could see the pale pink of her legs as they peeked through the slit up the side. They were long slender legs, James couldn't help looking at them with hunger in his eyes, and for a moment he just wanted to go to her, press her into the wall, wrap those legs around his waist, and take her. There would be time for that though as he watched her still wanting to make her his all the more. James couldn't help thinking that he had never met a woman who looked so elegant before. Her blond hair was almost white in the moonlight. She had it pinned with small diamond accents atop her head. She was a picture of a queen and James could picture it still. She would be the queen to his king.

" She will be mine" James let the thought pass as he pictured all the delicious things he could do to her, his body tight against hers, his lips leaving their mark along her neck, everywhere the pearl choker she wore failed to cover, the black gloves that ran up to her elbow covering her skin as she held him to her, but as quickly as that vision filled his mind, he was drawn away when she spied him looking at her.

James had been so busy looking at her that he hadn't noticed when she caught him doing so.

" Everybody stares" said Joanna, laughing, a smile showing on her perfect red lips, her black shadowed eyes fluttering in her amusement. At first, James wasn't sure if she was laughing at him, but then as quickly as she'd started, she stopped. She simply watched him then and James briefly wondering what she was thinking. Her eyes revealed nothing though as she turned leaning against the balcony with her eyes still watching him closely. After a moment, James realized she wasn't just summing him up, but trying to decide if she could trust him. He wasn't sure when, but when she decided she could, she smiled, and raising her hand, she crooked a finger at him. James didn't move though as he simply stood there still completely entranced by her until coming to his senses, he mentally shook himself. He came to her side suddenly realizing that his drink was still in his hand. He set it on the balcony suddenly unable to care if it should slip into the night as he looked into her eyes. After another moment, she looked away with a brilliant smile, and she breathed in the cold night air. She braced her hands on the railing then as she looked out over the city. He realized then that she was letting her guard down, becoming at ease with him at her side, and it gave him the courage to step closer to her.

" You're James March, the new money everyone can't stop talking about" whispered Joanna not looking at him as she did, but keeping her eyes away, letting them sweep across the lights of the city.

" Yes well, it would seem being self made isn't as revered as I had hoped as you well know" said James the disdain in his voice drawing her eyes to him. She threw her cigarette over the edge as she leaned closer, so much so that he could smell the uplifting scent that was her perfume.

" You shouldn't put so much stock into what they think. They're nothing, but a bunch of snobs who never had to take care of themselves. Personally, I don't think it matters, old money or new. It's all money, the only difference is some earned it, other didn't. What none of those snobby igortist blue bloods fail to understand is they were once just like you. Generations ago, their grandfather, great grandfather and so on, they built a fortune the hard way, and were that generations new money. None of it just appeared for them to take for granted, but no one stops to consider that" Joanna said it with the same disdain he had in his voice before. She looked him right in the eye as she said it and suddenly, James knew for sure, he was in love with her. It was like she had read his mind. No, it was more then that; it was like they were of the same mind. It fueled the fire he had inside to make her his. As he looked at her then, James couldn't deny he felt a type of connection to her.

" She is a jewel like no other" thought James in that moment gazing into her eyes finding a wisdom that people rarely saw in women of her age.

" We are of one mind, Ms. Bastet" whispered James finally bringing her hand to let his lips ghost over it.

" It would appear we are, Mr. March, and my name is Joanna. I would like it very much if you'd use it" said Joanna with a smile. James smiled in return then a suddenly warmth filling them both as they instinctively moved closed in the cold February breeze. Neither of them noticed it though as lost as they were in each other. Neither of it said it out loud, but they saw something in the other. A kinship, an understand that they had failed to find in anyone else around them, but again neither of them said it out loud. Even as neither of them could deny what they were feeling.

" Joanna, please, call me James. I don't think we need the formalities" whispered James both their eyes flying to the sky as it started to snow. Joanna smiled as the snow floated all around her.

James found it endearing as he watched her take joy in the small flaky frosts that floated in the air. They landed in her hair, but he didn't touch them and neither did she. They looked right there, sitting in the white blond strandes, and as he looked at her, he knew if he had dared rid her of them that she wouldn't have let him. She wanted them there. It was like the snow was part of who she was in that moment and she wouldn't let anyone part her from it. Her smile never left her face then as she watched the snow as it began to cover not just her, but the city down below. After a moment, she brought a hand to catch the small flakes. Some melted into the fabric of her gloves while others stayed to settled atop the fabric, the white contrasting beautifully against the black. They collected there until her hand was covered in white only then did she blow them away, laughing as they floated away in the night air.

" I love snow. It covers the city in such beauty and just freezes it so it's almost like it could stay that way forever" exclaimed Joanna a brilliant joy radiating off her as he watched her take her joy from it, the sight only making him love her more.

" If you'll allow me, I'll escort you back inside. I'd hate for you to catch a chill" James said it on a breath her eyes finding his then a happy glint within them. He saw in them much to his pleasure that she didn't want him to go. That she wanted him to stay with her and play in the snow. James quickly found that he didn't mind. As long as she was with him, he could suddenly imagine doing anything.

" Don't go yet. You should learn to embrace the snow...after all, who knows when you'll see it again. I mean, just look at it. It's the most beautiful sight I've ever seen" exclaimed Joanna on a laugh her eyes moving away from his to drift over the city as the snow started to cover it. James couldn't agree with her in that moment though, for as he looked at her, he knew one thing. She was, in that very moment, the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. So, he stayed there with her, merely enjoying her joy even as he didn't altogether understand her fascination with the natural white ice. He didn't think he needed to though. When he saw her joy, the way her eyes glowed in her amusement, it was enough. James had always lived solely for his own happiness until now, but suddenly, he found he wanted to live for hers as well. He found he would do anything to ensure her happiness even stand in the cold of New York City and get covered in snow with her. When he didn't go back inside without her, she seemed surprised, but pleased.

" I like you, James, anyone else would have left me out here, but you stayed. No one ever stays" whispered Joanna suddenly smiling in a way that warmed him greatly her hand suddenly coming to touch his cheek, but after a moment she moved it, placing it in the crook of his arm as if proclaiming she was with him now though the actual words never actually left her lips.

" I think I'm ready to go back in" whispered Joanna leaning close to the warmth of his body as he escorted her back into the ballroom. When they were inside, she led him to the center of the dance floor, and placing his hand at her waist, she asked him to dance with her with her eyes. She was his for the rest of the night and would remain his for the rest of eternity.