The moment Rhett walked into the dining room of the National he wondered if he'd made a mistake. The head waiter had prepared the best table in the house for the him. Located in the center of the room directly under a grand crystal chandelier, it allowed the best opportunity to see and be seen in the new high society. While the Butler's had been living in the hotel during the early months of their marriage they'd shared this table for meals that would last late into the evening. He would have been happy taking meals up with the children up in their rooms, but Scarlett would pout that her beautiful dresses went to waste just being seen by the family and servants. He would call her vain and spoiled but then give into her wishes.
As he looked at the table he could see them, sitting in a mostly empty room long after their after-dinner coffee had gone cold and talking. Scarlett would ask his advice in business matters, ignore his thoughts on her plans for their home, and keep him up on all the latest gossip. He would tell her outrageous stories, tales from his youth as well as complete fabrications of his imagination, until her eyelids would begin to droop with fatigue. Even then she'd swear she wasn't sleepy, the same way Wade and Ella would argue that they weren't tired even as they were falling under the sandman's spell.
He didn't allow himself to think about what would happen after that. How he'd walk her up to their suite, one arm securely around her waist, and then slowly remove her clothes. Too tired to put up her usual resistance against his overtures she would simply lean into his caresses and kisses. It was one of the few times that he could actually please her.
On their wedding night Rhett had been completely unprepared for Scarlett's behavior in the bedroom. He'd known that she hadn't had much enjoyment in her first two marriages and he had spent their engagement imagining her reaction as he introduced her to the delights of the flesh. He'd expected Scarlett to be shy and virginal, and he was prepared to slowly win her over. But she wasn't nervous, she was terrified. She jumped at his every touch and tensed anytime he moved his mouth away from the safety of her lips. After he had tried every trick he knew to try and please her she'd simply whispered, in a numb voice, "Please, just get this over with."
He'd acquiesced to her demands, as he always did.
"Mr. Butler? Is there a problem with the table?"
Rhett was pulled from his thoughts by the anxious waiter. Of course the man had no way to know what tonight really was. The staff probably saw this as Rhett taking his wife out for their first night out since the birth of a child. They seemed to think that romance was the point of this evening when, in reality, it was the last thing on his mind.
"Do you have anything... more discreet?" Rhett asked as he removed a folded bill from his pocket. "Maybe something away from the other patrons? Something where we won't be disturbed?"
The man's eyebrows rose inquisitively but he complied and shifted direction to a secluded spot in the corner of the room shadowed by two marble pillars. Rhett slipped the man the generous tip with the promise if he was able to make sure that the nearby tables were left empty.
A bottle of the finest wine was brought out before he could order it and as Rhett savored the vintage his eyes kept darting to the entrance. When she finally appeared, a vision in a champagne color gown that clung almost indecently to her body, still rounded in all the right places from her recent pregnancy. Her back was ramrod straight as she walked to his table, although he couldn't tell if that was on account of her nervousness or an overly tight corset.
"I'm glad you decided to come."
Scarlett narrowed her eyes as he filled her wine glass. "It isn't as if you gave me much of a choice."
"Okay. If that's the story you want to tell yourself I'll play along. I've no problem playing the part of the villain, if that's what you wish."
"Since when have you given a damn about my wishes," Scarlett snapped. "All you care about is keeping me as some brood mare so you can have a new brat to make a fool of yourself over every year."
He grabbed her wrist across the table. From across the room it seemed to be a passionate embrace, the happy couple holding hands over a meal. But his grip was not tender or caring. He didn't care if he hurt her, in fact he almost hoped he did.
"Do not ever refer to my daughter as a brat. In fact, I think things would go better this evening if you took care not to mention the children at all."
"Are you sure? I didn't know that you spoke about anything else these days."
As quickly as he'd grabbed her he released his hold. With a gambler's eye he watched her expression surprised by the amount of jealousy she was showing on the topic of Bonnie. But that didn't make sense. The only person she was ever jealous of was Melanie Wilkes, and that was because that good woman had the attention of Scarlett's true love. Why she'd have the same feelings towards Bonnie...
He mused over this particular puzzle as they ate a silent meal. Scarlett only picked at her food, even going so far as to decline any dessert.
"Is your vanity finally overcoming your gluttony?" Rhett asked after the plates were cleared.
"I'm just not very hungry, especially when I'm not sure if the meal is going to be added to my debt."
He lit a cigar, taking time in every action as he debated his next move. Once this was done there would be no undoing it. By cementing their marriage as nothing more than a business arrangement he was closing off the possibility of it ever becoming anything more. His heart ached at the thought of giving up on the long held dream to make her love him. But even more powerful than the stirrings of his heart was the thought in his darkest mind. Taking Scarlett the way he'd always wanted to, with no concern of trying to make her comfortable. He wouldn't be waylaid by her pleas for him to just be done with it. Instead, he could show her all of the passion he had kept hidden out of fear of being weak.
"Before I lay out my terms," he stalled, "Was there anything you wanted to bring to the negotiations?"
Over dinner she just kept thinking about how helpless she was. Rhett could divorce her if she denied him his marital rights. Or he could stay with her and make her life a living hell. She was tired of fighting losing battles against Rhett Butler. "No," Scarlett said quietly. "It isn't as if I have much of a bargaining position. This really is all in your hands."
Rhett reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. "I trust you remember how to find your way to the Honeymoon Suite?" She just nodded passively. "I want you to change into the nightgown that is on the bed and then take a seat at the vanity. When I come in I want you to do everything I ask, no questions and no comments. Do you understand?"
Scarlett took the key and nodded. As she walked upstairs she felt a peace descend over her body. For as long as she could remember she'd been fighting. First it had been fighting for Ashley, and then fighting to stay alive, and now fighting to best Rhett Butler.
Her mind flashed to the time during the war when Ashley had been taken prisoner by the Yankees. She remembered being so annoyed with him for clinging to his honor instead of taking the easy way out and simply giving the Yankees what they wanted. She'd even told Rhett that, in the same situation, she would have gladly feigned defeat to have freedom. Wasn't that what she was doing? Just giving in to the wishes of a clearly superior enemy?