Chapter 9. Knights in shining armor

Sarah clung to the man's wool topcoat as if her life depended on keeping contact with him. The dizzy foggy feeling was still with her. "You saved me."

He sighed, "Sarah, did you have anything to eat today?" He asked in a clinical tone.

"Toast." She replied keeping her eyes shut. "I think."

Prying himself free, he tipped her face up and commanded her. "Look at me." He studied her eyes, "I'm sure toast is not enough for a person." He nodded; seeing something that alarmed him; "Low blood sugar I'll wager." Thinking she was already upset enough, he smiled softly at her, wishing to comfort and calm her. "There's a tea room here, across the street. Let me treat you to tea."

Sarah saw that the bus had pulled away, and was now trundling down the road. She looked up at the man. "Okay." She answered him in an unsteady and cautious manner.

Mayfaire had seen her look at the bus; he wondered who was on the bus that Sarah had been with. Someone, he would wager, she should not be with, judging by her reactions. She was giving him guilty looks and behaving so unlike herself. He placed his arm about her and led her across the street when the traffic light changed. "Where were you going?"

"Hazelcrest, to buy a toy for my baby brother for Christmas," she said truthfully.

He motioned the waitress and they were seated, "The young lady and I would like Full Tea, if you please." He ordered as he unbuttoned his over coat. "I believe you'll like the Tea, it includes some lovely little finger sandwiches and some delicious tea cakes."Settling in, he watched her with care. "I was told they had a rather fine toy store in this mall right here," he challenged.

"They don't carry this toy," she shrugged, still speaking only the truth. "Only the shop in Hazelcrest has it. It's this big furry orange monster looking thing that has the sweetest face you ever saw."

"A sweet, orange, furry monster?" He raised his brow, and then smiled charmingly. "Well, I'll have to have a look at that creature for myself."

"Oh," Sarah blushed. "Do you have children?" It was the first personal question she'd thought to ask him.

He watched as the waitress rolled a teacart over, she began to place the items on their table. An exquisite three tiered crystal cake display rack, the scones on top, the sandwiches in the middle, and the cakes on the bottom. She placed butter, jams, crème fraise and clotted cream on the table as well. Carefully she poured the tea, and promptly departed. "No, I'm not married as yet." He said dropping a sugar cube in his cup. "I do, however, have a niece and a nephew."

Sarah shrugged out of her bulky overcoat and picked up her tea cup. She let the full bodied aroma of the Earl Grey fill her sensed, as the steam wafted over her skin. Placing her lips to the rim of the cup she allowed the amber liquid to warm her mouth before going down her throat and filled her with a sensation of security and wellbeing. "This is good."

"Yes," He said looking at her. He picked up a tea cake, "You've no idea how nice it is to be here in the States, where I can start with the cakes which are my personal favorites, and not have to worry about nasty looks or scandalizing the family honor." He joked lightly. "I'm afraid you missed your bus."

"There are more buses." She said wisely.

"Will you be taking the next one?" He asked.

Sarah looked at the man, then out the door at the road where she'd nearly fallen under the bus. "No, I've had enough buses for one day. In fact, I think I'll walk home."

"Nonsense," He said firmly. "I'll drive you, and deliver you home safely."

Sarah looked at him, her lips parted for a moment to protest. Something in the man's eyes prevented her from doing just that. "Alright," she looked down at her tea cup.

"Don't take a tea cake, Sarah. You should have one of the sandwiches first; the protein will do you good." He ordered her and when she looked up at him with defiance in her pretty green eyes, he set his resolve; "Doctor's orders." He was determined not to be swayed by those amazing orbs he was half tempted to rampage through.

Sarah smiled, snickered and picked up a raspberry tart. "You're a bully."

"I can be." He agreed taking the tart out of her fingers and replacing it with a Goat Cheese & Watercress Tea Sandwich, watching over her with focused and absorbed blue eyes of two distinct shades, deepening as he watched her. "Sometimes it's called for."

"I'll be good." She promised as she began to nibble the sandwich.

He mused. 'I've no doubt of that. I'll bet you'll be very good.'

Sarah ate another sandwich, this time trying a chicken curry sandwich. "This is wonderful."

He reached forward and wiped her lips with his napkin. "Slow down, no one is going to take it from you."

Sarah blushed at his touch. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He inclined his head. "Sarah."

When she'd finished her tea, he ushered her back across the street and toward a dark sleek Jag XJ12, vintage from the early 70's in Jag green. With 12 cylinders delivering over 1600 hooves of ponypower under the hood and plenty of Jaguar throaty purr instead of the rumble heard in so many American made cars. Sarah looked at Mayfaire, "That's your car?" Her voice squeaked with excitement. "It's so…" she tried to think of a word, but could only get a throaty growl out.

He snickered at her sweet naivety and innocence. "Were you expecting a white charger?" He unlocked the passenger door, opened it and motioned for her to get in. Looking about, he shook his head to rid it of the dark thoughts that had materialized there. He could easily abduct the child if that were his design. He moved gracefully around the car and slid into the driver's seat. "Buckle up," He ordered.

"Yes sir," she sighed, and quietly mouthed the word, 'bully'.

Mayfaire gunned the powerful engine and let the tires spin for a second to make a point. "This car has power, little girl, and it has to be carefully handled. I need to pay attention to the vehicle and the road. I don't want to have to worry about my passenger's safety as I drive."

"Fair enough," she demurred.

The man looked at her, "You really hate obeying, don't you?"

"Mine is a rebellious nature." She answered sassily, batting her lashes at him.

"You like living dangerously?" He asked smugly.

"It's the only way to fly." She giggled and looked away, unable to keep up the pretence of being as sophisticated as he.

He pursed his lips and turned his attention to the road; 'little vixen, you are going to be such trouble ahead. I can just see it now.' He thought to himself as he gunned the engine. "Which way will I go, right or left?" He asked.

"That road, then two miles down, take a left." Sarah said, recovering her composure.

He looked at her hand pointing the direction and smiled. "That road it is." He spun the car out onto the road. He smiled to himself as the girl gasped and laughed softly as he raced down the open roadway. "You like power, Sarah?" He gunned the engine again.

"Oh yeah."

He knew she was excited by the power of the vehicle, and the way she looked at him as he drove betrayed that she was also hot and bothered by the driver. 'Losing your head over a girl,' his inner voice said. For a moment he chose to ignore it. "Do you know how to control power, Sarah?" he asked in a low, practiced arousing growl.

Sarah felt her cheeks go very hot, and knew she was blushing. She felt warmth somewhere else, as well. Heat, ache and moisture welled between her legs, "Not yet… but someday." Closing her eyes, she imagined the man pulling the hot sleek car off the road. He pressed the button that kept her fastened into her seat. His gloved hands yanked her by the collar of her coat across the gearshift, and his mouth savagely sought to own hers. She opened her eye with a startled intake of breath. She rubbed her legs together, and looked out the window, afraid to look over at the man who was becoming the main subject of her aroused fantasies. As they neared her street she spoke in a shaky voice. "You can let me off here. That's my house there."

Mayfaire pulled his car in front of the Williams house, and looked at her with a dark look. "I don't let young ladies off a block away from their door. I see a young woman to the door, Sarah. I don't sneak around; I didn't think you did, either."

"I just meant." She stopped, caught; she knew lying would make it worse. "I'm sorry, you're right." He exited the car, and came around to open her door, then offered her his arm. His eyes dared her to defy him. Sarah placed her hand into his elbow crook, and accompanied him up to her front porch. As they neared, she could hear the painful wail of her brother's cries. "Oh, poor Toby," she looked at the man. "He's teething."

Karen opened the door, having seen the car pull up as she walked the crying child. "Sarah?" she looked from the girl to the man at her side. "Doctor Mayfaire, isn't it?" she shifted the weight of the bawling babe.

Sarah moved forward looking concerned. "Oh, poor little man, yelping just like a little goblin." She took the baby from Karen and began to rock him trying to soothe him. "Where's Daddy?"

Her stepmother looked frantic, "I sent him to the drugstore for more gum gel."

Karen turned to the man, he drew her aside. "Sarah had a," he paused and softened the blow, "dizzy spell at the mall. She was getting on a bus and nearly went under it."

Karen's face turned ashen. "Oh, thank God you were there! Thank you for bringing her home." She looked at her stepdaughter.

Mayfaire wondered if he did the right thing; the girl's eyes were dilated, and he was certain she'd been drugged. "I think she just needs to rest." He looked now at the screaming babe, "What are you using?"

"Over the counter," she handed him the empty bottle.

"Do you have any chamomile tea in the house?" He asked softly.

Karen was mystified, was the man actually inviting himself to tea?

"Are you kidding?" Sarah spoke up over her brother's squawks. "Karen has more tea than some of the tea shops in town!"

"A chamomile tea bag soaked in very warm water." He instructed the mother. When the woman moved toward the kitchen, he moved toward the girl and the baby. "Give him here. Go get a tea towel soaked in cold water." He ordered. Once the child was in his arms, he shoved the cold towel into his open mouth. "That's it laddie, bite down good and hard." He encouraged the child. When Karen returned with the tea bag in a cup, he lifted it out and shoved it into the boy's mouth, replacing the towel, and rubbed it on the gums. "There, you like that don't you?" The boy's cries became fewer and fewer, until he was quiet. Mayfaire smiled, "Like magic, isn't it?"

"Where did you learn to do that?" Karen asked, still not believing her eyes or her ears.

"Old family remedy," he said handing the quieted boy to his mother. "He should rest now," he looked at Karen. "So should you."

"We will," Karen thanked him and carried her son upstairs.

Sarah looked at them, "He hasn't been that quite in weeks."

Mayfaire placed his hands on her shoulders, as he too was looking up the stairs. "He'll be fine, now. The tooth is nearly through."

Sarah pivoted and looked at him, for a moment not sure what to do. "I don't know how to thank you."

Mayfaire's eyes darkened. 'Don't you?' He lowered his hands, removing them from the girl's shoulders and took a step back. "I'll see you at school on Monday, Sarah. I'll be giving my findings then." He said after a moment of awkward silence.

"Yes." She whispered. "I know."

He had not moved. He just stood there staring at the girl. The room began to dance about her, everything seemed out of focused. She blinked, in the moment of the blink she felt lips hungry on hers bruising her with their brut force, and then she blinked again and shook her head. He had not moved.

"You should rest, Sarah." He suggested. "You still look shaky."

She nodded, "Yes, I will."

Mayfaire reached up and placed one gloved hand to her face. "I should hate for anything to happen to you."

"Would you?" she asked placing a hand on his.

He smiled, "Indeed." He watched her mouth part and, calling on all his strength, pulled back and bid her goodbye. He went to the car, gunned the engine and drove off muttering. "She's just a girl, don't lose your head." He turned his car into the direction of the vacant building he'd just leased.

Arriving at the building, he parked in the lot and moved swiftly up the stairs to his new offices. Once inside, he let go of the pent up energies he'd been holding onto. Bracing himself on a wall with his back, he closed his eyes and breathed very slowly, very deliberately. That girl could get to him, and that could be trouble. Those big green eyes, and that luscious little mouth, he breathed deeply, thinking how close he'd come to sampling that mouth. That was something he could not afford to do. She was jail bait, as they said here in the States, tempting to be sure, but Jail Bait! Even if she did have the most delightful way of teasing and her use of wordplay was beckoning, she was underage and would be so for some time to come. He could not afford to have his license pulled just because he could not keep his pants zipped. There were other more suitably aged females to be had, and he would have to make do.

He pulled himself off the wall and began to pace. Sarah had very nearly been injured today. Someone had given her drugs and he was damn sure she had not taken them herself. It didn't fit with her personality profile. She liked being in control, and drugging one's self didn't give you that. So, someone had slipped her a 'mickey'. "Who would benefit from Sarah being unable to make good choices?" He wondered aloud as he paced the office space. He could thing of one person off hand. Meg. He wondered what it was the girl wanted from Sarah. What was it she'd said, that they were both more physically mature than the rest of their classmates? No that was not it; what was it? 'We both matured physically recently'Mayfaire stopped pacing as the words flooded his memory. 'We had been reading some histories of abduction, and bondage historically speaking… you know the Sabine…" she moved her hands trying to emphasize the point. "I just wanted to know what it felt like, and I trusted Sarah…' His eyes darkened. 'We went upstairs and started trying on clothes and fixing each other's hair, doing girl things… things no man would ever understand.' Meg gave the man a snide sideways look, one that said he was incapable of understanding the feminine mystique. He sat on the window sill and groaned; he had not really noticed her look before. Now, remembering it he could see it all so clearly. Meg was the predator and Sarah the prey.

The image of Meg faded and he again saw Sarah, young, fresh, virginal Sarah. 'You saved me,' she had said. Mayfaire was sure of one thing, and one thing only, he had to save her. Save her from Meg.