She was lost in her thoughts for seconds that seemed like hours. It was Prissy's gasp that made her look up. She didn't bother blinking back the tears. She turned her back and silently left Prissy to clean up the million pieces of glass from the floor.
Her mouth was dry, pierced tightly. What had she done wrong? The injustice of the whole situation made her eye palpitate. She felt like a blood vessel in her head would burst.

By the time she reached the second story, her face was wet with tears and her body shaking. From the triumphant emotion she had felt at the beginning of the afternoon, the utter joy at his arrival, to a pit of fury and self-pity. She sat on the edge of
her bed, their bed. The room seemed alien to her for a minute. The sight of a picture they took just before returning from Charleston brought her tears to an end. There they were, both with radiant eyes. That morning he had told her that he always
planned on marrying her if she would only show him some indication that she was not indifferent to him.

Prissy entered and automatically she rose to let her aid her undress. After a second or so she turned "Prissy, I'm fine. I'll stay dressed for a while."

In a gesture too familiar with her from Mammy, she patted her on the shoulder. Prissy had no idea what caused the ruckus but she knew her mistress's hot temper. Having been absent the entire afternoon from the house she was unaware of Rhett's return and
innocently said –

"Don'tu worry Ms. Scarlett. You Husband be sure back in a few days from up North and he be with ya in no time"

At that Scarlett's flood of tears emerged once again and she whispered –

"He's back."

Prissy looked at her and lowered her eyes for a second –

"My Ma always has her quarrels with Pork, you know she's thrown ma real pa out the door years back, cause he hit her too hard, don't ya know dat? Well nothin' can be dat bad, can it?" After a second she paled, despite her dark complexion, "He'd knows
about Ms. Belle being…"

"No. And please, don't talk of it."

"Ya knows I won't" answered Prissy with insult.

Scarlett held back her tears and patted Prissy on her arm "I know, Prissy darling."

"Don't ya Prissy darling me, now you go on down ta kitchen with me and we put some cucumbers on those puffy eyes of yours, and maybe some tea, if they still red. Ma says no man should know he made his girl sad. Makes'em too cocky."

A while later she dismissed Prissy, telling her she'd manage on her own.

Thoughts were racing in her head. He said he won't be long. What is not long for a man who explicitly said he won't be listening to his wife while he's in a sporting house? The thought of their argument was like a thunder in the back of her mind. She
thought of Belle. Up till three nights ago she hated and despised that woman. The story Belle told her of her pregnancy and reasons for her being a whore made her shiver. Would she have gone that far for her Wade? The stern look of gratitude when
she left in the early afternoon back home. A picture of her husband came to her mind. How she missed him! Yet, the thought of him receiving money from that place, even if he owned the land, gave her nausea "I won't think about this now, if I do, I'll
go crazy ' she thought 'But I can't not think about it! Oh why is it right for a husband to be the lord of house?' For the first time she thought it would have been better to be a lover and not a wife. Though the good Lord must not like that, she
thought of her vow to be obedient.

Once again she started undressing when a particular persistent string got tangled, she pulled impatiently and heard the sound of the cloth tear. She cursed quietly damning her vow of obedience matrimony and all men.

"Darling, no need to talk in such a manner" the familiar amused tone stung her but before she knew it he was gently unfastening her from the suffocating cages "I would have loved for you to consider being my lover, but for the first time I think that
your insistence on the church was rather beneficial".

Her mind started in turmoil. He'd been gone less than an hour. Silently she thanked Prissy for making her eyes look relatively white again and raised her chin at the thought. He noticed the change in her posture, realizing he would indeed have to think
of a way to sooth her feathers.

She let him help her without a word, refraining from answering his tease. Once done, she gathered her nightgown from under the pillow and without a single look, she had gone behind the wooden screen that so far served as an ornament; 'see if you're so
entertained now, Rhett Butler', she thought as her lips curved involuntarily upwards.

She didn't see his careful gaze, nor did she notice his tight fists for she left the screen, still avoiding his eyes and lowered the lights without asking his permission.

"I suppose I deserve that. Would you like me to undress behind the screen too?"

She did not answer.

"I'll take that as a no, though I would like to know how long you intend not to speak with me."

She kept still, though she wanted to yell at him, scream from the top of her lunges till she grew hoarse or he deaf, perhaps both.

"You know, this situation has some merits, I get to decide what you want and you can't complain for mistaking in the interpretation of your intensions, though I promise that if you talk I'll try to consider whatever you ask."

That was the last straw, and rising from the bed with flushed cheeks she railed at him "I don't believe you. You're nothing but a cad. How dare you act as if you consider my wishes and emotions when you just, well you are just like all the other married
men. You talk of not caring about propriety but God forbid if your wife has a mind of her own or a desire that does not amount to cloths or flowers" She pilling pillows in the middle of the bed.

All the humor was lost in his tone despite the comical picture she made with the barricade of pillows she was holding, when he told her "I'm sorry for this evening. I upset you while you deserved more admiration and affection than I can ever express to
you."

"Oh." Was he really apologizing? Disarmed, the eyes she so carefully tried to dry and ease, began shedding new tears.

He entered their bed "May I move these pillows and hold my wife? Tell her how I missed her? How I love her?"

She closed her eyes and made no move to hold the pillow tower, letting him shove it behind them. His body radiated the comforting warmth and smells that she craved for during the past eight weeks. She inhaled him lengthily with her eyes closed, her mouth
still shut.

"I missed you" he murmured as he inhaled her. She was not responding, "Scarlett, won't you talk to me?"

"Of what, Rhett? You said that I couldn't dictate anything. So, I am under the impression that despite my feelings about the matter, we will still be having money earned from the work, if you can call it that, of those poor girls."

He breathed deeply –

"A year ago I would have expected you to hate the girls. You changed."

She swallowed and forced her eyes to stop crying - "Rhett, the entire old guard is judging me for loving you. If they knew just how much I loved you, even before you made me legally yours to love, they would have taken it further to shunning Wade and
any child that we'll be having. I can't judge those girls. I won't. I don't care what you think but I know how dreadful it is to let a man you're wed to enter your body when there is no love in the matter, let alone attraction. I can't bear the thought
of…" She stopped breathing.

"Honey, I gave Belle the place, well, she never agreed to receive support, as a friend. We are that. Years. She's the one deciding how much rent or profit I get" He could feel her tense.

"Profit? The thought that the money you gave me for Tara, for us may have come from that is revolting. Don't misunderstand, I'm grateful, you put food on our table, and I would have taken it, but…"

He was beginning to lose patience "Look, I can't sell it to her, or give it to her, because it's part of a big lot that can't be divided. Would you like me to tell her she's got a month to find a new place?"

It took her a second but he heard her – "No."

She turned her back to him, still within his embrace.

He decided to risk his luck – "Why? Why all the sudden kindness to Belle? Don't tell me that it's for Robert's sake."

Dear God, here he goes, she thought, thank Goodness for the dark, she decided to attack -

"I don't need to answer that question. You are the one who has a business with a whore, not me. Would you like me to be mean and shout at you that you should kick her out? Would you kick her out? You say she is your friend. Would you kick your friend
and the mother of your ward out the door to please me? If you're half the man you claim to be, you'd send me to Halifax singing before you do any of that."

"You haven't answered my question, but you are right. I wouldn't, and I knew you wouldn't ask for it. The question is why."

I will not answer that, she thought, "If I choose not to be extra mean, it's nothing to you. It's still revolting." To emphasize she left his arms and rolled to her side.

"You say it's revolting. Scarlett, am I revolting to you now?"

'Lord in Heaven, please help me. How can I get away with this?' desperately she moved back to his arms. He did not move, nor did he hug her this time.

"Don't play with me, Scarlett." He sounded detached.

"You can never be revolting to me. You ought to have realized that," she decided to let him know part of the truth – "I don't know why I pity her so. Perhaps it's because I see her son. I admire the fact that she'd do anything for her son, Perhaps it's
because of you. I loath the fact that you have a whore friend, I know that you had women before me…" She laughed unpleasantly "can I help the fact that I dislike that thought? Seeing how old Robert is hints that she's been there while I was still
breaking Sue's dolls, wasn't she? He would have been the same age as one of the stillborn that my mother had. She had three, you know? But I just don't want us using money that was paid to those girls, even to her for, well – you know. Tell me, you'd
know the answer, do they have to take old men? Young boys like Charlie with no, well, no ability? Married men? Ugly ones?"

"Stop it." His voice was firm –

"Well, as for your other question, you are anything but revolting." After a silence she whispered "I used to cross the street to the other side when I saw her, during the war, even a month ago, I would have – had I seen her. Now I feel ashamed."

"You're not embarrassed that ladies cross the street on your account?"

"SHE knows that? She shouldn't have told you that."

"Yes, Belle knows just about anything that happens in this city. Men are much more talkative then women give them credit for, especially when drunk or loose. Are you?"

"Embarrassed? No. I never did anything to any of them. Back in Clayton County I took all the girl's beaus, as a sport, just because I could." They both started laughing –

"I remember you the first time I saw you, what a picture you made!"

"That's beside the point," she laughed, happy that he wasn't so stern anymore –"here, I did nothing wrong to any of them, and yet they judge me. Even during the war, the fact that I chose to be seen with you. But I don't want to think of that now. To
be frank, Rhett? I miss some of the work I had in Tara. I'm bored."

"Oh? I suppose I can interest you with some fine activities."

"You know perfectly well that's not what I meant. Besides, I'm still mad at you."

"And here I thought I was saved from further groveling." He sighed.

"You call what you did in the past hour groveling?" She couldn't hold back anymore "I broke a huge ashtray on your account! And you think you groveled? You are despicable." She managed to say it with some indignation –

He kept roaring with laughter.

"Besides, we haven't settled the matter of that place, yet." She said quietly. She wasn't going to give up.

Breathing deeply he brought her closer to his chest – "Could we not settle it tonight?"

Her answer was a soft kiss on his lips. Yet to his surprise she rolled again, and cuddled with her back to him – "Sleep on it my love."

"Do I get another good-night kiss, at least?" his voice did not suppress the laughter.

Wasn't he ever going to be serious? She was all resolved at keeping her poise, so she turned back to give him another peck when he rolled her as if she were a child on top of him. "Now, where is my kiss?" he whispered while his warm hands roamed under
the light cloth of her night attire.

She shivered, "You're not being fair. You can't just do that while I'm trying to …" she was again at a loss of words.

"Trying what? Pray tell me Mrs. Butler." His eyes were dancing with mirth.

She knew he was teasing her, he knew exactly what she was trying to do, and her body betrayed her, reacting to his hands like a thirst man drinking water for his life. Her head was still heavy from her tears, 'I won't think about it now, I'll think about
it tomorrow' she decided and bent to kiss her husband.

"Lord, how I missed your taste" he whispered as he rolled her under him kissing her salty eyelids and following the tracks that her last tears had left. She didn't know if it was the fact that for once she was somewhat reserved, but he went out of his
way to bring her to pleasure. At the climax of their lovemaking she caressed his face gently, opening her eyes thus causing him to lose all restraint for the first time.

He was still breathing heavily when he moved to his side of the bed, taking her gently in his arms –

"I'm sorry" he said.

"Hush, I missed you like crazy," giggling she added "I missed this like crazy too."

****Milady****

Scarlett never could resist Rhett physically once he had decided to kiss her. Even in Rough and Ready in the book, she answered his advances with passion. I can't imagine her not yielding if Rhett wasn't such a stubborn fool most of their marriage. As always I'm refraining from being too graphic, though I really enjoy scenes written by others, I find it to restraining for one's imagination to get down to the details. Thank you all those who R&R