Just why had he kissed her so recklessly in the garden? 'I was momentarily unstable, and the combination of my attraction and of my grief overwhelmed me in a moment of poor judgment,' he told himself. Yet even as he did, he failed to console himself with the knowledge.

A week had passed since the incident in the garden. Rene had avoided him like the plague and refused to speak to him for any reason. Three days ago, Darien found the disc George left in an envelope slipped under the door. Its contents brought back a torrent of memories buried for the past 20 years.

He had been no older than 5 years old when his father first spoke to him about "the B" yet as he had never seen it in writing, it was not clear if his father meant literally a bee or the letter itself. Either way, it was an important inheritance that he did not want to give up. After listening to the entire message, he was incensed that his father would include Rene in it. This was his birthright, and the thought it being taken away by a gold-digger's daughter did not sit well with him.

It was almost like yesterday when he was walking with his father that George had first told his son the story…

"Darien, one day when you'll be older, I will give to you the Brady family heirloom," George said as he carried young Darien on his shoulders as they moved from each oil painting.

"What's an heirloom?" Darien asked somewhat unsettled by the whimsical hitch in his father's deep voice.

"It's something that every generation of Brady's has and values."

"But what is it, Dad?" Darien asked seriously. Even at a young age, he had no patience for roundabout words and answers.

George's booming laughter broke out as he smiled indulgently at his son.

"When you grow up, and you have earned the heirloom, I will give it to you."

"So it's a job, like yours?" Darien answered.

"Kind of, but there is a story…"

"Tell me the story," Darien had demanded at his chuckling father.

"A few weeks after my fifth birthday, your grandpa told me about the B just like I'm telling you now. He said that I wouldn't be able to get it until I was ready to share it with someone special. When I met your mother many years ago, I had always wondered who he had meant… Soon after, your mother and I found it together, and it's made us very happy. One day you will share it with someone you love too," George said.

"Like my best friend?" Darien asked wide-eyed.

"Yes, she'll be your best friend and more…" George laughed at Darien's wrinkled nose.

"Eww, I'm not sharing it with a girl!" The little boy protested with a look of horror on his face.

"Don't be so sure, son. It is very special. It has belonged in the family for many centuries," George said solemnly.

"How long are centuries?" Darien's small hand held his father's large one firmly as they continued on their walk.

"A long, long time, and I hope it will for even longer… Now your mother said she's made some cookies. You want some, pal?"

"Yeah! Let's go, dad!" Pulling his father along, Darien ran along, forgetting about the B and what it meant for his future.

Darien downed the amber liquid in his decanter with a furious snap of his head. His father left nothing but a series of nonsensical rhymes and riddles as the instructions. Bitterly he wondered if his father shared the B with Irene after his mother's death.

Filling up his glass again, he continued downing the bourbon with relish. His thoughts drifted through the adjoining door between his and Rene's room. What would happen if she was creeping into his room right now wearing nothing more than the silky skin he had only began to explore under the willow. Groaning with the thought, he stumbled towards the bathroom. The water was pounding within, and he swore when he saw that the door was locked.

Stumbling back towards his bed, he collapsed in a heap. What was this attraction surrounding her? Sure he hadn't been as active as he had back in the city, but he hadn't needed a woman as much as he had now. Letting a groan of frustration and need rack through his body he began to discard the slacks and t-shirt he was wearing. His chest rose sharply as he felt his body burning. What was wrong with him? Instead of answers, only bursts of fantasies emerged before his eyes… his large hands roaming over tan skin and taunt muscles. A cascade of hair snared within his hands and her hands exploring him with just as much hunger. Something wasn't right, his mind shouted, but his body was too caught in the sexual frustration to notice. He groaned again when he almost felt her mouth on him, trapping him in a wave of desire.

His eyes shut as his body hungered and ached, and when he wanted to scream in anguish at the torture she making him endure, his eyes snapped open at the feeling of a warm hand on his brow.

She stood there with her mouth moving and her eyes wide and worried, but he could only focus on the luscious pout of her rosebud lips begging for his kiss. With a growl escaping the back of his throat, his arm twisted suddenly against her towel-clad waist and pulled her down to him before covering her cry of shock with his mouth.

The murmur of surprise changed to a small moan as his tongue shot into her mouth. While one hand held her to him by a firm grip on her wet hair, the other one began to delve beneath the daffodil yellow towel.

Slowly he felt her soften against him as her tongue stroked his with equal ardor and need. Her towel hung askew against her moist skin and within seconds, he had pulled it off of her.

A low groan rumbled in his chest as he indulgently perused the glow of her skin in the moonlight. The graceful curve of her back and lower… with a groan he pulled her to him again for another drugging kiss. This time she teased him by running her small hands over his overheated skin before sinking them in his thick hair and slowly massaging his scalp.

Reluctantly breaking from the kiss, he planted kisses along her jaw, leading the way to her earlobe.

"Darien," she moaned when he sucked on her earlobe in between breathy whispers meant only for the ears of a lover.

Faintly the series of events that landed her into her current position began to piece themselves together even as her hands sank further down his hard chest and abs.

She had barely stepped out the shower when a low and almost painful sound alerted her from her silent reverie. She knocked on Darien's door half-annoyed and half-concerned. When he groaned again in an unintentional answer, she opened the door only to find him writhing on the bed in a feverish state. His muscular body gleaming with sweat as his limbs tangled in the sheets. She blushed…if she hadn't known better, she would've thought him to be in bed with someone else.

Making her way cautiously to the bed while calling out his name to try and wake him, she started feeling the effect on her as well. He was utterly naked although the lower half of his anatomy was mostly tangled up by the satin sheets.

"Darien, wake up! I think you have a fever. What happened?" She asked him while putting a hand to his hot forehead. When his eyes snapped open, she repeated her questions again, but when he pulled her down to him, all coherent thoughts fled her mind and she could only sink into the fire.

Faintly she realized that she was pressed against him with nothing between their bodies, but it was the realization that she loved it that drenched her with cold reality. Breaking away from him and pushing away the hand at the back of her thigh, she fought to control the passion consuming them both.

"What are we doing? We can't do this!" She hissed.

As if the cloud of lust in Darien's azure eyes somewhat lifted, he looked at her before stumbling out of the bed. In his haste to distance himself from her, he left the sheet on the bed leaving him naked and aroused.

"What are you doing in here if that wasn't what you wanted?" He sneered as he averted his eyes from the tempting sight that she made. Hair mussed and shining against her smooth skin, she perched on the bed with the sheet covering her up but leaving too much for the imagination.

"Well what was I supposed to do when I hear you screaming down the house? I saw that you were feverish and I was just making sure you were okay!" She retorted as she refused to look at him. She had felt him moments ago, but the picture of his magnificent body standing in such a proud and confident manner made her even hungrier for him.

"I'm sorry I had worried you. I wasn't feeling well," he said somewhat more casually as he strutted to the closet to pull on a silk robe.

"Are you alright now?"

Letting out a chuckle in light of her apparent naïve question and his own pent-up frustration, he replied a simple, "I don't think so."

"So what's wrong with you?" She asked making the temporary mistake of looking at him. The robe hid nothing of his apparently virile body.

Blushing madly again, she resorted to anger. "We're practically related. Isn't this kind of incestuous?"

"There's no blood relation and barely any friendship. Besides, we both want this," he said as he unintentionally approached the bed.

"No, you're wrong. I don't want to get jumped by a stubborn, spoiled brat like you," she spat as she mustered all her hatred against him.

Darien's eyes narrowed as he pinned her swiftly against the bed with a sweeping motion. Squirming, Rene pushed against him when the action only made Darien groan deeply.

"Look Rene, I don't like you or your mother either, but I sure as hell like what you do to me. In my world, I separate business and pleasure. For the sake of both our sanities, why don't we come to a little agreement?" He nuzzled the hollow of her neck and barely caught the sound of a whimper before she forced it back again. Chuckling he proceeded to assault the spot on her neck that he had recently discovered to be very sensitive to his ministrations.

"What sort of agreement?" She choked back another passionate sob.

"That we adopt a double world. When we're discussing family matters, we'll be all business with all the hate we have for each other driving us on. But at nights, at nights, my darling, we will belong to each other and to this fire that's burning us alive."

Darien moved to her collarbone and lower before bending over her heaving chest.

"What do you say, Rene? Do you accept?" He breathed hotly over her sensitive skin.

"Darien," she moaned.

"I need to you say it. Say that you accept my terms." His hand flexed slightly over her soft skin and her body drew tightly.

"I… Darien…Please" She gasped when he increased the pressure of his hand.

"Say the words, princess."

"I want you, Darien. I accept. I want this…" Her replies turned into incoherent moans and gasps as he rewarded her with hot caresses. 'Even when we hate each other so much, I find myself wanting to feel so desired and wanted by you,' Rene thought as waves of pleasure washed over her.

When he felt her silky muscles tighten around his fingers, he captured her in a kiss that swallowed the loud moan that announced her ecstasy.

Slowly giving her time to ride the aftereffects of passion, he pulled her to him. Her eyes fluttered open revealing twin orbs reflecting surprise and wonder.

"I need to know how far you've gone before we go further," he said heavily as he noted the telltale signs of her innocence. He had wondered when he had measured her with his fingers earlier and the signs weren't looking good for him.

"That's about as far as I've gone before, but I hadn't ever… that was the first time I felt like that," she mumbled as she tried to turn away from him in her embarrassment.

Somehow Darien couldn't help but to feel elated at the news. The thought of another man making her moan and shudder brought a frown to his face, but her limited experience meant that he couldn't bed her.

'Well, I could. If she wanted me to, and heck, if I wasn't practically related to her like she said, I would within the second,' Darien thought. He was no fool. There was another reason pushing for this particular arrangement. On some level this was revenge, and although Darien didn't want to hurt the girl, he was aware that there was a definite risk.

"Oh, I see. Are you rescinding your offer?" Rene snapped as she began to sit up. She suddenly felt self-conscious and angry. The insufferable man managed to set her on fire and was now just as easily ignoring her! Not to much it was somewhat disarming that he was naked and those strong hands had just brought her to the verge of passionate tears. 'Oh God help me! I should leave right now. This was never meant to be. This won't go anywhere. All he wants is a fuck-buddy and a fool, and I'm no body's fool.'

"I'm doing nothing of the sort. I was just thinking," he said softly as he wrapped an arm around her waist. She protested weakly before letting it rest there. 'Why can't I resist him even when I know that this goes against everything I believe? I have morals and standards. I hate him, but then again why is there strong attraction between us? The man could just look at me and I'd be all up on him…That feels so damn good.'

A moan escaped her parted lips as Darien planted kisses along her shoulder and the back of her neck. His large hand splayed leisurely over her waist and moved in a lazy pattern.

"We have plenty of time," he murmured. 'Plenty of time before I complete my revenge…'

"Thank you, Darien." Rene sighed softly as she let him pull her into his arms. 'Maybe he's not really showing me who he really is…yet. That's right. I'll give him sometime, at least on nights like these. What's there to lose? And what better way to keep my enemies closer than this?'

They drifted asleep together both with smiles on their faces, albeit for very different reasons.