Felicity awoke to the sensation of her hair being touched, as if someone was stroking through it with a great deal of affection. "Ben?" she mumbled sleepily, not wanting to open her eyes just yet.

"No," came the reply. "It is I, little hellion- I've come for my revenge."

A horrified cry erupted from her throat as her eyes did indeed snap open wide, staring up in wide, mindless fright at a blurred face that was chillingly familiar, but one side of it was gapped and pitted with burn scars. "NOOOO!"

"Felicity!" another familiar voice called, this one in panic, "wake up! You are having a nightmare! Please, Lissie, wake up!'

She gasped loudly, shrilly, her hands flying up to her neck in instinctive protection as she sat right up, knocking Ben's encircling arm aside. Immediately he was holding her again, trying to stop her uncontrollable shaking by holding her to him firmly. "It's all right! You're safe! I swear to God I will not let anyone hurt you."

Within the crushing confines of his well-muscled arms, Felicity came to her senses and slowed her breathing. Ben stroked her hair now, gently, with movements meant to soothe and comfort as she slowly got ahold of herself. "Breathe deep," Ben told her softly. "I am here with you, Lissie. What was it that you were having a nightmare about?"

"Not what," she panted restlessly, "who."

"Forsythe?"

"Not Reg-Reginald. His cousin." She gulped miserably and leaned against Ben, the tension and fright slowly leaving her body. "That wretched Tristan."

His gentle fingers stroked her cheek. "I hope I meet him so that I can do to him what the fire didn't get to," Ben said darkly, the rage building up inside him at the thought of what that whoreson tried to do to Felicity. He wanted her avenged, with himself doing the avenging. He was imagining doling out all sorts of vile punishments, as learned in the Legion.

"Yes, well, so do I," Felicity muttered, the contempt in her voice matching that on Ben's face. She looked up at him groggily. "It is not yet morning, is it?"

"No. The sky is still black. Which means I have a little while longer to keep you with me." He sounded immensely relieved about that. "Lie back, Lissie. Let me help you back to sleep for a while."

She nodded, too tired to argue, even with herself. She was actually grateful that Ben was here, for as much as she had become accustomed to waking from nightmares in a bed all alone, she missed his company so very much. Now here he was, right beside her in a big bed in a duke's mansion in England. Could stranger things even happen? 'Twas hard to be mad at him at this late hour, when she was shook up over Tristan's looming effect in her dreams. Ben held her close and kissed her cheek, then she clearly surprised him by turning about within his strong embrace so that she could curl up against him. "Lissie," he sighed, unmistakable love in his voice. She merely laid her head upon his chest and listened to his heart banging with the excitement she stirred in him, and she smiled sleepily.
But she was still mad at him. And she had never been so glad to have him near in her life. Amazing how human emotion could yank a person two different ways at once.

As if he could read her thoughts, he whispered, "I love you, Lissie, You are not enduring this alone. I will be right by your side, all of the way, love."

"Thank you, Ben," she told him drowzily, before sleep overcame her once more.

She was able to sleep for the rest of the night without further incident, feeling herself to be safe and wrapped within Ben's protective arms. She didn't mind that he held her like he could keep forces both material and supernatural from tearing her from him. So he felt guilty. That was obvious. She would be even angrier at him if he did not feel guilty, that was for certain, so maybe his showing and wallowing in torturous guilt was a good thing. It showed he was sorry, but the pain of it still hurt them both. But she did love him immensely. His breath on her temple, the tightness of his embrace even whilst sleeping, the sounds of his relieved and emotional sighs all silently spoke of love and the wish for atonement. A longing for the forgivness only she could give, when she was ready and not before.

She dreamed of being warm and loved, of seeing her family again. For reasons of sanity she chose not to think too much of reuniting with her loved ones. Felicity decided she could fall completely apart once she was back within the arms of her family. For now she had Ben and elizabeth, and yes, Arthur Pratt to find healing with.

But especially Ben.

She awoke to find the room lightened slate grey with the approaching dawn. Immediately she sensed Ben was no longer beside her, so she raised her head to see where he was, his name ready to burst from her lips in less than a second should she not find him in the room...but she did, and when she did, an astonishing sight met her sleepy eyes as she raised her head. Ben was still in the room, all right, but he was standing at the window, braced against the window pane on one muscular forearm.

And he was completely naked.

Felicity had to stifle her shocked gasp by yanking her covers up to the bridge of her nose, but she did not look away. She didn't want to. Apparently, he was not aware of her being awake, much less staring at his rear-view. She was doing so with great ardor and carnal fascination, looking him up and down as if he were a thing of scandalous wonder. She had seen him naked before, briefly, when she had been tricked into bringing him a cup of scalding hot chocolate while he was still in his bathing tub, but she'd had only seconds to asses what she saw. Staring at him standing there, mostly his backside turned to her was giving her a longer opportunity to digest his unclothed form.

She wholeheartedly approved.

Felicity felt her face burning with a mix of shyness and desire. Although his shoulders were broad and muscular, his long arms so finely toned and strong, he still retained some of his teenaged slenderness. Legion-life had made him fit and hard, but there were still traces of his adolescence that seemed to not want to change. That was fine with Felicity. She let her easing gaze follow the curve of his lower back to his buttocks, and she blushed inwardly at the fact that the breeches he wore these days were so tight on that muscular rump that they hardly ever had a wrinkle in them. His thigh muscles were so impressive to her eyes that she felt herself getting hot all over. And tingly! There were tingles bursting like mad all over her body, in her nether regions, which was the most private of private places on any human being, but it didn't alarm her. She had a full-on desire for Ben Davidson, just as he had for her.

Blast and damn her own body for the risk of getting pregnant.

And that brought something else to mind. She was supposed to want children, it was expected of her. It was supposed to be a natural thing for her to want children, despite risk and pain. And she did-but not the way society expected young women to. She wanted them gradually. She wanted to have time to enjoy Ben and his magnificent form without becoming heavy with child so soon. She imagined how smooth that rump of his would feel under her hands, the hardness of those muscles. How he would feel, in his entirety, taking her virginity in that mighty, overpowering way that woman must succomb to in order to become one with her man.

She was very much looking forward to that.

So, thought she self-criticizingly, you are going to marry him. He is getting to you, as you had been afraid of. Just because he is standing there, unaware of you watching him, with you growing lusty over his unclothed body. Of course he is beautiful! Of course you want nothing more than to open your self for him and scream at him to take you right here, right now! You still can't trust him.

Can you?

She had to remember to inhale. When she did, Ben heard her, and turned his head to look at her instead of turning his entire body. "Awake, pretty Lissie?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Mmm-hmm. And so are you. What are you doing over there?" She at least pushed the covers back off her nose.

"I couldn't sleep any longer, so I decided to get up and put on a change of clothes." That explained his nudity. "You don't mind do you?" He sounded playful, almost mischevious.

"Nay, I do not. But what caught your attention so that you had to stop dressing?" Felicity did not sound accusing or angry, merely curious.

"I guess it just finally hit me that I- we- are really in England. I had thought about it now and then as I was looking for you, but it just now seemed to really affect me."

"We could have never imagined," was all she said, softly.

"I am so sorry, Lissie."

She made a snorting sound. "Will you please stop apologizing? I think I believe you, already. I think. 'Tis hard to think at all with you standig there like that."

He grinned widely. "So you noticed."

"How could I not?"

"Oh, you'll get used to it. Once we are married, we will become used to seeing each other in a state of undress on a regular basis."

She snuggled down into the warm covers. "You sound quite sure of yourself."

"I am indeed."

A heartbeat passed. "Are you coming back to bed?"

"If you'll have me."

"Well, come on, then." Felicity quickly yanked the covers up over her eyes, suddenly shy. "But do put some breeches back on, first!"

"That is no fun," Ben protested, but Felicity could hear the sounds of weight shifting from foot to foot as he was putting breeches back on. He sounded humored.

"Neither is being pregnant on a sea voyage."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Stop that!"

"But I am sorry, Lissie. And I made a promise to you that I would not push you for intimacy before we were married. I seem to be breaking that promise to you as well. Your family would hate me even more if I brought you home with a child in your arms...no matter how proud I would be."

She was both touched and irritated by that last statement, and flipped the covers back down from her face, breeches on him or not. "Are you saying that you would not mind being disgraced by a pregnancy out of wedlock? Not that my reputation will ever be the same in Williamsburg, but you at least would still have some dignity and respect in town! People will think I was raped and was bringing home a child of violence, and you would be believed to be willing to take responsibility!"

"Felicity, I do not care what people think." His handsome face was serious as he sat down on the bed beside her, facing her as she sat up. "I love you. 'Tis no one's business but yours and mine, with the exception of your family. Only those who are dear to us. And besides..." One of his warm hands laid against her cool face with tremendous affection. "There are not as many people left in Williamsburg to care about anyone's business but their own."

Felicity looked stunned. "Surely you do not mean that?"

"Aye. When Elizabeth, Arthur and I left Williamsburg to board the ship at Yorktown, the french were already making preparations to leave Virginia. When they are gone, Williamsburg will be quite empty compared to the way it was when the armies came. People are losing businesses and leaving as well. I hate saying it, but our beloved town will never be the same as it was just months ago."

Felicity nodded absently, trying to imagine what Williamsburg would be like without the bustle of busy soldiers. Without the presence of important people. Vaguely she wondered if Nan had heard anything of Lucien. Ben interrupted her thoughts when he said, "But more importantly is the fact that nothing is the same without you, Lissie. Let the times change everything around us just as long as I have you for always." He kissed her lips ever so gently. "All that matters is those we love."

She sighed. "Look, you are up and I am up, somewhat. Let us just go downstairs and see what Maggie is making us all to eat."

Ben noted the familiarity with which she spoke of the motherly woman who seemed to be everyone's caretaker around here. "You really do like it here, don't you?"

She shrugged lightly. "What is not to like? Beautiful mansion, beautiful garden, a mighty barn full of the most beautiful horses you've ever seen in your life- speaking of which, how is my Penny, Ben? You have said nothing of her."

"It is obvious that she misses you. Patriot too. Horses are intelligent creatures, but those two are the smartest I have ever known. You are not around, so they are in a state of melancholy, like the rest of us. I truly believe that even though they cannot fully understand the situation, they know you were taken from us. I hope they can forgive me."

Felicity smiled wryly.

Something was nagging at Ben, though. "Will it be hard for you to leave here?"

"No. As much as I love the friends I have made, I want to go home so very much! Why wouldn't I?"

Her green eyes were expressing worry for whatever it was he was thinking, so he immediately tried to explain. "I just...I mean, I know that so much has happened...that you have been changed by all of this that I am so afraid of you not wanting anything to be like it was before I...hurt us." He was extremely uncomfortable saying all that, mostly because he knew he was to blame for much of it. He was not about to forgive himself.

"Of course things will not be the same, Ben," she tried to explain."I would hope they would be better."

He brightened at that, getting his arms about her waist and pulling her to him tighly. Felicity was afraid that he was going to ask her if she forgave him yet, because she wasn't prepared to answer, but he said nothing then, just looked relieved and sighed like he found peace in her words. "I will do whatever you have a mind to do, pretty Lissie."

"Good. Let me take you out to the barn and show you his grace's horses."

"He will not mind, will he?"

"Of course not! I have been tending to them, anyway. They gave me...distraction." She eased away from him to get up.

"Wait for me!" He scrambled after her eagerly, willing to lace her up her stays if she would let him. Anything to keep her in physical contact. He acted as if he was still afraid that she would dissolve right before his eyes if he didn't maintain some sort of contact with her.

Felicity actually found it amusing.

"I still do not see why Felicity has to go back to Forsythe Manor," Ben argued for her sake at the duke's informal dining room table over breakfast later that morning. "Has she not suffered enough already?"

"I know you ae worried for Felicity's well being," Lord Covington told him patiently, "but she will be well protected. She is the only one of us who knows that place well enough to know where to look for her friend."

And before anyone else could say it, Ben had laready turned to Felicity, who's hand he held under the table cloth. "I will be with you every step of the way, Lissie. We will look for Lettie together."

Felicity smiled back at him slightly.

"But I stll would rather force Forsythe to take us to Lettie," Ben continued. "To show us where he has her. That way Felicity needn't go searching."

" 'Tis my understanding that the Forsythes are extremely hard to deal with. I am not dismissing your concerns, Ben, but any of them could easily insist that she is dead or no longer on the premises, which is what I am assuming they will do, and make try to make things harder for us out of spite."

"Lettie may really be dead, for all I know," Felicity said glumly. "Or simply gone. Knowing Forsythe as I do, he will make everything difficult."

"But you will have us there, too, Lissie," said Elizabeth determinedly across the table from her. "Ben, Arthur and I have some revenge to administer as well!"

"I know," Felicity agreed softly.

"I have never been so angry at myself in my life!" Elizabeth told them all. "I allowed Reginald Forsythe to make me a victim, let him play upon my worst fears, and for that I can never forgive myself, just as Ben feels of himself, too. I was weak and thoughtless. Never again will I be so foolish!"

As Arthur put a consoling hand upon his beloved's, Felicity felt a pang of pity for her dear freind's self-loathing, thinking of how Elizabeth made her reveal her madness-inflicted wounds to her in the duke's gardens. Elizabeth had lapsed into wretched bawling, hauling Felicity into a hug so tight that it surprisingly rivaled Ben's own ferocious hold. Felicity had thought someone would hear poor Elizabeth's wailing and come running. Both Ben and Elizabeth were suffering for their thoughtlessness all the time. The pain they had caused was etched into their faces with undeniable grief. felicity stared at the table and wondered just how much time it was going to take for everyone's wounds to heal. Perhaps it would start with bringing the Forsythes to justice.

Lazlo came striding into the sunlit dining room with a serious-looking face and leaned over to speak quietly into the duke's ear. They spoke so low that Felicity could not make out what was being said, even sitting near the head of the table as she was. The duke nodded curtly and Laz exited just as swiftly as he had entered. Lord Eric dabbed his mouth with the corner of a yellow cloth napkin and said directly to Felicity, "My dear Miss Merriman, it is time."

Felicity inhaled deeply.

A constable and a sherrif had arrived, looking stern and ready to do business. Everyone assembled in the grand foyer, with Ben mumbling "Still do not see why Felicity has to go, too. She'd be safer here." Felicity overheard and smiled inwardly, trying hard not to get emotional. Lord Eric spoke to the constable and the sherrif while Felicity turned to Elizabeth and Arthur and said, "Elizabeth, Arthur, I wish you would not go. I haven't a clue as to how this is going to happen, and I do not want anymore to happen to either one of you."

Elizabeth, however, was not to be dissuaded. She held up a hand to rebuke any further warnings. "We will not abandon you, Lissie. We have a stake in this, too. And if need be, I will help you find Lettie."

"That's what I am going to do," scowled Ben persistently. "Really Elizabeth, it would be better if you both stayed here. This matter will be settled soon enough. Too many people going along will only result in getting in the way of business."

Elizabeth turned her angry glare upon him, hands on hips. "Don't you dare try to tell me what to do, Benjamin Davidson! I will decide what is best for me to do, thank you very much! If I say Arthur and I will go, then we will go!"

"Now, dearest, let us not be too hasty," interjected Arthur carefully, as if he were afraid of stoking his fiance's fire any further. "We will only be in the way. If there is struggling and shooting to be done, then i would just as soon us not be there to risk getting caught up in all of it."

"See?" Ben pointed out irately. "Arthur makes good sense."

"Arthur, we are going," Elizabeth snapped firmly. "If anything violent starts to happen, I promise you can hide behind me." She looked at Felicity decidedly. "I am not afraid. I want to be there to bear witness!"

Lord Eric approached them with a slight smile on his face. "I admire your tenacity, Miss Cole. As it turns out, your and your fiance's presence there could help. You both are victims in this foul design of Forsythe's as well, having been made so by his actions in the colonies. Though this is highly unusual to have such a party assist in an arrest, I wager that with these Forsythes nothing is of the ordinary. I'll have you know that a very willing Ezekiel Gooch is sworn to testify to everything on the promise that he will not be executed. There is no way Reginald can weasel his way out."

"That is for certain," muttered Felicity tightly.

"And I must remind you, Felicity, that when he is brought to trial, you and your friends will very likely be called upon as witnesses before a judge. This will detain you longer, I'm afraid. Are you willing to wait to leave England a little longer to see justice done?"

"Yes," she said firmly without thinking. "I will do whatever is necessary to see to it that neither Reginald or his cousin can come after me and my loved ones ever again!" She sounded so determined that Ben was moved to put his arms about her waist as he stood there beside her.

"That is good to know, my dear." Eric gestured to the two men waiting near the entryway. "That man on the left is Bel Hastings' constable, . The man on the right is Sherrif Dribble of Bristol. On my word they are here to see that Reginald Forsythe is brought to justice. And if you still wish it, bring charges against Tristan Forsythe as well. They have a warrant for each of them."

"I wish it," said Felicity seethingly.

"Very well. LIke I said, I can help. My rank entitles me to more than the average Lord!" He grinned mischeviously. "No one wishes to make a duke unhappy, now do they?"

Felicity half-smiled. "I shall fetch my cloak."

"I will come with you," said Ben, to no one's surprise. He took her upstairs, as one of the duke's carriages was getting hitched up. The lawmen were to ride their horses. But even though Felicity was being assured and reassured left and right that she would be safe, that her friends would be safe, and that the Forsythes would finally atone for what they had put her through, Felicity Merriman had the unshakable feeling that something bad was going to happen before the day was through.

And that one way or the other, it was all going to end.