"What the -"

The sound of the door slamming shut cut short Todd's expletive.

Before he could say anything more, he was shoved up against the nearest wall and held there by the shoulders.

Todd's body tensed in a natural fight-or-flight reaction. Was it McBain? Had Granger followed him here? All of his senses slammed into overdrive as he tried to figure what the hell was happening. His body was processing the situation much more quickly than his brain.

The room was black, and the tiny slits of bright city lights sneaking through the closed blinds were useless to tell him what was going on.

As Todd automatically put up his hands in a defensive stance and drew in a sharp breath, his deep inhalation rewarded him with a blast of sultry perfume he'd know anywhere. Amarige.

He'd bought it for her, and wasn't ashamed to admit that he still sprayed it on the pillow each night before he curled up in her bed, aching for the release and dreams of her that sleep only rarely brought.

She hadn't taken it with her when she left, of course - she must have gone out and bought a bottle of it for herself.

The knowledge filled him with awed wonder as her delicious scent of jasmine and orange blossom surrounded him. Did the fragrance make her think of him; dream of him? Todd wondered as they both stood there, their labored breath ringing into the hush of the huge empty room.

His hands reached out into the utter darkness. The first thing they found was the shoulders of the person who'd thrown him up against the wall, covered in butter-soft leather.

He opened his mouth and drew in another shaky breath. "I'm -"

But she was having none of it.

And before he could even say her name, her velvet lips crashed down on his.

Shock ran through Todd's entire body, from his scalp to his shoes. He moaned as her luscious mouth, made even more succulent with soft lipstick, slid sensuously over his, claiming him. He took the risk to kiss her gently back. Victorious joy roared through him like a tidal wave when she didn't pull away.

Her mouth opened slightly as it travelled slowly, deeply against his lips. Todd could taste red wine on her lips. He hoped she wouldn't drink any more tonight. He wanted her lucid when he talked to her - if she let him get a word in. And he didn't want her at risk for a flare-up. He knew that alcohol added to the stress she was already under could bring her lupus back. Her strong body had taken enough abuse in the last year from the explosion.

As if she'd read his thought about her strength, Marty pressed herself much closer to him.

Todd went weak at the knees. So much the better. When his back slid down the wall slightly, their six-inch height difference disappeared, letting their mouths meld closer.

He arched his shoulders back against the wall. The motion pushed him forward and pressed him even harder to Marty's lips. His heart raced faster when she moaned against his mouth.

Todd groaned loudly in disbelief at her response to his touch. He struggled against the painful urge to throw his arms around Marty, crush her to him, carry her out of the hotel past all its hundreds of shocked patrons, home, up the stairs and into his bed. Her bed. Their bed.

But the same instinct that had gotten out of many a scrape told him he mustn't push her, scare her, crush her. If he made one wrong move, she'd stop kissing him; touching him. He couldn't bear that.

Especially not with her arms winding up around his neck to embrace him tightly. Especially not with her long, cool fingers stroking his hair and cheek so softly, more gently than anyone ever had in his life.

"I hate you," she whispered hotly in his ear, speaking to him for the first time since New Year's Eve, when he'd gladly taken a header off of this hotel's roof for her. "Do you understand how much I hate you?"

"Yes," Todd breathed, his voice husky with need. "Yessss….ahhh, God…"

Urged on by his helpless sigh, Marty kissed fervently along his jawline, her lips making soft whispering sounds and leaving a scarlet trail on his skin that neither of them could see.

"Ohhh…" Todd leaned his head back as her kiss travelled downwards. Delicious shockwaves of icy heat ran down his spine as she marked his Adam's apple and every inch of his throat with her lips.

How did she know how much he adored – and got off on – having his neck kissed?

He was being stupid, he realised as he ran his hands through her long, thick, wild curls. He'd told her himself. As they made love, Marty had eagerly kissed, gently bitten and lovingly sucked on his neck as she embraced him tightly. And he'd whispered over and over again how much he loved it, how much he needed her, that he didn't know what he'd do if he ever lost her.

She pressed a last eager kiss to the side of his neck and then asked a question that surprised him more than any of her actions tonight had.

"Are you all right? Did Wes cut you?"

Todd threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly, shocked and grateful at her concern. Surprised chills raced up his arms and legs as she slid her arms around his waist and hugged him back. He stroked her hair and murmured, "Not even a scratch."

He drew back to see her, and was pleasantly surprised again to realise that he could see her. His eyes had adjusted enough so that the glaring glow from the city buildings outside showed him the lingering fury and honest worry in her incandescent blue eyes.

The question she'd asked gave Todd the courage to quickly lift her up by the hips. Marty gasped loudly as Todd effortlessly carried her over to a gleaming oak conference table nearby.

As she watched him with huge eyes, he gently set her down on top of it and then knelt down on the floor in front of her, bringing them eye to eye – physically, at least.

"Are you okay?" he returned her question. "Tea shouldn't have hit you."

He pressed his lips to her injured cheek, trying to make his touch as soft as her beautiful skin was.

Fat chance.

Sure enough, her face was blazing, and not just from the emotion he hoped she felt from kissing him. When Todd quickly kissed her right cheekbone, he realised her left bruised cheek was flaring much hotter than the other one. Tea had gotten Marty a good blow - she might even have a black eye tomorrow.

He'd seen Tea deck Marty while he wrestled Granger to the floor. Only his crashing, ignominious struggle with the idiot had prevented him from running over and carrying Marty in his arms out of the ballroom, right in front of Blair, John, Tea and God.

Todd made a low, solicitous murmur of concern, exactly as he'd comforted all three of his kids when they skinned their knees as toddlers. He tried to cup her uninjured cheek in his palm and kiss her lips again, but Marty knocked his hand away.

"I've been hit before," she scoffed.

Rage clenched at Todd's stomach and roared up into his throat, constricting his breathing in a far less pleasant way than Marty's kiss had. This was news to him – unpleasant news. Who would have dared to hit her? Patrick, Dylan and Suede had adored her, as had her parents. He was sure David and Samantha Saybrooke had never so much as love-tapped their little girl.

Neither Powell nor Zack had smacked Marty. He knew that thanks to the ringleader's ringside side seat he'd given himself to her assault. And he'd never hit her either. A pathetic drop of water on the hellish inferno of the rape he'd put her through, but at times it had been all he'd had to hold onto.

If he found out Blair had ever struck her, he'd –

"Hit by whom?"

"Never mind," Marty laughed bitterly.

"By whom?" Todd insisted.

She sighed, then laughed mirthlessly again. "By lovely Aunt Kiki. When she had her drink on, she didn't bother to hide how much she hated me."

Todd scoffed. He should have known it was that old sot who'd abused Marty, probably from the very day she'd lost both her parents at seven. He was sorry the old woman had died before he could give her a piece of his mind.

"Forget that hag," he told Marty, and placed his hands on her knees. "We need to talk about you and Granger."

Marty groaned loudly.

"Marty, how can you live with him; be with him? The guy's a lunatic."

"Says the poster boy for sanity," Marty scoffed, but she didn't push him away.

Todd didn't let her defensive sarcasm distract him. "Marty, you can't stay with him anymore. You need to go home to Nora's house, or at least get a room here at the hotel. How long before he pulls his knife on you?"

"Wes is my friend," Marty defended him. "He took me in when I had nowhere else to go. He lets me go my own way, he doesn't push me around and we're always very honest with each other. Not many people can say that."

"Marty, this town is filled with people who love you. You have a home with Nora and Cole," Todd insisted. "I'm sure even Viki would love to have you -"

But he'd made a bad mistake. She stiffened and pushed him away, leaping to her feet as he stumbled back onto his heels and then into a standing position.

"Don't you ever mention my son to me again, you hear me?" she yelled.

"I'm sorry," Todd tried to mollify her as he put out his hands, trying to stay her. He'd rather have her here screaming at him than running out of the room to Granger. "Marty, how can I make you believe that I never meant to hurt you?"

"I'll never believe that," she hissed, but her voice was filling with tears. "Never."

"You could," Todd said softly. "I think you could, if you just give yourself time and remember how much I lov-"

"You never loved me," Marty said bitterly. Bright tears shone in her eyes as she shook her head. "Making me fall in love with you was your ultimate gambit – just revenge."

"That's not true," Todd protested, holding out his hand. He still held it out to her when she made no move to take it. "You don't understand…"

"The only thing I don't understand is how you managed to keep from laughing in my face when you told me all about the rape, except for you leading it," Marty sneered.

But now she was the one who'd gone too far.

"You still think I enjoyed that?" Todd shouted. "That was a nightmare. You could see how much I detested that."

"Poor you. What an ordeal for you," Marty mocked before her face grew serious and furious again. "My God, Todd, you got away with everything you did to me, and to Starr! What more do you want?"

Facing her in the dim pinpoints of light shining into the room, Todd gave the only answer he could.

"I want you."