I love you all. Thank you so much for the heart-warming reviews. I've never got as many on any post. *Sniff*! And I apologize for updating so late. I've been having back to back tests all month. Sadly, I fear it's going to be a trend. Studies can be such a drag, I tell you. However, will still try not to take so much time in the future… Meanwhile, Enjoy!! :)

"Just hedging my bets," I answered. I couldn't explain to her my real motives. It sounded childish but I obstinately held on to it. If she was forcing me to change her, well, I too would see to it that we honoured every single decree, vampire or human. Her soul was far too precious to be put at stake. She was far too precious.

"There's something else." Of course she'd know. Nothing escaped her sharp eyes. "Are you planning to go back on your word?"

It shouldn't have hurt me but it did. It wasn't that Bella didn't trust me. Not at all. It was just that statements like these, seemingly innocuous, would always send me reeling back to the past. When I'd first broken my promise to Bella. I'd told her I did not love her, did not want her. The haunting look in her eyes as she had stared blankly ahead, uncomprehending. What I had put her through… I did not realize that my whole body had frozen… Stop! I had to get a grip on myself. I wouldn't let the echoes of that ravaging agony sear through me again. Bella had forgiven me… and how. While I'd shivered with dread thinking she'd moved on, she had stated so simply that her love for me was unchangeable. After everything… She wasn't even angry with me. Almost as if she felt that she'd deserved the pain my monstrous intrusion had inflicted on her. I flinched as I continued to stare hard at her. The beauty that she had lighted my world with was glowing everywhere. Her convoluted mind aside, if there was ever a glorious soul that walked this planet, it was hers…. She was still waiting expectantly for my answer. Yes, she had every right to doubt my intentions, my promises, even if her trust in me was unreasonably implicit.

"No, I swear to you, we will try. After you marry me." I promised her. I hoped she could hear the sincerity behind those words.

But she was on a different track now. She shook her head mulling over something. "You make me feel like a villain in a melodrama — twirling my mustache while I try to steal some poor girl's virtue."

I wanted to laugh at her words, the way she'd phrased it.... She, the villain! Indeed! Did she realize sitting there, what was going on in my mind? Her blouse was still unbuttoned at the top and the blush hadn't completely left her face. Her collarbone was projecting outwards in the most inviting way and her lips were pulled together into a luscious pout. Very carefully, I tried to reign in my non-existent human hormones – those that she could awaken with the lightest of touches, with her very presence. I hoped that she did not understand the sudden chariness that my gaze conveyed… To hell with caution, I could at least kiss her neck, I decided. I could go that far without losing control. Besides, being within a hundred miles of her and not touching her was a sheer impossibility.

But she'd already guessed half of it. "That's it, isn't it?" And then she gave a very hysterical little giggle. "You're trying to protect your virtue!" She covered her mouth to stop anything else from escaping. Her face was suffused with mirth.

Good Lord!! She was so lovely and innocent. Was one law really that important? Couldn't I just lift her in my arms and make crazy love to her? Everything about her was singing out to me. She wanted this too. No No No No No! My conflicted mind would kill me one day.

"No, silly girl," I whispered to her shoulder as I kissed a spot I'd missed. "I'm trying to protect yours. And you're making it shockingly difficult."

"Of all the ridiculous —"

"Let me ask you something," I'd had enough arguing on her part. "We've had this discussion before, but humor me. How many people in this room have a soul? A shot at heaven, or whatever there is after this life?" My question was rhetorical, so obviously, Bella surprised me.

"Two." She stated vehemently.

"All right." I concurred, just to humour her. "Maybe that's true. Now, there's a world full of dissension about this, but the vast majority seem to think that there are some rules that have to be followed." So you are not budging me on this.

"Vampire rules aren't enough for you? You want to worry about the human ones too?"

She was very skeptical.

"It couldn't hurt. Just in case." I dismissed the contention while she glared. "Now, of course, it might be too late for me, even if you are right about my soul."

"No, it isn't," came her pat reply. I sensed her rising anger and immediately tried to lighten the mood.

"'Thou shalt not kill' is commonly accepted by most major belief systems. And I've killed a lot of people, Bella." She should surely understand that by now.

"Only the bad ones." Could I ever do anything that would make her hate me? My chest expanded as I realized probably not. My angel's love was as dedicated as my own. I turned my smile into a shrug as I muttered "Maybe that counts, maybe it doesn't. But you haven't killed anyone —"

"That you know about." She argued back.

This time I made no attempt to disguise my smile. My little tiger-kitten. The very idea of her hurting a fly was hilarious, let alone murdering a person. I would've been laughing under different circumstances. Right now, I needed to convince her. "And I'm going to do my best to keep you out of temptation's way."

"Okay. But we weren't fighting over committing murder."

Right, we weren't. Though it would've been very interesting to see where that would've led us.

"The same principle applies — the only difference is that this is the one area in which I'm just as spotless as you are. Can't I leave one rule unbroken?" I wanted to laugh at the incredulity of the whole situation.

"One?"

Yes, a murdering vampire who had wanted to kill the reason of his existence would surely be a stickler for rules. What a shocker!

"You know that I've stolen, I've lied, I've coveted." And see what it has made you. Treating a life-sucking vampire as another human, one who's worthy of love… "My virtue is all I have left." I chuckled at having to say 'virtue' out loud like that.

"I lie all the time." On my insistence.

"Yes, but you're such a bad liar that it doesn't really count. Nobody believes you." A look into her eyes alone could transmit her true feelings. They were the deepest and truest windows to her soul.

"I really hope you're wrong about that — because otherwise Charlie is about to burst through the door with a loaded gun."

So she thought Charlie had bought everything. Her vague theory of being with Alice while the others were gone… Charlie was an intelligent man. He had his suspicions. But his daughter was far more important to him. After those disastrous couple of months, he wouldn't let anything ever hurt her again. That was the major reason why – despite his well-deserved rage against me – I esteemed him so much.

"Charlie is happier when he pretends to swallow your stories. He'd rather lie to himself than look too closely."

"But what did you ever covet? You have everything." She asked perplexed.

Only now I do. "I coveted you." My eyes lost some colour as so many different regrets washed through me again. But somehow, always managing to quash those regrets, was my sense of utter victory each time I looked at Bella. She was mine. She'd agreed to marry me… "I had no right to want you — but I reached out and took you anyway. And now look what's become of you! Trying to seduce a vampire." And what a skilled seductress at that!

"You can covet what's already yours," she blushed. "Besides, I thought it was my virtue you were worried about."

It so is sweetheart! "It is. If it's too late for me . . ." as I very much fear it is. "Well, I'll be damned — no pun intended — if I'll let them keep you out, too." No way. Not on my account.