Chapter 2

Author's Note: First I'm sending a usual big hug to Rach for doing the beta work. Thanks dear. And now I wanna say thanks to all of you your fantastic reviews! Namely to Tommys My 21, OSUSprinks, Zsulie, bluegirl-783, VictoriaGrant, Vluy, negschainshaw, Kristi-Julie, One Special Lana, LoveHateHero, Firing Rockets on Dragons, AlternativeRocker, dearjenna, risingdancer and to my Ursa.

"I'm sorry Joseph." She sighed and stroked his arm as she passed him.

He was not able to move.

Although he wanted to stop her, wanted to grab her arm and say something… anything that could make her change her mind, he just stood there in silence, exactly as she had left him. He still felt her burning touch on his arm, her perfume in the air, while his mind desperately tried to find something to help with this hell in his heart, but he felt nothing except desperation and heart-break. His thoughts were running rapidly through his head, but one moment repeated itself in the madness over and over again. The moment when he had kissed her…

They stopped dancing shortly after the music died, but remained in each others arms for a few moments. Her hand was in his, while her body was still pressed against his own. It was like time had stopped. Her eyes simply mesmerized him and he knew if he did not kiss her right now, he wouldn't be so brave next time, so he leant closer and gently, barely daring to touch her, he kissed her on the lips… She reacted immediately. As his lips covered hers, Clarisse drew him closer and deepened the kiss. Her kisses were hungry and yearning, almost pretentious, while they pressed their bodies even closer to each other.

It had not lasted more then a few moments when she woke up, tore herself away and she was standing there breathlessly. First she started apologizing, and within moments they were arguing.

Joseph was standing now all alone in the middle of the ballroom, surrounded by silence and cold.

What should he do now? He was at a loss. The only thing that seemed wise was waiting. Waiting for her to sleep a bit, then maybe she would change her mind. Or perhaps she would calm down a little and he wins her over then… because it never entered his head to give it up.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Next day, after Clarisse spent a busy afternoon with a few important guests she went back to her office to do some paperwork, which really could relax her most of the time. Actually, the office was her favorite place to hide during the day behind the excuse of paperwork. Joseph and she had barely seen each other in the last twenty-four hours, so Clarisse could save a little time. But only a little time, because shortly after five p.m. there was knock on her door.

"Come in," she answered automatically without even looking up.

"May I come in?" asked Joseph from the door, but he was already inside.

"Oh, yes… yes of course, Joseph." She was hesitating a little, but soon she collected herself again.

"I just popped in to check on you… I know you had a hectic day, so if you are in need of anything just, tell me." He was as caring as always.

"That's very kind of you." She smiled warmly, which gave Joseph the courage he needed. "But I'm fine with this cup of tea."

"Clarisse…," he started, but she cut him off.

"Would you like a cup of tea? Or some biscuits? They are really fine, I was just not hungry that's why they remained, not because they are bad or anything…" she was babbling.

"No thanks… I just wanted to talk to you about yesterday."

"To talk?" she asked. Her voice was somehow nervous, but fortunately Joseph did not realize it.

"Yes. You know…"

"Can we wait with this until tonight?" she asked quickly.

"Oh…"

"Because I have a lot of things to do. I'm in a rush with the paperwork, so it would be more appropriate in the evening… if that's not a problem for you."

"Oh, of course not." he answered with a smile, and felt much relieved. "Tonight will be perfect. I will wait for you in the garden."

"Thank you. That will be fine." She smiled and waited until he left the room, then she fell back on her chair. "Damn it!" she sighed frustrated, but she well knew – who saves time, saves life.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. Joseph was much more relieved and looked forward to their meeting in an uplifted mood.

The night was quite warm, after all it was summer, and the air was heavy with the sweet scent of her flowers. Joseph paced up and down, trying to figure out what would be the best to say when she was standing in front of him. Time ran fast, so he barely noticed that he was waiting for her nearly one and half hours. It was strange, but not unusual, because she always found something urgent to manage, so he waited patiently. But the air turned chilly after a while and it started getting really late, so he decided he would check to see if she was alright.

First, he went to her office, and when he stepped in, everything was dark. Maybe she just popped up for a cardigan or something else, he though, so he went up to her suite. As he reached her door, without any warning it swung open and Charlotte came out with an absentminded smile on her face.

"Hi Charlotte. Is everything alright?"

"Oh Joe." She woke up from her own world. "Yes, yes of course. Her Majesty just fell asleep, so we can drink something if you want before Shades and I have to go to that new nightclub… But are you ok?"

"Uhm… no. I mean yes. Yes I'm fine… So you said she has fallen asleep?"

"Yes. She was so tired, that she barely could keep her eyes open."

"Oh…" he sighed, his voice somewhat sorrowful.

"Did you want something from her?"

"Just talk about… about security preparations."

"Ah!" She smiled, although he could not decide she believed him or not.

"But I can talk with her tomorrow, it's really not that important… So let's see to that drink," he said cheerfully, but his mind was far from calm.

OOOOOOOOOOO

After a few minutes of chatting he quickly got rid of Charlotte, not because he did not like her, he just needed time to think. And he could think only on his own, so he headed to the garden. Maybe the fresh night air would give him good advice. As he walked slowly on the main path next to the building he stopped and looked up to the windows. Her room was right above the big cherry tree, and its windows were dark, confirming that she was really in bed already.

But was she really that tired? He knew how much she could work; actually she was a typical workaholic, but she was too cheerful, too easy about their meeting, and that was not a good sign.

But he could not do anything other than wait, so he headed back inside and went to sleep.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next day was nearly the same as the previous. He continually tried to catch her between meetings and appointments, but when they saw each other she just smiled with her usual 'queen smile' and hurried away. It was more than suspicious, so after she evaded him two more times, he played a sure hand now. He stood outside her door nearly two hours to finally catch her.

As soon as Mr. Montaz left her office, he was already knocking on her door.

"Come in," she said, unaware.

"Hello Clarisse," he started as he stepped in, when Clarisse literally jumped up from her seat and headed to the door, on the lam.

"Oh Joseph, I'm glad you popped in, but I'm already late from my next meeting. So if you will excuse me," she said with one breath and her hand was already on the doorknob, when Joseph stopped her.

"We were supposed to have had a meeting last night." His voice was meaningful and he kept eye contact with her. Her gaze was startled and desperate, but she wanted to fight until her last breath.

"Oh yes, Joseph. I was just awfully tired yesterday. So when I went up to change clothes I simply fell asleep on my bed." She smiled guiltily. "I know you were waiting for me, I'm sorry," she said and tried to leave again, but when she opened the door he pushed it back into place.

"You're running away from me," he said softly, standing only inches from her. There was silence. The only thing she could hear was his breathing, and what is more she could feel his warm breath on her neck. She simply froze for a moment. She was not able to move and felt shivers on her back as his warm breath smoothed her neckline. It was torture for her. Feeling him so close to her but doing nothing. This blackout held only a few moments - she pulled herself together quite quickly.

"That's nonsense," she replied, but was not convincing at all. She did not dare to turn to face him, so she spoke to the closed door.

"Yes, you're running…" he said in the same soft way as he touched her arm now, but unfortunately, it seemed this was a very bad move. At the moment he touched her arm, she twitched subconsciously and jumped away.

His touch was like an electric shock for her. From the outside, it looked like if she was sick of him, but it simply meant she was fighting against being so close to him. Her behavior changed also. She was not shy and weak anymore. She sprang to the attack. She needed to protect herself. Protect her mind from his effect… at whatever price.

"I think I am the best judge of what I'm doing or not doing," she said, holding her head up in frustration. "So if you will excuse me, I need to leave as I said. I'm sorry again that you waited for me for nothing but I won't spit on myself that I fell asleep instead of meeting you." She was really out of control now, her breathing was heavy and her heart was racing crazily.

"You were not tired at all," he said meaningfully, but still calmly. "You just did not want to meet me. That's why you rushed to your room and pretended to be tired in front of Charlotte… Clarisse…," he said and touched her again.

"Get your hands of me!" she cried and took one step away. "It does not matter what I say, you will think what you want!"

"Alright, but do you deny that you did not want to meet me yesterday?"

"Of course I do!" she said vehemently. "But now, I want to end this conversation. So if you will excuse me?" she asked and waited for him to let her out, but he did not move from the door. "Really Joseph, this is getting ridiculous now."

"I think what you are doing is ridiculous."

"What? Because I said there will be nothing between us and you CANNOT accept it?"

"The way you are running… running from yourself," he said and looked right in her eyes.

"That's enough!" she hissed and her voice was ordering now. "Get out of my way!"

"Or what?" asked Joseph challengingly.

"Or what?!... I will show you! GUARDS!" shouted Clarisse.

To be continued…