Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.

Chapter Three

Scarlett brought her mind back to the conversation she was having with Rhett right then and said, "I really didn't think about God much then—or hell. And when I did think—well, I just figured God would understand."

"But you don't credit God with understanding why you married Frank?"

"Rhett, how can you talk so about God when you know you don't believe there is one?"

"But you believe in a God and that's what's important at present. Why shouldn't the Lord understand? Are you sorry you still own Tara and there aren't Carpetbaggers living there? Are you sorry you aren't hungry and ragged?"

"No!"

"Well, did you have any alternative except marrying Frank?"

"No."

"He didn't have to marry you, did he? Men are free agents."

Rhett squeezed her hands and said, "Besides, he was an idiot to think you had fallen in love with him at all, much less in two weeks. He was also an idiot for not checking out your story that your sister was marrying someone else. How long had she been waiting for him?"

"Since before the war."

"Like I said idiot. Furthermore, he didn't have to let you bully him into doing things he didn't want to, did he?"

"Well—"

"Scarlett, why worry about it? If you had it to do over again, you would been driven to the lie and he to marry you. You would still have run yourself into danger and he would have had to avenge you. If he had married Sister Sue, she might not have caused his death, but she'd probably have made him twice as unhappy as you did. It couldn't have happened differently."

"Suellen would not have saved Tara."

"I seriously doubt she could have gotten him to the altar in two weeks."

"True. She had been trying for years."

Scarlett had to ensure Rhett believed she was filled with guilt, so she said, "But I could have been nicer to him."

"You could have been—if you'd been somebody else. But you were born to bully anyone who'll let you do it. The strong were made to bully and the weak to knuckle under. It's all Frank's fault for not beating you with a buggy-whip … I'm surprised at you, Scarlett, for sprouting a conscience this late in life. Opportunists like you shouldn't have them."

"I don't think it is wrong to take advantage of a situation that has been presented to me."

"I don't either. Although it has always been held in disrepute—especially by those who had the same opportunities and didn't take them."

"Rhett, I thought you were going to be nice!"

"I am being nice—for me." Scarlett thought that is true. He is never nice. Rhett continued, "Scarlett, darling, you are tipsy. That's what's the matter with you. You are on the verge of what is vulgarly called a "crying jag" and so I shall change the subject and cheer you up by telling you some news that will amuse you. In fact, that's why I came here this evening, to tell you my news before I went away."

Scarlett stared at Rhett and thought, 'How could he dismiss my distress and agony so easily? Although my agony is not real, he doesn't know that. What a selfish, self-centered person? It is always all about him. And how dare he suggest that Frank should have whipped me with a buggy whip? How dare he even think that much less speak it out loud.'

Scarlett shook off those thoughts. She would think about that tomorrow. She said, "Where are you going?"

"To England and I may be gone for months. Do you want to hear my news?"

Perhaps Rhett was right. Perhaps God did understand. She pushed the idea from the top of her mind by thinking, 'Besides, it is Frank's own fault he was killed. He was the dodo bird that was in the clan. He was the dodo bird who went out to defend my honor and put everything I had worked so hard for in jeopardy.' That thought made her mad. Frank had put everything she had worked so hard for in jeopardy with his foolishness. With that thought any guilt she had felt about Frank's death disappeared. She said, "What's your news?"

"My news is this," he answered, grinning down at her. "I still want you more than any woman I've ever seen and now that Frank is gone, I thought you'd be interested to know it."

Scarlett's first thought was, 'How can I use this to my advantage?' She knew she had to give Rhett moral outrage while she thought about her options. She jumped up. She said, "You are the most ill-bred man in the world, coming here at this time of all times with your filthy—I should have known you'd never change. And Frank is hardly cold! If you had any decency…."

"Do be quiet or you'll have Miss Pittypat down here in a minute," he said, not rising but reaching up and taking both her fists. "I'm afraid you missed my point."

"Missed your point? I didn't miss anything." She pulled against his grip. "Turn me loose and get out of here. I never heard of such bad taste. I—"

"Hush," he said. "I am asking you to marry me. Would you be convinced if I knelt down?"

Scarlett sat down hard on the sofa. She stared at him, her mouth open, wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her, remembering his sneering: 'My dear, I'm not a marrying man.' This must be one of his cruel jokes. He continued, "I always intended having you, Scarlett, since that first day I saw you at Twelve Oaks when you threw that vase and swore and proved that you weren't a lady. I always intended having you, one way or another. But as you have made a little money, I know you'll never be driven to me again with any interesting propositions of loans and collaterals. So, I see I'll have to marry you."

Scarlett knew in that moment he had spoken the truth. She knew how he truly thought about her. That he didn't think she was a lady! How dare he say that! She was a lady, and she always would be. Maybe she had done some unladylike things, but that was just to survive. What else had he said? That he would have to marry her. Like being married to her was a fate worse than death. He was only marrying her to have access to her body because he had always intended having her body, one way or another. She was just a body he wanted access to. Nothing more. Like every other body he had used to slack his sexual need. She saw it all clearly. Maybe it was Ashley's rejection of her, maybe it was Frank's death, but she finally saw Rhett clearly. He was not a misunderstood gentleman like Melly had always been saying, but a scoundrel and a cad. An immoral, deceitful brute despite all his appearance and actions of a gentleman. He was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Rhett didn't care about her or her feelings. All this time he had just been trying to seduce her. All his gifts and his attentions had just been his way of getting in between her legs. He cared no more for her than any other woman he wanted to have relations with. All she was, was a body. She was no better than a whore in his eyes. She now knew why her devotion to Ashley had annoyed him. It was in the way of him achieving his goal. She knew without a doubt once he had her, she would be of no value to him. She would be no more of value to him that all the whores he had used. She knew that was the nature of men. That was why she had never allowed any of her gentlemen callers to be confident in her affections for them except Ashley. True to her theory, he had not valued her. No, he had valued Melly over her.

Furthermore, if she married him, she would be unreceived just like him. She knew she was one step away from being kicked out of society because of her actions most of which this man had encouraged her to do. Rhett had continued talking and she had no idea what he had said, because she had not listened. It didn't matter. She would never accept. When he stopped talking, she said, "Take it back. We can just pretend you made another improper suggestion then we can go back to being friends."

"I don't want to go back to being friends. I have never wanted to be your friend."

Scarlett smiled sadly as she thought, 'That is probably the truest statement he has ever made in his entire life. No, he has never wanted to be my friend, just my lover.'

Scarlett tried again despite already knowing what Rhett would say. She said, "Please take it back. We can still be friends."

"I don't mind being your friend, but I also want to be your lover."

"Do you love me?"

"No, my dear, I'm not in love with you, no more than you are with me, and if I were, you would be the last person I'd ever tell. God help the man who ever really loves you. You'd break his heart, my darling, cruel, destructive little cat who is so careless and confident she doesn't even trouble to sheathe her claws."

Scarlett swallowed her tears. Until that moment she hadn't known how much she had wanted him to tell her he loved her. That she was more than just a body to him. She also realized how much she cared for him, but it was not to be. There would be no worse kind of torture than to be married to a man that she cared for who didn't care for her at all. She said, "No, thank you. I don't love you either."

"That should be no drawback. I don't recall that love was prominent in your other two ventures."

"I don't even like you."

"Again, that was not a drawback in your other two ventures."

Scarlett smiled. She calmly said, "I shall never marry again but especially not you."

"Why not me? I am a young man with a way with women and a very full bank account."

Scarlett smiled at Rhett. For a moment she thought about his bank account, but then she realized that all the money in the world would not be worth it if she had to put up with him and his buggy whip. If there had been even a little love on his part, she might have said yes, but there wasn't. There was just lust on his part and who knows what on her part for him. She would explore her feelings later. She said, "Because you would never let me bully you. You are right about everything I did to Frank, was because he let me bully him. Everything I did to Ashley was because he let me bully him. Everything I did to Charlie was because he let me bully him. Did you know that I bullied him into sleeping in a chair on our wedding night because I didn't want to have relations? Everything I did to all my beaus was because they let me bully them. You have made everything clear to me and I thank you for that. I am a bully, and I want to be in charge. I would never be happy if I wasn't in charge. You would never let me be in charge of anything."

Rhett stared at Scarlett with a stunned expression on his face. Where had the drunken young lady gone that was right in front of him only moments before. He had planned on bullying her into accepting his proposal or seducing her into accepting his proposal in her drunken state.