A/N: Ok guys I think I am gonna cry. I have loved the experience of posting WwD and getting such positive feedback! You have all helped me to become a better writer. SO here is the chapter, shout outs will be after….

Without further ado here is (tear…hiccup)….

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Chapter 17

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With a Few Scrapes Mixed In Of Course

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After a quiet and tense ride home, Thomas and I silently got out of the carriage once we reached Grosvenor’s Square. The police cart that had been following us continued on into the stable. I watched them enter and then turned away knowing that Cobbs would no longer be in my employment and sharing a jail cell with Nathaniel. I led Thomas up to the house, opened the door and walked into the front parlor. There did not appear to be anyone about; there were no servants visible and Jon and Anne were probably still at the ball. The grandfather clock started to chime and I was shocked to realize that it was only twelve o’clock. Surprisingly, the entire scene from my kidnapping to Nathaniel’s arrest had only taken six hours. Without speaking I led the way into my office, closing the door once Thomas had entered the room.

I stood for a moment with my palms resting on the cool wood of the door. I was in a state of shock and disarray. My gown was barely staying on me due to the fact that it was supported by only one partially torn strap. My mask was gone, probably removed sometime in between being kidnapped from the ball and being tied to Nathaniel’s bed. My hair was almost totally down, due to the many strenuous events of the night. The only part of my attire that had remained intact was the obsidian stone still around my neck. The necklace reminded me of Thomas, that idiot, I added with a grimace.

I was still furious over how he had reacted to my successful rescue attempt, but my anger had faded from an all consuming rage to mild fury on the ride home. As I silently sat across from him, I realized that based on Thomas’ reaction it was doubtful that he could ever feel anything towards me besides anger. I was exasperated with him, but my anger was for the most part overshadowed by my love for him. Seeing Nathaniel point a gun at him had scared me witless and I had done the only thing that I could think of, protect him. I loved Thomas enough to risk my own life for him, and instead of being thankful he was furious. I didn’t understand him at all. Besides, he probably wanted nothing more than to be free of me. I could practically feel my heart shatter. I knew that Thomas was going to say that he wanted to break off the engagement and announce it in the morning. I didn’t think that I could bear it. I couldn’t stand there like an idiot and watch him walk out of my life.

I took a deep breath. “Thomas,” I started as I finally turned away from the door, “there is something we need to discuss.”

“Yes, I know.” He studied me for a moment then looked away. “Kate, I am so sorry that I brought all of this upon you. If it weren’t for me, you never would have met Nathaniel or had to go through the torture I’ve put you through this season. I deeply regret all the hurt I’ve caused you. No doubt you will be glad to be rid of me.”

“Is that how you feel?” I asked softly. “Will you be happy to be rid of me as well?”

My question was greeted with silence. Thomas had turned away from me and refused to meet my eyes. I felt an iron grip lock about my heart. There was no way that he loved me.

“Thomas…” When he still did not answer, I left my place at the door and moved over to him. I softly placed my hand on his arm. “What is it?”

Thomas looked at my pale hand against the stark black fabric covering his arm. “Nothing,” he said without any emotion. “In fact everything is just the way it should be. Nathaniel is going to jail and Sebastian will become the rightful heir to the Hartford legacy. The season is almost over and you will no longer have to pretend to be my fiancée…tomorrow I will pay off the rest of the debt and announce the termination of our engagement.”

Stunned by his cold mechanical tone, I quickly removed my hand and stepped back. I felt like I had been dunked in icy water. The little spark of hope within me promptly extinguished itself.

“After tomorrow, you can live your life however you want. Anne will most likely be married soon and Jon will be going to university, and you’ll finally be able to do what you want. You’ll probably find some chap and get married. You can be happy, just like you deserve to be,” he finished grimly.

I turned away from him, not wanting him to see the tears welling up in my eyes. “No, I don’t think that that is an option for me. Happiness, just isn’t something I w- was meant to have.” I could not control the tremor in my voice.I looked down and saw the lamplight glint off my ring. I struggled to pull it off my finger. It had molded to my skin and I really had to tug to get it off. When I had finally removed it, I looked at it for a moment. Then I stuck my hand out behind me in Thomas’ direction. “This is yours, I believe.” I felt Thomas touch my outstretched hand and the feel of his skin touching mine made me shiver slightly. He began to push it back to me.

“You keep it,” he insisted quietly.

“No, I can’t!” Without thinking I turned to Thomas. “Please just take it back. I don’t want it.” Thomas took one look at my face and pulled me closer to him.

“Kate, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” he asked with concern.

“How can you not know what’s wrong, you idiot?!” I exclaimed, suddenly overcome with emotion.

“I don’t understand-”

“Of course you don’t. Why would you? Anyone else could have taken one look at me and realized that I was in love with you. Everyone else has. But no, not you Thomas, Viscount bloody Allenwood! I love you so much that I risked my life to protect you and all I get is derision,” I ranted. Tears were streaming down my face, but I didn’t care. I was totally angry and frustrated. Frustrated because Thomas was too dense to realize what was right in front of his stunned face.

“You love me?” he asked with wonder. His blue eyes were opened wide and he appeared to be in shock.

“Yes I love you! I’ve been in love with you since I was four, for your bloody information, I just didn’t know it then. But it doesn’t matter does it, because you don’t lov-” Thomas closed the space between us and put his finger over my mouth. I stared into his eyes and was shocked when he moved closer and replaced his finger with his lips. Thomas gently caressed my mouth with his own, causing shivers to run up and down my entire body. His lips were warm and soft, brushing over mine invitingly as the kiss deepened. His checks grazed my own, which were damp from my tears. He wrapped his arms around my back and I settled into his embrace.

Much too quickly, he pulled away. “I love you Kate.”

Needless to say I was shocked. For a second, all I could do was struggle to breath. I managed to spit out, “You do?”

He smiled at the expression of surprise on my face. “Yes, how could you not have seen it?”

“But I thought you hated me,” I replied unsure.

“Hate you, no. Angry with you yes, but I have never hated you Kate. I was angry that you put yourself at risk tonight. I don’t know what I would have done if anything happened to you. Seeing that gun pressed into your temple made my heart stop.”

“But you wanted to end the engagement,” I supplied after a quiet moment.

“I only said that because I thought it was what you wanted. I didn’t think that you could ever want me as I want you.”

“But I do.” Without waiting for Thomas to respond, I leaned forward and kissed him again. I poured myself into the kiss, letting him feel all the emotions that I couldn’t put into words. I wrapped my arms around his neck and lost myself in him. I could not remember anything ever feeling more right than having Thomas’ lips pressed against my own. I ran my fingers through the silk of his hair and felt unrequited joy fill me to bursting. Then Thomas pulled back slightly, enough to stare intently into my eyes.

“Marry me? For real this time,” he questioned softly and with enough passion to make me shiver. As I gazed up at him I realized that there was a light in his eyes that had not been there before.

“My Lord, there is nothing I would like better than to be your Viscountess,” I responded with enthusiasm. Thomas bent down and picked the ring up from where I had dropped it on the floor during my moment of absolute shock. Grinning ear to ear, he replaced it where it had been on my finger. I felt laughter bubble up inside me as he drew me back into him.

“See Jon, I told you he’s always been in love with her!”

Thomas and I pulled apart in surprise to find Anne and Jon grinning at us like Cheshire cats from the office door.

“Anne!” I cried with no small amount of embarrassment.

“Well it’s true,” she said with a gleeful laugh, ever so the pixie she was dressed as.

“It is you know,” Thomas agreed matter of factly.

“Really now?” I pulled back a little to gaze into his eyes.

“Yes,” he replied with a smirk. “Deep down I think I’ve always loved you, even with the pigtails. Goodness knows what I would do without you. Getting you out of scrapes takes up most of my time.”

“Don’t you mean getting into scrapes? Considering I am the one that gets you out of them,” I corrected with my own smirk.

“Dear one, I think it’s the other way around,” he responded with that superior smile of his.

“Oh be quiet,” I ordered. Thomas responded by grinning devilishly and pulling me back into his arms. On the outer reaches of my consciousness I heard Jon say, “Come on Anne,” followed by the sound of the door clicking shut, and their retreating footsteps.

Once more I pulled back and looked him straight in the eyes. I was wearing my most serious expression as I said, “I need you to know that I would never be like Rebecca. I love you Thomas, not your money, not your title or anything else; just you.”

He looked startled for a moment. “You know about Rebecca?”

“Yes…I asked your mother and she told me everything. I am so sorry that she happened to you, but you have to know that I would never do what she did and I am so sorry for everything that happened with Nathaniel, he meant absolutely nothing to me” I finished nervously, slightly out of breath.

Thomas smiled comfortingly down at me, and his arms gathered me a little closer to his chest. “I know what kind of person you are Kate, and I know that you would never do what she did. Rebecca was a selfish person who never cared about anyone else, me especially. But you are different Kate. You put everyone else before yourself; Jon, Anne, even me. You risked your life for me tonight Kate, and I am extremely grateful. I trust you and I am mad for you utterly and completely, you little hoyden,” he laughed.

Thomas’ words dissolved all my fears. “I really do love you, my lord,” I informed him, unable to keep a stupidly huge grin from spreading across my face. Then I leaned in to kiss him once again and let myself concentrate solely on the moment, knowing that I had a life’s worth of happy times to look forward to, with a few scrapes mixed in of course.

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THE END

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A/N: SO, Kate and Thomas finally got through all their crap and discovered they both had feelings for each other. Yay for happy endings! I would like to give some shout outs for all the people who have helped me along the way.

Harvey the Pooka: What can I say, you are awesome! Your reviews always manage to make me smile and laugh out loud! Seriously. Thank you so much for all of your support. And I hope the ending was warm and fuzzy enough for you!

Babixbunny: aka the smart cookie! Thank you for all the great reviews you’ve left me.

SilverHawk: I hope that ending didn’t make you put out with me, haha! Thank you for all of your reviews, they were always great and helpful!

Birley-whirligig: Thank you for all your reviews. And as for Anne, I’m thinking of starting a sequel sometime in the near future, but it probably won’t be finished for a while.

Alaine: I’m glad my story is one of your favorites. Thanx for all your reviews.

Midnight1004: Haha! I’m glad you liked the Nathaniel getting his ass kicked moment! Thanx for your reviews.

LadyWriter: Yes, Nathaniel is a psycho…that was the angle I was going for…haha! But he’s still a somewhat sexy psycho…but not sexy enough to ever forgive him or anything…lol…Thanx for yur reviews!

kAIT REDFERN: Your reviews are always well thought out and long, and whenever I found one in my mailbox I was always excited. You thought about my characters like I do and that in itself is awesome. Thank you for everything!

Cerin: I really hope you read the beginning chapters, otherwise some things don’t make sense later on. I can’t think of anything specific, but believe me, lol! Thanx for all the reviews!

Oodles of thanks to: Kat1989, buttshovingmonster (great pen name!), Sarah, MissyMay, SendinOut-a-SOS, Lady Scarlet Hope, MimiGhost, octy88, Dawn, PhiloNysh (you used the word spiffy, Awesome!), queen-lala, Reina Lucille, Kelly Melly

Ok, so now that WwD is finally all done and posted I am going to devote the rest of my summer (possibly the rest of my life) to trying to get this baby published in the real world. It is my dream to see my novel on the shelf at Barnes & Noble. If that happens I will of course, give you all signed copies. Cross your fingers for me.

As for sequels I will begin one soon, but I don’t think I’ll be posting it for a while, because I like to make sure everything works well together before I let other people see it. After all WwD took over a year of writing and editing. For the as yet untitled sequel I believe I will focus on Anne, who will most likely fall for someone (actually now that I think about it this person will fall for her first). We met him in this story (and no it won’t be Nathaniel who is forever going to rot in prison). I’ll give you a hint as to who it is; I once compared him to a Greek Adonis. But like I said I haven’t started anything yet or thought of plot.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience posting and I hope you will all review now that the story is finished. I will miss hearing from you all everyday, and if any of you want to talk my e-mail is and my aim screen name is dragonett6. Thank you all and I hope you enjoyed reading the story, because I certainly enjoyed writing it!

Sincerely,

Dragonett6

Aka. Aurora L. Slothus