waiting for her outside the theater, but he was nowhere to be seen. Maurice insisted on walking her home.
She bade him good night at the door, assuring him she would be fine.
She dismissed Babette for the night, bathed quickly, slipped into a modest dark blue velvet dressing gown with a froth of lace at the throat. She lit several candles, filled a bowl with apples and cheese, placed a bottle of wine and two glasses on the table.
She was all aquiver by the time she heard his knock at the door.
Taking a deep breath, she crossed the room and opened the door.
He stood in the shadows as before, his face hidden in a hooded cloak as dark as the night.
"Gabriel," she exclaimed, her voice filled with joy. "Come in." She closed the door behind him, wishing she could keep him there forever. "Let me take your cloak."
"No."
"You needn't hide your face from me."
"Sara..."
She walked toward him, her hand out. "Let me take your cloak, Gabriel. It's warm in here, and you'll be more comfortable without it."
"I was thinking of your comfort."
"Your face doesn't distress me."
With a sigh of resignation, he removed his cloak and handed it to her. He knew how hideous he must look, the skin on his face and arms discolored and puckered by the heat of the sun, yet her smile faltered hardly at all as she looked at him.
Sara carried his cloak into her bedroom. For a moment, she pressed her face to the finely woven wool, breathing in his scent, and then she placed it carefully on the bed, her hands running over the material, pretending it was Gabriel her hand caressed and not his cloak.
When she returned to the parlor, he was sitting on the far end of the sofa, away from the candles that flickered on the table.
"Would you like something to eat?" Sara asked, gesturing toward the bowl of fruit and cheese. "Some wine?"
"A glass of wine," he said.
She filled two glasses, then sat down beside him.
"You were wonderful tonight," Gabriel remarked. "I have never seen anyone dance with such intensity, such joy."
"It was for you," Sara confessed quietly. "I knew you were out there, watching me, and I wanted to make you proud."
"You've done well, Sara Jayne. You are a ballerina without equal, just as you always dreamed."
"I owe it all to you, and I thank you for it with all my heart."
"No, cara. It was always there, within you. So, tell me, where do you go from here?"
"There's talk that the company will go on tour in the fall."
Gabriel nodded. "All the world should see you dance, cara," he said, and then frowned. "What's wrong?"
"I love dancing," Sara said, "but it isn't enough."
"You have the world at your feet. What more do you want?"
"I want you at my side."
As always, he retreated from her at the mention of anything personal between them.
Drawing on her courage, she put her goblet aside and then, taking his untouched glass from his hand and placing it on the table, she slid across the sofa and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Tell me you don't care," she said, her gaze intent upon his face. "Tell me you don't want me, and I'll never speak of it again."
"You know better than that," Gabriel replied, his voice rough. "I've wanted you, hungered for you, for years."
"Then why are we apart?"
"Because it is for the best."
"For whom?"
"For you, cara. You must trust me in this."
"No! You must trust mein this. It makes no sense for us to be apart."
"It makes more sense than you will ever know. You would do well to forget you ever knew me. Marry your young man. Dance for the world. Have children, and teach them to dance. It's what you were born for."
Sara shook her head. "No, Gabriel," she said fervently. "I was born for you."
With slow deliberation, she moved closer, until only a breath of air separated them.
And then she said the words he could not resist, and he knew he was lost. "Let me hold you."
His resolve melted like warm wax as she drew him into her arms. If he had any weakness besides his need to avoid the sun, it was his need to be held by this woman. She was sunlight to his darkness, eternal life to his infinite damnation.
For a long while, she held him close, and then she kissed him. She didn't close her eyes, nor did he. She saw the flame, bright as molten gold, that