When I arrived back at Thornfield, it seemed different yet again.

Every time I departed, something monumental shifted in my life, each instance besting the last even though they came with a blow. Aunt Sarah demanded my presence before she died, though she gave me my name. Then Mr. Briggs delivered me a fortune, but my uncle was no longer among the living.

Now I was Jane Eyre, heiress. What a curious creature!

Before taking my leave of the café, I’d signed a plethora of papers, and then Mr. Briggs had departed for London on the very next train, promising to call me when all funds and assets were transferred and accessible. He’d shaken my hand and told me I could call him for advice anytime I wished.

Never again would I see a zero pound balance on my account.

Never again would I have to search for employment.

Never again would I go hungry and cold.

My world had expanded and exploded all at once, and every one of the things I wished to see and explore were now mine to behold. I could do anything, but it was a shame the one thing I wanted could not be bought.

The very same night when I returned to Thornfield, I sat among the staff at dinner, and I beheld a surge of strength like I’d never felt before. I was no longer bound to a man, circumstance, or employment. I needn’t cower before Edward Rochester nor Blanche Ingram, for I was now strong enough to stand on my own two feet without fear of toppling over.

That was how I came to the conclusion the library was the place for me even though it held so many painful memories of passion long past. Deep down, I knew I was tempting fate by lingering here, but still, I came as I now bore the armor that would protect me.

Even though I’d given back the key to the locked cabinets, I was still free to pull a tome from the one accessible shelf, so that was what I did. Perched on the window seat, I thumbed through the pages, my mind still spinning. My eyes skimmed the words but could not absorb them, so I turned toward the grounds and the horizon. The sky was brilliant this evening, and the final lingering touches of light gave the sky a muted bluish tone, the horizon greenish yellow. Strange but it was apt for Thornfield.

“Did you enjoy your day in the village, Jane?”

I sighed at the sound of Edward’s voice and set the book down. He never said hello.

“You can never surprise me anymore,” I replied, turning my gaze out the window instead of toward him. “Have you installed a tracking device on my person? Should I be searching for mysterious lumps about my body?”

“I see you are feeling better,” he replied with amusement. “Your wit is still sharp as a knife.”

“I am well, apart from a few fading bruises. How are you? Are you drunk this evening?”

“Not at all. I have learned my lesson.”

Silence opened between us, the air heavy with so many things left unsaid.

I began to feel like a hypocrite after the day’s events, especially considering the grief I’d given Edward in the past. I had my own secret now, but it wasn’t a devil like his. No, my secret was an angel in disguise. I had a name and a fortune, and I kept it hidden, lest it influence the love I wished him to give freely.

Was I now the cruel one? No, perhaps I was only cautious.

“You have changed, Jane,” he murmured, causing me to look upon him.

“How so?” I asked, studying his familiar features.

After all we had been through, the sight of his handsome face excited me still. He stood a handful of paces away from me and I rued the day he learned to tread so silently, but I could not bring myself to scold him any further. The expression on his face was soft and inviting—a complete departure from the Edward Rochester of yore.

“You’re stronger somehow,” he replied. “You seem more sure of the things you say, and there is power in the way you hold yourself.”

I lowered my gaze. Had my change in circumstance marked me so plainly? I suppose it had.

“Jane, I know you must abhor me for letting that woman into Thornfield, but would you humor me and talk a while?”

My gaze darted up and met his. “You think I hate you? I do not.”

Edward’s brow creased, and he stepped closer. “You don’t? You would be well within your rights.”

I shook my head, unable to form the right words to explain how much I didn’t hate him. Truthfully, I didn’t know what I felt. It wasn’t as clear-cut as it had once been.

“Jane…”

He was lost for words, and it was so uncharacteristic I found myself turning toward him. Standing, I closed the space between us, my gaze fixed firmly upon his.

“Now you must tell me every thought in your head,” I murmured. “Just as you wished me to tell you mine. I must know them.”

“Such strong conviction you have,” he replied. “Do you stand so firm in your belief of my potential you linger when you should run?”

I scoffed, tilting my head to the side. “All this time, you’ve tricked me into remaining despite your circumstances, and you choose now to warn me away? You, sir, are quite mad.”

“You know I cannot speak plainly.”

“No, you cannot. Nor can you act it.”

He lowered his head. “I am a fool, Jane.”

I hesitated, his admission yet another thing to add to the list of that day’s strange happenings.

“I went about it all wrong,” he said. “I asked you to risk it all while I risked nothing. I demanded you make sacrifices so I could have it all my own way. I have many barriers, of that you are correct, but I cannot remove them all. Not all at once. It is a terrible habit, my closeness, and it will take time.”

Apparently, in the days he’d been absent and I’d been off inheriting millions, he’d been doing some soul-searching of his own.

“What are you asking me?” I whispered, perplexed.

“Let me… Let me try to make things better.” His eyes were ablaze with fire, his desire completely apparent. “Jane… I am asking you to give me another chance. I am your humble servant.”

I stared at him, hardly believing he was offering to make concessions. In all my wildest dreams, I’d never thought Edward would relinquish his power for me. Not Jane Eyre, heiress, but Jane Doe, nobody.

He took my silence to mean I wasn’t interested, and his speech continued. “I saw you lying on the ground, twisted and bleeding… It triggered a change in me. It was as if the fog in my mind lifted and all was clear. I knew I’d made a grave mistake allowing you to walk away that day on the moor, but I reacted badly. I turned to the worst possible person, and I regret it. I should have conceded when you asked. I don’t know how to repair the damage, Jane, so you need to tell me what to do. I have never been loved before, nor have I loved in return.”

I drew in a shaky breath, my hands trembling and my knees weakening. Knowing all the things I did, I knew it would be smart to cut and run, but love was nonsensical when it came to making life-altering decisions.

“I wish to be your equal,” I said quietly. “I wish to be regarded with kindness and trust. I wish to be wholly invited into your heart and mind as I would allow you to reside in mine. You must talk to me and allow me to share your burdens, for that is what love is. Forgiveness, trust, attraction, and companionship always.”

“It is no small thing…”

“Truly, love is the largest thing on the face of this earth.”

He nodded, his gaze falling to my mouth before rising to meet mine once more. He was tense, his entire body coiled like a spring, and when I gave him my permission, he wasted no time in springing forth.

His arm wound around my waist, and he pulled me gently toward him. When his lips met mine, it ignited a fire so hot it was as if we’d never been parted.

I felt his touch keenly—even though his hands held me as if I were going to shatter—and I wound my arms around his neck. We stood as close as we were able, my body melding against his, relishing the familiarity of his embrace. I delighted in his taste and expert kiss, taking my full until I was forced to tear my lips away for a breath.

“I am happy, Jane,” he murmured.

“I am not to be trifled with,” I replied, my fingers winding into his shirt. “I have learned a great many things since that day on the moor, and I have only strengthened. I will not settle for half-truths.”

“I daresay you won’t,” was his reply. “Will you stay at Thornfield? Do you still intend to leave?”

I traced the line of his jaw, noting his usual scruffy beard was a little more unkempt than usual. “I don’t know. The entire world conspires to force me to remain, yet I feel as if I am always apart.”

“That is going to change, Jane,” he said, his stormy eyes watching my changing expression. “If you want to leave, then I shall come with you where I can. Business binds me, and that, I cannot change.”

I shivered as his palm came to rest on my cheek, his thumb stroking back and forth. “Nor should you. It is your livelihood and your family legacy. Those are important things.”

“I want you to be part of my life, Jane,” he went on. “Whether it’s at Thornfield or somewhere else, it doesn’t matter. I want you beside me. It will take some time until it can be fully realized, but I want it.”

I frowned, my mind mulling over all the possibilities he’d presented.

“Don’t look so forlorn, Jane,” he said. “I have just tasted your lips, and like a man who has been lost in the desert for the last seven months, I have yet to take my fill. That frown alarms me.”

“It’s just… Suddenly, there are many choices to be made, and all my life, I have only had one to make.”

“And what was that?”

“To survive.”

It was Edward’s turn to frown, and he pulled me into his arms, encasing my body against his in a gentle embrace. His cheek rested against the top of my head, and I allowed myself to drown in his tenderness.

“I must leave tomorrow,” he murmured.

“Tomorrow?” My heart sank. To be parted from him so soon after our cautious reconciliation was a blow.

“I have pressing business in Paris, I’m afraid,” he confirmed. “I don’t want to leave just yet, but I can’t neglect it.”

“Then it is a rock and a hard place,” I retorted, pulling away from him.

“Please stay until I return,” he said, his hands encasing my shoulders.

“Why?”

“Why?” he asked, his eyebrows rising. “I see your wickedness remains still, or perhaps it was there all along, and now you have the confidence to wield it. Barriers remain, that is true, but not where your tongue is involved.”

“You ask me to wait like a woman in the seventeenth century,” I replied, attempting to hide my smile. “It is the year two thousand, sir, and I can go where I wish!”

“You have nothing wicked to say about your tongue?” he asked, grinning.

“No, I must not tempt you.”

“And why wouldn’t you want to?” he asked, his voice rasping as he made his desire known to me. “I crave you, Jane. I want to be inside you, to taste you upon my tongue, to whisper dirty endearments into your ear as I take you. Do you remember that day in the forest?”

I nodded, my mouth feeling dry as he pressed against me. I could feel how much he wanted to take things further, but I still hesitated.

“It haunts my dreams,” he whispered, his lips pressing against my ear. “My body needs yours just as much as my heart and mind. Stay with me tonight.”

My body was screaming at me to submit, to fall to my knees before him, but my head said no. I must be cautious this time and not throw myself headfirst into the unknown as passionately as before. I wanted this to last more than a handful of months. I was afraid of unknowingly submitting before the truth was laid bare between us. My newfound secret and his demons.

I shook my head, quivering under the firmness of his touch.

His disappointment was clear. “No?”

“No, I cannot. Not yet.”

“Then I shall kiss you thoroughly, Jane.”

Grasping my face, he kissed me full on the mouth, pouring his overflowing passion into his rough ministrations. His tongue twined with mine, exploring greedily, his fingers curling into my hair and holding me firm.

I held him to me, my arms coiled tightly around his waist as we moved against one another in a slow erotic dance. My senses were in overdrive, and all I could feel was my rising pleasure, the scales tipping dangerously into the territory of lust. It was almost too much to handle, and my resolve started to waver as my mind conjured wicked memories of passion past.

When Edward could bear no more, he pulled away, a moan bursting from his lips.

“Promise me you’ll wait, Jane,” he said. “I don’t know what I can give you or how, but promise me you’ll allow me to try. This cannot be the last I see of you.”

“You’re a fool, Mr. Rochester,” I replied, gazing at him with as much longing as he did me. “I care for you more than I ought to, considering the mystery that surrounds you and this dreary house. I would not have let you touch me or even kiss my lips as you have done twice if I did not accept your offer.”

He swallowed hard and nodded, clearly still apprehensive about the things he kept hidden.

I continued, “I shall remain here, and when you return from Paris, we will talk about what happens next.”

I ran my fingertips over his lips, delighting in the feel of him against my skin. What a curious change of circumstance this entire day had wrought on my little world. I never believed, but now I saw it was true what people said about lives changing in an instant. It was the very thing that had happened here.

“Then it is promised completely,” Edward whispered. “I shall not disappoint you.”

“And I will be sure to hold you to your word.” I pressed a soft kiss against his lips. “Goodnight, sir.”

“Goodnight, my sweet Jane. Until I return…”