Sophie's heart stopped beating, and then thudded again hard at the sight of Lucien's efficient, smiling housekeeper. Her taxi melted away into the darkness as soon as the driver could see that she was safe, leaving her with no other option but to walk straight into the warmth of Lucien's lodge, through the door held unquestioningly open for her. Well, that was a good start.

"Sophie, come in. Lucien didn't warn me to expect you."

Her English was perfect, as always, lightly and warmly accented. Sophie smiled at the older woman, glad to be remembered and racking her brain to recall her name.

"He doesn't know I'm coming. It's sort of a surprise," she said, pulling off her mittens. Surprise didn't feel like the right word given the circumstances; it made her sound as if she were leaping out of a giant cake.

"Is he here?" The million-dollar question left her lips as she unwound her scarf and shrugged out of her coat. She hoped she didn't betray in her voice how much rested on the answer to that question.

Lucien's housekeeper nodded, and gestured to Sophie to take her boots off too.

"He's sleeping."

The unexpected answer made Sophie frown anxiously.

"Has his father...?" She trailed off, not able to articulate the question.

The housekeeper shook her head and laid a hand on Sophie's forearm.

"Not yet, but I don't think it will be long." Her gentle eyes were full of concern. "I'm very glad you're here Sophie. Lucien needs you."

"You really think so?" Sophie asked quietly, surprised by the older woman's words.

The housekeeper smiled and shook her head, as if there was so much she could say but chose not to. "Go on through. You know the way."

At the bedroom door, Sophie paused. It had only been a couple of days since she'd stood similarly braced outside Lucien's office, and she'd been running on adrenaline ever since. From the highs of anticipation to the crushing low of finding him absent, from the tense journey across Europe to find him, to here and now, breathless and anxious outside a different door. Sophie raised her hand to knock and then faltered. Was Lucien's housekeeper right? Did he need her? Or would her presence just make a difficult situation worse?

Stop it. You're here now. Just knock on the damn door.

Pep talk over, Sophie tapped gently against the pale wood. She listened closely, and when she heard no movement in the room beyond, she turned the handle and pushed it cautiously open.

He was here. Sophie sagged against the doorframe with relief, gladdened beyond words just to lay eyes on him. Her hand settled over her throat as she drank him in, feasting her hungry eyes on every feature of his face, on the contours of his chest revealed by the pushed down quilt in the warm room. He lay on his back, one arm splayed off the bed, and the soft glow from the bedside lamp bathed his skin amber. Sophie could have stood and looked at him for a lifetime.

He stirred then, his brow furrowing. What did he dream of? She moved into the room and closed the door, then stepped around the bed quietly so as not to wake him. The mattress was soft and welcoming as she lay down carefully alongside him, content to watch him sleep for a while even though her fingers itched to touch him.

He stirred again, that concentrated frown back on his face as his breathing turned shallower. Whatever was going on in his head, it didn't look restful.

"Sophie."

He breathed her name even though he had no idea that she was there, and it was enough to make her reach out and lay her hand on his cheek. He seemed to settle; the frown melted away and the rise and fall of his chest gentled. She could have taken that as her cue to remove her hand. She could have done, but she didn't. She left it there, letting her thumb stroke his high, proud cheekbone. Lucien seemed to sense her presence then; Sophie could feel him slowly passing from sleep towards wakefulness, until finally he turned his head a fraction and brushed a kiss against her wrist.

"I don't want to wake up and find you're not really here," he whispered, not yet opening his eyes.

"I'm really here."

His chest expanded and contracted as he breathed her in deep, covering her hand with his own for a second before he turned on his side to face her. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear gently, incomprehension in his eyes.

"How?"

Sophie laughed gently. "The way normal people do. Planes. Buses. Taxis."

He looked shell-shocked. "Why?"

The smile slipped from her face. "I heard... about your dad. Figured you could probably use a friend."

Lucien studied her face for endless seconds, his eyes more vulnerable than Sophie could ever recall. "I'm not sure we're friends, Sophie Black."

"No?" Sophie had to force the quiet word past the fear that constricted her throat.

He shook his head and sighed heavily, reaching out for her. She moved into the circle of his arms and clung to him. Or did he cling to her? He crushed her against his chest, and Sophie held him right back. It wasn't just a 'hello' hug. It was a 'thank God you're here' hug. Lucien's hand clasped the back of her head to his chest, and for long moments everything around them stopped existing. There was just this man and this woman, melded together by emotion and relief.

His skin was bed warm under her hands and her mouth, and she only loosened her grip on him when he reached down and tugged her sweater over her head. And then her jersey top. He glanced down finally at her white, long-sleeved thermal vest, traces of amusement alongside the rawness in his blue eyes.

"This is like pass the fucking parcel. Tell me this is the last one?"

"Almost," Sophie breathed, knowing that the final layer would please him far more than those that had gone before. He peeled her vest from her body, and a small guttural moan of appreciation rumbled in his throat as he looked at her breasts clad in ivory chantilly lace.

"I like this," he said, tracing his index finger slowly over the scalloped edge of first one cup and then the other. Sophie closed her eyes, and Lucien dipped his head and kissed her eyelids, his other hand on her bra clasp behind her back.

Her pulse jumped up as he flicked it open, up again when he eased the straps down her shoulders and bared her breasts to his waiting eyes. She could feel his erection through the sheet as he dragged her against him again, skin on skin and all the more intimate for it. It wasn't a 'thank God you're here' hug. It was an 'I'm going to fuck you senseless' hug.

"I've missed you so much, princess," he whispered, filling his hands with her hair as he tipped her head back in search of her mouth.

His kiss scorched her. Tender at first, holding back, and then devouring, as if he was starving and wanted to eat her whole. Sophie met him head on, dragging him closer, tasting inside his mouth with her tongue. Delicious.