"Are you asking me to marry you?" Scarlett asked Rhett.

Rhett threw his head back and laughed at her.

"Haven't I told you I am not a marrying man? Dear I'm crediting your intelligence by asking you to be my mistress without having seduced you first."

Scarlett had a temper like a powder keg, and Rhett couldn't help himself sometimes he likes to strike a match and watch her explode. He loved the way her eyes would gleam and the rapid rise and fall of her bosom. He loved it when she tried to pretend to be a lady, but her true nature always came through despite her best efforts. He couldn't wait for her reaction to his suggestion.

Scarlett knew that a true lady would be furious. She knew that her mother or Melanie would throw Rhett Butler off the porch vowing that they never wanted to see him ever again. But Scarlett was curious. Her skin was still tingling where Rhett had planted kisses on her palm minutes ago. No man before had made the pit of her stomach grow cold or made her skin crawl in that delicious way before. Scarlett was also lonely; she needed some kind of male companionship. She had unpleasant memories of Charles's awkward fumbling during their brief marriage, but she was confident that Rhett wouldn't be awkward at all.

"We'd be more discreet than you are with that Watling woman? I mean, I guess we would be on the same footing, but I do have a reputation to protect."

Rhett almost choked on the smoke from his cigar. This was not at all the reaction he had suspected at all. He was waiting on the anger, to be tossed off the porch; not being asked questions about discretion. He wondered if she knew how silly it was to be worried about reputation when you were contemplating becoming someone's mistress, but that was Scarlett for you. Dear God, now she was saying something about babies.

"I'm sorry, Scarlett, I missed what you just said."

"I said, you are a worldly man, you must know ways to make sure I don't have any babies. I would have no way to explain how I came to be with child."

"Um…Yes I am aware of some methods." She had to be toying with him. There was no way she could really be considering this. Rhett wondered if he should tell her that he had been joking with her. He should tell her that he was just hoping of sparking her temper, but he was also curious as to just how far she would carry this out.

Scarlett could not believe that she was sitting on a porch having this conversation. Her mother and Mammy would be so disappointed that they hadn't been able to turn her into a proper lady. She consoled herself by thinking that strange things have been happening all over the south because of the war. Even this she knew would not be an argument that anyone would listen to if her actions were to be found out.

"How do we do this Rhett? You can't come here Mrs. Meade and Mrs. Merriweather keep a close eye on me and Melly." The old pea hens were probably watching her most likely, but seeing how she was about to become a mistress maybe they had a point.

"Most men keep a house for their mistress's to live in but I'm guessing you aren't looking for that. You'll have to come to my hotel room."

"Oh, Rhett half the town will see me if I just go traipsing through the hotel on my way to your room."

"There's an entrance in the back of the motel, you should be able to sneak in there. I'm staying in room 231."

"Afternoons between one and three o'clock would be the only time I could possibly come over, will that be okay? Tomorrow?" Scarlett was glad the porch was dark; she had turned bright red from her forward conduct.

"Afternoons will be fine, but not tomorrow I have some business that I need to see to. How about the next day?" Rhett wondered who was going to cave first. He knew there was no way she was going to make an appearance in his hotel room. But he also knew that Scarlett was like him and neither one wanted to be the one that backed down.

"That's fine. And Rhett, you still have to call here on occasion. We can't have people thinking our relationship has changed."

"I will play the part of the besotted suitor of the Widow Hamilton. Look forward to seeing you the day after tomorrow." He tipped his hat and left the porch.

Scarlett's had shivers of excitement coursing through her body. She was a little disappointed that he couldn't meet her tomorrow, but she could wait another day. She went upstairs to her bedroom with a mischievous smile on her face.