He was initially a bit taken aback at how easily she saw through him, exposing him so thoroughly upon the ramparts that he might as well have been naked. Any normal sarcastic, gruff reply died on his tongue, the silence conveying what mild embaressment flushed up in him at her words, each and every one of them correct and leaving no room for his excuses or arguments. He silence said volumes, for once having relinquished the field to one who read him like a book. He wasn't used to being put so firmly in his place, especially from a slight of a girl who at no time had raised her voice louder then a gentle hum. He found it greatly vexing, but couldn't find the heart to voice his opinions on the matter, preoccupied as he was with trying to cover as much of her lips with his own as he could manage.

It was too late, far too late. He knew that whether he wanted to or not, he would save this woman when the stars fell down from her sky. He would wrap her up and take her away when the tide came in again to sweep the world clean. "How easily you make me a liar," he sighed in a half surrender, each word brushing his lips over her swollen ones. Then he was moving up the line of her jaw to kiss away the few tears from her freckled cheeks, his version of apologizing for being the way he was. Kisses that were soft, much soften then could be expected from such a harsh man. His mouth touched upon her cheekbones, her nose, each petal-soft eyelid and back again, all the while he was leaning his weight against her to move her back toward the low rampart directly behind them.

"Move bunny," he growled low to the hare perched like a stone statue on the rampart wall, watching his mistress with eyes the size of marbles. Joel's hands slid in one fluid motion down to Nimueh's thin waist, circling her ribcage to lift her with ease to sit where her familiar had just previously kept post. Giving her no time to create a space between their bodies, he moved forward to wedge himself between her knees, a position that normally would have been wraught with sexuality. But he stood only so close as to bind his arms behind her back, rubbing small circles there in a shushing fashion, and rested his forehead against hers with another sigh. His strong arms would keep her from falling but there was little to be done about the way he was falling head first into a trouble neither of them really deserved to cause the other.

"You deserve to be her to someone though," he told her sadly, feeling all at once selfish because he knew he would not let another man look at her lewdly let alone touch her. "I am wrong and unfair to steal that from you. I'm not a selfless man, never claimed to be. But you could try harder not to encourage me, you know."