Summary: Joe Cartwright makes a choice between his family and the woman he loves. (An extra scene for the Julia Bulette Story.)<\/p>\n
Rating: T\u00a0 \u00a0Word Count: 716<\/p>\n
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Standing outside her door, the resolve that had fueled him all the way into town was beginning to waver around the edges. It was over, she\u2019d said, though it had hardly even begun. She couldn\u2019t have meant it. He\u2019d heard the words, but he hadn\u2019t believed her. No, she was going to have to do better than that to convince him. He took a deep breath and knocked.<\/p>\n
Julia opened the door, clad in an emerald silk dressing gown accentuating her womanly charms, stealing his breath like she did the first time she welcomed him to her suite in the Palace.<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle Joe Cartwright. I’m surprised to see you since I thought I made myself clear yesterday.\u00a0 I have nothing more to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I have a few things I\u2019d like to say, if you don\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her brows quirked together; she didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease, Julia.\u201d<\/p>\n
She sighed, opening the door wider to let him in. \u201cI\u2019m rather pressed for time at the moment. What is it? What do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth. I want to hear it from you. In your words. Not someone else\u2019s.”<\/p>\n
Her measured reply was tinged with annoyance and doubt. \u201cWhy do people always insist on the truth when what they really want is the reassurance that they\u2019re right? Truth is opening a door that can never be closed again. It\u2019s rarely pure and never simple, and in some cases it can do more harm than good. If you ask me it\u2019s highly overrated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you\u2019re not even going to bother to defend yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hardly worth the trouble. Besides, it wouldn\u2019t make any difference. People are going to think whatever they want.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dThey don\u2019t know you like I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou only think you know me. You think I\u2019m sweet and soft, but how do you suppose I\u2019ve gotten to where I am today? I\u2019ve done things you wouldn\u2019t imagine, and if I had it to do over I\u2019d do them again. I’m that kind of woman, Little Joe. The kind that people whisper about; the kind a father warns his sons about. That is who I am.”<\/p>\n
Yes, he’d heard the whispers, he\u2019d been warned, but he wasn\u2019t inclined to listen. Not even to his father. Not when it came to her. If it was choice between the two of them, he had already made up his mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re so much more than that, Julia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I could be. For your sake.\u201d The wistfulness in her smile made her even more beautiful.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust tell me who you\u2019re protecting, and why?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho says I\u2019m protecting anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it\u2019s the only explanation I can come up with that makes any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust let it go. I\u2019m telling you, it doesn\u2019t matter. And for goodness sake, don\u2019t look so anguished. No one can hurt me.\u201d She poured herself a drink and raised her glass to him. \u201cNo one but you, my dear.\u201d<\/p>\n
How could she believe that? \u201cNot me. I would never.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t mean to, of course. But you\u2019ve been making it awfully hard for me not to fall in love with you. And believe me, that would be the absolute worst thing that could happen to both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was already crossing the room toward her when she said it. He took the drink from her hand and set it on the dresser. \u201cWould it?\u201d The question was settled in his mind. The bone-deep hunger he felt for this woman could be nothing short of love. \u201cIt\u2019s too late now anyway, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her mask had slipped, and he saw the truth. She didn\u2019t resist when he pulled her into his arms and placed a kiss on her exquisite neck just below her ear; trailing a line of kisses down her throat he felt her soften and yield to what was inevitable between them. But there was a catch in her voice when she cautioned him. \u201cYou don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He caressed her lips in a soft kiss, easing the robe from her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor in a puddle of green.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know exactly what I\u2019m doing.\u201d Spoken with the unfettered optimism of youth, when everything seemed possible and nothing out of reach.<\/p>\n
Words that would come back to haunt him.<\/p>\n
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END<\/p>\n