Harnessed Passions (7 page)

"I am from England, though many women find
my accent attractive, even erotic.” He laughed when her expression
turned a shade of pink, choosing to ignore it. “My mother was also
Italian and my British. I suppose that's why I like lasagna and
crumpets so much."

"I'm hot and sweaty," she
snorted, passing off the seductive wink he supplied her with as she
turned her back to him. "If you'll excuse me, I'm in need of a cool
bath,"
or a very cold
one
, she added silently. "I'm sure Mrs.
Lester can scrounge you up some spaghetti and snails, or whatever
it is you people eat." She glanced over at the elderly woman, whose
rough stocky exterior gave no hint to her truly gentle
nature.

"I'm not much on insects and I thought
spaghetti was a Chinese invention not Italian?" his wink at Mrs.
Lester made the older woman chuckle. She quickly cleared her throat
to hide her amusement and continued with preparing the evening
meal.

"As for your bath Little Princess," he
called after her as Julia walked down the hall to the back stairs.
"I'm an excellent back scrubber and I come with references."

"I have no doubt of that, but I'd rather
bathe with lye. I think it's a bit safer." Julia smiled to herself,
climbing the stairs to the top floor.

Daniel remained in the kitchen; his hearty
full laughter lingered with her as she closed her bedroom door. She
had to admit, the man was very handsome and extraordinarily sexy,
even if he was forward and irritating. Two factors she often found
undesirable and avoided at all costs. She had no time to get
involved with anybody let alone her father's lawyer, she told
herself, even though the thought of his hands massaging her back
brought prickles to her aching long, so there was no sense in
starting something she knew she'd never be capable of finishing.
Boston was a long way from here and she was certain she would be
back there before the year was up.

Daniel stayed on through supper, retiring to
the library at Victor's request for coffee and dessert. He and
Julia remained quiet as they sat opposite each other in chairs
beside the veranda, listening as Victor and Louise discussed the
arrangements for his funeral and how Louise would conduct her life,
once it was all over. They laughed about all the old boyfriends she
would run into when she visited the East coast on her way to see
her cousins in Europe, and how long she would have to wait until
she remarried.

Although Daniel knew it was merely a cover
up, a way of hiding their grief and true feelings, he could see in
Julia's face, the pain and confusion over her parents’ reaction. He
watched her for several long minutes, hoping for a break in the
conversation so he could change the subject and involve the woman
in a more natural subject. When that didn't happen he was forced to
remain silent and watch, like an outsider spying through the
curtains on an unsuspecting scene.

Julia's head ached from the conversation and
she found her parents' laughter, callous and barbaric. As the
conversation continued she discovered her temper slipping and was
forced to seek out the privacy of the warm evening in an attempt to
retain her sanity. She stepped through the large glass doors and
out onto the shaded porch beyond. The air was humid and the sky was
clear with a temperature that seemed almost unbearable; but it
wasn't enough to force Julia back inside. She inhaled the heated
breeze, finding seclusion in a corner far enough away from the open
doors so the laughter from inside couldn't be heard.

She sat in a small settee, unbinding her
hair from the braid she usually wore and shaking it loose. She
removed her slippers and raised her feet to the small table in
front of her. Her skirts rose slightly, revealing her slender
ankles and calves as she adjusted her position and laid her head
back against the cushions. She closed her eyes against the painful
thoughts that had been ravaging her soul since she returned to
Kentucky and tried desperately to clear her mind.

Visions erupted all around her, death, pain,
loneliness, compelling her to think of something else, anything
except reality. She closed her eyes tighter, recalling the images
of her life in Boston, beckoning them to dance behind her closed
lids. She smiled as she thought of her extraordinary, lively
existence waiting for her back in New England.

Her life with her mother's youngest sister
and brother-in-law was far from conventional. She had a lavish
room, an extravagant allowance for caring for their three children
and freedom to shop and lunch with her friends as often as she
wished. She met many new and interesting people since her uncle was
the Mayor of Boston and entertaining was upmost on her own list of
priorities. She loved to dance, and flirting with all the young men
was a favorite pastime. She had many suitors, though none were the
type that stole her breath as she had always dreamed. She and
Heather would sit and talk for hours about the lovers they planned
on having; romantic, chivalrous, passionate and endearing. What
more could a woman want?

The smile that crossed over her delicate
features was honest and unrestrained as she thought of how easily
she fit in with the lifestyle of Boston. Nobody knew she had come
from a horse farm in Kentucky. Although her father's stables were
anything but common, she still felt simple and plain. She hated
anyone to know she lived on a farm with horses; it made her feel so
mediocre.

Julia's smile was soon replaced, much like
her present circumstances, by a shadow of reality. She thought of
how distressing her life at present was and what it was that chased
her from Kentucky in the first place. If it hadn’t been for
Heather’s death, she may never have left here five years ago; but
it was because of that horrible day that she decided to leave and
never look back. As a result, she found a life she enjoyed and a
world so different from where she started out.

Still, she knew she would have to face the
fact she may never again leave Mayfield or her father's legacy; she
was here to stay and sooner or later she would have to come to
terms with her destiny. She thought of how she would have to write
to Lena and Rupert and tell them she would never be coming back.
She would have to tell her little cousins good-bye and pray they
wouldn't forget her too quickly. Then there were her friends to
consider. How was she to tell them she was forced to stay on her
family ranch and pretend to know what she was doing, when most of
them didn’t even know she was from a farm to begin with?

Daniel had seen the expression on Julia's
face when she left the room. It was one of anguish and disapproval.
As soon as he thought it was safe - for reasons of protocol - he
followed her out to the veranda where he found her resting in the
small settee. She looked intriguing, with her bare feet and lower
legs perched high on the table in front of her. Her long hair hung
loose from its restraints and circled about her shoulders and
across the arm of the chair, falling to rest on the floor of the
covered structure.

She wore a bright green cotton dress, with
small white flowers across the tight bodice, hugging her exquisite
torso. Daniel's eyes narrowed wickedly as he thought of the firm
mounds of flesh, lying just beyond sight and the many hours he
would love to spend exploring them. His mind imagined Julia exposed
to his examination and responsive to his unique sexual skills. He
could envision her tethered to his bed, moaning her deep climax as
he played with her body before taking her, hard and fast.

The smile that crossed her full lips caused
the man to shift his stance with embarrassment and adjust the
material across his growing erection. He was certain if she opened
her eyes just then, she would be able to read his mind. He couldn’t
help but wonder; would she be receptive to his suggestions or
reject his advancements completely, if he were to offer to help her
find a way to control her emotions over all that was happening
around her.

He stood there admiring her in silence,
enjoying her beauty and the stubborn tilt of her dark head when the
smile dissolved into a frown. The confusion and fear etched across
her delicate face and her breathing changed slightly to one of
labored effort, making her chest rise and fall. He didn’t know what
she was thinking, but it was enough that Daniel was anxious to go
to her, to ease the painful thoughts, to caress the frown from her
forehead and kiss a smile back on her full angelic lips; but he
knew she would consider his actions an intrusion. With a great deal
of restraint, he cleared his throat bringing the young woman's
attention to his presence. Her eyes widened filling with suspicion,
yet he smiled tenderly at her.

"Am I disturbing you?" he asked, walking to
the chair opposite the beautiful brunette and turning it around to
sit backward on it.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Browning?" she
squirmed her way to a proper sitting position, pulling her legs
down from the table.

"Well for start, you can stop calling me Mr.
Browning. It sounds strange coming from you. My name is Daniel,
remember?"

"I know what it is; I just don't care to
know you well enough to use it."

"You are a determined young woman, aren't
you Little Princess? Well no matter, I have complete confidence you
will call me by my name, eventually."

"What makes you so certain?"

"I've made it my goal for you to want to
know me well enough to feel comfortable with the intimacy that goes
along with first names."

"Then you're bound to be disappointed, Mr.
Browning."

"That may be Miss Turner, but let's just
wait and see; it would prove a great sport, don’t you agree?"
Silence fell between the two when Louise joined them bringing a
final end to their conversation. She looked tired and worn out, her
shoulders hunched over as though she had been carrying around the
burden of the world for many long years. She sat down next to Julia
on the settee with a sigh of exhaustion, smiling to her daughter
wearily as she patted her hand.

"Your father finally retired to his room.
How are you holding up, dear?" The concern was genuine, but Julia
chose to ignore it and turned her emerald eyes on the older woman,
narrowing her stare slightly.

"Fine; though not as well as you and father,
as it would seem."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Her mother's
brows drew down across her eyes, in a deep frown.

"How can you tell father you're going to
start seeing other men, once he's dead? Have you no consideration
for the feelings of the man you’ve spent more than half your adult
life with? I can't believe you could be so heartless." Julia's
anger raged inside her forcing Daniel to stand up, retreating to
the stone enclosure of the veranda wall. He had never witnessed a
catfight between humans before, but the expression on the two
women's faces made him think he was about to get his first lesson
on the subject.

"How dare you speak to me, like that?"
Louise's temper, quickly matched that of her daughter's and she
watched Julia stand and pace her way to the table. "What do you
know about love, or loyalty; tell me that? You've never known
anything beyond flirting and teasing. You've never felt any real
emotion for another person, or offered any form of commitment to
anyone other than yourself."

"We're not discussing my relationships,
mother."

"What relationships? You've never been with
a man long enough to have a relationship. My only crime is that I
love your father enough to allow him to think I'll survive once
he's gone," Louise's voice broke, her hands shook with her sorrow
and pain, her legs felt weak as a baby as she tried to stand on
them.

"If you had ever stopped your frivolous
antics long enough to fall in love, perhaps you would understand
the commitment and sacrifice that goes with loving another person.
It is important that the man you love, believes that you will
survive even if your heart and soul is being ripped apart with each
second that passes by." The tears ran unchecked down the older
woman's cheeks as she hurried back inside, forcing her shaky legs
to move beneath her.

The silence that fell around the veranda was
so thick it felt stifling. Daniel remained by the small stone wall
that surrounded the patio, watching the emotion pull at the
beautiful young woman’s face. Her breathing was more labored than
it had been a short time ago when she reclined in the settee.

He knew the tension involved was more from
the weeks of pent up emotions that suddenly exploded to the
surface, and not so much out of anger. He felt sorry for both
women, but at the moment he sympathized with the older of the two.
Where Louise had spent many long months watching her husband
deteriorate before her very eyes; struggling to keep a sense of
calm and normalcy flowing through ever hour, Julia was fighting the
grief that screamed within her for revenge. She didn’t want to lose
her father and she didn’t want to think that life was changing so
quickly and not in a good way.

Daniel kept his gaze steady as he watched
the torment flood across the young woman’s face; fear, anguish,
regret all creased her brow deeply and pulled at the corners of her
mouth, making her appear more frightened than anyone he had ever
seen before. It took all the strength he had to fight going to her,
pulling her into his strong embrace. She felt alone in all of this
while she tried to absorb and comprehend what was happening around
her and right now, there was nobody willing to stand up for her
.

Julia glanced toward the man who remained so
still and quiet he could have been a part of the wall he leaned
against. He was quite handsome and he stared at her with an
expression of curious concern and something else she didn’t
recognize. If he had been one of the many young men she knew in
Boston, she would have assumed he found her attractive; yet that
could not possibly be the truth. He was her father’s attorney,
though young and very handsome, they were from two different
worlds. He had nothing to gain by finding her attractive.