She gasped and her tense body stilled. He jostled her in his arms, giving her a none-too-gentle shake.
She came out of her surprise. “I’ll worry about it if it happens.”
“You’ll damn well marry me if it happens!” he roared and she reared back against his arm.
He could not believe in all his years, all his experience, all the women before her, that he was reduced to ordering a woman to marry him.
“Of course!” she blurted.
“Jesus, Julia, don’t you know I’ll make you happy?” The words should have been beautiful but instead they were rough with anger.
“Douglas,” she used words that stung, “what do you know of making anyone happy?”
He felt those words like a kick to the stomach and he immediately let her go and stepped back.
He wouldn’t have expected that attack from Julia.
His mother, probably, his father, definitely, but not Julia.
They watched each other across the short expanse that separated them like warriors on a battlefield.
Finally, she seemed to realise the cruelty behind her words and she made a move toward him but stopped herself.
“I’m only protecting myself,” she whispered. When he made no response she continued. “You won’t want to hurt me but you will. They always do.” Her words were filled with a strange mixture of wisdom and bitterness.
He looked at her and realised his mistake.
Weeks ago it occurred to him that she was innately damaged, not only by her ex-husband’s treatment but at the hands of her father.
But again, he’d been wrong.
He’d never been wrong so many times in his bloody, f**king life as he was with Julia.
She wasn’t innately damaged.
She was destroyed.
His challenge was far bigger than he expected. To have her, he’d have to gather the shattered pieces of her and put them back together.
He vaguely noticed she was speaking. “It’ll take some time but we’ll get passed this…”
He heard her talking but he wasn’t listening.
Instead he was thinking exactly how very much he liked a challenge.
“I’m not the others, Julia.” He cut her off and she just looked at him. “I’ll simply have to prove it to you,” he declared.
Her mouth opened slightly but no words came out. He didn’t wait for a reply; he walked toward his bedroom to take a shower.
“Don’t you ever give up?” Her exasperated voice sounded from behind him.
His answer was to close the door.
Chapter Eighteen
Alone
Julia heard the beeping in her room after she came out of the shower.