Authors: Beth Trissel
She
brushed
furiously at tears.
Why couldn’t she have taken the hint?
H
e’d flat out told her to give him some
room
.
When would she learn to be more of a woman and less of a girl
?
Jerking up her long skirts, she
fle
d along
the path
,
all but shoving
the
curious
visitors
aside, especially the
redhead
.
“Bitch,” the woman hissed
, g
loating
,
as Julia flew by
in evident
distress
.
Let the she-devil
rejoice
over the supposed
falling out between the sizzling
Willia
m
Wentworth
and his British brat
.
Julia was
n’t sticking
around to
see it
.
Lyle turned his head and she came under his
taunting
eye
.
“What’s up,
Ophe
?” he
asked, abbreviating Ophelia.
“Hamlet gone walk about?”
“Sort of
,
” she blurted
,
and kept on going.
“You’re
getting balmier
all the time, the pair of you.”
“And you’re a
––
”
she faltered
, wishing she coul
d blister him with a
colorful
torrent
of
choice
words
.
“Pig!”
“
Oooooh
!
T
hat hurts, Jules!” he sho
uted after her, breaking into
laugh
t
er.
“Don’t call me that!
Never call me that!”
How dare he?
And how had he known Cole’s special name for her?
“Hey, Julia!
I didn’t
mean it!”
H
e actually sounded penitent, but h
is attempt
at conciliation didn’t alter her
tumultu
ous emotions in the slightest.
Too teary to
see
straight
, she
tracked
blindly
back to the house
––
colliding
with an unsavory
figure
outside the hedge
.
The sudden jolt
sent her reeling
to the side.
T
he
youth stumbled back.
“MMM––Miss!”
“Paul
––
I’m sorry
!
”
M
ore
nimble
than she
, he
quickly
regained his balance,
and reached
out a grubby paw to steady her
.
Yellowish eyes
roamed her appre
ciatively.
“NNN––No harm done.”
S
he could a
lmost sense him sniffing
her
like a fox,
his
no
se in
the wind
,
although
it was
hi
s
gamey odor
that permeated the
air.
Not hers.
“WW
W––W
hy you ccc
––
crying?
Did that LLL
––
lyle
hurt you?
”
“
Only his big mouth
.
”
A smoldering anger colored Paul’s intent gaz
e.
“KK
K––K
eep away from
him
.”
“I can’t avoid Lyle
al
together.
We’re
both
in the play and
we have practice this evening.
Besides, he’s not always a problem.”
Paul was adamant.
“He is.”
“Julia?
”
Charlotte called.
She
lifted her face
toward
the elaborate portico above her
.
Charlotte had poked her head out
the front door
.
“Where’s William?”
she
asked
.
“D
elayed.
He said for you to give
his talk.”
“Oh, that’
ll go over real well with the young ladies hungering after our
celebrity
,” Charlotte gru
mbled.
She surveyed Julia
.
“What on earth happened to you?”
“Nothing.
I’ll be fine.
”
“
You do
n’
t look fine.
Take a breather.
N
ow,
”
Charlotte
ordered,
and
withdrew into the house.
Paul unzipped a stained
blue
back
pack and pulled ou
t two cans of orange soda
. He extended one to her.
“
Here
.
”
Hating
to decline his offer
when his eyes were so animated
, she reached out her hand
.
His
excitement
over
sharing the soda made him appear less
devoid of
intelligence.
It wasn’t her favorite
drink
, but she
cl
osed her fingers around the cold
can. “Thanks.
”
He motioned her to the
stone benc
h beneath a towering magnolia.
The enormous white b
lossoms exuded sweetness
and helped mask his sour smell
.
She
sat where he indicated,
trying to maintain a discreet distance upwind of him.
Oblivious of
personal space, he
settled
closely
be
s
id
e her, radiating satisfaction.
He
popped the tab on his can
and took a swig
.
“GGG
––G
ood.
Right?
”
She
did the same and took a
swallow of the carbonated
beverage
.
“Just what I needed,
”
she lied, preferring tea.
He gulped h
is drink, belched,
then
kept
an eye on her as if he feared she’
d run.
S
he would
have
taken off
, only she didn’t want
to wound this pungent youth whose
too rapt gaze made her squirm.
So she sipped
, figh
ting to control the upheaval inside her
.
When she’
d finished at leas
t half the can, she set it down
. “That was very kind, Paul.
Now, I really must go.”
“TTT
––T
ake a breather,” he said
, quoting Charlotte.
“I will.
In my room.”
He st
ayed her arm with his soiled hand
.
“
WW
W––W
ait. Y
ou www
––
want to
see his
jjj
––
jacket?”
S
he slan
ted her eyes at Paul
in surprise
.
“Whose?”
“TTT
––T
hat man in the
ppp
––
painting
you
l
ike
.
”
She drew
in her breath.
“
You mean
Cole
Wentworth
?”
Paul nodded
.
“I
ss
s
––
s
ee things.
SS
S––S
een that
coat.”
Julia could hardly move.
“Where?”
“The attic,” he said,
lowering his voice.
“But it can’t be
.
I saw all there was.”
“NNN
––N
ot all.
TTT
––T
here’s hiding places
.
”
Sagging against the back of the bench, she said, “
You mean
his coat
is
some sort of secret?”
“YYY
––Y
es.”
Paul
got to his scuffed work boots
and motioned for her to follow.
It was beyond
Julia to resist the chance
to get nearer
to
Cole, especial
l
y with Will being so
obstinately
remote
and hurtful
––
like sea urchi
n spines when she wanted
tenderness
.
Still, she ought to caution Paul.
“Charlotte
might
not
wan
t us poking our noses into
family
secrets.
Or Mr. Wentworth
,
now that I think of it,
” she said softly
, adopting Paul’s
stealth
.
“They
w
ww
––
w
on’t know.
CCC
––C
ome with me.
”
Hesitant, but intrigued, she
followed at his side
as
he led her around
the house
.
He stopped before
a little used side door, an old servants
’
entrance.
“Locked,”
he whispered.
She was at a loss
to
know
how to enter.
Undeterred, Paul
pulled
a
small
pocket knife
out of his pants
pocket
and worked
the narrow blade in betw
een the door lock and the jam.
It opened.
“You’ve done this before,” Julia said.
He shrugged.
“DDD
––D
id
time in
Juvie
.”
“You shouldn’t pick locks.”
“YYY
––Y
ou want in?”
“Very much
,” she admitted,
and
stole behind him
a
s he crept up the hall.
Stopping
at
the chatter of visitors
,
he
flatt
ened
himself against
the wall
and
motioned
for
her to
do the same.
She
pressed against the paneled
wood as
Charlotte and t
he tour group rounded a corner and disappeared
in
to the parlo
r. Paul crept forward again.
Julia tailed his silent figure
, like trailing after a stealthy fox but she couldn’t help herself.