Fantasy Lover

Lawman Who Loved Her, on and on it went until it made her dizzy.

Overwhelmed and giddy, she let the tears fall down her cheeks.

She turned about and threw her arms around Julian. 'Thank you,' she wept. 'But how? How did you do this?'

He shrugged, then reached up to wipe away her tears. It was then she noticed his hand.

And what was missing from it.

'Not your ring,' she whispered, seeing the light skin on one of the fingers of his right hand where the ring had been. 'Tell me you didn't?'

'It was just a ring, Grace.'

No it wasn't. She remembered the look on his face when Dr. Lewis had asked to buy it.

'Never,' Julian had said. 'You've no idea what I had to go through to get this.'

But after hearing his stories of his past, she had a good idea. And he had sold it for her.

Trembling, she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him fiercely.

Julian froze in shock as her lips touched his. She'd never before reached out to him in such a manner. Closing his eyes, he clenched his hand in her hair, letting it spill down his forearm as he moaned into her mouth.

His head spun from the taste of her. From the feel of her. From the way she kissed him as he'd never been kissed before-

With the whole of her heart.

It shook him all the way to his cursed soul.

In that moment, he truly wanted time to stand still. He didn't want to live another second without her in it. Couldn't imagine a day when he didn't have her by his side.

He felt his control slipping. The pain of madness sliced across his head and his groin simultaneously.

Not yet! his mind shouted. He didn't want it to end. Not right now. Not when he was so close.

So close… But he had no choice.

Reluctantly, he pulled back from her. 'I take it you like that, as well?'

She laughed at him. 'Of course I do, you crazy man.' She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest.

Julian quivered as unfamiliar emotions tore through him. He enveloped her with his arms, feeling her heart beating in rapid time with his.

If he could, he'd stay like this, holding on to her forever. But he couldn't. He stepped back from her. She looked up, her brow wrinkled. He smoothed the frown away with his hand. 'I'm not rejecting you, my sweet,' he whispered. 'I'm just not feeling like myself at the moment.' 'The curse?' He nodded.

'Is there anything I can do?' 'Just give me a minute to fight it.' Grace bit her lip as he moved stiffly to the bed. It was the only time she hadn't seen absolute, fluid grace in his movements. He looked as if he could barely breathe, as if he had a terrible ache in the pit of his stomach. He wrapped his hand around the bedpost so tightly that she could see his knuckles protrude.

Pain sliced through her at the sight and she wanted to comfort him. More than ever, she wanted to help him. In fact, she wanted him… She wanted him. Period.

Grace's jaw dropped as the full impact of her thoughts swept over her. She loved him.

She truly, deeply, and most profoundly loved him. How could she not?

Her heart hammering, Grace swept her gaze over the books in her closet. Memories assailed her. Julian the night he'd appeared and offered himself to her, Julian loving her in the shower, Julian comforting her, making her laugh, Julian coming through the top of the elevator to save her, and Julian lying on the bed with the rose as he watched her find his gifts.

Selena was right. He was a major keeper and she never wanted to let him go.

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him, but she caught herself. Now wasn't the time. Not when he was in such obvious agony. Not when he was vulnerable.

He would want to know.

Or would he?

Grace considered the repercussions of telling him. He didn't like it here in her time. She knew that. He wanted to go home. If she told him how she felt, he might stay for no other reason, and if he had no reason of his own to stay, he might grow to resent her for keeping him away from all he'd once known. All he'd been.

Or worse, what if it didn't work out?

As a psychologist, she knew better than anyone all the problems that could crop up in a relationship and destroy it.

One of the biggest reasons for breakups was the lack of common ground to build on between two people who shared nothing but physical attraction.

She and Julian were about as different as two people could ever be. She was a plain, twenty-first-century psychologist and he was a gorgeous second-century B.C. Macedonian general. Talk about a fish and a bird trying to find a place where they could both live!

Two more different people had never been born and forced together.

Right now, they were both basking in the newness of the relationship. But they didn't really know each other that well. What if in a year's time they weren't really in love?

For that matter, what if he changed once the curse was lifted?

Julian had told her that he'd been a different man back in Macedonia. What if part of his current charm or his attraction to her was from the curse? According to Cupid, the curse made Julian feel compelled toward her.

What if they broke the curse and he became someone else entirely? Someone who no longer wanted her?

What then?

Once he gave up his chance to go home, she was sure he'd never have another one.

Grace struggled to breathe as she realized she couldn't even say to him, 'Let's try and see what happens.' Because once he made his decision, there would be no second chances.

Grace swallowed, wishing she could see into the future like Selena did. But then, even Selena was wrong at times. For Julian's sake, Grace couldn't afford to be wrong.

No, there would only be one acceptable reason for him to stay. He would have to love her as much as she loved him.

And that was about as likely as the sky falling in on her head in the next ten minutes.

Closing her eyes, Grace winced at the truth. He could never be hers. One way or another, she would have to let him go.

And it was going to kill her.

Julian drew a ragged breath and released the bed. He gave her a tenuous smile. 'That hurt,' he said.

'I can tell.' She reached to touch him, but he stepped back from her like a man who was about to come into contact with a snake.

Grace dropped her hand. 'I'll go fix dinner.'

Julian watched her leave the room. He wanted to go after her so badly that he could barely refrain. But he didn't dare.

He needed a little more time to compose himself. More time to quell the fire coursing through him, threatening to overwhelm him.

He shook his head. How could her touch give him such strength, and yet at the same time make him so incredibly weak?

* * *

Grace had just finished making canned soup and sandwiches when Julian joined her in the kitchen.

'Feeling better?'

'Yes,' he said, sitting down at the table.

Grace circled her spoon around her bowl while she watched him eat. The fading sunlight caught in his hair, highlighting it. He sat perfectly straight up in the chair and every time he moved, a surge of desire tore through her.