Her touch shattered the last bit of his will, the last bit of his resistance to her. His entire body shook from the warmth of her actions.
'I'm sorry,' she said, pulling back from him. 'You're so cold, you're shivering again.'
'I'm not shivering from the cold,' he said, his voice hoarse. 'I'm shivering from you.'
Her smile pierced his heart as she dropped her head and returned to her relentless assault on him.
By the time she finished, he felt as if he'd been tortured all over again. He couldn't have been any more satisfied had he actually climaxed.
She helped him out of the tub. Still his limbs shook. And he had to lean on her to get to the bedroom.
She laid him down gently and covered him with all her blankets. She placed a tender kiss on his brow as she tucked the covers around him.
'Are you hungry?'
All he could do was nod.
Grace left him long enough to warm a bowl of soup. But by the time she returned, he was sound asleep.
She set the bowl on the nightstand, then climbed into bed behind him. She curled her body around his and faded off to sleep, too.
It was three days before Julian's strength came back. The entire time, Grace stayed with him. Helping him.
He found it hard to fathom her strength and devotion. All his life, he'd waited for her. And as every day passed, he realized just how much he loved her. How much he needed her.
'I have to tell her,' he said as he toweled himself dry. He couldn't let another day pass without her knowing just how much she had come to mean to him.
Leaving the bathroom, Julian headed to the bedroom where Grace was on the phone with Selena.
'Of course I didn't tell him what his mother said. Jeez!'
Julian took a step back, and leaned against the wall as Grace continued talking.
'What was I supposed to say? Oh, Julian, by the way, your mother threatened my life?'
He felt as if someone had delivered a staggering blow to his solar plexus. His vision turning dark, he entered the bedroom. 'When did you speak to my mother?' he demanded.
Grace looked up, shocked. 'Uh, Lanie, I need to go. Bye.' She hung up the phone.
'When did you speak to her?' he asked again.
Grace shrugged nonchalantly. 'It was the day you went psycho on me.'
'What did she say?'
She shrugged sheepishly. 'It wasn't really a threat. She just said she wouldn't share you with me.'
Rage coursed through him. How dare she! Who the hell did his mother think she was to make any demand on him or Grace?
What a fool he'd been to ever think his mother had softened her heart where he was concerned.
When would he learn?
'Julian,' Grace said, rising to meet him in front of the bed. 'She changed her mind. When she came here to release you-'
'Don't, Grace,' he said, interrupting her. 'I know her a lot better than you do.'
And he knew what his mother was capable of. Her ruthlessness made his father's pale in comparison.
His heart heavy, he knew he could never tell Grace what was in his heart.
Worse, he knew he couldn't stay with her. Ever. If he had learned anything it was that the gods would never let him live in peace.
How long before one of them hurt her? How long before Priapus used her to get back at him? Or his mother came to wreak her vengeance on both of them?
Sooner or later, he would pay for his happiness. He had no doubt. And the thought of Grace suffering…
No. It was a chance he refused to take.
The days flew by as they spent as much time together as possible.
Julian taught Grace classical Greek culture, and very interesting ways to enjoy Reddi-wip and chocolate sauce, and Grace taught him strip Monopoly, and how to read English.
And after several more driving lessons, and a new clutch, she realized Julian was a hopeless driver.
It seemed to her that only a few days had gone by and yet the last day of the month came so fast that it terrified her.
Even worse, the night before it arrived, she made the most startling discovery of all.
Julian was that one person she couldn't live without.
When she thought of her life returning to what it had been before him, she ached so deeply in her heart that she was sure she would die from it.
But in the end, she knew the choice was his and his alone.
'Please, Julian,' she whispered to him as he slept beside her. 'Don't leave me.'
Chapter 16
Neither one spoke much the entire day. In fact, Julian avoided Grace entirely.
That more than anything told her what decision he'd made.
Her heart was broken. How could he leave her after all they'd been through? After all they'd shared?
She couldn't stand the thought of losing him. Life without him would be unbearable.
At sunset, Grace found him sitting in the rocking chair on her deck, watching the sun as if for the last time. His face was so stern that she barely recognized it as belonging to the playful man she had grown to love so much.
Finally, she couldn't stand the silence any longer. 'I don't want you to leave me. I want you to stay here in my time. I can take care of you, Julian. I make plenty of money, and I can teach you anything you want to know.'
'I can't stay,' he said between clenched teeth. 'Don't you understand? Everyone who has ever been close to me has been punished by the gods. Iason, Penelope, Callista, Atolycus.' He looked at her as if dazed. 'Dear Zeus, they
'It will be different this time.'
He rose to his feet and gave her a hard stare. 'That's right. It will be different. I'm not going to stay here and watch you die because of me.'
He walked past her, into the house.
Grace clenched her hands into fists, wanting to strangle him. 'You stubborn… man!'
How could he be so impossible?
It was then she felt the diamond of her mother's wedding ring cutting into her palm. Opening her fist, she took one long look. She was through letting the past haunt her. For the first time in a long time, she had a future to look forward to. One that filled her with happiness.
And she wasn't about to let Julian throw it away.
More determined than ever, she opened the door to the house and smiled evilly. 'You're not going to get away from me, Julian of Macedon. You might have beaten back the Romans, but I assure you, they were wimps in comparison to me.'
Julian sat in the living room with his book in his lap. He ran his hand over the ancient writing, despising it more now than he ever had before.
Closing his eyes, he remembered the night Grace had summoned him. He remembered what it felt like to have no real identity. To just be the anonymous Greek love-slave.
Long ago, he had lost himself in a painful place of dark obscurity, and yet Grace had found him.
Through her strength and kindness, she had braved the worst of him and brought him back to humanity. She, alone, had seen into his heart and found it worthy.
Gods, how easy that sounded. How simple. But he didn't dare. He'd lost his children already. The only part of his heart left alive was Grace, and to lose her because of his brother…
