Chapter 13

TC couldn't believe it. A chance to find Eve, and make her pay for making a fool out of him for all of those years, and divorcing him when she was the lying tramp to begin with. And he'd find out who had fathered Whitney, too...the beautiful girl he had loved and raised as his own. Even now, he felt his anger flare anew at the thought.

"Where do you want to meet, Ms. Crane?" he finally said.

"I'm in a little town called Harmony--quite the dreadful place,"Ivy informed him. "Why don't we meet tomorrow here? I'll be at the hotel, downtown--in the lobby. Shall we say, six o'clock?"

"I've heard of that place, shouldn't be a problem to get there. But how do I know you're telling the truth about knowing where Eve is?" TC was suddenly suspicious. "Why would you want to tell me--what's in it for you?"

A cruel smile spread over Ivy's cold but beautiful features. "I would think that you would want to confront the woman who was unfaithful to you--hell, she made a fool out of you and for years! How people must have been laughing at you behind your back, playing 'daddy' to a girl who wasn't even yours! Who knows who her father could have been--anyone in the New England area!" Ivy actually had suspected Julian, but she knew Julian loved children, so he would have been in her life if he was the girl's father. Probably one of the lowlifes that that bitch Eve had met in one of the dives she had sung in.

TC clenched his fist, beginning to shake with anger."Just tell me what you want from me!" He needed this Ivy Crane woman, but he already wanted to strangle her.

"I have an ex-husband who cheated on me as well....let's just say I want to see justice served,"Ivy sneered.

He wasn't buying it. "Well, Ms. Crane, I sure as hell don't believe you--but if you know how I can finally get to Eve, I'll meet you." TC figured he would learn her agenda sooner or later. Finding Eve and the bastard who made Whitney was more important.

"I'm glad we understand one another," she said, confident that her plan to get Julian to loosen the Crane purse strings was going to succeed. She gave TC her cell phone, and wrote his down as well. Hanging up, she smiled victoriosuly.

"Julian, my dear...you'd better ante up, if you knew what was good for you."
 

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Julian kissed Eve as if his life depended on it, and it wasn't far from the truth. He felt so alive with her--it was if he he had been merely existing the eons he had spent without her--now he felt like a man reborn, with a sense of purpose. He loved her more than his own life...and more than anything, he wanted her to admit that she loved him too.

He felt pangs of guilt for having abducted her, but he couldn't take the chance of her walking back out of his life. Eve loved him--right or wrong, for good or for bad, she loved him. And he was determined to make her see the truth of her feelings.

Eve was spinning out of control. Julian affected more than she cared to admit. Even now, as his strong but gentle hands moved over her body, setting her on fire with his skillful caresses, she felt the defenses that she had built around herself fade away.

Relinquishing her lips, he breathed in her ear, "My sweet Eve....how I have longed for you. Please tell me that you love me, that you want to be with me. ..I cannot bear the emptiness without you one moment longer." He ran his fingers through her hair, then held up a tress to his lips. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever known--everything and everyone else pales in comparison."

"I-I don't know what to say, Julian....have you changed that much?" Eve managed to say, for Julian had buried his face in her shoulder. "You only wanted me as a mistress then..what about now?"

He raised his head to look her in the face, his eyes glassy. "I'm telling you from the bottom of my heart, I was wrong...so wrong. Please forgive me, Eve--I am lost without your precious love."

Eve looked into his eyes, and knew he was telling her the truth. He did truly love her--and she knew she loved him too. The revelation did not come as such a shock, for she knew she had never put the love she had had for him to rest.

"Yes, Julian....I love you....I guess I always have," she finally admitted, feeling a great deal of relief. Julian's eyes lit up, and he nearly crushed her with a giant bear hug.

"Oh my darling, I am heaven hearing you say that," Julian cried as he held her. Eve wiggled furiously under him, and let her go. "What is the matter?" he said in alarm. "Did I hurt you? I apologize, that was not my intention--I was just so overjoyed to hear--"

"No, Julian...I'm all right. But I can't hug you back as long as I'm restrained," she said softly, her eyes finally shining with the love she had tried to hide since she had laid eyes upon him again. Julian's shoulders slumped in self-reproach.

"Will you forgive me...I knew of no other way to convince you. Please say you forgive me--I have spent too many years without you," Julian pleaded.

He got his answer in Eve's loving smile. "I ought to hate you Julian. But I can't." She shook her head. "Even after all of this, I can't find it in my heart to hate you. Of course I forgive you."

"They say that there is a thin line between love and hate," he told her, grateful that he was on her loving side.
 

"Speaking of lines, can you cut these cords? We have unfinished business," she said in a husky voice, causing Julian's mouth to go dry...