Westin’s features morphed into a look of surprise but Julian didn’t stop educating him on just why he wasn’t going to come anywhere near Marit. “See, her mother may like you but she doesn’t. You see, a woman who likes a man won’t try to avoid him. You clearly make her uncomfortable.”

  “You don’t know anything…”

  “But, I do.” Julian hissed, dropping the man’s arm from his hand as his temper threatened to have him snap it in a clean break. “A woman who is interested in a man may play hard to get, but not like this. If she wanted you, you would know it. She would’ve come to you. Now it’s clear she doesn’t because she has done just about everything to avoid you.”

  When it looked like Westin would cut him off again, Julian headed him off at the pass. Getting up in the man’s face and lowering his voice so that it would be difficult to hear him, he said, “Now, you think you two had something. I’ll let you know you didn’t. If a woman liked what you gave, she’ll come back. Every time. So if you were worth anything, you would’ve already had Marit. Do you understand me?”

  Westin’s blue eyes were brimming with annoyance as he held Julian’s gaze. “Look, I don’t know why you think you need to get into this. We both know a guy like you wouldn’t look twice at Marit. I’m as good as it’ll get for her, so just…”

  Julian’s temper snapped. One minute Westin was talking and the next minute he was bleeding. One sharp blow over the man’s cheekbone, and Julian swore he heard the bone crack. Stumbling back and away from him, Julian stepped forward and grabbed hold of the boy’s collar.

  He was about sick of people deciding Marit’s worth. Pulling Westin up to his face, he bared his teeth and hissed out. “You aren’t worth the dirt on that woman’s shoes. If you ever come near her, if you so much as look at her and she gets upset, I’m going to ruin the rest of your face until you learn to stay. The. Fuck. Away.” Julian dropped the smaller man to the ground and watched him scurry off.

  Thunderous applause roared up behind him and when he turned around, he saw all of Marit’s cousins and Marit at the table. “Get this man a beer.” Phillip shouted out, as Tristan ran off to do just that.

  “All right. You’re ok in my book.” Trinity finally admitted with a look of reluctance on her face. Eventually she smiled at him and sat back down on the bench against a man who Julian assumed was her husband.

  Andrea bounded up to hug him, which surprised Julian, but he accepted the praise. “Her favorite song is Garth Brooks’ Beaches of Cheyenne.” She whispered in his ear and then let go and headed back to her spot. The only person in all of this that didn’t seem happy was Marit.

  Without a word she turned and hurried her way through the crowd. “Damnit.” Phoebe muttered, looking after her cousin. Disengaging from the new woman at the table, she stood up with her cousins, who sighed and began to walk after Marit.

  “Wait.” Julian called out, stepping forward, “I’ll go.”

  “No I don’t think…”

  “Ok.” Andrea cut Trinity off in favor of Julian’s offer. Phoebe didn’t argue the move and even helped her cousin keep the other one from arguing.

  Julian nodded his appreciation to Andrea and headed off.

  The three women watched the man go after their cousin. “I don’t know.” Trinity murmured, not impressed with not being in charge. Her husband came up behind her and wrapped his big burly arms around her small waist. Damn near a foot taller than herself, she felt engulfed by him and while she didn’t readily admit it, all was right with the world in his arms.

  “He’s a good man baby.” Naughty honey brown eyes twinkled down at her from the man’s whiskered face, his shaggy blond hair drawn back in a pony tail due to the heat. He was two years younger than her, but seemed to be decades ahead of her in wisdom and patience.

  Phoebe had to agree with her brother in law. “Lance is right. If he wasn’t interested in Marit, even as a friend, he wouldn’t put himself in this position. None of my ex boyfriends got into my personal affairs. Hell once a guy hit on me and my boyfriend at the time walked away because he was bigger.”

  Andrea remembered that. It had been Maggie to go up to the guy and took him in hand and led him away. Well, the guy crawled away. Grabbing the balls was a pretty common move, but it sure as hell was efficient. The boyfriend had been kicked to the curb and another four months of calm Phoebe had blessed the world. “You need to settle down with that girl.” Andrea blurted out, braiding her hair up before wrapping it in a loose bun on her head. It was unusually hot for a mid september evening.

  To everyone’s surprise, Phoebe turned to look at Maggie and smiled. “I know.” Was all she said before heading over to the table and wrapping herself around the blond waiting for her.

  Andrea was the last to head back to the table, but not before calling her father really quick and sending him Marit’s way. She knew her cousin wasn’t going to handle this well.

  **

  “Marit?” She was standing at the tree line, with her back to him when he finally found her.

  “Why did you do that?” MArit asked shakily, confused and frustrated about what had transpired between Julian and Westin.

  Why would he go out of his way to do any of that! She just didn’t understand. They were friends…

  Right? Friends did things for people. Didn’t they?

  She wasn’t sure, because her closest friends were her cousins and the only time her other ‘friends’ came to her was when they needed something. None of this made sense. She didn’t need him standing up for her, being nice to her, only for him to ditch her later on when someone pretty came along.

  Julian was surprised at her question. What decent man wouldn’t have done that? All right, so maybe not the punching a guy you had just met part, but definitely the rest. “Marit, he wouldn’t leave you alone. Everytime your mom comes in to see you at work she mentions it. I know it’s upsetting you.”

  Marit turned on the man with her and sighed. “I don’t need you fighting my battles.”

  It wounded him, he wouldn’t lie, but he didn’t let it show. “I know.”

  “Do you?” She asked. “Look, we’re friends, I think…”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “We are.” Julian replied adamantly. He kept his distance, but he maintained eye contact with her to let her know he was here with her.

  Marit nodded, her arms crossing over her stomach in an attempt to hide some part of herself away. She didn’t like confrontation, but with Julian she was getting too close. She didn’t want him to keep being nice to her only to ditch her when he finally found someone worthwhile.

  Somehow Marit knew she just wouldn’t be the same when that moment came. “Ok. Fine. Then just keep this how it should be…”

  “And how should this be?” Julian gestured much like Marit had done, gesturing from himself to her and back again. He had the distinct notion he wasn’t going to like what she had to say.

  “Look,” Steeling her resolve, she looked Julian square in his beautiful blue eyes and said what she had to say. “I know I’m not that girl.”

  Yeah, Julian really didn’t like this.

  “I’m the girl everyone’s friends with. Then they find someone and it’s done.”

  “Done?” Julian asked in annoyance. “Marit. Then they weren’t your friends. Your cousins are your friends because they’re there for you. The people who hung out with you and dropped you when something ‘better’” Yeah, he air quoted. “Came along, are assholes.”

  This time Julian did move closer to the infuriating woman who was listening way too much to her mother and the pieces of shit like Westin and not to her cousins or the people who actually had her best interests at heart. “You need to stop thinking you're worthless. You have a lot to offer Marit. You are a very kind…”

  “Kind, nice, sweet?” Marit bit out, noticing that a form was moving toward her. When the man was close enough for the lanterns to play off his face, she recognized him as her Uncle. “Yeah. I’m always the kind or sweet girl.”

  “Marit.”

  “No. Just. Leave it.” She didn’t want to hear anymore, especially not from him. Stepping past Julian she walked up to her Uncle and curled into him.

  “Hi baby…” Beau’s voice was cheery until the moment his niece curled around him. Bringing down his massive arm to put around her protectively, he eyed Julian and asked, “What’s wrong baby?”

  “Can you take me home please?” Marit asked quietly, her voice tight with tears.

  Beau held Julian’s gaze for a few more moments, the boy looking distraught but not for the stern look he was getting, his eyes never left Marit. Beau knew he was going to have to talk to his daughter about this one. For now he would get his niece home. “Of course baby.”

  Without another word he led Marit off and left Julian alone.

  Julian watched the two go and it was at that moment he decided to throw caution to the wind. If his life imploded around him because of his stupid mother or his ex he would deal with it when it came. For now, seeing Marit so beaten down, he just couldn’t take it.

  He wanted to see that beautiful smile. He wanted her warmth like the day she held him after moments of meeting because he had been sad. All of her kindness had been so effortless and he was a damned selfish bastard. He hadn’t ever been given something like that in his life without a heavy price attached to it, and by God he wanted it now.

  He wanted everything that woman had to offer and more than anything he wanted to show her just what she was really worth. Julian knew that by most standard’s Marit wasn’t ‘beautiful’. By his standards she far surpassed anyone he had ever met.

  Finishing off his beer eventually Julian departed with a quick wave to Marit’s cousins and headed home. Much to his dismay her truck was gone, but he wasn’t alone.

  There was a man on his front porch. Noticing the other truck in his driveway he realized exactly who it was and prepared him for a potential ass kicking. He could take Beau, but the man was both his employer and someone who protected Marit. He’d take the whooping and lick his wounds after.

  Climbing out of his truck, Julian made his way to the front porch and stopped when he reached the top of the stairs. “Mr. Pearce.”

  Beau eyed the boy in front of him. He had been confused when his daughter sent him to check on his niece, and when he arrived he still didn’t understand. Julian wasn’t a threat to Marit except maybe to her deflated self esteem.

  Hell in his day girls didn’t have low self esteem. Everyone got together, sometimes hearts got broken and people moved on. There wasn’t this huge mess with boys playing around, because no one wanted to meet the girl’s father. The county was and is mostly farmers with lots of land.

  Shotguns and farming tools and lots and lots of land. That was the law of the land when it came to a young lady in his day and age. And if a boy was still stupid enough to do something to insult her well then he dealt with all the men in her family.

  It wasn’t a pretty sight. He had gotten his ass kicked by a girl’s brother that he had gone out on one date with and then broke it off because Delilah had looked his way and that was it for him. She snared his heart faster than he could blink. And he let the other girl down before their second date.

  Her older brother jumped him and he had it coming. That’s why he didn’t understand Marit getting so mad at Julian. His daughter told him it’s because she doesn’t think she’s pretty which Beau knew was her mama talking. Out of all the Pearce siblings, Mabel had always been wrapped up in the superficial stuff.

  Always had to be different, always had to stand out. Hell, she came home to their daddy four months pregnant without even batting an eye. And of course she just had to raise her child on her own, even though everyone helped her while she ran off to school to get her fancy education.

  Fortunately Marit wasn’t anything like her mama, and Beau loved his sister, he really did, but she was a pain in the ass. And he knew she was a pain in the ass for her daughter too. In all honesty, Beau didn’t like talking about his niece like this, but he figured it was best to have this conversation man to man instead of woman to man like it would’ve been with Andrea.

  Granted Andrea was gonna say her peace, but Beau wanted to know where the boy stood first. “Julian.” He finally acknowledged after a long drawn out silence. The boy may not have been from around Howard County, but he seemed to know the talk when it was coming.

  Julian didn’t say a word while Beau sized him up. Instead he just waited and kept quiet. Eventually the man stopped rocking and got serious. “My niece was pretty upset.”

  “I’m sorry for that Sir.”

  Beau’s eyebrow shot up at the polite title and nodded. “I love that little girl.”

  “I know you do.”

  “So you know when she cries and is upset I’m not happy about it.” Marit wasn’t his daughter, but he had diapered her butt, taught her how to ride her bike, took her for her first fishing trip and was the one who taught her how to drive. She wasn’t biologically his, but in his heart she was just as much one of his babies as the two he actually had. Andrea and Marit had grown up joined at the hip.

  Julian nodded to the statement and kept his eyes down on the ground. Any minute now he was going to get his ass kicking. But then Beau surprised him entirely.

  “Now I’m not good with all this new fangled stuff.” Beau started out, one hand on his suspender in thoughtful introspection while the other lightly tapped his rounded belly still full from the barbeque. “I don’t know why she doesn’t see it, but Marit’s a pretty girl. Now she aint a tiny thing, but she’s damn pretty.”

  Julian could tell the older man wasnn’t comfortable talking about the attractiveness of his niece and was stumbling over the explanation but what he said was sincere. Glancing up he watched Beau scratch at his graying beard and sigh. “I know her Mama’s messed her up. And all you boys are interested in nowadays is getting into a girl’s pants.”

  Julian couldn’t deny that as it had been the major goal through most of his early twenties and then a definite goal once he was married. Sex was all he thought about, and he’d be a damned liar if he said he hadn’t thought about what it would be like to touch Marit like that. Not that he was going to admit it to her Uncle.

  “You forget about courting a girl and doing the right thing by her.” Holding up his hands he sighed. “I know I know, girls nowadays have needs and what not, but I’m an old man and old fashioned. You just didn’t sleep with a girl if you didn’t have the right intentions.” Sure some boys did, but again, shotgun… land.

  “Too many laws nowadays, can’t even give a good threatening.” He had learned that the hard way when one of his daughter’s boyfriends ran crying to the cops because he had threatened him if he hurt his baby. Thank god the cop on duty was a buddy from bowling so all he got was a talking to.

  Julian chuckled lightly at Beau’s interpretation of what was wrong with today’s generation and couldn’t help but agree. He was mildly surprised he didn’t have a sheriff’s car in his driveway for punching Westin. He had dealt with it plenty in Vegas. “I suppose you want to know my intentions with your niece?”

  Beau nodded. “I know you’re bad news.”

  Julian couldn’t deny that. “I’ve done my fair share of bad things.”

  “And you’re still married.”

  Looking up, Julian’s eyes darkened at the reminder. “Trust me I wouldn’t be if I had my way about it.” He growled, having already changed his number so that she couldn’t contact him. In no time she would have the new number found out but for now he was in the clear.

  Beau appreciated the answer. “Well, I was bad news too. Liked to drink a bit too much. Got rowdy a lot.” Yeah, he had raised a lot of hell in his younger years. And then his Delilah came around. She set him straight. “Sometimes you just need a good woman to straighten you up.”

  “Yes, Sir.” Julian was grateful for Beau’s blunt assessment and even more so for his understanding. He wasn’t always a good man and got in a lot of trouble growing up, but he knew how to treat a woman. His grandfather made sure of it.

  Standing, Beau moved over to the other man and held out his hand. “You clean up that divorce mess son and you have my blessing. But if you do hurt her I will shoot you dead and use you as fertilizer for my corn crop next summer.”

  Looking down at the hand held out to him, Julian took the thick appendage, rough from years of hard work, and shook it. “Yes Sir.”

  “All right.” Beau nodded, stepping down off the porch and heading to his truck. Turning he gave a final piece of advice. “Give her a bit of time to cool off. Don’t apologize to her. You give her enough time and she’ll come to you. You gotta go at Marit slow and easy, if you hurry you’ll spook her. She’s like a deer.”

  Julian raked a hand through his hair and sighed. He definitely understood the reference, she was like a skittish animal. While he didn’t appreciate being told not to apologize to her, he wasn’t stupid enough to overlook some advice on a woman this man knew well.

  So he would wait, and when the time was right, he’d ease right back into her life and if she let him, well damnit, he was pretty sure he would want to stay.