He tapped the man's shoulder. "That's enough out of you, cowboy," Ben said, pulling him away.

The man looked surprised, then ticked off. "Hey, who the hell do you think you are?"

Ben got in his face. The cowboy didn't look like he wanted to back down, but the sheer power in Ben's

gaze made him flounder.

"She came on to me, man. Who is she to you?"

"Not long ago, she said she was my wife."

Julia sputtered and looked ready to spit nails.

"Wife! Shit, man, sorry." The cowboy couldn't get away fast enough.

"That's a lie," Julia called after her retreating dance partner, then gasped as Ben ushered her out of the

bar. "That is a lie," she reiterated for Ben.

"Really?" he asked. "I could get the Providence medical staff to back me up."

Blood burned through her cheeks. "Oh, that," she replied. "I should have known you'd use that against

me-and there I was trying to do you a favor and make sure someone was there for you, if you woke

up during the night needing something."

He realized now that it had to have been more than that. The two of them had been resisting each other since the day they met. Not because they didn't like each other, but because they felt an attraction that neither of them wanted.

"Come on," he said simply.

She was spluttering with indignation when he lifted her up into the driver's side of his truck. When she scrambled over the gearshift, getting tangled up in the long thin shoulder strap of her tiny purse, then reached for the passenger's door, he caught her and clamped his hand around her wrist.

"Don't even think about it."

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded, held captive in the passenger seat.

"Home."

"What about my car?"

"We'll get it tomorrow."

"Why is it that my car keeps getting left places whenever you're around?"

"Because I'm constantly having to save your ass from trouble."

Her mouth fell open.

"If you don't like that answer," he added, "then how about, I owe you. You saved my ass. Now it's

my turn to save yours."

"Go play Dudley Do-Right with someone else."

He chuckled ominously, but didn't respond. He accelerated down Mesa toward the Valley, steering with

one hand, the other still attached to her. He didn't say another word. He drove until he wheeled into the

driveway and braked.

Julia leaped out of the SUV and raced for the back door. He caught her with the keys in the lock. He pulled her around.

"I'm not Dudley Do-Right. Hell, we both know that I do more wrong than right when it comes to you. As to saving someone else, like I told you before, I want only you." He circled her wrist and forced her to look in his eyes. "I just didn't realize that I wanted more from you than sex."

"What?"

"Believe me, I'm not a whole lot happier about this than you. My life is fucked up enough already without falling for a woman who hasn't a clue what she really wants."

Her head jerked back and her eyes narrowed. "I know what I want. I want you to leave me alone."

She fumbled with the lock. Ben took the keys, and she breezed past him with her own inventive curse

once the door was open. He watched her set her purse down, then disappear. For a second he debated.

But only for a second. He locked the door, then followed her.

He caught up to her at the door to her bedroom. "Julia," he said, without touching her.

"Now what?"

Sarcasm laced the words, but Ben could tell it wasn't heartfelt. "Tell me what happened in the tram.

Why do you keep trying so hard to change?"

"I'm not talking about this, okay? I've told you more than enough already."

"You haven't told me enough," he persisted. "Why do you want to cut the ties to who you've always been?"

She froze, her jaw thrusting forward. At first he didn't think she would answer. Then she looked at him. When she spoke, she was frustrated.

"You want to know? Fine. It's because I felt tied down by who I was. Tied down to a personality that I didn't know if I had created because that's who I am, or because that's who I thought would get my father's attention. I've been trying to change, to do things differently, because I wanted to find out who I had the potential to be."

He wanted to touch her, hold her, be there for her. The thought was as foreign as it was a recognition of the truth.

Unable to hold back any longer, he reached out and ran his finger along her jaw. The minute their bodies touched, he could feel the shift in her. The fight flared, but it was a different kind of battle. When he pulled her close, she went, but she stood stiffly against him, every muscle tense, her hands fisted at her sides.

"You have more potential in your little finger than most people have in their entire body. You can be anyone you want to be. But you don't need to be anyone other than yourself." He chuckled into her hair. "You're great just as you are."

He could feel her tense even more, then all of a sudden she groaned. The minute the sound left her throat, she clung to him. She held on as if she were afraid to let go.

"What's happening to me?" she whispered raggedly into his chest, her fingers fisting into his shirt beneath the leather jacket. "Why do I feel so untethered?"

"Because you're starting a new life. No one ever said that was easy."

"I know. I keep telling myself that. And I kept telling myself to stay the course and it will get easier. But it isn't getting easier. Like with you! I tell myself that you are everything I don't want. But all I can do is think about you," she finally said, her voice broken.

The shift caught him off balance.

"Since the first time I saw you," she stated, "all the rules I had made regarding men wanted to fly out the window. With just one look from you!"

Quickly, she pushed away and started to pace.

"Julia."

"Can you believe it? Me. Falling for some caveman on first sight. I mean, really falling. Not just wanting to have sex. Not just wanting to fool around. When I saw you, it was different. I couldn't believe it. So I've denied it every day since. And it makes me crazy."

"Stop," he said, the word dragged out of him. "Come here."

She stopped in her tracks and looked at him warily.

"Please," he added.

"Why?" she asked hesitantly.

"Come here," he repeated softly.

A wealth of emotion burned inside him.

"What's wrong?" she asked suspiciously.

"You're not in my arms."

Her mouth opened, but he didn't give her a chance to say anything else. He took the steps that

separated them and crushed her to his chest.

"Julia," he whispered, kissing her and kissing her. Cheeks, temples, jaw, her ear.

Then, finally, his mouth slanted over hers.

The moan seeped up and slipped out from deep inside her. When she clung to him, she felt the rise of

hardness against her abdomen, and she felt wild with wanting him.

He touched her all over, as if he needed to prove that she was really there.

"Julia," he repeated raggedly with each kiss, with each touch.

He kissed her slowly, then deeply, groaning against her as his hands ran down her sides, cupping her

bottom and pulling her up against him.

A sigh winged out of her. That was all it took before he swept her up in his arms.

"Ben, no."

He stopped and looked at her. He wouldn't do anything she didn't want.

"I can't take having sex with you again if it isn't more than just sex."

"This is more than sex, Julia."

"Are you sure?"

"The only thing I'm sure about in this world is that I love you."