DRAGONJULS Storybook
Disclaimer and Acknowledgements: See Part One
Part 17
Chapter Thirty-five
Jace watched Peter walk into her office space and look at her with a mixture of interest and a spark of jealousy.
"You look as if all your dreams have come true in one night?" he asked her quietly, not wanting Hudson to hear as the door to her office was open.
"Maybe they did." Jace quietly answered him back but her smile gave him an answer he was not sure he wanted.
"I'm pleased for you, is it someone I know?" Peter tried not to sound jealous.
"Yes," she said emphatically.
Peter looked at her speculatively, and then glanced at the door to Hudson's office. "Got to go, catch up with you later and you can tell me all about it."
"Oh, I don't think your going to get all the details, but if you buy lunch, maybe some of them!" Jace smiled at his retreating back, he was her friend, and she knew he would be happy for her.
"You're on," with that he entered the other office and closed the door behind him.
Jace looked at the closed door and waited impatiently for the VIP visitors; she still didn't know who they were. A black Land Rover appeared into view from her window and she watched in fascination as a man came into line of vision, how ever, she was not in a position to see the other party with him, she looked closer.
'Why that's Paul Strong, James' friend! What's he doing here? Doesn't he work for some large corporation or something? Hell, he must be the important visitor, she didn't realise he had that much authority.' Trying to get a closer look at his companion, she craned her neck but to no avail, the person had walked outside her range and view totally. 'Well, this isn't to bad then, she liked Paul Strong.' Walking over to the coffee machine she started it up and waited for them to enter the building.
Paul Strong came into the office area first, the other person had the door held open for him and he walked casually but confidently into the room. He looked like any middle aged executive with a definite style to his wardrobe, which was expensive but quietly and impressively, so. The other party walked into the area seconds later just as Jace turned back to the machine to make sure she hadn't over filled it.
Catherine Devonshire saw the young woman and smiled briefly, her mind creating images she could certainly do without at this moment, and then she put back on her stoic persona. Hudson didn't need any advantage in this battle.
Jace turned and came face to face with the woman who had indeed made all her dreams come true in one night. The tension beginning all over again as Jace looked her lover over in frank admiration and shock at her appearance in the office. 'She never mentioned coming here today? You never gave her the chance!' Jace answered herself.
Catherine was dressed in an expensive pinstriped navy blue skirt suit the skirt came to a stop at the top of her shapely knees, which were encased in what she surmised to be silk stockings. Her blouse was a stark white, very plain but obviously in silk. She looked the epitome of a professional businessperson and her stance showing that she exuded power out of every pore. Her hair hanging loose around her broad shoulders giving her a very primitive yet controlled image to the onlooker.
"Catherine?" Jace managed to say as she finished her observation, her mind lost in thoughts of undressing the woman before her.
Paul took the opportunity to state their business. "Nice to see you Ms Bardley, we have an appointment with Ms Hudson, would you inform her that we are here." His voice clipped out in a totally businesslike way.
Jace smiled warmly at him, but her eyes never left Catherine's who had been looking at her with a sparkle of laughter in them. "Who shall I say is calling?" Jace asked sheepishly, knowing they would think it strange that she didn't know the visitor's names.
Paul raised his own eyebrows at the question, but duly answered. "Tell her Ms Devonshire and Mr Strong are here from Xianthos," he looked at the woman next to him and smiled briefly.
"What!" Jace shouted at him, her mind not taking in the answer. 'No, no this isn't happening, she's not her, and it can't be her!' Jace's mind was shrieking at the unexpected discovery.
Catherine noticed that Jace had paled, but now was not the time to let her personal affairs get in the way, she had to be focused; Hudson was always difficult at the best of times.
The door to Hudson's office opened as Jace sat heavily down in her chair. "Ah, Catherine at last! Paul good to see you; please come in, come in! Jace get the coffee will you?" she said sweetly.
Catherine without a backward glance followed her into the office and Paul looking at the younger woman slumped into the seat gave her a compassionate glance. 'Catherine had obviously forgotten to point that little detail out to Jace, I wonder if she forgets just how powerful that name is in some circles?'
Jace heard the introductions around the room and the door closed with a definite click. Her head was whirling; she didn't know what to do, what could she do? Hadn't she come face to face with the enemy? Oh god, why didn't I listen to her, why?' Tears threatened to fall as she gathered up some coffee cups and placed them on a tray, all the actions on automatic, and her mind to full of questions.
Slowly she dragged her mind to the task and opened the door to the office and her worse nightmare. Walking on autopilot inside, Peter Adamson got up from his seat and took the tray from Jace. He'd noticed her pale face and her attempts to stem tears. He knew the reason why.
Looking at the person who had caused the pain, however innocently, he noticed she was a little pale herself and was watching the younger woman in earnest, concern plainly etched in what would otherwise be a very cool and composed expression.
Jace now in shock as the realisation of the events sank in.
Hudson looking at her emotionally distressed PA and also the closed expression on her very important visitor. "Jace, I want you to meet Paul Strong, he's the President of Xianthos and of course you know Catherine Devonshire." her smile, sickly sweet, knowing the hurt she was inflicting.
Jace looked at Paul and smiled a weak smile "Paul good to see you again."
Hudson looked a little put out at Jace's familiarity with the man, but not for long, taking the advantage. "But of course you don't know Catherine by that name do you? She's none other than your reclusive friend C X Warriorson. Small world wouldn't you say?" She maliciously intoned.
Catherine smiled at Jace, but it soon died as she saw a cold expression come over the usually animated and happy visage that she loved.
"I need to leave if that's no problem to you Ms Hudson?" Not waiting for Hudson to answer she rushed out of the office.
"Oh Jace, shame on you no words of welcome for your friend?" Hudson smirked at the retreating back.
The two men in the room watched the differing expressions on the three women and each had their own opinions on what was transpiring.
Catherine followed Jace out the door. "Be right back," she stated absently as she pulled the door shut behind her.
**********
"Jace!" Catherine drew her immediate attention by her authoritative voice.
Looking like a bird about to fly out of a cage she turned to look at Catherine. "What's the problem Ms Devonshire, the coffee not to your taste?" her voice carrying the cold front Catherine had seen on her face moments earlier.
"I thought you would be at least pleased to see me?" Catherine softly asked the woman she loved. Catherine watched the emotions wash over Jace's face; they went from surprise, anguish, hurt and finally anger.
"How could you.......how could you lie to me?" Jace accused her lover.
Catherine shook her head in surprise, what the hell was wrong here? "I'm sorry, but I don't understand? I've never lied to you!" was the quiet response.
"You never told me you were........are the Devonshire behind Xianthos?" Jace's tone angry and held bitter.
Catherine looked perplexed, 'why the hell would that particular fact matter?' "Does it matter? Hell, I don't even go by that name anymore. Most of that part of my life is dead to me now!" Catherine emphatically replied.
"Yes it matters! It matters to me! I hate Xianthos and I hate the person who owns it!" Jace replied with passion, her anger nearly manifesting physically.
The words came like a body blow to Catherine; she recoiled from the venom spat out in words. "Why?" Catherine whispered, her world suddenly starting to crack open around her.
Jace looked at the pain etched into the beautiful face before her, it took all her will power not to reach out and touch it in comfort, but her hatred of all things Xianthos stopped her. "My father had a publishing business in Santa Barbara. You! Bought it out, but you disregarded him as irrelevant. He fought you, you called in all his debts, and he's never been the same. Nor have I!"
"Are you telling me this is about a business deal?" Catherine couldn't believe what she was hearing, she slowly put a hand over her eyes to try and clear the fog that had apparently descended on her relationship with Jace.
"Yes, no.........yes it was our family business, our lives!" Jace was completely overcome with her bitter emotions, her ability to make coherent sentences losing the battle.
Catherine tried to make sense of the situation; it hadn't any grounding for such a response from Jace, not to her anyway. "I told you Jace, you wouldn't like some of the things I've done in the past. You told me it didn't matter, did you lie to me?" Catherine asked calmly, yet her guts had reason to want to jettison her breakfast.
"No, no I never lied to you! This is different." Jace looked at her with pain filled green eyes.
"How so? It's okay for my past to affect others, you could ignore that, but because it happened to you it's different?" Catherine advised her logically.
"Yes," she whispered, knowing she was being totally unfair.
Catherine passed another hand over her eyes in what could only have been a gesture of defeat. Squaring her shoulders she looked at the other woman, who refused to acknowledge her stare? "Then I guess I'm going to have to live with you hating me Jace. Because sure as hell, I can't change what happened in the past." Her voice cracked as she looked over the blonde's shoulder to a picture hung on the wall, unable for the moment to move away.
Jace turned to her and saw the stoic expression settle on the face of the woman that she had loved, in every possible way. "I loved you Catherine Warriorson!" Jace said in a voice devoid of emotion, her heart screaming at her to retract her words.
Catherine quirked her eyebrow at the expression and considered the words. 'Loved? How fitting.' Catherine turned towards the inner door preparing to depart, changing her mind she closed the gap between them.
Placing her hands around the tearstained face. "No Jace, you loved the dream of a woman I'm obviously not! Funny really because this woman here before you loves you an awful lot, even now!" Catherine spoke in a quiet resigned voice. Her will the only thing stopping her own torrent of tears threatening to fall.
Bending her head she placed a tender kiss on Jace's lips and left her swiftly re-entering Hudson's office.
Jace's lips tingled from the contact and tears cursed down her cheeks as she picked up her purse and car keys. The turmoil she felt in her life at the moment was incredible; Jace didn't know what to think where to turn too, what to do! 'I'll go home, it's the only place left. Maybe everything will make more sense.'
She left the building.
**********
Catherine re-entered the room and saw everyone glance up in her direction. She gave them a cold stare, except Paul; he knew his boss well.
Hudson wasn't fooled, 'Interesting body language. So there is something going on with those two. I knew it! Oh I'm going to enjoy this even more now.'
Catherine had years of experience of not showing her feelings in public, even if her heart had been ripped out of her chest and lay bleeding to death at the foot of Jace's desk. Somehow she always rallied round it was instinct. "Okay Hudson, what do you want?" Catherine asked brusquely, no longer interested in the meeting.
Hudson knew that the preliminaries were over, even before they had started, not a bad call. Smiling smugly she pointed at the men in the room. "Maybe they should leave?"
Paul looked at Catherine for guidance, this wasn't a business meeting at all, something was going on that had personal undercurrents.
Peter took the opportunity to leave, not saying a word.
"Well, he can go and take care of Jace, she obviously has some sort of problem today," Hudson said nonchalantly.
Catherine grimaced and moved around in her chair, wanting to physically hit the woman at the desk. "Paul stays, get on with it!"
Paul stifled a chuckle as he recognised the old Devonshire style.
Hudson looked taken aback but recovered quickly. "Fine with me, if you want all your dirty laundry aired in public, that's up to you."
"Believe me the way I feel at the moment, I don't give a damn what you do to me!" Catherine smiled briefly at Paul; he might as well know all the facts.
"I want your sixty percent holding in UCP transferred to me, and a guarantee that you will support with financial aid UCP for the next twenty years." Hudson drummed her fingers on the table as she looked at the woman she desperately wanted, regardless of her feelings for someone else.
Paul got up from his seat and was ready to punch the obnoxious woman himself, Catherine watched his movements and responded to the threat. "Sit down Paul, let her finish. I assume you have something else to say?" Paul reluctantly did so.
Hudson looked at them both and lost a little of her composure, she noticed Catherine didn't seem to care one-way or the other.
"And?" Catherine asked calmly. She was too calm Hudson knew that.
"I want you!" Hudson leered blatantly at her to exaggerate her point.
A sharp laugh was the answer from Catherine as she continued to stare out of the window for a few minutes. Catherine rose from her seat and walked past Paul squeezing his shoulder in reassurance as she headed for the window. "You mean you want my body?" Catherine purred, her primitive instincts now getting a chance to voice themselves.
"Yes." Hudson's voice became hesitant, she hadn't expected this reaction, what the hell was going on in that sharp mind, it was almost as if she was planning to spring traps, like a hunter.
"Right! So if I say no, what are you going to do about it?" Catherine appeared nonchalant about the whole situation.
"If I told you now, Paul would know and it's no longer a secret," Hudson said petulantly.
"Get on with it Hudson." Catherine's sneered her stance at the window clearly angry and frustrated, she needed this like a hole in the head right now.
"Your father told me about your troubles, the drugs, alcohol, the prison in particular. What you did inside to get by, shall we say." Hudson said maliciously.
Catherine said nothing from her position at the window, Paul looked on in embarrassment.
"Your drug dealing, your sex for drugs, your violence in prison! Do you want me to go on?" Hudson thought she had Catherine now, hell, no one wanted this sort of thing public, not in her position surely.
"You made your point, in your usual tainted way Hudson," a very bored voice declared.
"If it gets out your business is going to nosedive. Your precious domestic life will be ruined. I'm sure the authorities in New Zealand will be interested, you have children under your care now; hardly think you're a fit parent. Then there's your love life, it would be a real turn off wouldn't it?" Hudson laughed enjoying the pallor from Paul and the rigid back from Catherine.
Paul got up from his chair and walked over to his boss. "Is it all true?" He knew some of the story; he had been part of it, but not it all.
Catherine smiled wryly at him. "Yes, I'm afraid so. It was a long time ago, seems like another lifetime now."
Paul looked at the calm profile of his boss and then returned back to the agitated Hudson. "Yeah, it was a long time ago and you're not that woman now." He smiled and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Thanks Paul," she continued her observations out of the window. 'Jace hates me now! Wonder what she will think about me when she finds out about all Hudson's so called facts?'
"Oh cut the sentiment please, what are you going to do?" Hudson was frustrated it really wasn't going the way she planned.
"Do your damnedest Hudson; only remember once your through, it's my turn." Catherine gave her a chilling look, her ice blue eyes working overtime.
"You think that when all this gets out your going to be in a position to try anything? I'm scared!" She laughed maniacally at the thought.
"Believe me, you should be!" Catherine replied quietly but with a definite edgy menace.
Paul turned to Hudson. "You just made a mistake lady, she's very dangerous when cornered, very like a lioness with her cubs, think on it?"
"You think wrong, it's more like a rat, and edging back to the sewer she just crawled from," Hudson retaliated.
"Funny, I would have used that expression for you! In fact, don't be surprised if it's not a premonition of events about to unfold. Oh, to you I mean," Paul gave her a dazzling smile.
"Get out of here, your nothing but her resident arse kisser," exasperated Hudson threw her pen at the door.
"Been called worse in my time." He left the room, giving his boss a reassuring glance.
Catherine walked over to Hudson and gave her a stony glance that would have frightened most people. Hudson just didn't give a damn. "Thank you for the offer Hudson, but you pale considerably in comparison to what I know is right for me. Maybe you should think about settling down yourself, with a nest of rats, more to your taste I suspect," Catherine drawled.
"Ha! Don't get clever with me Catherine; I know Jace hates your guts, now she knows whom you really are! Not much you can do about that is there?" Hudson snarled at her.
Opening the door to the office to let herself out, turning briefly she said. "I might not be able to do much about that, that's about the only thing you have said that might be factual today. It's ironic really the whole situation, we both came off losers in the name of love."
Hudson looked at the woman with a startled expression and shouted, "I DON'T LOVE YOU!"
Catherine silently walked back over to Hudson and stroked one slim finger down her right cheek, watching the desire fire in the other woman's eyes. "No, your right, you didn't love me, because you can't love Hudson. At least, I found out I can!"
She left the other woman in a rage. Hudson dragged out her file, you asked for it, your going to get it! 'If you won't have me Catherine Devonshire, then believe me no one else will ever hold you! If you thought you were a recluse before, then when I'm finished with you, Howard Hughes will look like the ultimate party animal.'
**********
Chapter Thirty-six
"Are you going to see her?" Paul asked Catherine finally, as they sat at the bar in the hotel, each nursing a scotch and water.
Catherine looked up from her drink and gave him a wry smile. "No! It's over," she then went back to studying her drink.
"How can you say that? You need to explain things to her, she deserves that! You deserve that!" Paul almost deafened her with his rather explosively spoken words.
"Funny, I tried to explain just that last night, she chose seduction over the truth. Guess we are both going to pay for that delay. She has to live with the fact she seduced a woman she hates, and I have to live with the memory of how much I love her and how it felt to hold her." Catherine gradually let the tears fall, it didn't really matter anymore if anyone saw her this way, what more was there to lose?
"Will you go home?" Paul asked her gently, seeing the tears but making no obvious gesture that would make her self-conscious.
"Can I go home once all this comes out? The authorities in New Zealand are going to want some answers and maybe I haven't got them!" Catherine dejectedly looked into the depths of her drink, which she had hardly touched.
"What about Grace, 'Destiny' and the children?" It wasn't like her to give up.
"I'm going to call Grace with the sordid facts when I go to my room, she deserves to know before the media throw it in her face, then she might want to leave also!"
"She won't leave you!" Paul said adamantly.
Catherine looked in his direction and put her drink down after taking a long drink of it. "You sound so sure, why?" her left eyebrow rose in question.
"Because if she hasn't in the last five years, no way will she desert you in your hour of need," he smiled at her.
"That sounds so melodramatic, just the sort of thing Grace would say." For the first time since they arrived at UCP, she gave him a genuine smile.
"Maybe. Grace loves you as a very good friend and you need one right now." Paul stated the facts as he saw them about her friend.
"What about you? Are you still going to be a good friend and stick around, when this mess goes public?" Her ice blue eyes pierced him with a serious glance.
"Yes, I'm here for the duration, come what may. Might even help our share prices," he tried to bring some levity to the serious conversation.
"You know you might just be right about that." Catherine put a hand on his and held it in a warm hold. "Thank you Paul Strong, for everything."
He patted her hand in sympathy as they decided on the next move.
**********
Jace arrived at her family home and pulled the car into the drive; her father wouldn't be home and Lucy would be at her part time job in the mall.
Taking a deep breath she went towards the back of the house and saw her mother tending the garden, walking slowly over to her she crouched down next to her mother and simply put her arms round the rounder figure, her tears flowing unchecked.
Alison Bardley was at first shocked by the presence of her daughter and then upset on her behalf at the obvious distressed state she was in. 'What the heck had gone on now?'
Gently cradling her daughter in her arms, she waited for the sobbing form to still a little and gradually guided them both into the house. Sitting her down in one of the kitchen chairs she put on the coffee pot and sat next to her eldest daughter and took Jace's cold hands in her own and gently chaffed them to try and warm them up. "Do you want me to call your father Jace?" Alison had never been Jace's favourite parent to talk her troubles over, not that she hadn't wanted to, it was something that Jace had always done with her father. Lucy, her younger daughter was totally different!
"No! There's nothing he can do," Jace said tearfully.
Alison looked thoughtfully at her daughter. Jason had explained Jace's problematic love life to her later in the evening after Jace had gone back to her apartment. Some how it hadn't surprised her, her daughter had never really taken any interest in any man, mind you she hadn't in a woman either, until she had spoken to her father. "You need to let it all go Jace, don't bottle it up inside. We are here to help you, you've always known that, we love you," what more was there to say to your heart broken child?
Looking into her mother's green warm eyes she smiled briefly and gulped back a sob. "I fell in love Mom; nothing big huh?"
Alison smiled, "Well, its kind of a big thing to us dear. Who is the lucky person?"
Jace gave her a guilty look. "Catherine, Catherine Warriorson."
Nodding her head in understanding, Alison put a hand round her shoulders and hugged her close. "Has something happened to her?"
Jace started to cry again and her mother wondered if something tragic had happened to Catherine Warriorson. "In a way Mom yes, Catherine is also known as Devonshire, Catherine Devonshire, the owner of Xianthos."
Looking perplexed Alison gave her daughter a quizzical look. "What exactly does that mean?"
Jace gave her mother a tired half smile, her father would have understood. "Xianthos took the business from us, remember?"
"Ah, that Xianthos. Aren't we good enough for her, is that why you're upset?" Alison was surprised her daughter would even know the woman, never mind fall in love with her; surely they didn't frequent the same circles.
Jace smiled weakly at her mother, "No Mom, I told her basically she wasn't good enough for me! I told her nothing she had done in the past mattered and when I found out, I just flipped and all my old stored up hatred spilled out."
Her mother looked at her in shock, this wasn't their gentle understanding daughter here, this sounded more like a woman with hate in her heart, and it didn't make sense. "You said what exactly?"
"She arrived at the studio, I didn't know she was Xianthos, it was a shock. I didn't let her explain, I just looked at with prejudice eyes. Mom, I wasn't thinking straight, it happened so fast," her daughter whispered into her shoulder.
"That isn't like you Jace, you have never judged anyone before without full and complete facts, what was so different with her, especially if you loved her?" Alison felt sorry for the other woman.
"I know Mom, but it was so overwhelming and especially after we had such a wonderful night together, I'm so lost and I don't know what to do?" Jace looked at her mother with a heartbroken pleading look in the green eyes, similar to her own.
"Why not try calling her and apologising, then see where it goes from there?" Alison looked at the fragility of her eldest child and was surprised at what she would have seen as a lover's spat, hurt her child so much and wondered if there was more to this than a simple identity misdemeanour.
Jace suddenly looked up and her tears stopped for a moment as she looked at her mother with hope. "Do you think she will talk to me?"
"Does she love you?" Foolish question really, she was sure that the woman who had captured Jace's heart would have equally lost her heart to this usually kind and compassionate woman in her arms.
"She said she did, even when I....I said things that were hurtful to her. She wasn't easy to get to know Mom, I could have blown away my chances with her with some stupid words!" Jace's sobs increased.
"Words are often greater weapons than actions Jace, with your background surely you know that?" Stroking the blonde head and easing the tension in her child,
"I know, I know. I just want so much to take it all back and say it's okay. Everything she was makes up the person she is today and that's the person I love and need!" Jace turned her head further into her mother's embrace and was held there protectively, which reminded her of Catherine and how she had cradled her that morning, fresh tears started again.
"Then she will understand Jace, believe me she will understand," her mother gently crooned to her daughter.
**********
Catherine wearily sat at the edge of the bed and looked at the time, it was 1 p.m. She was waiting for Paul to confirm that the Xianthos private jet would take her to South America.
They had agreed, that until the sensationalism of the news, became old news she would go and help in the training of the new vice president.
She was virtually unknown on that continent and only Garcia and himself would know her true identity out there, she would take a pseudonym for a month or two, change her hair colour, stay low.
Her cell had been cut off, her communications link on her laptop had been changed, and she no longer had the same e-mail address; there was nothing to trace her to her next destination, until she wanted to be found. Grace would be given her new cell number and e-mail address, but it wasn't to be revealed to any one else, unless she authorised it and that wasn't likely in the circumstances.
Looking morosely around the room, she picked up her cell wanting nothing more than to just hear Jace's voice and explain it all away. Hadn't she always said this relationship was impossible! Hell, she had been proved right in a way she hadn't even considered. In a fit of frustration and acute anger she threw the cell at the hotel wall, watching it bounce off and land with a muted thud on the carpeted floor, the casing cracking along one side, rendering the instrument inoperable. Staring at it, she quietly muttered to the empty room, "Guess you just did that to my heart Jace Bardley."
No recriminations, just resignation of her fate. Previously unshed tears cascaded down her cheeks, she closed her eyes to ward them off, but they continued anyway. Laying her head on the pillow she tried to shut out the thoughts of the woman who had made her feel love in such a profound way, it was a struggle to consider living without her. 'What am I going to do without you in my life Jace, you are the reason for my life!'
The hotel phone rang. Catherine answered it and smiled, Paul said the jet was ready when she was. Getting up from the bed, she picked up her bags and left the room, as the elevator doors shut behind her, the phone rang again, only this time it rang into an empty room.
Catherine Devonshire-Warriorson had gone!
Continued in Part 18
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