Austin, Texas

Walking in the door of the sorority house, Sue Ellen was overcome by an ominous feeling. Passing the common room, making her way to the staircase, she heard her name being called, which explained a few things.

"Sue Ellen! Where have you been? I've been trying to call you all day."

Turning, she couldn't believe her mother had come to find her, in person.

"Hi mama, I had class and then went to the library to research information for one of my papers. Why? What's so important that you need to contact me right now?"

Walking upstairs toward her bedroom, she spotted her mother eyeing her engagement ring. Saying nothing herself, Sue Ellen noted her mother was silent too. Neither wanted to broach the subject and neither would, not now.

"You weren't available when I called earlier to let you know about an unexpected phone call I received today, you'll never guess who it was."

Not in the mood to play games, she was a little intrigued by her mother's excitement over a simple phone call, so she simply asked for the answer.

"I don't know mama, who?"

"Billy Frampton."

Hearing the name, Sue Ellen was unable to hide her smile. Her few dates with Billy had been enjoyable; he was attractive, nice, and attentive. She could see herself being friends with him easily but the purpose of their dates hadn't really been to find friendship and they'd parted company after agreeing that they couldn't just be friends when he had stronger feelings than friendship toward her.

Her feelings for Clint had been the comparison at the time and even now she compared the two. They both had wonderful qualities but she was attracted to each man differently.

Billy was the son of a billionaire whose wealth came from the oil, uranium, diamond, and coal industries. She often wondered about what would have happened if she'd met him first, would she have felt differently about him? It would make her mother very pleased if they were to rekindle their relationship, even if they'd never actually had a proper relationship to begin with.

"Oh? What did he want to talk about? Why didn't he call me?"

Now interested in the conversation she asked a few questions.

"Well he's a proper gentleman; he wanted to make sure I was ok with his intentions before he made any moves."

Her mother's explanation vague, Sue Ellen wondered where the conversation was heading.

"Intentions? Mama, Billy is a very nice man, but I'm not attracted to him in any way other than as a friend. He knows that. What did you tell him?"

In a good place with both Clint and Billy she hoped her mother hadn't gone and said something to upset the balance of things.

"Well he enquired about how you were. He's seen you around in the media a lot you know, Miss Austin and everything. I told him about you and how you have the Miss Texas pageant coming up soon and he asked very politely whether you needed an escort. We've agreed Billy will be your escort for the pageant. You two will look lovely together. It helps too that everyone knows who his daddy is, perhaps they'll see you as proper Miss Texas material. Being yourself will get you far, but being seen on the arm of a Texas billionaire will be wonderful publicity."

Now understanding her mother's excitement, she couldn't say she appreciated how the news had been delivered to her.

Considering the pageant her thoughts turned to Clint. He hated the spotlight and attention of being on stage and it had taken a lot of convincing to get him to do it last time. Perhaps Billy's offer was a blessing in disguise. Clint could still be in the audience but he didn't have to be onstage.

"He offered to escort me?"

Asking directly she wanted to make sure that her mother hadn't promised Billy something more in return for his goodwill.

"Yes Sue Ellen, he called me, he asked about you and he offered to escort you when I mentioned the pageant."

"That's all?"

"I don't know what else he has planned, that's for you two to sort out amongst yourselves."

Listening, she wondered whether her mother had mentioned Clint to Billy at all but she knew that if she asked she was just as likely to get an untruthful answer as she was to get a truthful one.

"Ok mama, Clint will be relieved."

Dallas, Texas

Setting his drink down, JR looked around the room, uninterested in the lady sitting opposite him.

Dinner with Carol Parker, the daughter of a congressman, hadn't been his idea, but she was his date for the night. Sweet and pretty were about the only compliments he could give her because what she brought to the conversation was dull and he had very little interest in flirting with her.

He hoped his parents would understand when he told them he wouldn't be seeing Carol again, it was just tedious to spend time with her and he couldn't believe she was the sort of lady they really wished he'd being into the family.

Trying his best to continue the conversation but finding it had to pay attention, he found himself wondering if this was as good as it got with proper ladies. Were they all like this? He loved the chase, it was thrilling and the rewards were excellent. He also tended to lose interest after getting what he wanted, which was why he didn't pursue ladies who were looking for more. He couldn't imagine the Carol Parker's of the world participating in anything he wished to do; they were entitled to live as they wished, as was he, but those lives were incompatible.

Austin, Texas

On top of Mount Bonnell, Austin's highest peak, Sue Ellen sat in front of Clint, her back to his chest and his arms wrapped tightly around her. Sitting in comfortable silence, they watched the sun begin to set.

Clint sat thinking about how lucky he was to have Sue Ellen in his life and Sue Ellen sat thinking about her meeting with her mother earlier in the week. She hadn't broken the news to Clint about Billy yet, not that she was hiding it, the topic just hadn't come up in conversation.

"I have some good news."

Breaking their silence she decided now was as good a time as any to tell him.

"Mm?"

"I know how much you dislike the attention of being on stage, so you don't have to be in the Miss Texas spotlight with me. Mama was talking to Billy Frampton a few days ago and he offered to escort me. Isn't that great?"

As Sue Ellen started to speak, Clint was initially happy however that happiness quickly faded when she mentioned Billy Frampton's name. The man had eyes for Sue Ellen and she was being naïve if she believed he was offering to do anything for her simply as a friend.

"He offered? What were the terms of that gracious offer? Dinner? A weekend away? Sue Ellen, you promised me that you were a one-man woman and now you're dating Billy Frampton?"

Surprised by his tone, genuinely believing he would be pleased, she turned and looked up at him.

"Hold on a minute, I'm not dating him, he's going to be my escort in the pageant. I accepted because of how much you told me you disliked the attention at the Miss Austin pageant and I thought this would take the stress off you. I did not agree to any other dates with him and he didn't specify that I had to do anything for his company. I honestly thought it would make you happy."

As she spoke, her irritation with him grew. He was overreacting with no justification.

"Oh come on Sue Ellen, you can't be that naïve. He's smitten with you. What man wouldn't be? He's rich and handsome too. Your mother must love the pairing you two make."

Hearing his criticism, the words stung. Did he think that little of her that he truly believed she would just forget about him because she spent a few hours with another man?

"Clint, I love you, not him. We've been through this before remember? You won. If you're not willing to accept that then we're done talking about it because I will not apologise for a genuinely considerate action on my part. You told me that you didn't like the pageant side of my life so I tried to keep you out of it. You can't have it both ways and if you think you can then that's your problem, not mine."

She'd been trying to be thoughtful and considerate and he wasn't having it, now she wasn't going to put up with his behaviour.

"My problem with this whole thing isn't the 'what' of the situation it's the 'who'. We know plenty of people that are just friends but Billy Frampton does not want you as a friend. I'd be your escort if you asked me. I admit I wouldn't enjoy it but I'd do it for you. You know that you're beautiful but do you see how often men stare at you? You're Sue Ellen Shepard the lovely Miss Austin, model, sorority girl and I'm just the guy standing next to you. Most of the time it's ok because I know you care for me but for you to choose him over me knowing that he has feelings for you, well that hurts and it makes me angry. So yeah, I do want you to apologise, because you knew all of this and still agreed to have him escort you."

Listening to him she couldn't believe what he had to say.

"I knew all of that? How? How was I supposed to know any of that? You never verbalised that you would escort me in another pageant, you made it clear the last time that you hated the experience. Obviously, I didn't want you to have to do something you hate again. As for men looking at me, you say that like it's my fault that other people notice me? Do not blame me for other people's thoughts, I am not in control of that. Another thing, you are not just the guy next to me, I'm sure it's clear we're together when we're in public. You're wallowing in self-pity right now and it's deeply unattractive. I won't apologise because I didn't do anything wrong."

Annoyed, not wanting to be anywhere near him, she stood and started to walk back toward the path they had come up, not considering the fact that the sun had set and it was relatively dark now so walking alone down a dirt path might not be the best idea. All she needed was to get away from Clint and his irrational, jealous lectures.

Angrily navigating the path, walking quickly, just wanting to get as far away as quickly as possible she didn't visually notice the uneven ground surface of the path, just felt it as she walked. Suddenly finding herself on her hands and knees, her ankle caught between what felt like a fallen tree branch and a rock, she immediately regretted her decision.

Shocked, hurt and angry she felt tears start to pour out and run down her cheeks. Her ankle hurt, but it wasn't the pain alone that was the source of her tears.

Yards away, Clint sat on the rock alone, stewing. Was Sue Ellen right? Was he overreacting? He felt justified in his judgement of Billy Frampton, he and Sue Ellen both knew the man had feelings for her, however she had chosen him the last time, he had to acknowledge that, although acknowledging something didn't mean he had to like it.

He knew blaming her for the looks she received was a low blow. She was right, she couldn't be held responsible for other men's thoughts.

He was responsible for his own thoughts and perhaps he'd been too honest with his when he'd complained about the Miss Austin pageant. Maybe Sue Ellen really was trying to be nice and really did think Billy was harmless. Her reaction certainly indicated strong feelings about the subject.

At that moment, panic hit him. He'd just let his pretty, naïve, upset fiancée walk out into the darkness of night where she could be attacked or hurt. If anything was wrong he would be to blame, he was supposed to protect her from danger, not put her in it.

Getting up quickly, he made his way down the path keeping an eye out for Sue Ellen, not seeing her but hearing what sounded like crying up ahead.