Disclaimer: Ah, finally someone who is open about her hatred for poor little Henri-Mae. Well, sometimes the people we hate are the people who fascinate us the most. :)

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Bo was glad, to be honest, that Henri-Mae and her cohorts had left town. If they'd still been in the Boar's Nest, he wouldn't have had the balls to go in there and face her head-on. Not that he wanted a scene. What he wanted was to get Henri-Mae alone so he could talk some sense into her.

Trouble was, he didn't have a clue as to how to do that. But rather than admit it and slow down, as would have been more like Luke, he was Bo, and he rushed on ahead anyway.

They had a bit of trouble getting into the club, as the bouncer at the front door wasn't keen on letting too many guys get past him, especially not "a couple of hayseeds," as he addressed the Duke cousins. Luke, always the one to find his way around a situation, got them in through the back, posing as a couple of security guards with jackets they swiped from a nearby truck.

Bo broke away from his cousin almost immediately, lost in the sea of moving bodies around him. He scanned the room with his eyes, but there were so many people, especially so many pretty girls, that for a few moments he nearly lost his head and went over to go and talk to one who was making eyes back at him.

That was when the people parted like Moses and the Red Sea. It was as if she spun out into a clearing in the floor, arms raised, lifting her shirt to expose just the tiniest part of her midriff, her long legs seeming as high as the ceiling. Her hair flounced forward as she came to a halt with the song, and while the music continued to grind on in rhythm, she had stopped and was laughing, pushing her hair out of her face. Skin glistening with sweat, she turned and started to walk away.

Bo couldn't swallow. He loathed himself, at this moment, for feeling the way he felt. It was like seeing her for the first time – relaxed, smiling, the lines gone from her forehead and the anger gone from her voice. The sound of her laughter, free and light, was nearly alien, it had been so long since he'd heard it.

He had used to be able to make her laugh like that all the time. That smile had used to be only for him.

He charged forward, following her. He saw her stop beside a man who looked about his age, dark where he was fair, face just as pretty as his, and she turned, leaning against the wall behind him.

"That was pretty impressive," the guy was saying, one hand resting on the wall just over her head. A possessive stance. Bo came to a halt just behind him.

"Excuse me," he said. He had the distinct pleasure of watching Henri-Mae's shock freeze her smile into place as her eyes settled on him.

The man glanced at Bo over his shoulder. "Get lost, she's taken," he said smoothly, and then showed Bo his back. "So what do you say to getting out of here?"

"Sounds good," Henri-Mae replied, expression tightening as shepushed away from the wall. Her eyes mocked Bo, as if daring him to do anything about it. "Suddenly the air in here isn't all that fresh."

"Excuse me!" Bo said again, feeling the anger flood his chest and clench his fists. His shoulders tensed and this inflated him slightly, and not being a stranger to a fight, the man knew instantly what was going to happen.

"I said to bug off," the man said coolly. "Henna, you know this guy?"

"Never saw him before in my life, Tom," she replied, her eyes meeting Bo's. "Get rid of him."

"Not in here," came a deep voice from behind. Every wary, the bouncers had caught wind of the tension and came quickly to prevent a fight. A very large bald man with a goatee was standing at Bo's shoulder. "You want to fight, you do it outside."

Tom shrugged. "After you," he said.

"No, I insist," Bo sneered at him. Tom shot a wink over at Henna and made his way for the exit. Bo followed at a few feet of distance, with Henri-Mae close behind.

The second they touched the sidewalk outside, Tom spun around with a balled fist and struck at Bo, but Bo was lean and fast. He ducked, and brought his fist right up into Tom's gut. The man groaned, doubled over, and another left hook landed him in a puddle at Henna's feet.

Balladeer: That doesn't surprise me. Henri-Mae was probably thinking her new city boyfriend would take out a country boy like Bo in a few punches, but Bo and Luke fight like a duck swims in water. I didn't have any doubt for a second.

Henri-Mae's amazement was quickly turned into anger when Bo reached across the partly unconscious body and seized her arm, dragging her along with him down the street. "You redneck hick!" she screamed. "You brute! Let me go!"

"Not until you listen to some reason!" he barked at her over his shoulder, and the two of them promptly disappeared into a nearby alley.

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"What the hell?" Henri-Mae squawked, alarmed at suddenly having the object of so much emotion pinned up against her in that alley against a damp wall. She pushed against him, and might have managed to get some air between them if Bo hadn't grabbed her by her shoulders, getting his thumbs into her underarms, and pressing with all his weight. She was no longer flush against him, but she was very much trapped in place.

"My question exactly," he said, and the anger in his face was alarming. She hadn't really taken into account the possibility of Bo doing something like this – it was very unlike him. Had she pushed him over the line? The thought filled her with a peculiar kind of fear, but she steadied herself and tilted up her chin, eyeing him defiantly.

Balladeer: Now let me assure you that Bo has never roughed up a lady in his life. That girl must have really gotten to him to make him act like this.

"You –" she spluttered. "You bastard. How dare you? Let me go!"

"No way," he said, his grip tightening, nearly painfully. "Not until you and I have a few words on some more equal turf."

"I've said everything I have to say to you," she snapped.

"Well I haven't!" he barked. "And I don't count cursing at me and throwing shoes at my head as having words! Now what are you thinking? Why in the hell are you taking a job as a deputy? You trying to start more trouble?"

"Don't have to," she said, twisting her lips into a malicious smirk. "You and your cousin cause more than enough to go around."

He glared down at her. "You know perfectly well that I didn't take advantage of you," he said, his voice dangerously soft. "You know damn well what happened between us was entirely consensual. In fact, if someone had been perverse enough to tape the whole thing, it was you who seduced me!"

She looked away, a blush tinting her cheeks. To be called on her shit in such close quarters was unnerving, but she wasn't about to back down. "Maybe I did," she said, whisper soft. "What does it matter? That's not what the town thinks. I accomplished my job. I ruined you."

The anger intensified, but his voice didn't rise. "Why do that to me, Henri-Mae? Didn't you break my heart enough when you skipped town?"

An eyebrow arched in surprise. "Break your heart?" she echoed. "Are you out of your mind? It was you who cheated on me, Bo Duke. You're the very reason I left town!" Anger lodged in her throat, choking her. She had left town…and gotten into trouble…and her father had died before she could come home…no, she couldn't think about it, not now…

Unexpectedly, his expression softened. "And I've hated myself for it every day since," he said.

She snorted. "Oh yeah, I'm sure you have. I'm sure all those other girls were just ways of punishing yourself."

"Well what do you expect!" he cried, then hushed his voice. "I didn't have you anymore." There was something in his voice that caught her attention, and she almost asked him to repeat himself, just to make sure she'd heard in right.

"And you just missed me so much," she whispered.

"I did," he said, his grip gentling but still holding firm. "I lost you…all I had left in the world was my reputation, and now you've gone and ruined it."

"Yes," she said plainly. "I have. Now no girl will look at you without thinking of the stories about me. And wondering if you're just out to do the same thing to them that you did to me."

There was a pause. "Maybe I don't care," he said, his eyes on hers. Suddenly she was too aware of how close he was, of his body-heat, of the glimpse of the downy hair on his upper chest through the V in his shirt. He leaned a bit closer to her, and she couldn't understand why she was so uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Maybe it doesn't matter what any other girl thinks of me, ever again. Maybe it only matters what you think, Henri-Mae."

She frowned. "What are you on about?" she said, her voice wavering.

He smiled at her. It was not a kind smile – it held something wolfish in it, something that gave Bo an entirely different appearance, as if he were another man. "Come on, Henri-Mae. If you're still this angry at me after all this time, it means you're not over me. You never have been. And to be fair, I never got over you either."

Confusion contorted her face. Had he gone mad? She felt her body tremble, but not entirely with fear. He was closer now, she could smell him, and the memory of his naked body against hers danced in her mind, a tormenting demon intent on driving her insane. God, he had always been so beautiful. Every girl in the school had wanted him, and he'd picked her. She felt her chest tighten, a tingle run through her breasts as he brushed against them lightly.

Stubbornly, though, her will refused to submit. "I don't know what you're talking about."

His chuckle was like a growl. "What if we could both get what we wanted?"

"What we wanted?"

"You want me," he said, dipping his head to let his breath trail over her neck. "You can't hate someone as much as you claim to hate me if you don't love them. It's just not possible. Well, you can have me. All yours, each and every day, to do as you please."

She swallowed, and it was difficult. "And what do you get out of it?"

That smile. Now it showed teeth. "Well, I get you, of course."

She stared at him, wondering if she was insane. But years of being on her own had knocked a good amount of her naiveté out of her head, and innocence was just a memory. There was no way this could be for real. The Dukes shucked and jived with the best of them, and this had to be a scam.

Boy, little Bo Duke really had changed since she saw him last.

She matched him, then, wolfish grin for wolfish grin. "You really are unbelievable, aren't you?" she said, laughing softly.

He hadn't expected her comeback. "What do you mean?"

"Trying to play me," she murmured.

"I'm not playing," he said, and she almost believed it. Pride was a harsh mistress.

"Bo, haven't you considered that I've already got what I want? I have your balls on a plate. I haveyou so desperate to 'stop me,' whatever the hell that means,that you're willing to stoop this low. But quite frankly, I'm starting to think it's my life's mission to make your life and the life of every Duke miserable."

He looked pained. "What did my family ever to do you?"

She let out a sharp laugh. "They're Dukes, Bo. All Dukes are the same, each and every one of you. Lula's been in love with Luke for years, does he give her a second glance? Ms. Tisdale would throw herself into the path of an oncoming train for Uncle Jesse and he won't so much as give her a smile at the post office. And Daisy – Enos would die for her. Does she care? No." She shook her head. "All of you are the same. You think you're better than everyone. Maybe Boss is right. You do need to be taken down several notches. As many as I can manage."

He stared at her, horrified. He had never heard such an open declaration of war before. "You really think that?" he breathed. She nodded, eyes meeting his evenly. He let go of her then, stepping away. "Then I guess there's nothing more to say," he said.

"Nope," she replied, resisting the urge to rub the circulation back into her arms.

Bo nodded, looking very small and defeated in the moonlight. If nothing else had gotten to her, that sight nearly broke her then and there. But she held her breath and stood firm.

"Then we don't have anything more to say to each other," he whispered.

"Except goodbye," she said, folding her arms. Bo slunk away, back to the General Lee, where Luke was already waiting.

"How did it go?" Luke asked as Bo got into the car.

Balladeer: I think one look at Bo's face will answer that question.

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