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"Ma'am?"
Alex swallowed dryly. "I know him. And we're—we're having a disagreement, not a discussion."
"A disagreement," the cop said, in wearied tones that probably meant he'd heard it all before. "Well, if it's all the same to you, lady, it'd be a good idea if you took your disagreement back where it started."
"We will," Travis said grimly, his hand tightening on Alex's. "We were just on our way back to my place. Weren't we, Alex?"
She looked at him and he knew she'd liked to have tried clawing out his eyes, if they'd been alone.
"Yes," she said through her teeth.
"And you're going with him willingly, ma'am?"
Alex sighed. "Yes, Officer."
The cop nodded, folded his arms and waited. Alex wrenched her hand free of Travis's. Head high, shoulders back, she marched back to the gate. Travis, feeling like an idiot, muttered something about having a nice day and started after her. He climbed into his car, put it in reverse, punched the control that closed the gate, glanced in the mirror—and saw Alex, setting off through the trees toward the adjoining property.
"Holy hell," he muttered. He left the car in the driveway and went after her. "Where do you think you're going now?" he snapped, when he caught her.
"The same place I was going before you interfered. Home."
Travis let go of her, folded his arms across his chest and smirked. "Yeah, well, first you'd have to scale the ten-foot wall that separates my property from the place next door." "I'll manage."
"I doubt it. Besides, you really have led a sheltered life, Ms. Thorpe, if you don't realize your mausoleum is at least an hour's drive from here."
"It is not a mausoleum." Her tone was frigid. "And I never had any intention of walking. I'll call for a cab, just as soon as I find a pay phone."
"Listen, lady, you want to go home?" Travis slapped his hands on his hips. "Fine. I'll drive you there."
"I don't need you to do anything for me, thank you very much. I am perfectly capable of—"
Hell. "Look, this is crazy," Travis said, and shoved a hand through his hair.
"It is not crazy. There must be a hundred public phones on that road."
"I don't mean that, dammit. I mean—I mean, what happened this morning."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Alex turned on her heel and began walking toward the gate. Travis stepped out in front of her, clasped her shoulders and stopped her.
"Let's not play games, Princess. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Things were going fine until I—until—"
"Until?"
He took a deep, deep breath. "Until I lied."
Alex blinked. "Lied?"
"I didn't have an appointment." He took another breath, dragging it deep into his lungs as if it might be his last, and glared at her. "I just—I panicked."
"Panicked?"
"Do you think you could stop repeating everything I say?"
He folded his arms again. She wished he hadn't. It made her look, really look, at that broad expanse of tanned, muscled chest; at those rounded biceps. At the swirl of dark hair that tapered to a silken line before disappearing into the unbuttoned waistband of his jeans.
She forced her gaze to his face. "I'm not repeating everything you..." She stopped, bit her lip, cleared her throat. "I don't know what you're talking about, Travis. Panicked about what?"
He turned and started walking. She hesitated, then followed him past the house, through a small garden and down to the beach. When they reached the sand, he turned and looked at her. "You're not the first woman who spent the night in my bed," he said gruffly.
Alex nodded. His words sent a funny little pain through her breast but she ignored it.
"There's no need to boast," she said coolly. "I didn't think I was."
"Yeah, well, I just want to be sure you understand that."
She kicked off her shoes and dug her toes into the warm sand. "You needn't hammer it in. There was nothing special about last night. I've got that."
"No. No, you don't!" He caught hold of her wrists and yanked her toward him. "There damned well was something special about last night, and you know it."
A gust of wind blew Alex's hair across her face. She tugged one hand free, scooped back the strand and stared at him, bewildered.
"Then why—I mean, what—"
"I told you. I panicked." His scowl deepened. "Listen, you think it's easy for me to say this, Princess? I'll tell you right now, it's not."
"To say what? I don't have a clue what you're talking about."
