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She didn't know how to handle his gentle persistence. The seconds seemed to stretch on for an eternity before she could bring herself to say, 'Are you always like this? So...'
'Straightforward?' he interjected pleasantly.
'I was going to say offensive.'
'Always.' He didn't smile. 'So what is it?'
Beth knew her face was burning. 'Haven't you ever heard it's rude to invade someone else's privacy?' she asked tersely.
He ignored this. She got the feeling he always ignored anything he did not want to answer. 'What was his name?' he asked softly. 'This man who let you down?'
She stared at him as her mind raced. Useless to prevari¬cate—she could read in his eyes he wasn't going to let go of this. 'Keith.' Although it was hard, she made herself continue to look him straight in the face without dropping her gaze. 'His name was Keith, all right? He was my husband for a while until I discovered he had a common law wife and two children he'd forgotten to mention. In my eyes, if not legally, he was a bigamist.'
She saw him blink and knew she had shocked him. 'I'm sorry.' His voice was deep and sincere. 'I can't imagine how that must have made you feel.'
There was something in the hard male face that made her want to cry but she had cried enough tears to fill an ocean in the last months. To combat the weakness she deliberately made her voice flippant when she said, 'Pretty rough to start with but in the overall scheme of things it was just a little dropped stitch in life's rich tapestry. And, let's face it, it isn't many women who get to be the legal wife and the other woman at the same time. I feel sorry for Anna, actually. She didn't know about me either and she has two little children to consider. He was very clever, dividing his time between two households and keeping us both sweet. There might even have been other women on the side too; it wouldn't surprise me.'
'So you left him?' Travis asked quietly.
'Oh, yes. Like a shot. We're divorced now so it's all history,' she said evenly. 'Everything was made worse by the fact that my sister and I had recently lost our parents in an accident and I worked too hard to try and cope with it all. Bad mistake. So you see there is no deep mystery to my being in these parts. Not really. I just decided I wanted a nice long break before I join the rat race again, that's all'
'What about the human race?'
'Pardon?' She frowned at him.
'When are you planning on joining the human race again? Letting down the drawbridge? Communicating? Having fun? Dating?' he said smoothly. 'Normal stuff.'
Her frown turned into a full scale glare. 'That's my business, surely,' she said frostily. Didn't he realise how dev¬astating it had all been? Was the man without even the merest shred of understanding?
He held up his hands in mock surrender, stepping back a pace. 'OK, OK, don't get super-prickly again. I only won¬dered how long you intended to let him dominate your life and cast a shadow over your future. Months, years?'
"What?’ Beth was flabbergasted. How dared he?
He eyed her expressionlessly. 'Well, what do you call it?' he asked coolly. 'The guy was obviously an out-and-out sleaze-ball who wasn't fit to draw breath; every generation throws up a few like him. They're dangerous, I give you that, but only before you recognise what they are. Afterwards, once they're back in the gutter where they belong, you get on with the rest of your life. Or else they win big time. Surely not an option?'
Beth couldn't remember being so mad for a long time. 'As easy as that, eh?' she said grimly. 'Well, silly old me for not realising the world is just a bowl of fat ripe cherries and the moon's really made of cheese. I'll be believing in Santa Clause next and the tooth fairy.'
He had the nerve to grin. 'Whatever turns you on.'
For the first time since she had been a little girl, Beth found herself stamping her foot. Within the warm circle of her family home she'd had the nickname Neddy because of her tendency to stamp up and down in temper. The brief lack of control was like a dash of icy water on the fire of her anger. Taking a deep breath, she said, 'I think you had better go.'
'Because I told you the truth?' he said lazily, not moving. 'You're big enough to take it, surely?'
She almost stamped again. Infuriating, arrogant pig of a man. 'The truth as Travis Black sees it,' she qualified curtly. 'Which doesn't necessarily make it the truth at all'
'Think about what I've said and you'll find I'm right.' He wasn't smiling any more. 'You're too beautiful and warm and gutsy to shut yourself away, Beth, and, if you're not careful, the longer you leave it before you put a toe back in the water the harder it'll be to launch out and swim.'
'And if I don't want to swim again?' she said tightly. 'That's up to me, surely. I do have a mind of my own.'
'Believe me, I don't doubt it.' His voice was dry.
