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As Catherine dimpled at Travis, Michael came forward and shook hands too so that Beth found herself edged further back into the room. Another minute and she'd be in the back garden!
'You very nearly missed us,' Catherine said chirpily. 'We have come to take Beth out to dinner. Have you eaten yet, Mr. Black?' she added archly.
'Travis, please. And no, I haven't eaten,' Travis said quietly. 'In fact, I was going to ask Beth the same question and suggest she might like to join me. But of course as you're visiting...' He paused delicately. Beth could have kicked him.
'Oh, no, no, you must join us,' Catherine protested quickly as Travis made to step backwards. 'We insist, don't we, Michael? We've booked a table at the hotel we're staying at, The Larches. Do you know it? I understand the food's wonderful.'
Travis nodded, his keen grey eyes passing the couple in front of him and focusing on Beth's tight face. 'Perhaps Beth would prefer to have you all to herself,' he said silkily. 'I'm sure you two must have plenty to catch up on.'
'Not at all' Catherine swung round, took in Beth's wooden expression and turned to face Travis again. 'We talk on the phone nearly every day for hours,' she said airily, 'and we'd love to say thank you for looking after her so well when the whole incident could have turned out so badly.'
They were talking about her as though she'd suddenly gone blind, deaf and dumb. Beth stirred herself. 'Of course you must come if you haven't eaten,' she said sweetly to Travis, knowing full well it was all decided anyway. A ten ton truck wouldn't stand in the way of Catherine when she'd made up her mind about something. 'I wouldn't dream of seeing a friend starve when the solution is so simple.'
Travis's mouth curled in a smile that was so sexy Beth was sure he must have practised for hours in front of a mirror to get such a devastating result. 'Then thanks, I'd love to,' he said easily. He turned to Catherine. 'How about Beth and I follow you and Michael? It'll save you having to come all the way back here after the meal.'
'Well, if you're sure...' Catherine beamed at him.
'Quite sure.' He virtually beamed back.
Great. Beth wished she was two years old so she could indulge in a stress-relieving tantrum. But she wasn't a child and neither was Travis. He was a man and an all male one at that. Her mouth was dry and she had to swallow twice before she could say, 'Now that's settled, perhaps we ought to go if the table's booked for eight?'
'Absolutely. This is our first weekend by ourselves since our little boy was born, you know. Michael's mother is looking after him...' As Catherine took Travis's arm and con¬tinued to prattle away as they walked down the garden path, Michael just had time to mouth a silent 'sorry' to Beth before Travis disentangled himself and opened the garden gate for everyone to pass through. The good manners didn't cut any ice with Beth.
She was acutely conscious of the height and breadth of him as she brushed by, the dark trousers and white shirt he was wearing emphasising the leanness of his hips and the width of his powerful shoulders. She was also aware of the delicious tang of expensive aftershave on clean male skin, and felt there was some excuse for the fact she was finding it difficult to breathe. There was something about Travis that was broodingly tough and sensual, and yet there was a warmth, a fascinatingly gentle side to the hard masculinity that was compelling.
Animal attraction. A base kind of lust. She used the words deliberately. One caused the other. Simple. It was what made the world go round in the animal kingdom and it spilled over into the human population too. Keith had had that chemistry too, in a different kind of way to Travis, but it had been there nonetheless. Women would fall for such men regardless of whether they were free or involved with someone else, and the man barely had to lift his little finger. It was dangerous, with a high chance of disaster for the woman concerned, but it was a fact that some men only had to smile for the female sex to go down like ninepins. But not her. Never again.
Beth was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Travis's car until she was almost standing by it, and even then it was more Catherine's frankly awed voice that brought her attention to the magnificent sports car. 'Wow, this must have cost you a fortune.' Catherine was nothing if not direct and to the point. 'Michael would die for one of these, wouldn't you, Mike? Every red-blooded man's dream and all that.'
As Michael dutifully agreed, Beth glanced at the beautiful lines of the sleek Aston Martin crouched beside Catherine and Michael's stout family car. 'This is not your usual car,' she said accusingly as Travis opened the passenger door for her.
Travis studied her with the thoughtful look he seemed to keep for her. A 'here-we-go-again' look that suggested extreme patience and forbearance, Beth thought irritably.
