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'I have the Estate for when the dogs travel with me and this for when they don't,' he said mildly. 'Due to pressure of business, I didn't get away until late today and I have to get back tomorrow afternoon. It wasn't worth bringing them when they'll be perfectly OK with my housekeeper in Bristol.'
He had a Mercedes and an Aston Martin, the gorgeous house she'd seen that first night as well as another home complete with housekeeper. How much did industrial design pay these days, for goodness' sake? Beth slid into the leather interior.
Immediately he joined her Beth wished she had insisted they travel with Catherine and Michael. It would have made her look ridiculous, of course, as well as ungracious and selfish considering it would have meant Michael having to drive all the way back to the cottage to drop her off, but it would have been so worth it. As it was, she was trapped in this wildly sexy car with Travis so close she was in danger of hyperventilating.
She sat as stiff as a board as he expertly manouvered the powerful car to face the direction in which they were heading, her pulse racing. On the perimeter of her vision she was aware of strong male hands on the steering wheel and the way his trousers had pulled tight over hard thighs. It was disconcert¬ing. The word mocked her with its feebleness.
As they began to follow the other car along the lane Travis settled more comfortably into his seat and Beth felt the action in every cell of her body. She swallowed to combat her dry mouth, pretending to look out of the side window as though she had never seen the view before.
'Your sister isn't much like you,' Travis observed coolly.
Beth looked at him out of the corner of her eye and saw he was perfectly relaxed and laid-back. The resentment she felt enabled her to say flatly, 'Actually, people have always said how alike we are. Catherine's only a couple of years older than me and there were times we were mistaken for twins when we were younger. Old aunties and uncles were forever getting us mixed up.'
'I wasn't referring to your physical appearance.'
'Oh, no?' Somehow she felt she came off unfavourably in the comparison. She didn't want to ask and give him the sat¬isfaction of needling her, but she couldn't resist saying, 'What exactly were you referring to, then?'
He shrugged, considering his words for a moment before he murmured, 'She's friendly, bouncy, forever rushing in where angels fear to tread, I would imagine.'
Beth stared at the hard square jaw. There was a five o'clock shadow in evidence and the stubble was strong and dark. Beth didn't know why it made her stomach lurch but it did. Stiffly, she said, 'You make her sound like a cocker spaniel.'
He gave a crooked smile. 'Unintentional, I assure you.'
She knew she shouldn't ask—it was the craziest thing to j do—so it was with some alarm she heard herself say, 'So if Catherine is your average cocker spaniel, how do you see me?'
'Quite differently.'
She wasn't sure if she had imagined the smoky warmth in his voice but it made her tremble anyway. She was over¬whelmingly grateful he had to concentrate on the road ahead and wouldn't notice. Forcing a jaunty note into her voice, she said, 'Does that put me more in the category of a sedate collie or golden retriever? Something along those lines?'
Now he actually chuckled as he said, 'I wouldn't dream of comparing you to a dog, Beth.'
His lazy amusement caused a fresh riot of sensation in her traitorous body. She took in a long silent pull of air through her nostrils. 'But you admire Catherine's perkiness?' She kept her voice light, as though she didn't care one way or the other. Which she didn't, she assured herself silently.
'It takes all sorts to make the world go round.'
Undoubtedly, but that was hardly an answer. She sneaked a glance at the rugged profile from under her lashes. His smile was just a twitch this time but it told Beth he had noticed. She snapped her head to the front again at once.
Wretched man. She squirmed in her seat and then stopped herself immediately. Cool and collected, that was how she had to be to deal with Travis Black. She couldn't let him get under her skin. Deciding to change the subject entirely, she said primly, 'You are obviously very busy at work at the moment. I'm surprise you decided to come up this weekend.'
'Are you?' Grey eyes flashed over her face for a moment before his attention returned to the windscreen.
She waited for him to say more and when he didn't felt herself getting tenser and tenser. After a few electric minutes had quivered by, she broke the taut silence again, saying, "Who exactly do you work for in Bristol?'
'Black Enterprises.'
'Black Enterprises? That's a coincidence, isn't it, the firm having the same name as...' She stopped. 'You have your own business,' she said lamely. Of course he did.
