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As she left the house to join Travis and the dogs in the car I the first big fat raindrops began to fall and a roll of thunder growled across the sky. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered because she had the whole weekend with Travis in front of her. Just the thought of it was intoxicating.
She looked at him through the open window of the car and his eyes, as grey as the clouds that had spread across the blue sky, but very clear, smiled back at her. She felt her heart give a little jump as one black eyebrow quirked up and he said, 'Perhaps not the barbecue I was thinking of, after all, but a candlelit dinner instead. How about that?'
'Fine.' She slid into the car, hoping she appeared more cool and self-possessed than she felt. 'Sounds great.'
He leant towards her, his face very close and his heavily lashed eyes glinting as they focused on her mouth. One finger softly touched where his eyes had stroked before moving down the curve of her chin and slowly, very slowly and se¬ductively continuing a path down her throat and into the soft swell of her cleavage. 'Nice dress,' he said throatily before kissing her full on the lips and then starting the car.
'Thank you,' she said primly, her heart racing.
"You're welcome.' He grinned at her, a devilish gleam in his eyes which made her wonder if she should have chosen a dress with a higher neckline.
But this one, a sleeveless shift in pure white with a trim of deep blue, made the most of her recently acquired tan and emphasised the colour of her eyes. And she had wanted to look nice for him. Nice... The word mocked her with its demureness. She didn't want to just look nice for Travis, she wanted—
Beth cut off her thoughts ruthlessly, refusing to acknowl¬edge the noticeable electricity in the air which was nothing to do with the worsening weather and all to do with the big dark man at her side. 'Have you had a good week?' she asked evenly.
'So-so.' He glanced at her. 'Lonely dinners, even more k»nely breakfasts.'
Beth swallowed. If he was saying what she thought he was saying... 'You don't have to be lonely on my account,' she said carefully. 'I mean I don't expect you to change your hfestyle because we're seeing each other when you're up in these parts. If you want to.. .date other women, that's fine.'
'Change my lifestyle?' His voice was steady, expression¬less even, but there was the merest something which alerted her to the fact that she had annoyed him. 'What do you think my "lifestyle" consists of, Beth? An orgy of one-night stands?
A merry-go-round of bed partners? The little black book by the phone, maybe?'
No, she didn't think that. Travis was not a promiscuous man, she would bet her life on it. He was a highly discrimi¬nating and intelligent individual who would want more than mere physical stimulation from any women he was involved with. Quite how she had arrived at this knowledge, Beth wasn't sure, but it was there. 'I didn't mean to insinuate that.' She looked down at her hands, wondering why she was forever destined to mess things up with this man. 'I don't think you are like that at all.'
'No?' He paused significantly. 'Sure about that?'
She raised her head, glancing at the rugged profile. 'Yes, I'm sure,' she said very firmly.
There was a moment of explosive silence. 'Good.' One small word but his voice was warm again. 'But, for the record, let me just emphasise that one woman at a time is more than enough for me, especially if the woman in question happens to be a blue-eyed blonde architect. OK? However things turn out between us. Do you understand what I'm getting at here?'
'I was just trying to say—'
'I know what you were trying to say, Beth,' he said evenly. This time the silence was shorter but just as charged before he continued, 'But I expect fidelity in return; it works both ways. Just so we both know where we stand.'
Did he seriously think there was even a chance of her being interested in another man when he was around? And then she immediately checked herself, altering the thought to—when she had just been through a traumatic divorce? 'I wouldn't dream of seeing anyone else,' she said with very real indig¬nation. 'Of course I wouldn't.'
'And neither would I.' He smiled, and there was amusement ¦ his voice as he said, 'So that's all right, then. We see eye n eye on the fundamentals, which is a healthy start to any re¬lationship. It's good to clear the air, don't you think?'
Clear the air? She didn't answer but she knew she was ousting in a thick whirling smog through which she was walking bit by bit without any visible direction. He scared her. He fascinated her and disturbed her and brought all sorts of wild thoughts and emotions to the surface, emotions she would have sworn on oath she was incapable of just weeks ago, but in spite of everything she couldn't expel him from her life. Not yet. She would regret it for ever if she did. This...attraction between them had to run its course and slowly begin to wane, as such things always did. Only then would she be able to put it down to a sharp learning curve about both herself and what was possible in the future.
