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'Good morning.' Travis looked like an advertisement for some designer or other, his pale suit and midnight-blue shirt impeccable and his black hair glinting in the sunshine.
Beth stared at him stupidly, trying to form coherent speech out of the cotton wool muddle of her mind.
'Can I come in?' he asked with some coolness.
'Oh, yes, yes, come in.' She stood aside and let him pass her, doing her best to ignore what the smell of delicious limey aftershave on clean male skin was doing to her hormones. As she shut the front door she managed to say, 'What are you doing here?' realising that should have been her opening line.
'Seeing you.' He didn't smile. Neither had he brought any croissants or goodies today, she noticed, her heart beginning to thump. 'I get the impression we need to talk.'
"What time is it?' She glanced helplessly at the clock on the wall above the fireplace. Eight o'clock. He must have been up at the crack of dawn. 'Coffee?' she offered weakly, clicking her fingers at Harvey, who as always had given Travis a rapturous welcome.
"Thanks.' It was polite but disinterested.
'I'll just let Harvey out first.' She opened the front door again and let the big dog out for his normal nose around the front garden, before walking through to the kitchen where she made them both a quick mug of instant coffee.
Travis was standing in exactly the same place when she turned. He still wasn't smiling.
He took the coffee with a nod, refusing her invitation to be seated. He waited until she had sat down on the sofa before he spoke. 'So?' The grey eyes were piercing. 'What is this all about, Beth? Let's have it.'
No attempt to kiss or hug her. A large fat bumble bee which Sad flown in when she had opened the door for Harvey buzzed angrily against the window before settling on a pot plant. The stillness was profound.
"This?' she prevaricated, hating herself for her cowardice. But with Travis in front of her the courage of the night before was only a memory. She should have just disappeared this week.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but when you spoke of leaving it wasn't only Shropshire you had in mind. Right?'
"I didn't say that.' She stared at him helplessly.
"But it's what you meant,' he persisted grimly.
She could fob him off. Make up some excuse. Deflect what was clearly going to be one awful mess of a goodbye.
'Yes.' She raised her eyes from the coffee. 'I did mean that. I.. .1 think it's going to be simpler if we call it a day now.'
'Simpler?' The grey was granite-hard. 'For whom?'
'For both of us,' she said a little desperately. 'We... we've had fun and it's been great, but once I'm back in London it would be too difficult to keep seeing each other. The distance—'
'Is nothing,' he interrupted icily. 'And you know it.'
He was looking straight at her but she couldn't determine what he was thinking. His expression was closed, devoid of emotion, like a poker player determined to give nothing away. She suddenly realised what had made him such a successful businessman. He would be a formidable opponent.
'Of course it is,' she argued miserably. 'Long distance re¬lationships always go wrong.'
'We're not talking continents, Beth, merely a few miles between one city and another. So let's cut the excuses and get to the chase. I thought everything was going well between us—great, in fact. What changed overnight? Did anyone upset you at the weekend? Say something? What?'
Her throat felt dry and the coffee didn't ease it when she took a few sips. She pulled her robe tighter round her. 'Can't you just accept it's better if we call it a day now?'
'No, Beth, I can't.' His body was very still, very controlled. 'You are going to talk to me for once. Open up that damn closed box in your mind. We both know there have been times when I could have taken you and you would have been willing. You're not the sort of woman to do that lightly. We were getting somewhere. It was good. I thought—' He stopped abruptly.
'What?' she said faintly.
He waved an impatient hand. 'Never mind. This isn't about me, it's about you. So what has put us back to square one? What went so wrong that you were going to creep off without even giving me the courtesy of an explanation?'
He had known. She didn't bother to deny it, her beetroot-red face was confirmation enough if he had needed it. Which he ob¬viously didn't. She wanted to break the hold his eyes had on hers but she couldn't. 'I.. .1 told you at the beginning how things stood with me. I didn't come here looking for a relationship—'
'But then you met me,' he interrupted with magnificent ar¬rogance. 'And everything changed.'
She averted her face at last, dragging her gaze from his as she finished the coffee. Her throat ached as she swallowed. She didn't want to hurt him, she told herself frantically, but at least it was only his pride that would take a fall. This might dent his ego but it wasn't as if he loved her or anything like that. In a few weeks, a few days even, she would be replaced. He might even meet someone who could supplant his lost love.
