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Her thoughts made it all the more incongruous when Travis exited the car and walked round the bonnet to help her out of die vehicle as though they were on a date or something. She tried to be as graceful and dignified as present circumstances allowed—which wasn't saying much.
Outside lights situated at the front of the house had clicked on automatically as they'd arrived, but, flustered as she was, Beth had been concentrating on the absurdity of her situation other than anything else. Now, as she slid out of the Mercedes with his warm hand supporting her, she looked at him—really looked at him—for the first time. A little bolt of electricity caused her breath to catch in her throat. Grey, she thought in¬consequentially. His eyes are grey.
"What's the name of your dog?'
"What?' The cool voice had registered but her scrambled brain hadn't been able to compute.
Your dog?' he repeated patiently.
She became aware of the barking. Harvey was taking ex¬ception to being stuck in the vehicle when they were outside. "Oh, Harvey. His name's Harvey.'
'I suggest you get ready to reassure him. He'll be meeting my dogs in a moment and I'd prefer him to be friendly.'
The slight hiccup in her thought processes caused by the piercing quality of the deep grey eyes fringed by spiky black lashes evaporated. 'Harvey is always friendly,' she said tightly before she realised it didn't exactly reaffirm his guard dog persona.
'Good. Sheba and Sky aren't.'
The next moment he had opened the back of the estate car and Harvey had jumped down and, before she could ask him what he'd meant, he was turning the key in the lock of the front door. Immediately two grizzly bears—or that was what they looked like to Beth—bounded on to the drive.
There was a tense moment or two, on Beth's side, while the two dogs circled Harvey, but his wagging tail and lolling grin didn't falter. Within seconds the three dogs were inspect¬ing each other's rear ends and introducing themselves. Beth sighed with relief. 'They're lovely,' she said unconvincingly, keeping her eye on the dogs in case they suddenly decided to go cannibal and give Harvey a hard time. 'What are they?'
'Apart from being female, I haven't a clue,' Travis said easily, clicking his fingers, at which signal both dogs shot to his side and sat down. "They were dumped by the side of a road in a cardboard box at five or six weeks old. A friend of mine saw the incident and something made him go back and look inside the box. The vet reckons there's a number of breeds in there, but who's counting?'
Whatever their pedigree, Harvey seemed to find the two dogs attractive. Beth noticed he'd gone into macho man mode as he sauntered up to Travis and leered at the two females.
As they entered the house Beth's first impression was one of space and mellow wood. The large hall was oak floored, as was the wide curving staircase which led to a galleried first floor. The walls were light with several modern paintings providing vivid splashes of colour, and just a small oak table, either side of which stood two upholstered hardbacked chairs, broke the clean lines.
'I'm sure you'd like to shower and change while I feed the dogs. Has Harvey been fed yet?' Travis was walking to the staircase as he spoke and his dogs stopped at the foot of it. Presumably they weren't allowed upstairs.
No, he hasn't. I was just about to give him his food when we got locked out.' Beth followed Travis up the stairs after telling Harvey to stay. He made no objection, plonking himself firmly in the middle of the two females, where he appeared quite content. So much for the guard dog routine.
The oak floor continued along the galleried landing and, after leaning over to make sure Harvey was still behaving himself, Beth joined Travis where he was standing by an open bedroom door. 'You'll find some T-shirts and jogging bottoms in the wardrobe and a guest robe behind the bathroom door,' he said easily. 'Make yourself at home. There's plenty of hot water. When you're ready, come downstairs and find me in £he kitchen. Do you like spaghetti Bolognese?'
What? Oh, yes. Yes, thank you.' Terribly flustered, Beth stepped into the ankle-deep cream carpet of what was obvi¬ously a guest room and Travis shut the door behind her, leaving her alone. She gazed around her. The coffee and cream room had definitely been decorated and furnished by someone with minimalist taste, but it was beautiful. She suspected the whole house would be beautiful.
Gingerly, as though she was going to leave a trail of dirt and destruction, she made her way over to the open door of the en suite bathroom, which reflected the colours of the bedroom, and peered into the huge mirror stretching over a pair of basins.
She groaned out loud at the reflection staring back at her. Not only were her pyjamas and slippers the worse for wear, but a large smear of mud—at least she hoped it was merely mud and not what she'd slipped in—had deposited itself on the side of her face. Her hair had dried in a tangled riot in the wind and her make-up free face was shiny where it wasn't filthy. She looked like something the cat wouldn't deign to drag in. Not even if it was desperate.
