He'd been trying to figure a way to wangle a meeting with Alex, but things had fallen into place with surprising ease.
"Ms. Thorpe wishes to meet with you, Mr. Baron," one of her attorneys had said.
"Does she know who I am?" Travis had asked, with quickened interest.
"Oh, no. She never even thought to ask your name. It's probably her divorce that makes her think she wants to take some small role in her business affairs."
"How long ago was the divorce?"
"Two years." The attorney had sighed. "But I'm sure the stress lingers."
"Was she in love with her husband?"
If the attorney thought the question rather personal, he was too well-trained to show it.
"Of course," he'd replied.
Travis eased the car down to the speed limit as the road began its descent, and glanced at Alex again. Was that why she'd come on to him the way she had? Because she was heartbroken over the loss of her husband? It was possible; he could imagine a woman, in the depths of despair, trying to erase the memories of another man by going to bed with a stranger.
His jaw tightened.
Hell, he didn't want to think he'd been a second-best substitute for some guy who'd been stupid enough to lose this woman.
"Your husband," he said abruptly.
Alex swung her head toward him. "My ex-husband."
"Yeah." Travis's hands tightened on the wheel. "Who divorced who?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Did you leave him, or was it the opposite way around?"
Alex touched the tip of her tongue to her lips. "I don't see what that has to do with Peregrine Vineyards."
Travis wrenched the wheel, hard, to the right. The brakes protested as he swung onto the narrow gravel shoulder and let the car idle.
"I was married," he said harshly. "I found my wife in bed with another man and realized I'd known for a long time, that I really didn't love her and maybe I never had." His green gaze caught hers and held it. "I wasn't trying to get rid of ghosts when I made love to you."
Alex's eyes widened. "I never said-"
"Were you?"
She swallowed dryly. "Was I-was I thinking about Carl when we-when you and I-"
"When you cried out, in my arms," Travis said, his eyes never leaving hers. "Were you thinking of him, wishing he was in your bed instead of me?"
She stared at him. It was a question he had no right to ask, one she had every right to refuse to answer. At the very least, she could lie, tell him yes, she'd been thinking about her ex when she'd been with him...
"Alex?"
Travis wasn't touching her but she could almost feel the strength of his hands on her. She wanted to feel them, to feel him against her.
She thought, for a second, she'd spoken the words aloud because he muttered a low curse, undid his seat belt, drew her to him in a rough embrace and kissed her. It was a long, deep kiss that made her heart race. When it ended, she was shaken.
"I need to know," he said, cupping her face and looking deep into her eyes. "Was it me, in your bed, or was it him?"
The lies, and the protection they offered, disappeared like a magician's rabbit.
"It was you," she whispered. "From the second you first kissed me, it was you."
They sat staring at each other, Travis's body hardening with need, Alex's softening with it. Then he drew away from her and reached for the gearshift.
"And a damn good thing it was," he said roughly, and the car fishtailed as he accelerated onto the road.
He took her to a little restaurant in a handsome inn perched by the seaside, and settled her at a table for two in an outdoor garden. The sun was just starting to droop against the cloudless sky.
Alex couldn't think straight. She let Travis order for the both of them and after their salads arrived, she bent her head and tried to concentrate on hers but the silence screamed at her and, at last, she looked up.
"It's beautiful here," she said.
"Why?" Travis said.
She tried to smile. "Why is it beautiful?"
"Why did you tell me to leave that night?" A muscle knotted in his jaw. "I wanted to make love to you again, Princess. And everything about you told me it was what you wanted, too."
Alex colored. "Please. I don't want to-"
"I can't get it out of my head. The way it was between us. The feel of you. The taste..."
Her fork clattered to the tabletop. "Travis," she whispered, "don't. What happened, what I did, was wrong. It embarrasses me to think about it, much less to discuss it."
He reached for her hand and caught it in his. "Listen to me, Princess. I'm not a kid. I've been with a lot of women. And I'm telling you, something incredible happened between us. How in hell can you say it was wrong?"
"Because..." She tugged her hand free of his. "Because it was. I've never-I know you won't believe this, but I've never done anything like that before."
His mouth curved in a smile. "You mean, you never paid twenty thousand dollars for a date before?"
"Go ahead," she said fiercely. "Laugh. But it isn't funny. I never picked up a man in my entire life. And I certainly never went to bed with a stranger I'd just..." She flung back her chair and shot to her feet. "I can't talk about this," she said, and ran from the restaurant.
Travis pulled some bills from his wallet, stuck them under the pepper mill and went after her. She was halfway down the deserted beach, walking with her arms wrapped around herself, her face turned to the sea, when he caught up to her.
"All right," she said, before he could speak. "Okay, Travis. You want to know what happened that night?" She swung towards him, her face pale. "I'll tell you."
"Alex." He wanted to take her in his arms but the look in her eyes warned him not to. "Princess, all you have to tell me was that I wasn't a guy standing in for somebody else."
Alex gave a bitter laugh. "I found my husband in bed with the woman I'd thought was my best friend. That was more than two years ago, and I remember thinking, almost calmly, that now, at least, I had a legitimate reason for ending a marriage I hated. No, Travis. you weren't standing in for a man I'd loved and lost. I-I bid on you that night to-to prove something to myself."
That look of ferocity was still in her eyes but there was a vulnerability to her mouth that made him ignore all the little warning lights going off in his head. He reached out and gently pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, and then he let his hands drift to her shoulders. He held her gently, afraid that if he held her the way he wanted to, she'd run off again.
"What?" he said softly. "That you were beautiful? Desirable? That any man who'd choose another woman over you ought to have his head examined?"
She rewarded him with a faint smile but when he tried to draw her closer, she pulled away.
"My husband said I was frigid. His exact words for me were that I was a frigid little rich bitch."
Travis's eyes narrowed. "And you believed him?"
"I didn't really care. It meant-it meant he left me alone. Sex had been-it had been unsatisfying."
"Unsatisfying," Travis repeated softly, in a way that made her shudder.
"Travis." She put her hand on his arm. The muscles were like stone under her fingers. "Travis, I'm only telling you this because--because I've finally admitted the truth to myself, that you deserve an explanation."
He caught her hand in his, held it so tightly that she caught her breath.
"Go on," he said harshly. "Tell me more about this husband of yours."
"There isn't much more to tell. As I said, I found him with another woman. And I divorced him."
"And?"
"And," Alex said quietly, "that Friday afternoon, before the auction, I was in the ladies' room at a restaurant and I overheard two women talking about me. They said-they said they could tell just from looking at me that everything Carl's wife-"
"Your ex's wife?"
She nodded. "They said everything she'd been telling them was true, that I was a spoiled little rich girl with too much money and not enough libido. And I could tell, from how they said it, that all the people who were supposed to be my friends were probably scurrying around behind my back, discussing my sex life, too."
Travis's hand fell from hers. "Go on."
"I went shopping. I bought that dress. The underwear. The shoes." She closed her eyes against the memory. "Then I burst into that stupid auction and I saw you."