"Let's not play games, Princess. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Things were going fine until I-until-"
"Until?"
He took a deep, deep breath. "Until I lied."
Alex blinked. "Lied?"
"I didn't have an appointment." He took another breath, dragging it deep into his lungs as if it might be his last, and glared at her. "I just-I panicked."
"Panicked?"
"Do you think you could stop repeating everything I say?"
He folded his arms again. She wished he hadn't. It made her look, really look, at that broad expanse of tanned, muscled chest; at those rounded biceps. At the swirl of dark hair that tapered to a silken line before disappearing into the unbuttoned waistband of his jeans.
She forced her gaze to his face. "I'm not repeating everything you..." She stopped, bit her lip, cleared her throat. "I don't know what you're talking about, Travis. Panicked about what?"
He turned and started walking. She hesitated, then followed him past the house, through a small garden and down to the beach. When they reached the sand, he turned and looked at her. "You're not the first woman who spent the night in my bed," he said gruffly.
Alex nodded. His words sent a funny little pain through her breast but she ignored it.
"There's no need to boast," she said coolly. "I didn't think I was."
"Yeah, well, I just want to be sure you understand that."
She kicked off her shoes and dug her toes into the warm sand. "You needn't hammer it in. There was nothing special about last night. I've got that."
"No. No, you don't!" He caught hold of her wrists and yanked her toward him. "There damned well was something special about last night, and you know it."
A gust of wind blew Alex's hair across her face. She tugged one hand free, scooped back the strand and stared at him, bewildered.
"Then why-I mean, what-"
"I told you. I panicked." His scowl deepened. "Listen, you think it's easy for me to say this, Princess? I'll tell you right now, it's not."
"To say what? I don't have a clue what you're talking about."
"I have no intention of getting into any kind of permanent relationship here. I told you that, straight out."
Her heart skipped a beat. Was he going to tell her he'd changed his mind? Not that she wanted him to. Those few seconds of craziness this morning, when she might have, were mercifully past.
"I know you did," she said carefully. "And I told you thee same thing."
"Exactly. Still, there we were, planning our day together."
Alex looked even more confused. "Are you telling me you never spend the daylight hours with the women you sleep with?"
"Don't be ridiculous! Of course I do. It's just that-that...
It's just that what, Baron? That you never really wanted to, until now? That the thought of teaching this woman to handle a fast car, or to eat chili dogs and ride roller coasters, gives you more pleasure than anything you've done in your entire life?
Panic swept over him, like a rogue wave rolling in across the ocean and threatening to forever change the landscape.
"It's just that I didn't want to have to hurt you by telling you not to get the wrong idea."
"About what?"
Why was she making this so difficult?
"About something happening here. Between us, I mean. Because-because it isn't."
"My oh my," Alex said sweetly. "You do think a lot of yourself, Cowboy."
"I want to go on seeing you, Alex." A muscle knotted in his cheek. "But I'm not going to put down stakes, or roots, or whatever it is women want me to put down. Is that clear?"
Alex raised one eyebrow. "Excuse me," she said coolly, "but I don't recall exhibiting any interest in you as a gardener."
"You know what I mean."
"I do, indeed. And didn't you hear me make a similar statement just yesterday?"
"Yeah." The muscle in his cheek danced again. "But that didn't stop you from going along with the plans I was making for today."
Alex laughed. "I don't know which is worse, Travis, your oversize ego or your lamebrained way of looking at things." She stepped forward, her smile turning into a scowl, her index -finger aimed at the center of his chest. "You made the plans. I went along with them out of politeness. Do you really think that means I was trying to dig a hole for those roots you don't want to plant?"
Two bands of red feathered along his cheekbones.
"I didn't say that, exactly."
"No?" Alex flashed her brightest smile. "What did you say, exactly?"
"Just that-that we don't want to let this thing get out of hand."
"Our affair, you mean."
"Yes. Our-our..." Why was the word so hard to say? The Princess wasn't having a problem with it. She wasn't having a problem with any of this. She was ready, willing and downright eager to have the kind of easy come, easy go relationship he always wanted with a woman and rarely found-in which case, why was he feeling so damned ticked off? "Our affair," he said, finally.
She nodded her agreement, but a sudden weariness seemed to settle over her. All she wanted to do was go home, take a long, hot bath and try to get her life back on track. Because it wasn't on track; it hadn't been, since the night of the auction.
"Actually," she said softly. "Actually, I think-I think we should end this."
"End what?"
"This-whatever you want to call this relation-"
She gasped as Travis hauled her into his arms and crushed her mouth under his.
"It'll be over when it's over," he whispered, against her lips. "You got that, Princess?"
She knew the right thing to do was tell him that she didn't take orders from men anymore, especially ones who were arrogant, egocentric and unremittingly macho ... but his mouth was on hers again, his arms held her tight, and, with a soft moan of surrender, she gave herself up to the kiss.
After a long time, he lifted his head and smiled.
"Now," he said smugly, "how about lesson number one on the Porsche?"
Alex frowned. "But you said-"
"Yeah, but we straightened all that out." He grinned. "So, what do you say? You want to take the wheel or not?"
Tell him no, Alex thought. Say, thank you, Travis, but you were right. We should maintain our perspective, keep some distance. After all, she'd spent yesterday with him, and the day before. Did she want to be with him, again?
"Princess?"
She looked up into those deep green eyes and her heart turned over.
"I'd love to," she said, and he smiled.
Alex stepped on the pedal as Travis's car flew up toward the lip of Eagle Canyon.
"Easy," Travis said. "Princess, hey, slow down, will you? Those look like some pretty tight turns up ahead." He groaned, pretended to shut his eyes as she laughed and whipped through them. "Lord, I've created a monster!"
"Oh, damn."
"What?"
"The gate's just ahead, and it's closed. I'll have to stop and punch in the code."
"Thank goodness," Travis breathed, but he was grinning.
Once through the gate, Alex accelerated again. She brought the car to a squealing stop in front of Thorpe House and turned toward Travis.
"Well?"
He looked at her. They'd driven with the windows open and the wind had tousled her hair. He hadn't given her time to put on any makeup, so the color in her face came from excitement. And she was wearing an old T-shirt of his along with a washed out pair of his jeans, the cuffs rolled to mid-calf. She was, in other words, a rumpled mess...and she
was so beautiful that it made him ache just to see her. "Travis?" She laughed and tossed back a strand of hair
that had fallen over her cheek. "Don't tell me my driving was so awful that it left you speechless!"
"Well," he said, "I don't think Michael Andretti has anything to worry about, just yet..." He grinned when she made a face. "Okay, okay. The truth is, you weren't bad."
"The truth is, I was terrific!"
"Yeah, you were pretty good."
"I was great!"
Travis laughed, leaned forward and brushed his mouth lightly over hers. "Another couple of lessons, you'll be ready to go out and buy yourself a red convertible."
They smiled at each other and then Alex cleared her
throat. "Well..."
"Well."
"Thank you for a wonderful day."
"You're welcome." He curved his hand around her jaw, bent to her and kissed her again, lingering over the shape and taste of her mouth. "I'll call you tomorrow."
"No," she said quickly. "l, ah, I have things to do tomorrow."