The Millionaire's Marriage Demand(26)

"You know I wouldn't do that."

He raked his fingers through his hair. "So this is true, what you're telling me."

"Yes."

His ears were ringing, while his head felt as though it were floating  somewhere above his body. His mother was alive. That was what Julie was  telling him. She was now describing Leonora's long career in Europe, and  her recent return to the States, each word inscribing itself indelibly  on his brain. Was he going to wake up, and find out he'd been dreaming?

"Because I'd told her I'd met you, Leonora asked me to come and see  you," Julie finished. "To break the news to you. She's an exceptional  woman, Travis, I've liked her from the first moment we met. So I  agreed."

She couldn't think of anything else to say. Travis looked stunned, as  though she'd hit him on the head with a two-by-four. And why wouldn't  he? His father had told him his mother had died; and that lie had stood  unchallenged since Travis had been a little boy. She waited to see what  he would do, her one longing to put her arms around him and offer him  comfort.                       
       
           



       

She couldn't do that. Because she'd end up in his bed. Quickly she  pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and passed it to him.  "This is Leonora's phone number and address. She's hoping you'll get in  touch with her. I said I'd ask your permission to give her your phone  number."

Travis looked at her as if she were a creature from an alien planet. "I'm supposed to get in touch with her?"

"Or else she'll phone you," Julie said patiently.

"She's expecting me to pick up where we left off twenty-eight years ago?"

"Of course not. But she very much wants to see you."

He said in a hard voice, "I'll think about it."

"I can see it's been a terrible shock-"

"She didn't die. She walked out on me and the twins. You think that makes me want to see her?"

"Don't shoot the messenger, Travis," Julie said softly.

He let out his breath in a long sigh. "Yeah …  if I go and see her, you're coming with me."

"Me? This has nothing to do with me!"

"You know her. She thought enough of you to make you the go-between."

Julie swallowed. She was being drawn in deeper and deeper. Yet wouldn't Leonora also welcome her presence?

Leonora, she knew, was terrified of seeing Travis again. And maybe she  herself could help in some way to smooth the path of a meeting fraught  with pitfalls. She took a deep breath. "All right," she said steadily,  "I'll go. When?"

"I didn't think you'd agree quite so easily," he said, an ugly edge to his voice. "This Leonora must be quite the woman."

"Worthy to be your mother," Julie said evenly.

"Friday evening. Seven-thirty. I'll pick you up at your apartment."

"Travis, I'm sure she regrets-"

"Will you go to bed with me?"

Julie flinched. "No."

"Then finish your wine and get out of here. I'm not in the mood for chitchat."

It would be all too easy to make a scathing retort. Julie put her glass down. "This must have been a terrible shock."

"Keep your sympathy-I don't need it."

She raised her chin. "I'll see you on Friday."

"I'll look forward to it," he said with heavy sarcasm. Julie stalked to  the door of the condo and let herself out. It shut behind her with a  decisive snap.

She went home, phoned Leonora to let her know about Friday, evaded any  discussion of Travis's reaction, then went for a run at the park. It was  only when a mallard waddled in front of her, followed by two fluffy  brown and yellow ducklings, that she remembered something.

Travis had thought she was pregnant.

She wasn't. Of course. Although he was right: When the two of them had fallen into her bed, they'd used no protection.

In the heat of the moment, it had never occurred to her; which showed  how out of practice she was, she thought ruefully. And she was willing  to bet it wasn't Travis's usual style. Her brow furrowed. Her period was  notoriously irregular; for years she'd blamed this on a combination of  tropical heat and antimalarial pills. But as she counted backward in her  mind, her steps slowed. She'd never been this late before.

Coincidence, she thought brusquely. And hadn't she read somewhere that  stress could foul up your cycle? She'd had enough emotional ups and  downs since she'd met Travis to skew any woman's cycle. She wasn't  pregnant. Just the same, she wasn't going to tempt fate by going to bed  with Travis again.

Then another, equally unpleasant thought occurred to her. Leonora had  fallen head over heels in love with Charles; but seven years later had  run away from him, from their children and their marriage. One more  example of a love that had died, and one more reason she was right to  keep her distance from a man with eyes so blue that they saw right  through her.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN





Friday evening found Julie sorting through her wardrobe. Jeans wouldn't  cut it for this crucial meeting of mother and son. Nor was she going to  wear either of the dresses Travis had given her. Frowning, she chose a  softly swirling skirt and sleeveless top in malachite-green, with  matching sandals she'd bought from a vendor in Athens. She was waiting  downstairs in the lobby when Travis drew up in his black car. She ran  outdoors and climbed in the passenger seat. Busying herself with the  seat belt, she said, "How was your day?"                       
       
           



       

He said tightly, "Every time I see you, it's as though I've never seen  you before …  there's this jolt in my chest just like I'd stuck my finger  in an electric socket."

"The whole reason I didn't look at you when I got in was to avoid just  that reaction," she said irritably. "So what, Travis? We aren't going to  act on it, that's the point."

"The gospel according to St. Julie."

"That's unworthy of you!"

"I'm not in the mood to fight fair."

"At least give Leonora a fair hearing," she flashed.

He pulled away from the curb without answering. She sneaked a glance at  his profile, which was unyielding, hard-jawed and tight-lipped. He was  impeccably dressed in tailored trousers, blue shirt and a silk tie. Just  like we were going on a date, she thought painfully.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Ten minutes later Travis was following Julie up the steps of an  attractive apartment complex only five minutes from the clinic. Give  Leonora a fair hearing, Julie had said to him. As though that was a  simple choice. They rode up in the elevator, then he was striding down a  gold-carpeted hallway behind her. Julie tapped on one of the varnished  doors, walked in and gestured for him to enter. Feeling like a robot  whose circuits had shorted, Travis stepped inside.

The woman who had been waiting for them said with poignant restraint, "Hello, Travis."

She was tall, elegant and instantly remembered. Older, obviously, but in  an essential way unchanged. He felt as though he were a little boy  again; he also felt an upsurge of purely adult rage that he did his best  to tamp down. Shaking hands with her would be absurd; yet he wasn't  ready to hug her. He said stiffly, "I asked Julie to be here, I hope you  don't mind."

"Not at all." Leonora produced the semblance of a smile. "Julie's been a good friend to me …  can I get you a drink?"

A few minutes later Travis found himself seated by a bay window across  from his mother. His mother. He said ironically, raising his glass,  "Cheers …  Julie told me you had a very successful career in Europe. It's  funny I never read about you."

"One of your father's conditions was that I change my name …  Connolly was  my grandmother's maiden name. Added to that, such success as I had was  in a fairly narrow field. Avant garde dance isn't to everyone's taste."

The evening light struck her high cheekbones, so like his own. Although  she looked poised, her speech had been stilted, and a little muscle was  jumping in her jaw. "You've taken a long time to get in touch," he said.

"Your father made me promise never to get in touch with you …  I've kept  that promise for nearly thirty years. But there's nothing he can do to  harm me now. So I came back." She suddenly leaned forward. "You have  every right to be angry with me, Travis, don't think I don't understand  that."

"The twins never even knew you."

"Nor I them."

"That was your choice."

"I was never a maternal woman. The mistake I made was in marrying Charles."

"So you admit you made mistakes."

"Have you never done something you've bitterly regretted?"