The Millionaire's Marriage Demand(7)

He laced his fingers behind his head and closed his eyes. It wouldn't  have to be a very big cabin. A wharf would be essential; but there was a  perfect natural harbour at the southwest end of the island, so that  wouldn't be a problem …  mentally he started cataloging all the birdcalls  he could hear, amused to discover that he hadn't lost his old talent.  Gradually his mind quietened. He was almost asleep when a new noise  startled him, the snapping of twigs along the path. Remembering that  occasionally a deer would land on Manatuck after swimming the channel,  Travis twisted over onto his stomach.

It wasn't a white-tailed deer that emerged into the clearing behind the lighthouse; it was Julie.

She was wearing bright pink shorts and a white shirt; she hadn't seen  him. As Travis surged to his feet, he watched her whirl, as startled as  any deer.

"Travis, you frightened me-I wasn't expecting to see anyone." Then she  smiled at him, a generous smile full of delight. "Isn't it a glorious  morning?"

All the emotions of the last twelve hours coalesced into a flame of  rage. Travis crossed the wet grass, standing very close to her. "I'm  surprised you're up so early," he grated. "After making love to Brent  half the night."

Her smile was wiped from her face; he could almost see her brain  working. "You saw him leave my room," she said in an unreadable voice.

"Yes, I did. Not that you're sleeping with him, of course."

Refusing to drop her eyes, Julie said, "I didn't make love with Brent.  Nor did I, in the literal sense of the words, sleep with him."

"Why don't you tell the truth for once?"

"Why don't you listen when I do?"

"I believe what I see. And what I saw was my brother leaving your room  at two-thirty in the morning, in his bare feet and carrying his shirt  over his arm."

"Too bad you hadn't seen me threatening him with a marble statue of  Aphrodite and then dragging a cedar chest across the door so he couldn't  get in again!"

"Didn't you like him as a lover?" Travis snarled.

Hands on her hips, she railed, "You listen to me-I locked my bedroom  door last night when I went to bed because the thought crossed my mind  that Brent might try some funny business in the middle of the night. But  Bertram, bless his doddery old soul, keeps a spare set of keys in the  pantry where everyone can help themselves. Did I know that? No, I did  not!"

As she briefly paused for breath, Travis said nastily, "If you had,  you'd have done the cedar chest routine when you went to bed. I bet."                       
       
           



       

As quickly as it had flared to life, Julie's temper died, leaving her  with a horrible emptiness in her belly. She dropped her hands to her  sides. "You won't believe me whatever I say, will you, Travis? You made  your mind up about me the first moment you saw me on the wharf. Fine,  believe what you like. See if I care."

She sounded like a kid in kindergarten, she thought in despair, and  pivoted so she could hurry back down the path. Anywhere, just as long as  she could run from the contempt in Travis's face. Tears blurring her  vision, she stumbled over a rock.

Travis grabbed her around the waist. She flailed out at him, striking  him on the wrist. "Take your hands off me!" Instead he pulled her to  face him, lifted her chin and kissed her full on the mouth. For Julie,  this was the last straw. She wrenched her mouth free, the tears now  streaming down her cheeks. "Don't! You're no better than he is."

Travis stared at her, appalled. She thought he was like Brent. That was  what she was saying. According to her, first Brent had attacked her, and  now he, Travis, was doing the same thing. Acting instinctively, he  smoothed away the tears that were dribbling down to her chin. "Don't  cry, Julie," he said in a raw voice. "Please don't cry."

She pulled a crumpled tissue from her pocket and blew her nose. "I'm not  crying," she said defiantly. "I never cry over men, they're not worth  it."

Her eyes were still shimmering with tears; he could feel them drying on  his palm, in a way that seemed incredibly intimate. But before he could  think of anything else to say, she hiccuped, "Do you know what was worst  about last night? He let himself into my room while I was asleep and  then he just sat there, watching me." Her breath caught on another sob.  "I hate the thought of him doing that. Besides, I was d-dreaming about  you."

"About me?" Travis repeated stupidly.

"Oh God, I shouldn't have told you that. My tongue's always running away  with me, my mother says it's one of my worst faults and she's right.  Forget I ever mentioned it. I'm going back to my room to pack, I'm going  to eat a huge breakfast and then I'm going right back to the mainland  with Oliver. I've had enough of you and your family and that horrible  Disneyland heap of stone."

Travis said, a quiver of laughter in his voice, "I was planning to do exactly the same."

She gave him a look that was far from friendly. "You can go on a later boat. Not on mine."

"Surely there's room on the launch for both of us."

"There wouldn't be room on the Titanic for you and me. Besides, you came  here to make peace with your father, that's what you told me. So do it.  And good luck to you."

Travis said carefully, "So you didn't make love with Brent last night? You've never made love with him?"

"Two brilliant deductions. You can add something else. I never will make love with Brent."

Could he believe her? Going to her room in the dead of night would be  the sort of stunt Brent would pull. Travis said sharply, "Did he hurt  you?"

"He did not. Although I broke two fingernails on one corner of the cedar chest."

His breath escaped from his lungs in a small whoosh. But he had one more  question. "What kind of dream was it? The one about me, I mean."

"Never you mind."

"Unprintable?"

Hurriedly she changed the subject. "Did you spend much time here as a boy?"

"Until I was six, yes," he said shortly. "Then I was sent to boarding school."

"Which, by the look of you, you hated."

"Yeah," he said dismissively. "Although later on I made a good friend  there-we still keep in touch. Bryce was as big a rebel as I was." He  gave a reminiscent smile. "Once we took all the masters' black gowns and  draped them around the cows in a nearby field. They were Jersey cows,  the ones with the big eyelashes, they looked very sweet. We nearly got  expelled for that."

"I put banana peels in the church organ when I was nine. But I didn't get caught."                       
       
           



       

As mischief danced in her eyes, Travis laughed. "Does that mean you're  smarter or sneakier?" Then, suddenly intent, he added, "Why don't you  cry about men, Julie? And how many men are we talking about here?"

She put her head to one side, her amusement fading. "You and I are going  our separate ways today. I don't really think my romantic past, such as  it is, is any of your business."

"Where do you live?"

"Portland. For now."

"So do I. It's a small place-we'll probably bump into each other."

"I doubt it-I won't be there long."

She'd retreated from him in a way he couldn't fathom, and that at some  deep level angered him intensely. "What are you running away from?"

"You're a fine one to talk. You're giving up on your father without a fight."

"You know nothing about my father and me. So lay off," Travis said softly.

She knew quite a bit; but she wasn't about to reveal she'd eavesdropped  on an acrimonious family discussion. By the look of him, he'd bite her  head off. She said flatly, "I'm going to walk back along the cliffs.  Goodbye, Travis. It's been interesting meeting you."

Not so fast, he thought, and said with a lazy grin, "I'll stay for the party if you will."

"That's boarding school talk!"

"Scared to stay, Julie? Surely you're not scared of me?" One of the  several ways she'd rebelled against the sterility of her upbringing had  been to accept any dare that came her way; she still had the scars where  she'd fallen off the high brick wall that surrounded her elementary  school. Hadn't every job she'd ever taken been a continuation of that  dare?

Travis was just a man. She'd been exaggerating her response to him;  she'd never had any trouble handling men before. And despite what she'd  said to him about going back to the mainland, she was intensely curious  to learn more about the Strathems and their tangled family history. "If  you stay, you have to make an effort to reconcile with your father," she  said, tossing her head.