She waited until he reached the first floor, then she looked him up and down. “Very nice,” she said, struggling to keep her voice sounding normal. “Are you sure Mandy and I won’t be in the way?”
“I told you, Rebecca is just a good friend.”
“But it’s Friday night. Shouldn’t you be out on a date? You don’t have to stay in to keep us company.”
His dark eyes drifted over her face before dipping down to the bodice of her dress. She hadn’t thought it was all that low-cut before, but she had the sudden urge to check to see exactly how much cleavage showed. His gaze left her feeling shivery and her knees threatening to buckle. Maybe the dress was a mistake.
“I didn’t cancel a date to stay in with you, Elizabeth, so quit worrying about it. I want to spend time with you and Mandy, and I haven’t had Rebecca over for a while.”
He headed toward the front parlor. She followed, feeling that he was just being polite.
“But I don’t want you to think that—”
He turned so quickly, she almost ran into him. As it was she stopped a scant inch from his tall, broad body and had to crane her neck back to see his face.
“I don’t think anything,” he said. His eyes darkened to the color of black velvet before brightening with a fire she didn’t dare identify. “Except that you look very beautiful.”
She blushed. Elizabeth wanted to put her hand on her cheek to make sure, but she knew the sensation of heat on her face could only mean one thing. “I— You—” She swallowed. “Thanks, but you don’t have to say that. I mean, I’m just a paying guest here.”
“Hardly that.” He moved away to a stereo set on the floor in the corner. Wires disappeared into the walls. Louise had mentioned that he’d put speakers in the whole house. While he flipped through his CD’s, she walked around the large empty room.
“This is going to be a beautiful place when it’s finished,” she said.
“I hope so. It’s taking longer than I’d thought.” He slipped a couple of CD’s into the machine, then rotated the table to insert three more. “So what about you, Elizabeth? Why don’t you have some guy from L.A. pounding down my door?”
“Me?” She laughed. “I haven’t had a date in years.” Seven years to be exact, she remembered. Her last date had been with Sam. That’s when she’d told him she was pregnant with Mandy and had foolishly assumed they would do the right thing and get married. It was hard to believe her life had ever been that simple.
She touched the bare walls of the cavernous room, then looked up at the high ceiling. The basic structure of the house was lovely. Nothing like the cramped place she and Sam had rented. She’d wanted to buy a house, but he hadn’t. She remembered the fights they’d had about that, and about having another child—she’d wanted four. That had changed, as well. She’d realized that with Sam gone so much, more children would be difficult. She’d practically lived as a single mother. She’d had such high hopes for the relationship, but the truth was it had been in trouble for the past two years. She’d been on the verge of leaving Sam when the police had arrived to take him away. What irony, she thought, stopping by the window and staring out into the night. She’d been wrestling with her commitment to Mandy’s father, wondering if leaving was the right thing, or just the easiest solution to her unhappiness. She hadn’t known that in a matter of days the question would be decided for her.
The soft sounds of classical music filled the room. Elizabeth turned and looked but she couldn’t see the speakers. Travis stood up and brushed off his hands.
“Pretty impressive, huh?”
She nodded. “A regular seduction factory.”
He grimaced. “Hardly. You might want to keep in mind that Louise does have a tendency to exaggerate things.”
“Oh? You haven’t seduced every female in a fifty-mile radius?”
He moved closer. “Nah. Now if she’d said a thirty-mile radius, that would be different.”
“Oh, Travis, we are a pair, aren’t we? You can’t decide how many women you want, and I never want to get involved again.”
“Is that why you haven’t had a date in years?”
He asked the question so casually, she almost answered it. Almost. She nearly blurted out, “No, it’s because I was married.” But she caught herself in time.
“I was involved with Mandy’s father. Call me a prude, but I’ve always believed in one relationship at a time.”
“Me, too.”
She stared at him in disbelief.
He put his hands on his hips. “Okay, what has she been telling you?”
“Nothing.”
He raised his dark eyebrows. “She had to have said something for you to assume that I’ve never been committed to one woman at a time.”
“Are you?”
“Yes. I believe in monogamy.”
“For everybody, or do you exclude yourself?”
“Elizabeth!”
She shrugged. “I’m just asking. You have to admit you have this reputation in town. I heard it from the nurse, Louise—even Mandy mentioned something about it. You’ve dated her teacher, my boss. What am I supposed to think? That you’re in training to be a monk?”
He grinned. The curve of his mouth and the flash of white teeth had her smiling in response. Realistically, she should be angry at him in the name of femalehood or something. But the truth was she liked Travis. Despite his obvious flaws, he was a good and kind man. At least he kept his socks picked up.
“I am involved with one woman at a time, Elizabeth Abbott.” His voice got lower and more seductive. She felt herself falling under his spell and she couldn’t summon the energy to care. “That woman gets my complete attention, the total sum of my energy and focus for as long as the relationship lasts.”
His gaze never left hers. His hands stayed on his hips. So why did she feel as if he were physically touching her all over? Her skin grew heated, her fingers curled into her palms. How could he do that with just a look and his voice?
“Oh.”
With that he left the parlor and stepped into the hall. Before she realized she’d been abandoned, he was back with a bouquet of flowers.
“These are for you, darlin’,” he said.
That woman gets my complete attention. She stared from the flowers to him and back. No. He couldn’t mean anything by them, could he?
“Why?” she asked, almost afraid to hear his answer. What if he wanted her? What if he didn’t?
“It’s been a week since your surgery. I thought you might be feeling a little lost.” He thrust the flowers at her and she was forced to take them. “You can lose that panicked expression. I’m not out to seduce you.”
“You’re not?” She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed.
He shook his head. “Not while you’re under my protection.”
Which might mean she would have to watch herself when she wasn’t under his protection, or it might be a polite way of saying he wasn’t interested in her at all. Stop thinking about it, she ordered herself. She was the one not interested, remember? She was the one sworn to never get involved.
She lowered her head and sniffed the bouquet of flowers. The colorful blooms smelled rich and sinful, not like those long-stemmed roses Sam had often brought her after he’d been gone for several