The kitchen seemed to echo with emptiness. Together they walked up the steps and down the hallway to her room. She paused in the open doorway and looked up at him, feeling ill at ease.
“You’re going to need some help with those buttons,” he said quietly. “Mollie must have thought she’d be here to get you out of that dress.”
Megan groaned. “Oh, I forgot all about them. I don’t know why she didn’t just put in a zipper.”
He led her into the room and turned her back toward the window, where there was more light. “I can do it.”
She fought to control her reaction to his touch as his fingers moved at an excruciatingly slow pace down her spine, from her neck to her lower back.
When he was finished he nonchalantly walked around to face her and without meeting her gaze, took the end of the sleeve of each arm, one at a time, and allowed her to pull her arms out. Holding the dress, he said, “Step out.”
Most of the underskirt was sewn to the dress so that Megan now wore her strapless lace bra and a matching pair of bikini panties beneath a sheer half-slip.
She hastily took a step toward her bed to pick up her housecoat when he caught her hand. “Please don’t,” he said, his voice sounding husky.
She knew her cheeks were fiery red when she looked up at him. His gaze moved over her body, his expression wistful. “You are so beautiful, Megan.”
Now that was a lie, and she knew it. “You don’t have to say things like that to me, Travis. Remember? We’re going to be honest with each other. I’m too skinny, my breasts are too small, my hips too narrow, my—”
“Hush,” he said, pulling her into his arms and placing his finger across her lips. “You are a beautiful woman, inside and out. And you aren’t too skinny. You’re just right.” His arms locked around her. “You’re an exact perfect armful. What more could anyone possibly want?”
He replaced his hand with his lips, kissing her, nipping at her bottom lip, then soothing it with his tongue. He kissed and caressed her, his hands roaming restlessly up and down her spine.
She couldn’t think when he kissed her that way. She knew that they needed to get back to the party. They were the guests of honor. They had wedding gifts to open and—Her mind began to reel, doing cartwheels in her head until she clung to Travis for balance.
His kiss intensified, his mouth hot, his tongue thrusting between her lips in a hypnotic rhythm. Megan felt a heated response from somewhere deep inside of her. She was having those restless sensations again that seemed to occur whenever he kissed her. She leaned into him and only then realized that sometime in the past few moments Travis had unfastened her bra. Now her bare breasts were pressed against his coat jacket. Feverishly she fumbled to unfasten the buttons on his shirt, loosened his bolo tie and with a soft sigh rubbed her breasts against his hair-roughened chest.
Travis continued to kiss and caress her mouth and face with his lips while he picked her up and placed her on the bed. He pushed the half-slip down, and stroked his hand along her hip and thigh, sliding over to her inner thigh then up until it rested on her curly mound.
Her eyes flew open and she let go of him, staring up at him in shock. “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice unsteady with the need for air. She realized that she was lying there with her slip around her ankles, wearing only her lacy thigh-high hose and her bikini panties.
Travis sank onto the bed beside her and ran his hand through his hair in disgust. “Losing my mind, that’s obvious,” he muttered, giving his head a hard shake.
She scrambled to sit up against the headboard and grabbed one of the pillows, hugging it tightly against her.
“I don’t suppose it would do any good to say that I didn’t mean for that to happen.” He stood and walked away from her toward the windows. He kept his back to her.
She stared at the wide expanse of his shoulders beneath the coat. “I believe you,” she finally admitted. “I didn’t mean to unbutton your shirt and—Well, I don’t know why I-”
He turned and looked at her, his shirt hanging open, pulled out of his pants. “We seem to catch on fire like a spark in dry tinder every time I touch you. I swear, all I wanted to do was help you with the dress. And then when I saw you standing there, I couldn’t resist. I needed to touch you and taste you—I’m not trying to force you into anything. I want you to know that.”
“Please, Travis. It’s okay. Really. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s like you said. Whenever we kiss we just kind of go—I don’t know—crazy somehow. At least we know that’s what happens. So we can avoid kissing from now—”
“Now, wait a minute! We don’t have to go to that extreme, darlin’,” he drawled. “I think I can control myself enough to be able to kiss and hold you without coming completely undone.”
“Well, maybe you can,” she replied with more than a little exasperation, “but I can’t seem to keep my hands off you. It’s so silly. I mean, I’ve known you forever and spent most of my life detesting you, and yet—and yet—”
“Yes?” he said, silently stalking back to the bed and leaning over her.
She pulled back closer to the headboard. “Travis, we don’t have time to discuss this right now. We’ve got to get back to the party before everybody else gets there.”
“The folks will tell them where we’ve gone.”
“But still, it doesn’t take all that long to change clothes. They’ll wonder what’s taking so much time!”
Travis straightened, his hands resting on his hips, and laughed without restraint. “Oh, honey,” he finally managed to say, “they’ll know exactly what’s going on. We’re newlyweds, have you forgotten?”
She slid off the bed, still holding her pillow as a shield and hurried to her dresser drawers. Opening one of them, she grabbed a pair.of faded jeans and, with her back to Travis, dropped the pillow and hastily stepped into them, tugging them up to her waist. She filled them out quite nicely, Travis noted, still grinning.
Opening another drawer, she took out a plain white cotton bra and put it on, fastening it on the way to her closet. She pulled a Western-style shirt off a hanger, grabbed a pair of boots and walked over to the chair.
“Is that what you’re wearing to the party?” he said, making no effort to hide his amusement.
She stood, stamping her feet into the boots and looked at him belligerently. “This is me, Travis. This is who I am. I don’t own fancy clothes. I had to borrow the dress I wore the first time you took me out. If this—” She looked down at what she was wearing. “If I’m going to be an embarrassment to you—”
“No way, Megan. You could never be an embarrassment to me.”
He held out his hand. “C’mon, sweetheart. Let’s go enjoy our party. It isn’t every day a person gets married. Let’s make the most of it!”
Eight
Travis leaned against one of the stately live oak trees that surrounded the grounds of the home where he’d spent his life and watched his friends and family celebrate his wedding.
Somewhere in that throng was his bride, laughing at the jokes, blushing at the innuendoes, gamely going through the pantomime the day called for.
He’d really messed up earlier. He’d been moments away from taking her as if he were some undisciplined lout staking his claim, making her his wife in fact as well as name. He’d lost his head in the intimacy of the moment. That was no way to start out their relationship, not if he intended to convince her that they belonged together.
He was going to have to cool it, somehow, which was going to be much more difficult than he’d imagined during his long weeks away. Hadn’t he planned how he would carefully woo and win her? Hadn’t he thought all of it through, coaxing her to become used to his presence in her life?
At least now they would be sharing living quarters, another step in the process of establishing a permanent relationship with her. Didn’t it help to know that she was as easily aroused as he was? He’d discovered today that she would be as passionate a lover as she was
passionate in her zest for life. He had to make certain that he didn’t scare her off by rushing her. One step at a time, remember that, he reminded himself.
“Travis? Why are you lurking here under the trees?”
He glanced around at the sound of his brother’s voice. “Just thinking about things, I guess. It’s probably not all that unusual, considering that today represents a traditional milestone in anybody’s life.”
Zack shook his head and grinned. “Better you than me, but then, you’ve had it bad for a long, long time. Megan hasn’t a clue how you feel about her, does she?”
Travis smiled at his tone. “You noticed, huh?”
“Why haven’t you told her?”
Trust his brother to get to the point.
“Because she wouldn’t have married me.”
Zack narrowed his eyes. “Care to run that past me one more time?”
Travis leaned his head against the tree. “Megan agreed to marry me in exchange for my help in running the ranch. She didn’t want me to pretend any feelings for her and I realized if I told her the truth, she’d run in the opposite direction. So, I convinced her I could and would help her as a friend and neighbor and for no other reason. Lucky for me she had pretty much exhausted all her other options and she rather reluctantly accepted my offer.” He threw his hands wide and said, “I’m her last resort. That’s always good for a man’s ego.”
“Oh, I don’t think we have to worry about the condition of your ego, bro. I’d say it’s alive and well.”
Travis shrugged. “I convinced her that we needed to pretend we were getting married for all the usual reasons.”
Zack laughed. “Then I think Dad may have blown your cover. He told me earlier that he mentioned to her the fact that you’d been carrying a torch for her for years.”
“When did he tell her that?”
“Just before he walked her down the aisle. He said she looked a little shocked for a moment. I can see why.”
“Then she no doubt convinced herself that Dad didn’t know the truth. She’s determined to think of herself as incapable of attracting anyone. I decided to wait until the deed was done before I set out to convince her that my feelings are considerably more than friendly.”
“How did you convince her to make such a commitment to you?”
“By telling her that she can end it in twelve months.”
Zack shook his head. “Well, bro, I think you’ve been thrown off those bulls onto your head once too often. I’m afraid there’s a real good chance you’re going to end up with a busted heart as well as a busted skull if you aren’t careful.”
“To be honest, I fully expected for her to back out before the ceremony. That’s one reason I hired the two guys to go to work over there. I gave her the money to pay the mortgage. I did everything I could to insure that she wouldn’t renege on her end of the bargain.”
“Why, you’re like one of those dumb animals who not only knows it’s headed for slaughter but actually races to get there. You amaze me, little brother, plumb amaze me.”
Travis grinned. “Well, the way I look at it, I’ve got a year to convince her that I’m the greatest thing that ever happened to her and that she wouldn’t be happy without me. I figure if I work it right the odds have to be in my favor.”
Zack laughed and slapped him on the back. “Like I said, that ego of yours is alive and kicking, all right. C’mon, Dad sent me over here to tell you that it’s time to get the music going for some dancing. And that means you’ve gotta lead that wife of yours out first.”
Travis pushed away from the trunk of the tree and sauntered across the lawn to the swirling mass of people. “I can only try to make this marriage work, Zack. You know me. Stubborn as a mule. I’m determined to give it all I’ve got.”
Megan felt a distinct tingling between her shoulder blades. She turned, wondering what had caused it. That’s when she spotted Travis and Zack coming across the wide expanse of lawn toward the gathering that still lingered in the vicinity of the food.
Travis had removed his suit coat earlier in the afternoon, as well as his tie. He’d unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt and rolled up the sleeves above his elbows.
The trousers to the suit looked tailor-made for his lean, long-legged body, the slight flare below the knee to accommodate the boots adding to the graceful line of his muscular length.
She wondered where the two men had been. The only thing in that direction were the trees and the wooden fence of one of the horses’ pens. Who knows? Maybe they’d slipped off to have a heart-to-heart talk. She smiled at the idea. She had a hunch there was very little that Travis hadn’t already figured out about male-female relationships.
Travis walked up to her and hugged her. For the obvious benefit of the onlooking crowd he gave her another smacking kiss and said, “Hi there! Did you miss me?”
She grinned. “Desperately,” she said, playing along with his mood.
“Now that’s what I like to hear,” he said, this time as though it was meant for her ears only. She gave him a puzzled glance. “Zack says it’s time to begin the music…and we’re expected to start off the dancing.”
“Who made up all these rules, rituals and rites about getting married?” she replied with a sigh. “I’ve been getting all kinds of flack for my lack of proper bridelike apparel.”
“Well, honey, you might notice that you’re the only female here in boots and jeans and it’s your wedding.”
“Exactly. It seems to me that since it’s my wedding I should be able to dress as I please.”
He dropped his hands lower on her back, cupping her buttocks and pulling her up tight against him. “You haven’t heard me complaining about those tight jeans, now, have you?”
“Travis!” She tried to push away from him in the midst of the general laughter, but his hold was too strong.
He nibbled on her ear and whispered, “Relax and enjoy it, honey. It’s all part of the fun.”
When she looked around, she saw the smiles and tender looks between some of the other married couples and realized that he was right. The joking and teasing was just as much a part of all of this as the flowers and the rings.
She relaxed and he immediately let go of her. “Let’s go find some music.” He took her hand and led her over to the portable tape player.
“I don’t know how to dance.”
“Of course you do. You danced with me in Austin.”
“But that was different. They’re going to expect something mushy and sentimental for the first one and I can’t slow dance.”
“Just follow me, baby. I won’t let you down.”
Thanks to Travis, it really was all right. He found a simple melody from a popular country-and-western album and led her to the concrete patio area near the house. After they completed a circuit around the area, the others immediately joined in. By the time the song was finished, the area was filled with dancers.
Another song began and Travis continued to hold her while others began to take part in some line dancing.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked, his voice pitched below the music.
“No. Thank you for helping me to deal with all of this.”
“Hey, the worst is over. We’ve cut the cake, opened the presents. We can leave anytime now.”
“Somebody asked where we were going for our honeymoon. That’s the first time I’d even thought about one.”
“I told the few who mentioned it to me that we planned to take one later, but that right now there was too much that needed to be done.”
Mona walked up to them and said, “Where do you two intend to stay tonight?”
Megan looked at Travis, who seemed to be waiting for her to answer. “I, uh, thought we’d go home—I mean, to the ranch.”
“Would you like for me to invite Mollie and Maribeth to stay here? I would imagine you’d like some privacy since—”
“Thanks, Mom, but that won’t be necessary,” Travis interjected s
moothly. “The O’Brien house is plenty big enough for privacy, and we’re all going to be living there so we might as well get used to it. However, I do think we’re going to slip away from the party now. Megan’s tired and I need to take the load of belongings that’s piled in the back of my truck over there. Maybe you could have Dad bring the girls home whenever they’re ready to leave, if they need a ride.”
“Bobby Metcalf has his dad’s truck. He can drop them off on his way home,” Megan said.
Mona hugged them both and waved them off as they unobtrusively went around the house to where his truck was parked. At least nobody had tried to decorate it for him, which was a blessing.
“I figured you didn’t want to hang around for a public send-off, considering everything,” Travis said, helping her into the truck.
“No, please. I’ve really had enough of all this.”
“You’ve been a good sport. But I really think it was necessary for the community to treat this as a normal marriage.”
“Me, too.” She impulsively leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks for being so understanding.”
Megan was pleasantly relaxed, which was surprising, considering that she and Travis were alone once again. She supposed it had to do with his nonchalant attitude, as though getting married and moving in together was just an ordinary occurrence, a logistics problem to be worked out.
They drove to her house once again and stopped near the back door. Travis looked over at her and said, “I want you to know that what happened here earlier won’t happen again. I don’t want you worrying about the possibility that I might pounce on you at any moment.”
“I’m not.”
Darned if he didn’t look disappointed. She almost smiled at the thought he might be bothered by the idea that she trusted him. The fact was, she trusted him more than she did herself at the moment.
She couldn’t forget how his kisses and his touch had triggered all kinds of new and wonderful sensations within her. After all the rites and ceremonies today, she certainly felt married enough to at least consider the idea that there was nothing standing between their sharing the same bed and participating in all the intimacies of marriage.
Megan's Marriage Page 10
