“That wouldn’t be good for business,” Chloe agreed, shaking her head as she walked to the door.
Fin didn’t bother to correct her assistant as the young woman quietly closed the door behind her. Dinner this evening had nothing whatsoever to do with business and everything to do with pleasure. Her only concern was deciding which she was anticipating more—the pleasure of spending time with her newfound daughter or her daughter’s adoptive father.
Travis felt like a fish out of water. The concrete and steel of New York City was a far cry from the wide open spaces he was used to and the Lemon Grill was to hell and gone from the little diner he sometimes frequented when he drove over to Winchester County for the stock auctions. Here he sat in an upscale café in the middle of Manhattan with a prissy little waiter sporting a pencil-thin mustache and slicked-back hair, hovering around him like a bumblebee over a patch of new spring clover.
“My name is Henri. It will be my pleasure to be your server this evening.” The too-polished character smiled, showing off a set of unnaturally white teeth. “Would the gentleman like something to drink while he’s waiting on his dinner partners?”
Travis frowned. The little guy sure spouted out a lot of words to ask a simple question. He was more used to being asked straight up what he wanted to drink instead of being referred to like he was some sort of third wheel.
“I’ll take a beer.”
“Would the gentleman like a domestic brand or imported?”
Unable to resist teasing the pretentious little man, Travis grinned. “I can’t say what the gentleman would like, but I’ll take domestic.” As Henri started to leave the table, Travis added the name of a beer brewed exclusively in the Rocky Mountains.
“I’m sorry, sir. We don’t carry that particular brand,” Henri said, his apology as fake as his cap-toothed smile. Rattling off a list of the beer the restaurant had available, he asked, “Would the gentleman like to choose one of those?”
“Surprise me.”
“Very well, sir.”
As the waiter hurried away to get his drink, Travis spotted Fin entering the restaurant. She briefly spoke to the hostess, then when she headed his way, he couldn’t help but marvel at what a beauty she was. With her straight, dark auburn hair stylishly brushing her shoulders, and looking like a model in her black form-fitting dress, she looked far too young to be the mother of his twenty-three-year-old daughter.
Standing when she approached, he thought his heart would jump right out of his chest when her perfect coral lips turned up in a warm smile. “I hope I’m not too late. The crosstown traffic was particularly heavy this evening.”
“You drove?” He held the chair for her while she seated herself at the small table. “I remember Jessie telling me that you’d never learned to drive.”
Fin’s delightful laughter caused an unexpected heat to settle in the pit of his belly as he sat back down. “Guilty as charged. I’ve never even been behind the wheel of a car.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Hell, he’d been driving around the ranch in either a truck or on a tractor since he was ten years old and he’d taught Jessie to drive when she was twelve. “You’ve never—”
“No. When my brothers and I lived at home, we always had drivers to take us wherever we wanted to go. Then, after I moved from the Hamptons into my Manhattan apartment, there was no need to drive. Everything I need is so close, I walk a lot. And when where I want to go is too far to walk, I use the corporate limo or take a taxi.” Her eyes twinkled wistfully as she added, “But I’ve always thought it might be fun to learn how to drive a car.”
“The next time you visit the Silver Moon, I’ll teach you,” he said, unable to wipe what he was sure had to be a sappy grin from his face.
Her eyes held a warmth that stole his breath. “I’d like that, Travis. Thank you.”
The thought of Fin coming back to his ranch for a visit had his heart pounding like the bass drum in a marching band. But it was the slight blush on her porcelain cheeks and the warmth in her pretty green eyes that caused the region south of his belt buckle to tighten. She remembered what happened between them when she visited his ranch last month, the same as he did.
“Would the lady like something to drink before ordering dinner?” Henri asked, returning to their table with Travis’s beer.
For reasons Travis didn’t want to dwell on, the man’s appreciative grin when he looked at Fin irritated the hell out of Travis.
“Just some water with a slice of lemon, please,” Fin answered the prissy little guy. As he moved away to take care of her request, she asked, “Where’s Jessie? I was sure she’d be here by now.”
Travis shook his head. “I don’t know. She said something about going with Cade to pick up airline tickets for their honeymoon after they got off work. But that was a good three hours ago. Surely it doesn’t take that long to…”
His voice trailed off when he felt Fin’s soft, delicate hand touch his. “I’m sure she’s fine, Travis. I overheard her and Cade talking about a stop at the jeweler’s to pick up gifts for their bridesmaids and groomsmen. Maybe it took longer than they had anticipated.”
As he sat there trying to force words around the cotton suddenly coating his throat, Henri placed a glass of water on the table in front of Fin. “Sir, you have a phone call. If you’ll follow me, you may take the call at the hostess’s desk.”
When Travis glanced at Fin, she smiled. “It’s probably Jessie telling you that she’s held up in traffic.”
“I hope you’re right.” He briefly wondered why his daughter hadn’t called his cell phone, until he remembered that he’d turned it off when he entered the restaurant.
Excusing himself, Travis quickly made his way to the front of the restaurant. Even though Jess had been living in New York City for the better part of a year, it still made him nervous to think of his little girl on the mean streets of a big city. He’d relaxed a little after meeting her fiancé, Cade McMann, and being assured that the man had every intention of keeping her safe and making her happy. But if something had happened to her, Travis would have Cade’s head on a silver platter for not taking better care of her.
When the hostess handed him the phone, he was relieved to hear his precious daughter on the other end of the line. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Where are you, angel? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to meet you and Fin for dinner this evening.” There was a short silence before she added, “I’ve, um, got a headache and I think I’ll turn in early. You don’t mind having dinner alone with Fin, do you?”
“Of course not, princess.” Travis glanced over at the beautiful woman waiting patiently at his table. He’d have to be as crazy as a horse after it got into a patch of locoweed to mind spending time with her.
“Good. I’m sure you’ll both enjoy yourselves. The Lemon Grill has great food.” Jessie’s voice was a little too enthusiastic and she didn’t sound the least bit under the weather. “Please give Fin my apologies and tell her that I’ll see her at the office tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll do that, angel.” She wasn’t fooling him for a minute. Jess had been after him for the past couple of years to get out more and revitalize his social life, as she put it. And unless he missed his guess, his little girl was trying to play matchmaker between him and her biological mother.
“Oh, don’t forget, Daddy. We’re supposed to meet for lunch tomorrow, then go to the men’s store to have you fitted for your tux.”
“You’re still going to make me wear that monkey suit, are you?”
“You’ll be the best looking monkey at the wedding,” she said, laughing. “I love you, Daddy. See you tomorrow.”
“I love you too, Jess.”
Handing the cordless phone back to the hostess, Travis walked over to the table where Fin sat waiting for him. “Looks like it’s just the two of us for supper tonight,” he said, settling into his chair.
She gave him a qu
estioning look. “Jessie isn’t coming?”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “She said she has a headache and intends to go to bed early.”
“Since your other dinner partner won’t be joining you, would you care to order now?” Henri asked, suddenly appearing at Travis’s elbow. The man had obviously been eavesdropping on their conversation.
Tired of the waiter’s obtrusive presence, Travis gave him a look that had the little man quickly fading into the background without another word. “What do you say we go somewhere we can talk without old Ornery over there hanging on our every word?”
Fin looked puzzled. “Ornery?”
“Henri. Ornery.” Travis grinned. “Same difference.”
She gave him a smile that did strange things to his insides. “I think I know of a place where we can talk uninterrupted.”
“Sounds good to me.” Raising his hand, he motioned to Henri.
The little waiter was at Travis’s side almost immediately. “Would the lady and gentleman like to order now?”
Fin spoke up before Travis had a chance. “No, we’ve changed our minds and won’t be dining with you this evening.”
Leaving Henri to hover over someone else, when they stepped out onto the street, Travis put his arm around Fin to shelter her from the chilly November wind. Her slender body pressed to his side sent his blood pressure up a good fifty points and brought back memories of the last time he’d held her close. His body tightened predictably and he felt as if his jeans had shrunk a size or two in the stride.
“What’s the name of this restaurant where the waiters leave the customers alone?” he asked when he finally got his voice to work.
“Chez Fin Elliott.”
His heart stuttered and he had to remind himself to breathe. “We’re going to your place?”
Nodding, she smiled. “If you don’t mind missing out on your steak, I thought we could go back to my apartment, order in some Chinese and talk without having someone else hanging on our every word.”
He wasn’t wild about egg rolls and chop suey, but he’d have to be a damned fool to pass up spending the evening alone with one of the most beautiful women he’d ever had the privilege to lay eyes on.
Before she had a chance to change her mind, Travis raised his arm and waved at an approaching yellow car. “Taxi!”
Two
As Fin phoned in a delivery order to her favorite Chinese restaurant, she watched Travis glance around her cavernous Upper East Side apartment and couldn’t help but wonder what he thought of her personal space. Obscenely spacious for one person, it was a study in chrome and glass, black and white, and light-years away from his warmly decorated home in Colorado.
When she’d visited the Silver Moon Ranch, she’d found the house to be roomy and pleasantly cluttered, but it was also welcoming, cozy and everything her apartment wasn’t. While Travis’s rustic home had the unmistakable look and feel of being lived in and enjoyed—of love and family—her apartment appeared to be stark, cold and uninhabited in comparison.
Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that she was never there for more than a few hours at a time, nor had she made the effort to add anything to reflect her own personality after the interior designer had finished decorating the place. The really sad thing was, that had been several years ago and she still had no more interest in personalizing the place than she had the day she’d moved in.
“Mr. Chang assured me the food will be here in less than fifteen minutes,” she said as she ended the phone call. “Would you like something to drink while we wait? I think I have a bottle of wine in the refrigerator or I could make a pot of coffee or tea.”
“A cup of coffee would be nice.”
When he turned to face her, Travis’s smile sent a wave of goose bumps shimmering over her skin and a delicious little shiver straight up her spine. He was, without a doubt, one of the sexiest men she’d ever met. And she seriously doubted that he had the slightest clue of how handsome he was or the tantalizing effect he had on women.
Suddenly needing to put a little space between them before she made a complete fool of herself, Fin started toward the kitchen. He was her daughter’s adoptive father, the man who had, along with his late wife, raised the little girl Fin had been forced to give up for adoption all those years ago. The last thing she needed to do was complicate the fledgling relationship she had with Jessica by lusting after Travis. Come to think of it, it was totally out of character for her to be lusting after anyone.
“I’ll start the coffeemaker.”
“Need help?”
She stopped in her tracks, then slowly turned to face him. Even as he stood all the way across the living room, his presence made the space feel decidedly smaller than it had when they’d first walked through the door. She could only imagine how minuscule the kitchen would seem with him in much closer proximity. Besides, having him join her would defeat the purpose of her much needed escape.
“No.” To soften her hasty reply, she smiled. “By no stretch of the imagination am I domestic, but I think I can manage a pot of coffee without too much trouble.” Waving her hand toward the white velour sofa, she added, “I’ll only be a few minutes. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable?”
“I think I’ll do that.” His grin sent a wave of heat from the top of her head to the soles of her feet.
As if riveted to the floor, Fin watched him remove his wide-brimmed hat and shrug out of his western jacket, then toss them on the back of an armchair. Years of listening to her mother recite the rules of proper etiquette went right out the window when she turned and entered the kitchen.
The proper thing would have been to step forward, take his hat and coat and hang them in the closet. But when Travis had unsnapped the cuffs of his chambray shirt and started rolling up the long sleeves over his tanned, sinewy forearms, she’d quickly decided there was a lot to be said for the old adage about retreat being the better part of valor.
Just the memory of those arms holding her so tenderly as they’d succumbed to passion that night in his barn last month was enough to cause her pulse to race and her breathing to come out in short, raspy little puffs. Everything about that night had been pure magic and she’d spent the past month doing her best to forget that it ever happened.
“You’ve got to get hold of yourself,” she muttered when she noticed her hand trembling as she spooned coffee into the basket.
“Did you say something?” he called from the living room.
“No, just talking to myself.”
Closing her eyes, she shook her head in an effort to dislodge the disturbing memory. What on earth had gotten into her?
She was editor-in-chief of one of the top fashion magazines in the world, a shark in the corporate boardroom and had the ability to send the most fearless intern running for cover with nothing more than a raised eyebrow. But in Travis’s presence, she seemed to be continually reminded of the fact that she was first and foremost a woman who had ignored her feminine wants and needs in favor of a rewarding career in the publishing industry.
Only, in the past couple of months she’d begun to realize that her career wasn’t nearly as satisfying as she’d once thought it to be. Since learning Jessica Clayton was her long-lost daughter and meeting Travis, Fin had been reminded of what she’d given up in order to devote herself to making Charisma the premier magazine of the fashion world.
When she’d been a young girl, she’d wanted nothing more than to be a wife and mother, to have a family of her own. But that dream had been shattered when Patrick had forced her to give her baby girl away and had forbade her to ever see Jessie’s father again. She’d never forgiven Patrick for denying her desperate pleas to keep her child, nor had she ever gotten over the loss. After she’d returned from the convent her parents had sent her to in Canada to hide her and her “shameful” condition from social and business acquaintances, she’d thrown herself into her schooling, then later into her career in an attempt to assuage
the pain.
But it hadn’t worked. She sighed heavily. All that she’d accomplished was finding that as she approached middle age, she was alone, childless and had become a hopeless workaholic.
“Are you all right?”
The sound of Travis’s voice caused her to jump. Spinning around, she found him leaning one broad shoulder against the doorframe, much like he’d done this afternoon in her office. “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”
He pushed away from the doorframe and took a step toward her. “You were standing there staring off into space like your mind was a million miles away.”
Shaking her head, she turned to slide the filled basket into the coffeemaker, then flipped the switch. “I was just thinking about the latest accounting figures for Charisma,” she lied. “If my staff and I work hard enough, we should still be able to pull ahead of my brother Shane and his magazine, The Buzz.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think we’ll be able to win?” she asked, frowning.
He shrugged. “I can’t say if you will or not. I was talking about what you were thinking. Whatever it was, you looked like your best roping horse had just pulled up lame, not like you were worried about winning a contest.”
Shaking her head, she hoped her laughter didn’t sound as hollow to him as it did to her. “I’ve never even ridden a horse, let alone owned one. And as for roping, I’m afraid I’d be a hopeless failure.”
“You’ve never ridden a horse?” he asked, clearly shocked.
Grateful that she’d successfully diverted the conversation, she shook her head. “Not unless the rocking horse I had as a child counts.”
His promising grin sent a wave of heat zinging throughout her body. “Looks like the next time you visit the Silver Moon, I’ll have to teach you how to do more than just drive.”
She swallowed hard as she tried not to think of the many other things he could teach her. And not one of them involved any type of horsepower—mechanical or otherwise.
Dynasties:The Elliots, Books 7-12 Page 62
