Only Skin Deep

by Cathleen Galitz

  The woman certainly knew her way around a kitchen. And the bedroom, too.

  “Don’t you want to try it out?” he asked, gesturing to the masterpiece of suspended wood.

  Gingerly Lauren took a seat and made room for him beside her.

  “Only if you’ll join me.”

  Travis obliged. He balanced his plate on his knees and took a healthy bite from his sandwich. When the swing didn’t so much as creak at the strain of their combined weight, Lauren pushed off with the tip of one glittery high-heeled shoe. She seemed genuinely thrilled.

  “Why, this is wonderful!”

  Somehow the gentle rocking alleviated the tension between them in a way that words never could. Something about that soothing motion took Travis back to a simpler time: school days when he felt invincible and his grandfather had been waiting to share the details of his life. Days when a date was a date, a kiss was just a kiss and the only expectation a young man had was to have a good time without giving any thought to the future. Back then love was as uncomplicated as intercepting a touchdown pass.

  The voice that interrupted his thoughts was as soft as the breeze that carried her subtle scent.

  “I remember swinging on the porch with my dad when I was a little girl. We’d wait for the ice-cream truck to come by on hot summer afternoons and talk about all the fun things we were going to do together and what I wanted to be when I grew up. It didn’t matter that my choice of occupations varied from week to week. Dad never belittled my dreams. I remember feeling so safe, so completely secure back then—before he died and my happy little world caved in around me.”

  “Tell me, Lauren, how do I make you feel?” Travis asked, taking her hand into his own.

  As her friend, he told himself that he only wanted to share a sense of empathy over the loss of the only stable male in her life, a man he suspected attained super-hero status from the very instant he first held his baby daughter in his arms. But there was nothing friendly about the frission of electrical energy zinging between them. That Travis actually wanted Lauren even more now than before they’d made love was proof of the intensity of his feelings for her.

  Contrary to his expectations, sex had not made that persistent itch under his skin go away. In fact, it had only intensified it. No matter how hard he tried, Travis couldn’t get this enigmatic woman out of his mind. And every time she popped into his thoughts, his body betrayed him. It seemed as if he’d been walking around in a permanent, embarrassing state of arousal ever since she’d spilled punch down his front and kissed him without any provocation whatsoever.

  “I always feel safe when you’re around,” Lauren admitted with a sigh. “But when a girl turns into a woman, feeling secure becomes something more long-term in nature….”

  The longing in her voice made Travis feel very small as she gazed across the open meadow to the snow-covered top of Haystack Mountain and opened her heart to him.

  “What I’m looking for is a lifetime of holding hands with somebody on a swing like this one. And I get the distinct feeling that you don’t want to be the person sitting here next to me growing old together.”

  A fist closed around Travis’s throat. Not only could he imagine himself holding hands on this porch with Lauren, he also could envision a younger version of her snuggled up between.

  “Daddy…” the little girl was sure to cajole, drawing the word into singsong syllables and melting him on the spot. “Can I have…?”

  He’d always wanted to spoil a daughter, and the tender daydream stirred up old regrets and made him wistful. From ponies to sports cars, Travis doubted very much whether he’d be able to refuse his little girl much of anything when she looked up at him with sparkling green eyes the same color of her mother’s. The same mesmerizing shade as Lauren’s….

  With the stealth of a silent stalker, fantasy collided with reality. He had no business thinking about having children with Lauren when the memory of what his ex-wife had done to their unborn baby drove a fist into his guts and left him gasping for air. Nothing could ever settle the debt his child had paid in their bloody war between the sexes. Nothing could atone for such a tragic loss in his life. He didn’t deserve a second chance.

  Travis let go of Lauren’s hand. And of bygone dreams.

  “You’re right,” he said, his voice suddenly sharp and bitter. “I’m definitely not the man you want sitting beside you on this swing for the rest of your life.”

  Nine

  Lauren was hurt when Travis looked right through her as if she wasn’t there. She couldn’t imagine what she’d done to cause such a cold response from him. One minute they were sharing a cozy interlude and the next she was being vaporized by a look straight out of a horror movie. After Travis excused himself and took off with all the haste of a man fleeing the scene of a crime, Lauren checked her reflection in the mirror to see if she was still all there.

  Would her own family even recognize the person staring back at her? That woman in the mirror looked far more self-assured and confident than Lauren felt at the moment. She almost decided to change into something more conservative for the evening when it occurred to her that she was no longer content to fade into the background. Having swiveled men’s heads for the past couple of weeks, Lauren had come to appreciate the attention. If Travis couldn’t see past her old image that was just too bad for him.

  And if her family had any objections to the new and improved Lauren, they would just have to get over them.

  Her Aunt Hattie was throwing a Welcome Home party for the honeymooners down at Angelo’s, the nicest restaurant in town. Lauren figured it might as well suffice as her Coming Out party as well. Granted it, had been quite some time since she’d turned sweet sixteen, but she’d rather face all of the members of her extended family at once in her best dress as to endure their prolonged scrutiny one on one over the next several weeks.

  Adjusting her bra strap and her attitude, she prepared herself to face the gauntlet. She hoped her mother didn’t go ballistic over her short hair. And that Uncle Irve didn’t give her any grief over the length of her dress. And that none of them had heard any whisperings about the goings-on out at The Alibi or the Half Moon Ranch for that matter. Her relatives liked to stand on propriety.

  The Hewett family took up most of the seating available in Angelo’s front room. When the waiter showed Lauren to her party, she was met by both gasps of disbelief and exclamations of approval.

  “What have you done to yourself?” people took turns chiming as she took her seat.

  Aunt Hattie didn’t let her niece sit long. Lauren barely had time to place her order before her favorite auntie grabbed her by the elbow and asked to follow her to the ladies’ room. Lauren’s mother was a mere two steps behind. After sharing warm hugs and perfunctory information about how fabulous the honeymoon cruise had been, Barbara Aberdeen pressed her daughter for the details about her own life.

  “You look stunning, honey!” she exclaimed.

  Aunt Hattie butted in with her typical lack of patience for small talk. “To what—or rather to whom—do we owe this amazing transformation?”

  Emboldened by their positive reaction, Lauren took a deep breath and gave them the unvarnished truth.

  “To the fact that I’ve decided I want to get married.”

  Seeing their shocked expressions, she hastened to explain. “Not that I’ve actually met anyone so inclined to marry me—yet.”

  Her aunt and her mother shared a knowing look and a collective sigh.

  “That’s the attitude!” Hattie proclaimed.

  “We’ve been waiting a long time for you to come to that decision, dear,” Barbara Aberdeen added.

  Before Lauren could give voice to her astonishment, her cute, perky, recently married cousin Marissa squeezed into the already crowded bathroom pretending the need to check her makeup.

  “Tim’s friend wants you to sit by him tonight,” she told Lauren after adding her compliments about Lauren’s makeover.

&nbs
p; “His single, eligible friend, Jason,” she added with a sly smile.

  Lauren was flattered when Marissa asked who did her hair. It wasn’t the first time she’d been asked that same question recently, and as always, she gave Claire a glowing endorsement. The young woman could open a shop in town with a ready-made clientele based on word of mouth alone. Lauren chatted with Marissa a few more minutes with a newfound sense of womanly camaraderie before rejoining the rest of the family.

  Jason Wingate made room for Lauren beside him. “Tim never mentioned how lovely his wife’s cousin was,” he said.

  Although his attentiveness was initially flattering, all too soon Lauren grew weary of his ingratiating patter. A short month ago, she would have been able to overlook Jason’s weak chin and boring conversational skills. Having spent so much time with Travis lately, however, she had to fake interest in Jason’s job as a loan officer at the local bank. Apparently rates were at an all time low, making home mortgages more affordable than ever. Unfortunately, Lauren had little interest either in Alan Greenspan or Jason Wingate.

  She was in the midst of stifling a yawn when who should create a stir by simply walking into the room but Travis Banks himself! He discreetly slipped the waiter a bill to seat him at the table beside Lauren, then waved broadly to his old friend Henry Aberdeen.

  Lauren’s new stepfather greeted him with a big smile and a firm handshake.

  “How was the honeymoon?” Travis asked.

  “What are you doing here?” Lauren whispered under her breath as Henry launched into the highlights of the cruise.

  “I didn’t feel like cooking tonight,” Travis responded. “Anything wrong with a man deciding to go out for dinner once in a while?”

  Ever gracious, Barabara insisted that her husband’s friend join them for dinner.

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Travis said, gracing the room with an appreciative smile. He forced his chair between Jason’s and Lauren’s. “I don’t much like eating alone.”

  “I mind,” Lauren said between gritted teeth.

  Ignoring her, Travis proceeded to charm her whole family—even Aunt Effie who usually took a cautious approach to everyone and everything. Having never seen him at his charismatic best except from a distance, Lauren cast distrustful looks his way. He laughed at her nephew John’s stupid knock-knock jokes, complimented her mother on her bridal glow, joshed with her cousins and offered to pay the bill for the entire party in return for the simple pleasure of their company. It was all Lauren could do to refrain from pushing aside the arm he draped so affably over her shoulder.

  Or aiming a dinner roll at his head.

  For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what he was doing here—other than ruining her chances with a man she wasn’t at all interested in.

  Travis himself wasn’t quite sure why he had crashed this party. He knew only that the heart wants what it wants and that right now, it wanted to make sure Lauren wasn’t meeting some other man who might just be willing to offer her what he couldn’t—a long-term commitment. Lauren hadn’t left the ranch fifteen minutes before he’d started getting all twisted up inside just thinking of her on a date. Something about that little black dress she wore left a lasting impression, and the thought of her wearing it for someone else made him go just a little bit crazy.

  Crazy enough to follow her into town on the pretense of needing groceries. Crazy enough to give the bartender down at The Alibi twenty bucks to call him if she showed up there later. Crazy enough to drive all over Pinedale searching the streets for any sign of her car. Crazy enough to march right inside Angelo’s to see just exactly who she was out cavorting with and to do everything in his power to ruin her date.

  That it turned out Lauren was spending time with her family didn’t lessen the threat that Jason Wingate poised. In fact it only intensified Travis’s concern. That he actually liked her family didn’t make it any easier for him to dismiss a growing sense of guilt. That he felt so at ease among such a diverse group of well-meaning people so obviously devoted to Lauren’s happiness didn’t alter the probability that none of them would likely approve of her being used by a man who only wanted her body at his convenience.

  Travis was not too ashamed of himself to keep from plying her with liquor though. He ordered her a stiff drink hoping the alcohol might soften up those hard, searching looks she kept giving him. When she knocked the first one back like it was little more than water, he promptly ordered her another.

  “Anytime you’d like to take a trail ride around Fremont Lake just let me know,” Travis offered everyone in the room. “I’ve got plenty of horses and the fishing’s great there this time of year. Maybe you all could even convince Lauren to come along.”

  “Fat chance,” she mumbled under her breath.

  “He’s adorable,” Aunt Hattie mouthed to her niece.

  “And so handsome,” her mother added behind her hand.

  Lauren rolled her eyes.

  Travis grinned. He was having a great time. Lauren’s family was loud and funny and protective. As different from his stuffy ex-in-laws as Lauren was from Jaclyn herself. No wonder Lauren had such a good sense of humor and so much faith in her ability to accomplish whatever she put her mind to.

  Henry winked and leaned over to whisper in his ear. “If she’s anything like her mother, you’ll have your hands full.”

  Travis had never seen his old friend look happier.

  “Now, Henry, don’t read more into my friendship with Lauren than is there.”

  Henry wasn’t dissuaded from issuing a warning of his own. “Just be sure you treat her right,” he added, all traces of humor gone from his eyes. “I’m as fond of Lauren as if I were her actual father.”

  It had been a long time since Travis had considered anyone who he was pursuing as someone’s daughter.

  The thought brought him up short. He didn’t want to alienate Henry or look bad in Lauren’s relatives’ eyes.

  Or hurt her, either.

  Nonetheless, he found her sudden aloofness disconcerting. Unlike the gold digger he’d divorced, Lauren clearly wasn’t looking to marry for either money or status. She appeared content with her modest teaching salary and seemed to take inordinate delight in her newfound sense of independence. To a man who’d grown distrustful of the entire female gender, Lauren’s straightforward motives for wanting to get married seemed much too transparent.

  Jason strained to see around Travis who had somehow managed to be in his way all evening. Looking utterly exasperated, he finally gave up.

  “Well, I guess I should be going,” he announced. “Would you like me to drive you home, Lauren?”

  “Thank you for offering, but I’ve got my own car,” she said sounding genuinely sorry.

  The note of regret in Lauren’s voice bothered Travis. Stirred by a fierce and rare sense of jealousy, he was glad he wasn’t going to have to challenge Jason for the privilege of driving her home—although the thought of driving his fist through the other man’s face gave him an inordinate sense of pleasure. Not a man who was usually given to violent outbursts, he wondered what exactly was happening to him.

  “I’ll call you soon,” Jason promised Lauren. He shot Travis a killing glance over his shoulder as he took his leave.

  While Lauren was preoccupied with saying her goodbyes, Travis discretely slipped her keys into his own pocket. Her relatives nodded approvingly when later in the evening he insisted on driving her home himself. He put a hand up to ward off her resistance and chastened her in a tone that caused steam to come out of her ears.

  “I’m sorry, darlin’, but you’ve had too much to drink, and being close neighbors as we are, it’s not at all out of my way to drop you at your place. I’d be more than happy to drive you back into town in the morning to retrieve your car if that puts your mind at ease any.”

  “That is so thoughtful of you, dear,” Barbara Aberdeen clucked, looking like she was tempted to pinch his cheeks.

  Lauren made a mad g
rab for the set of keys Travis dangled in front of her face and uttered an unladylike oath under her breath when he snatched them away.

  “You are insufferable,” she told him through lips pressed tightly into a smile for the sake of maintaining family harmony in the too public setting.

  Quite certain her mother would be horrified to discover just how neighborly they actually had been, Lauren demurely accepted Travis’s hand at the small of her back as he directed her to the front door. To curious bystanders they looked like the perfect couple: he so rugged and handsome and she so pretty with that bright flush of color upon her cheeks.

  The instant they were outside Lauren wheeled upon Travis with the ferocity of a pit bull.

  “What exactly do you think you’re doing?” she demanded. Premeditated murder glittered in her eyes.

  “Just making sure you get home safe and sound,” Travis drawled, full of honey and phony concern.

  “Don’t you mean safe, sound and alone?” she asked, sarcastically mimicking his twang as they reached the curb where he’d parked his vehicle.

  Had Lauren not been so furious, she might have found his unexpected display of jealousy amusing. Had she been a more devious type, she might have used that to her advantage. As it was, she simply couldn’t fathom someone as good looking and accomplished as Travis Banks being threatened the least little bit by a man like Jason. All evening long she’d found herself comparing the two men, with Jason soundly losing on every count save one: his sincerity.

  She chastised herself for being so judgmental. After all, Jason was a definite improvement over Fenton Marsh. He was a nice person. He had a good job and he didn’t bring a truckload of emotional baggage into a relationship. During the course of their conversation earlier, Jason even indicated that he was looking to settle down—if the right woman came along.