Chapter 2
Two
“Isn’t he dreamy?” Enid asked hours later as Liana helped her change from her wedding dress into an equally ghastly going-away outfit. The girl needed some major fashion advice, but Liana had given up on that years ago.
“Who?” Liana asked. “Brady?”
“Well, of course Brady’s dreamy.”
Dreamy wasn’t the word Liana would have used to describe Brady.
“I meant Travis North,” Enid said with a sigh. “The day I met him I said to Mummy, ‘wouldn’t he be perfect for Liana?’ Mummy totally agreed. He’s so James Bond-the-Pierce-Brosnan-years, isn’t he?”
“Thus the addendum to the contract,” Liana commented as she zipped Enid into her dress.
“You didn’t seem to mind dancing with him for the last couple of hours.”
“Dancing with him kept every other man in the place from badgering me.”
“Oh, it’s so hard to be you, isn’t it?” Enid joked without a hint of jealousy. “How do you stand it?”
If you had any idea . . .
“I knew you’d never bother with him if I didn’t help you along a little,” Enid said with exasperation at the old argument. Despite the disparity in their looks, Enid had had twice as many boyfriends as her much more exotic cousin.
“I don’t have time to bother with anyone,” Liana said with equal exasperation. “I’m only here for two weeks, and then I’m working in Europe for the rest of the year. What do you picture happening between me and Pierce Brosnan?”
“White picket fences and very pretty babies,” Enid said without hesitation.
“You’re high on wedding cake and love! I just met the man, and to pacify you I’m allowing him to drive me home. How do you get picket fences and babies out of that?”
“All right then, how about some sweaty sex?”
“Enid!”
Enid grabbed Liana’s arm. “When was the last time you had sweaty sex?”
Never. Liana tried to remember the last time she’d had any sex. “I don’t keep track of such things.”
“If you don’t know, then it’s been too long.”
“I’m not having sweaty sex or any other kind of sex with Travis North,” Liana said, even though the idea wasn’t exactly repulsive.
She shook her head to rid herself of salacious thoughts about the very sexy Mr. North.
“I have other things to be focused on over the next two weeks. I thought you and your mother were keeping an eye on my mother.”
“We were,” Enid said. “We are, but she doesn’t make it easy.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s very evasive and secretive. Mummy goes over there at least once a week and everything is always in perfect order, but Auntie Agnes never has much to say to Mummy.”
“Do you think she has Alzheimer’s?” Liana asked, expressing her deepest fear.
“I really don’t know, Leelee. I’ve been so busy with the wedding I haven’t spent as much time with her as I should have. I’m sorry about that.”
Hearing her childhood nickname and seeing the genuine regret on her cousin’s face made Liana go soft with sentiment.
“You have nothing to be sorry about. She’s my mother.
I need to spend more time with her.” Liana zipped the wedding dress into a garment bag and turned back to Enid. “You look beautiful.”
“No, I don’t,” Enid said in her typical matter-of-fact way. “You’ve got the market cornered on beautiful. But Brady doesn’t care. He loves me just the way I am. I want you to find that, too, Liana. There’s nothing quite like it in the world.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it. Come on, your husband’s waiting for you.”
“He wants to have sweaty sex.”
Liana laughed. “Enid! Really! Spare me the details.”
“Maybe I should share the details so you’ll want some of your own.”
“I’ll pass, but thanks just the same.”
“Your loss,” Enid said with a breezy wave of her hand. “But if I were you, I’d jump all over that sexy Travis North. Have a little fling while you’re home. What could it hurt?”
“I’m not the fling type,” Liana reminded her.
“And that’s your problem. Take my word for it—a sweaty fling is exactly what you need.”
“Thanks for the advice, Dr. Ruth. Now, let’s go.”
On the way out the door, Enid stopped Liana with a hand on her arm. “I want you to have what I have with Brady. I know your career is important to you, but don’t be so focused on your work that you forget to have a life. I love you, Leelee. I want you to be happy.”
Liana hugged her. “I love you, too, and I’m delighted to see you so happy.”
“Thank you for coming so far to be with me tonight.”
“There’s nowhere in the world I’d rather be,” Liana said sincerely.
Enid and Brady ran through a shower of rice to the vintage Rolls Royce Liana’s Uncle Charles had rented to transport his daughter and her new husband to Boston where they would spend the night before leaving on their European honeymoon. After they left, the tent began to empty out.
Liana was still wiping the tears from her eyes when Travis came up behind her, offering his handkerchief.
“Thank you.” She dabbed at her eyes in a practiced move that protected her makeup.
“Are you ready to go home?”
“Don’t you have to supervise the cleanup?”
“Hell, no. That’s what I’m paying all these fine people to do.
I have appointments this week with seven of your cousin’s guests who want to discuss having their events here,” he said with a satisfied grin as he tugged off his bow tie and released the top button of his formal shirt. “My work here is finished.”
“That’s wonderful. With such a beautiful place I have no doubt you’ll be very successful.”
“Too bad not all the locals are as generous.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let me drive you home, and I’ll tell you about it.”
“Would you mind terribly if we didn’t go right home?”
He tilted his head to study her. “What do you feel like doing?”
She shrugged. “I’m just wide awake and full of energy. Must be all the excitement of the wedding.”
“Do you have a change of clothes with you?”
“No,” she said with a frown. “I guess I’ll just go home after all.”
“We could go to my place right over there.” He pointed to the ten-story building at the other end of the sweeping lawn. “I could loan you a T-shirt and a pair of shorts.”
She captured her bottom lip between her teeth as she sized him up and tried to gauge his intentions. “Is that a line?” she finally asked.
He tossed his head back and laughed. “I guess it kind of sounded like one, didn’t it?”
Wow, that smile is devastating. “Sort of.”
“Well, let me put your mind at ease. I meant it only as an offer of more comfortable clothes.”
She contemplated the situation for another moment, remembering Enid said she could trust this Travis North. “In that case, I accept. Thank you.”
He offered her his arm. “Right this way.”
Accompanied by a chorus of crickets and the bay rolling gently to the shore, Travis and Liana walked the short distance to the newly constructed condo tower, the tallest building between Newport and Providence. In the elevator, he inserted a key to the penthouse.
The doors slid open into a dark room. He took her hand to help her from the elevator. When he reached for a lamp, she stopped him.
“Let me see your view first.” The moonlight drew her to the wall of windows overlooking the bay. To the left she could see the Newport Bridge lit up in the distance. To the right were the Mount Hope Bridge and the Providence skyline. “Oh, Travis. This is amazing.”
“I’m glad you like it,” he said, reaching around her to open the door to a sweeping patio.
Liana stepped outside for a better look. “I’ve always wanted to live on the water.”
“So why don’t you?”
She shrugged. “I don’t really live anywhere. I have an apartment in New York, but I haven’t been there in months.”
“That seems like a tough way to live.”
She flashed him the smile that had made her millions but isolated her from regular people. “And yet my job sounds so glamorous, right?”
“It does have that reputation. Can I get you a drink?”
“Do you have white wine?”
“Sure do. I’ll get that and the clothes I promised. I’ll be right back.”
Liana turned back to enjoy the tranquility.
Far below she could see the workers cleaning up after the wedding and heard the faint hint of reggae music coming from the tent.
She wondered if Enid was having sweaty sex yet.
Stop, Liana, she told herself, but she couldn’t deny her cousin had struck a nerve with her comments about Liana’s austere lifestyle.
Maybe it was time to shake things up a bit.
If—and that was a very big if—she was to have a sweaty affair, Travis North would certainly make an intriguing candidate—a very sexy candidate.
“Liana?”
She jumped, startled out of her scandalous thoughts.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“You didn’t,” she said, breathless from the current of electricity that raced through her at the sound of his voice.
He had changed into faded jeans and a T-shirt that confirmed what she’d discovered while dancing with him—sculpted pecs and biceps along with what appeared to be six-pack abs.
She licked her suddenly dry lips and watched his eyes follow the progress of her tongue.
He handed her the glass of wine. “I left a couple of options on my bed.” He gestured toward the one room in the sprawling penthouse that was lit. “Use whatever you need.”
“Thank you.” She took a sip of the dry wine, put the glass down on a table, and brushed past him on her way inside.
His bedroom was tastefully decorated with a king-sized bed, marble-topped tables, and a small sitting area by the full-length windows.
The room, like the man who slept here, was masculine but elegant.
Liana was further intrigued after being allowed into his private sanctum.
At the foot of the big bed, he had left several T-shirts and two pairs of gym shorts with drawstrings.
Suddenly frantic to get out of the itchy dress, Liana reached for the hook at the back of her neck and pulled, but it snagged.
Working to free it, exasperation began to mount along with a burning need to be free of the hideous dress.
She whimpered as her arms fell to her sides, exhausted from the struggle.
Realizing she was hopelessly stuck, she went back to where he waited for her on the patio.
He turned when he heard the swish of her long skirt. “Didn’t fit?”
“I, um, I need some help.”
He chuckled. “Is that a line?” “Please,” she pleaded. “Get me out of this thing!”
“With pleasure.” He led her into the bedroom to make use of the light.
She gathered her thick hair and pulled it to one side, giving him access to the wayward hook.
“What would you have done if you were alone?”
“I would’ve gotten a big pair of scissors and cut the thing straight down the middle.”
He laughed as he worked to free her.
His breath was warm on the back of her neck, and she suppressed a gasp when his fingers brushed against her sensitive skin.
“I think I’ve got it. Do you want me to do the others?”
She swallowed hard. “Sure. Thanks.”
As he worked his way down her back, Liana told herself the slight shiver was from the cool air hitting her irritated skin, not because a sexy man was all but undressing her in his bedroom. God, he smells good. When he disposed of the last hook, Liana began to turn around.
He stopped her with his hands on her shoulders. “Wait.”
Her heart pounded with anticipation, and her skin heated under his hands.
She jolted when his lips brushed the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder while his finger grazed the straight line he’d uncovered down the middle of her back.
“Travis,” she gasped, tilting her head to give him better access.
“What?” he murmured against her neck.
“Don’t.”
He ran his tongue lightly over her ear, making her shudder. “Why not?” he whispered as he moved around to face her.
“Because.”
He took her hands, brought them to his shoulders, and went back to work on her neck. “Because why?” He caressed her back inside the dress.
“Because,” she said, leaning into him as her protests became less and less convincing.
With a disarming smile, he brought his hand to her face, tilting it to meet his kiss.
His lips were soft and undemanding, but they electrified just the same.
At the exact moment when she thought she would go mad from wanting more of him, his control snapped and he plundered.
All she could do was hold on for the ride as he ravaged her mouth.
Never, she thought, in her one moment of lucidity before she ceased to think at all.
Never had she been kissed quite like this.
Held prisoner against the hard wall of his chest, Liana buried her hands in his hair and met the thrusts of his tongue with her own, eliciting a groan from deep inside him.
Only when he lowered her to his bed and came down on top of her did Liana snap out of her passion-induced fog. She pushed against his chest and twisted to break free of his kiss. “No,” she gasped. “Stop.”
Travis rolled to the side and lay flat on his back, breathing heavily with an arm covering his eyes.
Liana sat up and tugged her sagging dress back up over her shoulders.
Tears burned her eyes. Why can other women be so cavalier about these things?
Why can’t I just take the pleasure he offered and enjoy it?
Probably because she never had figured out how to tell the difference between men who were out to nail a supermodel and men who wanted to make love to her—Liana, the girl from the small town in the smallest state who also happened to be an international celebrity.
She had yet to meet anyone who fell into the latter category.
Apparently, the man panting next to her on the bed wasn’t going to be the exception.
His expression full of regret, he sat up. “I’m sorry.”
“I said I didn’t want you to do that,” she snapped.
“You were as into it as I was,” he said, clearly making an effort not to snap back.
Liana got up, keeping a tentative grip on what was left of her dignity as she held her unbuttoned dress closed with one hand over her shoulder. “I’d like to go home now, please.”
His eyes narrowed into an expression that could have turned water instantly to ice. “Get changed, and I’ll take you.” He stalked from the room and slammed the door behind him.
Liana sank to the bed and tried unsuccessfully to curb the tears.