The stunned silence that followed was suddenly interrupted by a round of applause and Travis found himself and Fin besieged by a herd of well-wishing Elliotts. As Fin’s brothers, their wives and what seemed like an endless line of nieces and nephews congratulated them, he couldn’t help but notice that Fin’s gaze kept returning to the tall, silent, white-haired gentleman standing as stiff and straight as a marble statue on the opposite side of the room.
It appeared that Patrick Elliott was none too happy about the news, even though his wife, Maeve, looked just the opposite. As Travis watched, Maeve said something to Patrick, then took the old gent by the arm and led him toward the crowd congratulating them. Putting his arm around Fin’s shoulders, Travis drew her close as he met the older man’s steely gaze head on, sending a clear message that Travis wasn’t going to tolerate Fin being bullied or upset in any way.
When the elder Elliott approached, it was like watching the parting of the Red Sea. The family divided into two groups, and just as Travis imagined happened thousands of years ago, a hushed silence reigned. Not even the smallest child present made a sound.
“A wee babe is a grand event and we welcome another addition to the family,” Maeve said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
Stepping forward, Fin smiled and hugged her mother. “Thank you, Mom.”
The crowd seemed to wait for Patrick to add his blessings, but it never came. The man remained as stoic as ever.
Although Fin’s expression never changed, Travis could have sworn he saw a shadow of pain in her pretty green eyes. But it was gone in a flash, replaced with a defiance that matched her father’s.
The uneasy silence was almost deafening and just when Travis thought they’d all pass out from holding their collective breath, Maeve turned to her husband. “’Tis time you told them why you put them at odds to win the company, don’t you think?”
A frown creased the man’s forehead as he shook his head. “Leave it be, Maeve,” Patrick said gruffly. “They’ll understand soon enough.” And with that, the Elliott patriarch tucked his wife’s hand in his arm, turned and walked away.
“Don’t let the old man get you down, sis,” Shane said, hugging her.
Fin didn’t look the least bit surprised by her father’s reaction. “I expected nothing less from him,” she said, shaking her head as she hugged her twin brother in return.
As the crowd began to recede and the band commenced playing, Travis noticed a young blond-haired woman slip up beside Shane. When she whispered something in his ear, the man let out a whoop loud enough to wake the dead, then wrapped her in a bear hug and, grinning like an old possum, swung her around in a circle.
When everyone stopped to stare at them, Travis had to choke back his laughter at the red flush creeping up from Shane’s collar all the way to his forehead. The little blonde beside him was just as embarrassed and looked as if she were ready to dive under the table at any moment.
“Travis Clayton, this is Rachel Adler, Shane’s executive assistant,” Fin said, grinning as she made the introductions.
“It was nice to meet you, Mr. Clayton,” Rachel said, her cheeks still bright red. “If you’ll all excuse me, I need to be going now. I’ll see you at the office on Monday, Shane.”
As they watched Rachel hurry to the family room door, Fin turned to her brother. “Would you care to explain that emotional display and the huge grin on your face?”
“No.”
“You want to know what I think?” Fin asked.
“No, I don’t care what you think,” Shane said defensively.
“Tough.” As she winked at Travis, her smile caused a warmth to spread throughout his chest and he didn’t think he’d ever seen her look more beautiful. “I’m going to tell you anyway, dear brother.”
Shane frowned. “I’d rather you didn’t.”
“I don’t know what Rachel told you, but I think you’re to the point where you’d use any excuse to finally have her in your arms,” Fin said, clearly ignoring her brother.
“You, dear sister, need to shut up and mind your own business,” Shane said irritably as he turned to walk away.
“You just confirmed my suspicions, Shane,” Fin called after him.
For reasons he didn’t even want to begin to analyze, her delightful laughter had a strange effect on Travis’s insides. “Let’s dance,” he said suddenly, taking her by the hand to lead her out onto the dance floor.
“I thought Jessie mentioned one time that you didn’t like dancing,” she said, sounding a little breathless as he pulled her to him.
“I don’t.” He smiled at the shiver he felt course through her when he whispered, “Your brother isn’t the only man here who’ll use whatever excuse he can find to have the most beautiful woman in the room in his arms.”
Six
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more lovely couple,” Fin said, settling into the back of the EPH corporate limo for the ride back to the city. She sighed happily. “Jessie was absolutely stunning.”
“She looked just like you,” Travis said, reaching over to take her hand in his.
“A much younger version, maybe,” she said, laughing.
His smile heated her all the way to her toes. “I don’t think I had the chance to tell you how sexy you look in that slinky green dress.” He lightly touched the teal silk of her Versace gown with his index finger. “You and Jessie were the two most beautiful women at the wedding.”
“Well, you clean up pretty good yourself, cowboy.” She placed her hand on the arm of his black tuxedo. “You look incredibly handsome in formal attire, Travis.”
He grunted. “I feel like a trained monkey in a side show.”
“I think you’re a very handsome monkey,” she said, laughing.
“Well, take a good look because I won’t be wearing this thing again,” he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “I’ll take it home and hang it in the closet, never to see the light of day again.”
“Never say never.”
“I think this is one time it’s a sure bet to say never.” His arm tightening around her to draw her close and his low chuckle caused every cell in her body to tingle to life. “A jackass will sprout wings and fly before you see me in this thing again.”
As they left the lights of The Tides behind and the intimacy of the night closed in around them, Travis reached over and pushed the button to raise the privacy panel between them and the driver. “How are you doing?” he asked. “I know today was an emotional roller coaster for you and you have to be drained.”
“I probably should be, but surprisingly I’m feeling pretty good.” Slipping off her high heels in an effort to get comfortable for the two-hour drive, she added, “Now that my pregnancy is no longer a secret, I’m more relaxed than ever.”
When he gathered her close, a wave of goose bumps shimmered over her arms at the feel of his warm breath stirring the fine hairs at her temple. “I told you your dad wouldn’t say anything.”
“There wasn’t a lot he could say after Jessie made her little speech.” Touched beyond words at the enthusiasm and support her daughter had shown for her pregnancy, Fin smiled. “She’s going to be a wonderful big sister.”
“She’ll have the poor little thing spoiled rotten.”
“And you won’t?”
He chuckled beneath her ear and tightened his arms around her. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t.”
They rode along in a comfortable silence for several minutes before Travis spoke again. “Have you come to any conclusions about how we can handle your pregnancy and the distance between us?”
“With all of the last-minute details for the wedding, I haven’t had time.” She shook her head. “What about you? Have you come up with anything?”
“No, but we’re going to have to figure out something.” He touched her chin with his index finger to tilt her head back. When their gazes met, he gave her a smile that had her toes curling into the thick carpet on the limo floor. “This is a
ll pretty new for me, but when I told you I’d be there with you every step of the way, I meant it. And I wasn’t just talking about raising the baby once it gets here. I intend to be there for you through the pregnancy, as well.”
Before she could respond, he lowered his head and captured her lips in a kiss so gentle it brought tears to her eyes. The soft caress of his mouth as it moved over hers had her quickly feeling as if the temperature in the car had gone up several degrees. But when he coaxed her to part for him and used his tongue to mimic a more intimate mating, a spark ignited deep in her soul and the heat flowing through her veins spread throughout her body.
Sparkles of light danced behind her closed eyes and a longing began to build in the most feminine part of her when he slipped his hand inside the plunging neckline of her evening gown and pushed the built-in cup aside to caress her breast. The work-hardened calluses on his palm chafed her sensitive nipple, sending tingling streaks of pure delight to every cell of her being. But when he traced the puckered tip with his thumb, her heart skipped several beats and her breathing became extremely difficult.
As he gently rolled the peak between his thumb and forefinger, he continued to tease her inner recesses with his tongue and her insides quivered with need like nothing she’d ever known. Heaven help her, but she couldn’t have stopped a tiny moan of pleasure from escaping if her life depended on it.
“Does that feel good, sweetheart?” His smooth baritone vibrated against her lips and fed the pool of desire gathering in her lower belly.
“Mmm.”
Lifting her to sit on his lap, she felt the hard ridge of his erection against her thigh, and her own body’s answering need left her feeling light-headed from its intensity. The tension building inside of her was maddening and she wanted nothing more than to surrender herself once again to Travis’s masterful brand of lovemaking.
His groan of frustration penetrated the sensual haze surrounding her when he tried to shift them into a more comfortable position. “It’s been a long time since I made out in the backseat of a car, sweetheart.” He eased her back to sit beside him on the limo’s plush velour seat. “And for what I want to do to you, we’ll need more room than there is in the backseat of this damned limousine.”
“When are you leaving to return to Colorado?” she asked breathlessly.
“Tomorrow afternoon.” He kissed his way to the hollow at the base of her throat. “Spend the night with me, Fin,” he said, nibbling at her wildly fluttering pulse.
If she’d stopped to think about it, she might have thought of all the reasons they should back away from whatever was going on between them. Even though they were going to have a baby together, he lived thousands of miles away on his quiet, charming ranch in Colorado and her life was in the most exciting, glamorous city in the world.
But without a second thought, she snuggled against the most incredible, giving man she’d ever met. “Your bed or mine?”
“Why the hell can’t these places have regular metal keys?” Travis muttered as he fitted the little plastic card into the lock on his hotel room door.
The ride from the Hamptons to the hotel had been the longest trip of his life. Coupled with the fact that he and Fin hadn’t been able to keep their hands off of each other, he was hotter than a blast furnace in the middle of an August heat wave. And Fin wasn’t much better off. Her porcelain cheeks wore the blush of unfulfilled passion and he didn’t think she’d ever looked sexier or more desirable.
When the tiny light on the lock finally flashed to green, he pushed the door open and quickly ushered her inside. The door had barely swung shut before he had the light switched on and reached to pull her back into his arms.
“You know what I’ve discovered about these designer dresses?” he asked as he slid the back zipper down below her waist.
“What’s that?” she asked, sounding as winded as he felt.
“They’re designed to drive a man out of his mind with lust.”
Peeling the dress from Fin’s luscious upper body, he took her into his arms as the evening gown floated down to form a green pool of silk around her trim ankles. As he pressed kisses across her collarbone, then down the creamy slope of her breast, he could have cared less that he’d just sent thousands of dollars worth of dress to lie in a tangled heap on the floor.
She shivered against him when he took her pebbled coral nipple into his mouth. Tasting her sweetness, feeling the nub tighten further, he felt his lower body harden to an almost painful state.
“You’re driving me insane,” she said, sagging against him.
“I’m right there with you, honey.” He drew in a ragged breath. “Let’s get out of the rest of these glad rags before I do something stupid and rip them off of both of us.”
Fin’s laughter sent a shock wave of heat coursing through him at the speed of light. “At the moment, I think you’re the only one with an over abundance of clothing, Mr. Clayton.”
Glancing down, he grinned at the sight of her standing before him in nothing but a little triangle of lace and silk. The dress Fin had been wearing not only had a built-in bra, it had some kind of underskirt, as well. He wasn’t sure who came up with the idea of combining women’s undergarments with a dress, but he’d bet his last dime that men all over the world were singing their praises.
“I think you might have a real good point there, Ms. Elliott.” Tugging his shirt from the waistband of his trousers, he could have cheerfully throttled whoever thought it would be better to use studs instead of buttons on formal wear.
“Let me help you with those,” she said, stepping forward.
To his relief, within no time Fin was pushing the shirt apart to place her hands on his chest. At the first contact of her soft palms on his flesh, it felt as if a bolt of lightning shot from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.
Jerking as if he’d been zapped by a cattle prod, he shook his head and backed away from her. “I think I’d better take care of getting undressed or else the race will be over before this old horse leaves the starting gate.”
“That wouldn’t be good,” she said, kicking out of her high heels and reaching for the elastic band that held the tiny patch of lace material covering the apex of her thighs.
When Fin tossed her panties on top of her dress, then slid beneath the covers of the king-size bed, he swallowed hard and did his best to concentrate on getting himself out of his clothes. By the time he crawled in beside her, he was breathing as if he’d run a marathon and he was pretty sure he’d just set some kind of speed record for disrobing.
As he put his arms around her and settled his mouth over hers, her eager response sent blood surging through his veins and his arousal was so intense it made him feel light-headed. He needed her with a hunger that robbed him of breath and he wanted nothing more than to join their bodies in the age-old dance of love. But what shocked him down to the core was his deep desire to join their souls—to make her his in every way.
It should have been enough to scare the living hell out of him. But the feel of her soft body pressed to his and the taste of her sweet lips as she returned his kiss made rational thought all but impossible.
As he continued to kiss her, he felt her hands slide down his chest as if she were trying to map every individual muscle. But when her fingers touched his puckered nipple, Travis broke the kiss as he struggled for his next breath. Falling back against the pillow, he clenched his back teeth together so hard he figured it would take a crowbar to pry them apart as he tried to slow his runaway libido.
“Does that feel as good to you as it does for me when you touch me like this, darling?” Fin asked.
“Oh yeah.” The blood rushing through his veins caused his ears to ring and sent a flash fire straight to his groin.
If he’d had the presence of mind, he would have stopped her before things went any further, but her hands on his body felt so damned good he didn’t even consider it. Then, when her hand drifted lower to trace the narrow line of hair
that arrowed down to his navel and beyond, he couldn’t for the life of him force words past his suddenly dry throat.
But as her talented little fingers closed around him to measure his length and girth, then teased the softness below, he felt as if his head might just fly right off his shoulders and he had to concentrate hard on maintaining what little control he had left. A wave of need stronger than anything he could ever imagine threatened to swamp him and when he finally found the strength, he caught her hands in his to stop her tender assault.
“Honey, I don’t want you thinking that I don’t like what you’re doing because believe me, I sure as hell do.” His voice sounded like a rusty gate hinge and he had to clear his throat before he could finish. “But I’m hotter than a young bull in a pen full of heifers and I’m not going to last any longer than a June frost if we don’t slow down.”
Wrapping her arms around him, she smiled. “I love your quaint country sayings, even if I don’t always understand them.”
He laughed, releasing some of the tension that held him in its grip. “One of these days, we’ll have to sit down and I’ll give you a crash course in cowboy lingo. But right now I have other, more pleasurable activities in mind.”
With his hormones better under control, Travis lowered his head to kiss her at the same time he parted her legs with his knee and moved over her. He’d wanted to go slow, wanted their lovemaking to last. But the two-hour ride back to the city in the limo had taken its toll. By the time they’d arrived at his hotel, he and Fin were both aroused to the point of no return and taking things slow wasn’t an option.
He gazed down at the woman in his arms, the woman who was carrying his child. He didn’t think he’d seen a more beautiful sight than the passion glazing her emerald eyes and the soft, welcoming smile curving her lips. “Show me where you want me, Fin.”
Dynasties:The Elliots, Books 7-12 Page 67