The Best Bride

by Susan Mallery

  It was only when she felt his mouth on her thigh that she realized he’d taken off her panties along with her jeans. Before she could be embarrassed, he moved his hands between her legs and urged her to part them.

  She willingly availed herself to him, anticipating the skillful touch of his fingers. Something warm fanned her most secret place. A breath of air. Her eyes opened. Before she could react, his fingers drew her open and he kissed her moist, quivering center.

  A thrill of pleasure shot through her. Her protest died unspoken. She’d read about this, of course, had even taken Sam into her mouth once, but he’d pushed her away telling her it was dirty. She’d wondered what it would feel like to have a man touch her so intimately. A thousand questions filled her mind. What exactly was he doing with his tongue? Did he like the taste and scent of her? Could he feel her muscle contracting as he—

  Her breath caught in her throat. It was as if he knew exactly how to touch, where to touch. She relaxed back on the bed and forgot her questions. Nothing mattered except the feel of him against her, loving her over and over. The rhythm increasing in cadence, matching the thunder of her heartbeat.

  She whispered his name without thinking, then got embarrassed. He paused long enough to tell her to say it again. So she did. She spoke his name aloud, gasped her pleasure, rotated her hips mindlessly and surrendered to his masterful touch. The fire grew, burning hot and brighter. The flames didn’t frighten her—nothing frightened her. Travis was strong enough to save her. This night was a magical escape from her real world, from everything except the passion.

  He moved faster against her, then shifted, slipping one finger into her woman’s place, moving it slowly. Once again she was shocked, but this time there was no room for questions, no room for anything but the sudden tension that locked her muscles and the explosion that shattered her into a million tiny pieces of perfect pleasure.

  * * *

  He held her tightly in his embrace, comforting her as the aftershocks rippled through her. The dull ache in her side told her that she’d used her stomach muscles too much. Who cares, she thought sleepily, and sighed.

  “That sounded very contented,” he said, his voice rumbling against her hair.

  “It is.” She snuggled closer, rubbing her cheek against the soft flannel of his shirt. His shirt? She opened her eyes. “You’re not even naked!”

  “I know.” His slow, lazy smile belied the erection she could see pressing against the fly of his jeans.

  “Travis?”

  “Hush.” He brushed her hair out of her face and gently stroked her head. “Rest, darlin’. You’ve had a long and difficult day.”

  It didn’t make any sense. If she’d taken too long with Sam, he had simply pleasured himself and left her unsatisfied. She’d always understood that a man’s needs were more uncontrollable than a woman’s, that a man had to find release or face a painful night. It had never been just for her.

  “But you didn’t…do anything.”

  “You’re too sore,” he said and reached down to touch her healing incision. “I saw you wince when you settled down. You can’t even drive yet. There’s no way your insides are ready for anything vigorous.”

  She drew her eyebrows together. She couldn’t fault his argument. Just the thought of anything thrust inside of her was enough to make her side ache more. But this didn’t feel right. It wasn’t the way she’d planned it.

  He moved his hand from her side to her breast and gently caressed the sensitized flesh. Her eyes drifted shut. It had felt so good when he’d loved her with his mouth. She couldn’t remember ever experiencing such exquisite sensations. In fact—

  The idea came to her full-blown. She rose up on one shoulder, then collapsed back on the bed.

  “What?” he asked.

  She didn’t answer. Sam hadn’t wanted her to do that. But Travis wasn’t Sam, she reminded herself. Sam hadn’t done what Travis had done to her, either.

  “Elizabeth?”

  She exhaled deeply. “I was just wishing I’d had more lovers.”

  “What?”

  She laughed. “Just so I’d know how to handle this situation.”

  He shook his head. “You’re handling it just fine. Trust me. Now lay down and relax.”

  She shimmied closer, so that she could rest her chin on his chest. “I don’t think so.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Nothing,” she said, innocently and sat up. She straddled his hips and leaned forward so she could start unbuttoning his shirt.

  “What are you planning to do?” he asked.

  “Just wait and see. If you don’t like it, I promise to stop.”

  Chapter Ten

  Travis warned himself not to blow it. Just because he was naked and she was sitting on his bare belly kissing his chest didn’t mean she was going to reciprocate what he’d done to her. But he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Couldn’t stop imagining what it would be like to have her taste him, touch him in that most intimate way. He told himself just having her in his bed, trusting him with her body, was enough. The hardness between his legs throbbed in time with his heartbeat and told him he was a liar.

  Her hands were everywhere. His shoulders, chest, neck, arms. Soft skin brushing, stroking. Her small hot mouth pressed against his flat nipples, teasing him to frenzied awareness.

  She slipped back and down, settling between his legs. He thought about telling her she didn’t have to do that. He could simply lie here a few minutes and explode from the need. He tried to think about other things, to get control, but every time he closed his eyes, he was back on top of her, touching and tasting her, loving her cries of pleasure, feeling her release against his lips. She’d been made to be pleasured by a man—by him.

  Her hands rubbed up and down on his thighs. He looked at her. She nibbled on her lower lip as she studied him, obviously trying to figure something out.

  “You don’t have to do this,” he said, cursing his mother for raising him right.

  “Do what?”

  Hell. “Whatever it is that has you confused.”

  She tossed her hair over her shoulders. The movement caused her breasts to sway slightly. The sight of her hard peach-colored nipples bouncing in the air made his erection surge toward her.

  “I want to, but I’m afraid you won’t like it.”

  He tried to laugh. It came out a little strangled.

  “I’ve never done this before. I can’t hurt you, can I? I don’t want to, you know, do anything awful.”

  The muscles in his legs and arms started twitching. If it wasn’t for the small red incision, bright and angry against her pale flat belly, he’d roll her on her back and bury himself deep inside of her. That would end the debate and the growing pressure.

  “I doubt you’d do anything awful,” he said, trying not to grit his teeth. “But we can stop now.”

  She smiled. “Did you know the veins on your forehead are sticking out?”

  “I’m not surprised,” he muttered, knowing he was being punished for some previous offense. It must have been pretty bad, whatever it was.

  He couldn’t stand it any longer. He started to sit up, determined to suffer the indignity of a cold shower when she reached forward and touched his arousal.

  His groan sounded loud in the silent room. She bent over him, her brown hair falling like an erotic curtain, caressing the tops of his thighs. He sank back on the mattress and held his breath.

  Her touch was sweet, wet and tentative. A delicate pressure, careful yet adventurous. He could have exploded then, but thought better of it. Her fingers traced small circles at the base of his desire, moving through the hair, slipping lower to cup his softer parts. Weighing them in her hands tentatively, then moving more boldly when he exhaled his pleasure.

  It wouldn’t take long, he knew. A few slow strokes, a flick or two with her tongue and he was ready.

  “Elizabeth,” he said, tensing his muscles, ready to stop and have her complete him
just with her hands. “You can stop now.”

  She looked up and tossed her head. At that second their eyes locked. It was the most erotic sight of his life. Her heart-shaped face poised over his engorged maleness, her breasts swinging freely. Pale on tanned, he saw the lines of her bathing suit. She licked his sensitive tip once, then smiled.

  “I don’t want to stop,” she whispered.

  And she didn’t.

  * * *

  It was nearly two in the morning when he woke up. He smiled in the darkness when he felt Elizabeth’s warm body pressing against his side. One of her soft, delicate arms lay across his chest. Her face was buried against his arm. He could smell the scent of her body and the lingering aroma of sex.

  In seconds he was hard. He didn’t have to fully form the memory of what she’d done before he was ready to have her do it again and again. He figured he’d get tired of looking at her and making love with her in about fifty years. That thought scared the hell of out of him.

  Slowly he slipped out of bed, being careful not to disturb her. He picked up his jeans and stepped into the hallway. After closing the door softly behind him, he pulled on his jeans and buttoned the fly.

  He checked to make sure Mandy was sleeping soundly, then picked up her bear off the floor and set it on her pillow. Finally he made his way downstairs. Louise took care of the grocery shopping and kept him stocked with all the essentials. He reached in the back of the refrigerator for a bottle of beer and twisted off the top.

  The cold liquid went down easily. Not bothering to turn on any lights, he walked into the family room and settled on the sofa. The leather was cool against his bare back. He shifted to get comfortable, then relaxed and closed his eyes.

  A bigamist. He would never have guessed that one. It was hard to believe something like that had happened to someone as sweet as Elizabeth. It wasn’t right. His hand tightened around the beer bottle as if the slick glass were Sam Proctor’s neck.

  She’d mentioned that her ex-husband—former husband, or whatever the hell he was to her—was still serving time in prison. Travis was glad. He hoped the bastard never got out. The anger inside of him simmered down to a slow burn, tempered by the question of what he was supposed to do now. Elizabeth had obviously been embarrassed when she’d told him the truth. He’d hated doing that to her. He’d tried to get her to stop talking, but she’d continued on as if finally telling someone about her past was the ultimate act of absolution.

  He’d hated knowing she was uncomfortable around him. Had their lovemaking made it better or worse? He shook his head and took another swallow. The knot in his gut told him it was all about to get worse. Damn. He should have handled it better. He shouldn’t have kissed her in the first place, or he should have tried harder to get out of making love with her.

  He grinned mockingly. Oh, yeah, Haynes. Get out of it. As if making love with Elizabeth had been some irritating charity work instead of the most incredibly intimate, erotic act of his sorry life.

  He rubbed his hand over his face, then scratched his chin. None of this was helping him answer the most important question. Now what? What did he do with the truth, and what about what happened between them last night?

  Okay, knowing the truth. That was easy. Elizabeth would want it kept quiet. That wasn’t hard to figure out. He just wouldn’t tell a soul. He sat up straight and swore.

  “Kyle.” He’d asked his brother to run a check on Sam Proctor. Damn. He knew exactly what his deputy was going to find out. He would have to have a talk with Kyle and tell him to keep the information to himself.

  The knot in his stomach tightened. He’d felt like slime when he’d asked his brother to run the check. He should have listened to that feeling.

  A bigamist. It boggled his mind. He smiled suddenly, his mood lightening as he remembered what Mandy had said about her father. He’d had to leave because he was big. The kid almost had it right, he thought, draining the beer and setting the bottle on the coffee table in front of him.

  His smile faded. Where did they go from here? Despite his stellar reputation, he wasn’t the casual sex, one-nightstand kind of guy. He’d had enough of that at college. He generally held back physically until there was an emotional connection. He knew nothing was going to last forever, but he’d never played fast and loose with a woman before. Elizabeth didn’t strike him as overly experienced. With his luck, she’d only ever been with one man—Sam. Which meant she was going to be hating life and him come morning. Would she expect something of him? A commitment of some kind?

  It wasn’t, he realized with bone-chilling shock, a horrible idea. He liked Elizabeth, he adored Mandy. They got along well and—

  Slow down, boy, he told himself. Nothing was going to happen between him and Elizabeth. Last night was a…a… He hated to use the word mistake. It hadn’t been a mistake for him. Last night had been an unusual circumstance. They’d both needed each other. But there wasn’t going to be anything permanent between them. He didn’t have what it took to make that kind of relationship work. Even if he did, Elizabeth had made it clear she wasn’t interested in getting involved with him or any man. After what Sam had done, he almost couldn’t blame her.

  In a week her medical restrictions would lift. She would be driving, and leaving him for her own place. If they both tried, they could put last night in its proper place and stay friends. It’s really all he wanted.

  The sounds of the night crowded in around him. The cool air made him shiver. He told himself to go back to his bed, to snuggle against Elizabeth’s warm naked body and savor the moments while he had them. But he couldn’t. Not yet. Not when he’d finally realized how hard it was going to be to let her go.

  * * *

  “It’s a fumble on the twenty-yard line. Dallas recovers and runs it in for a touchdown. San Francisco is now down by fourteen points.”

  Travis groaned and reached for the remote. He hit the mute button and sank back against the couch. Mandy looked up from her place on the floor where she was working on a jigsaw puzzle.

  “Is your team doing bad, Travis?” she asked.

  “They’re getting their fannies kicked.”

  “Really?” She glanced toward the TV screen. “I don’t see anyone kicking fannies.”

  He chuckled. “Hopefully it won’t happen again.”

  She abandoned her puzzle and climbed into his lap. “I’ll make you feel better,” she said and gave him a hug. “They’re magic, just like yours.”

  He hugged her back. “I do feel better. Thanks.” He pointed at the puzzle. “What is it going to be?”

  “A dog.” She pursed her lips together. “Mommy says there’s bunnies at our house and I can see them when we get there, but I was thinking maybe I could have a puppy instead. Do you think Mommy would like a puppy?”

  “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Maybe later. She’s cooking, and if you ask her stuff now, she usually says no.”

  He’d heard the pots rattling in the kitchen and had decided to stay clear himself. He was giving Elizabeth time to recover from what happened between them last night. “You’re a very smart girl.”

  “I know.”

  Her smile took a direct line to his heart. She wore sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt in bright pink with a redheaded mermaid on the front. Her pale blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her bangs hung almost to her eyebrows. She was going to be a heartbreaker in a few years; when she left with her mother at the end of the week, she was going to break his heart.

  Elizabeth walked into the room. She stared at a point above and to the left of his head. “Mandy, there are still a few flowers left in the garden. Why don’t you pick some for the table?”

  “Okay.” The little girl slid off his lap and grinned. “I get to pick flowers.”

  “I heard.”

  She practically quivered with excitement. “You can finish my puzzle if you want to,” she told Travis.

  “I�
�ll pass and let you do it.”

  She nodded and ran out of the room, singing a song about flowers. Elizabeth turned to leave, then hesitated.

  She wore her hair as she had the first time he’d seen her, in a ponytail on top of her head. The loose strands tumbled down to her shoulder. A light touch of makeup accentuated her chestnut-colored eyes. An oversize peach sweater hung midway down her thighs. Matching leggings outlined her curves, taunting him with what he’d seen and touched and tasted the previous night. Her flat loafers didn’t give her any height, and she looked small and ill at ease.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, rising to his feet.

  “Nothing.” Her voice was hoarse, as if she was having trouble speaking. “I was just wondering if you wanted to cancel the party.”

  “A couple of friends over for a late lunch and football is hardly a party.”

  “I know, but…” Her voice trailed off. She clasped her hands together in front of her waist and stared at the ground. “I thought you might prefer to keep me away from your friends because of last night.”

  That didn’t make any sense. “Because we made love?”

  She shook her head. “No, the other thing.”

  The spot of color on each cheek had nothing to do with cosmetics. She looked as if she were praying for the ground to open and swallow her whole. It was all his fault.

  In an effort to be a gentleman, he had left their bed that morning to give her the privacy to wake up alone. If he was going to be completely honest with himself, he would have to admit there had been something other than altruism in the act. He hadn’t wanted to wake up and see the regret in her eyes. Unfortunately, she thought he was the one having regrets. She might say she was worried about her confession, but her body language told him she was thinking about the sex.

  He crossed the room and reached toward her. Before he could pull her close, she stepped back. “Don’t,” she murmured.

  “I’m not sorry we made love,” he said quietly, aware that Mandy could return at any moment. “I left you alone this morning to give you some privacy, not because I didn’t want to be with you in bed. I wanted us to make love again, but I was worried about you being sore and Mandy waking up. It was wonderful, Elizabeth. At least it was for me. I guess I’ll understand if you’re having second thoughts.”