page44 (1/1)

She found her softness fitted into the hard frah it had been created for that purpose His kisses and caresses were deeper, hungrier, guided by a controlled assurance of her response Her body was betray¬ing her need of hi to hiuttural She felt she couldn't get close enough to him

How long they stayed in the sensual bubble he had created Beth was never sure, but gradually, as the rain abated and the light outside the sitting roo to take things any further His kisses had becos before he straightened her dress and then rose to his feet still with her in his arently to the floor her eyes opened, disbelief warring with desire 'Travis?'

It was a soft confused rey eyes whichto take her upstairs after all Then a shutter ca the e the unspoken question in her face 'All this is new to you, isn't? Your body is telling me so'

She stiffened, rejection whitening her face 'I was htly 'I have made love with a man before'

‘I don't think so' And, as she went to object, he put a finger on her lips 'You've been taken by a man before,' he continued very softly, 'but that's not the sa at all He didn't take the ti you alive Oh, he probably pleasured you a little—I' he forced you—but he was more intent on his own pleasure than yours'

"How can you say that? You don't know Keith; you've lever evenwith hiet involved with hione out of theI know all I need to know about him from how you are' Ed contrast to her clipped voice, his was calm and cool

'He didn't worship you with his body, Beth He didn't spend hours taking you froht you'd die froht touching and tasting and giving and re¬ceiving He had no real finesse, no wish to learn what you wanted, needed I know this And now, for the first tis can be like between ayou'

He stepped back a pace, his rugged face betraying nothing "And that's good' He smiled a smile which wasn't really a smile at all 'It's a start But I want et to know each other first as we've agreed'

She thought she had been the one who had decided that Now she wasn't so sure She stared at hiain just when she had thought she'd reached solid land And then the old feelings of shame and humiliation and rejection that had coain Whatever Travis was saying, however he was dressing it up, he didn't want her, not enough, or he would have taken her when he knew he could have

'I want you, Beth' As he had done several times before, he'd read her mind 'I'll prove how much one day, I promise you But for now you have to trust me'

Her eyes flickered and she looked down, but not before he had seen as in her gaze as his next words confirmed 'And you're not there yet, are you? Soait Until you understand'

'Understand what?' The thick s was back tenfold

'You'll know one day' He reached out and took her hand, his firm and warm 'Let's finish that wine'

CHAPTER NINE

O'er the next weeks Beth began to think that the rew to know Travis the less she understood him, herself too, for that matter She now accepted he had lured her out of her Bate of solitude, at least at the weekends He had introduced her to his friends in the district and Sandra had ot on very well

At the beginning of August, when they had known each other for threeparty for his thirty-fifth birthday, inviting lots of friends from Bristol and all over the country as well as the Shropshire crowd Catherine and Michael ca herapproval of Travis several tihout the weekend

'He's gorgeous, Neddy But then you know that, don't you?' Catherine sighed drea a barbecue under a brilliant blue sky, the buzz of conversation and laughter flowing around the seat under the shade of a beech tree