Two in the Saddle

Gwen was destroyed. She clapped furiously and blinked back tears. Then she took a quick sip of wine to toast the newlyweds and grabbed a napkin to dab at her eyes.

The band started playing a waltz, and Sebastian handed Elizabeth to Travis. “Thanks,” he said, his voice suspiciously hoarse. “That was…damned nice.”

“Outstanding,” Matty said, sniffing.

“I meant every word,” Travis said. “Now go have that first dance, Mr. and Mrs. Daniels. You deserve it.” He sat down next to Gwen and propped Elizabeth on his lap. “What’d you think?” He sounded as if he actually cared.

“Great.” Gwen took another gulp of her wine and choked on it. She snatched up her napkin again and held it over her mouth while she coughed.

“Easy, now.” With one arm wrapped around Elizabeth, he leaned over and patted Gwen on the back. “Didn’t mean to make you nervous.”

She glanced at him. The hell he didn’t. At least she had an excuse for the tears in her eyes as she continued to cough and gasp for breath.

“And now let’s have the best man and the maid of honor on the floor,” announced the band leader.

Travis leaned closer. “Are you up to it?”

She coughed once more. “Sure,” she said hoarsely. “But what about Elizabeth?”

“We’ll take her along.” He stood and pulled back Gwen’s chair.

Stupid her, she was disappointed that they were taking Elizabeth. What a dope she was, feeling sorry because she wouldn’t have Travis all to herself. She was twenty times safer if they danced with Elizabeth cradled between them, and safety was important. Self-preservation was imperative.

Unfortunately Travis’s speech had derailed her protective instincts and stirred up needs she would do well to bury, especially when she was around this man.

Travis guided her with a hand at her elbow as they wound through the tables to the dance floor. Once again Gwen became aware of the envy coming at her in waves. She and Travis would dance this one, obligatory number. After that, he’d be mobbed and she wouldn’t have to worry about protecting herself from his advances. She should be happy about that, not depressed.

“How about if you hold Lizzie?” Travis asked as they stepped onto the temporary dance floor that had been erected in one corner of the tent. “Then I can hold both of you.” Without waiting for an answer, he transferred the baby neatly into Gwen’s arms.

Elizabeth was growing limp and her eyes drooped with fatigue.

Gwen cradled the little girl in her arms, and with a yawn Elizabeth laid her head trustingly on Gwen’s shoulder and closed her eyes. Gwen’s heart swelled with pleasure as she turned her head and brushed a kiss against the baby’s velvet cheek.

In the past few weeks, Gwen had tried to keep some distance from this cherub, but she was afraid that distance had just disappeared. She’d fallen in love with the baby like everyone else who came within Elizabeth’s charmed circle. If Elizabeth ever left Huerfano, the town would be wall-to-wall with broken hearts.

“Perfect,” Travis murmured, as he wrapped his arms around Gwen and Elizabeth and gently led them into a slow, swaying dance.

The baby sighed and gave in to sleep, relaxing completely against Gwen.

The dance should have been harmless, even platonic, Gwen thought. But she hadn’t counted on having to look directly into Travis’s eyes while they moved to the music. Cheek-to-cheek would have been one kind of sensual temptation, but gazing into those golden eyes seemed even more intimate.

He held her gaze, and even though his arms cradled her loosely, she felt cinched in tight by the warmth in his eyes. She couldn’t glance away without seeming cowardly, or nervous, or lacking in confidence.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me, Gwen,” he said.

She lifted her chin. “I’m not.”

In sleep, Elizabeth’s hand slipped down and rested on the swell of Gwen’s breast. The innocent touch ignited Gwen’s already heated nerve endings.

Travis glanced down with a hint of a smile. Then his gaze moved back up and lingered on Gwen’s mouth before returning to her eyes. There was a flicker of heat in the tawny depths that hadn’t been there before. “Yeah, you’re afraid,” he said. “The pulse in your throat is going like sixties. But I won’t hurt you.”

She swallowed and tried to calm her breathing. Her senses filled with the scent of baby powder mingled with the spicy aroma of Travis’s aftershave. A baby and a man to love—she hadn’t realized how much she wanted that. Longing washed over her. “That’s right, you won’t hurt me, because I won’t give you the chance.”

“You know, there’s a big difference between me and your ex.”

“I don’t want to talk about Derek.”

“We won’t. I have something to tell you about me.”

She tried not to respond to the caressing tone in his voice. “I know all I need to know about you.”

“I don’t think so. Otherwise you wouldn’t be afraid. Gwen, the only way people get hurt is when promises are broken. I won’t do that.”

She shivered at the way he spoke her name. “Because you don’t make promises?”

“Not the forever kind.” His fingers traced lazy patterns over her back. “But I can promise to make love to you honestly, thoroughly, and tenderly for whatever time we decide to spend together.”

She didn’t want him to know he was arousing her, but those eyes probably saw everything—her rapid breathing, her beating pulse, her flushed skin.

“If we both know what to expect going in, then nobody gets hurt,” he murmured.

Oh, he was good. She wanted him to kiss her so much she could taste it. “I’ll bet there are several women with broken hearts who wouldn’t agree with your reasoning.”

“Then they lied to themselves. I never lied to them.”

His mouth was beautiful, she thought. Every woman should have a chance to kiss a mouth like that once in her life. And if the rest of him lived up to the sensuous promise of his mouth….

“You’re thinking about it,” he said. “That’s a start.”

“I’m thinking about what an arrogant man you are.” Excitingly arrogant. She wondered if she was capable of lovemaking with no strings. Pleasure without promises. For the long run, it didn’t fit into her dreams. But a forever man seemed like a distant and unreachable goal, and in the meantime she could allow herself to enjoy…no, it was too risky. But the fact that she was even wondering what it would be like to have an affair with Travis meant that he’d breached her defenses.

“I’m far from arrogant,” he said, subtly caressing her back. “I can’t afford to be when you have all the power.”

“Ha. You’re a world-class flirt, Travis. I can’t even play in your league.”

“You’re selling yourself short. When I saw you come down the aisle of the church in that dynamite dress, my knees almost gave out. I’m a desperate man, Gwen, begging you to soften your heart.”

She was getting soft, all right. Soft in the head, heart, everywhere. Outrageous though his compliments were, they were having an effect. Soon she’d be putty in his hands. “I don’t want to be another notch on your belt,” she said.

He smiled, slow and sexy, his eyes alight with banked passion. “Then let me be a notch in yours.”

3

TRAVIS PRIDED HIMSELF on his ability to handle a room full of women and make each one of them feel special, but this reception was taxing his powers. And to be truthful, his heart wasn’t in the effort. Flattering as it was to have all these ladies asking him to dance, he would have preferred a quiet little bar, a jukebox and Gwen in his arms.

He wasn’t happy about the fact that she was out on the floor nearly as often as he was, and that she seemed to be having such a good time. Damn it, she wanted him. He’d seen it in her eyes when they’d shared that one frustrating dance, and he’d hoped for another dance with her once Elizabeth was tucked into the little bassinet Sebastian had set up in a corner. No telling where another dance might lead, considering the look in her eyes following the first one. He was eager to stoke the fire he’d started.

Instead he’d been besieged by the female population of Huerfano. He’d danced with nearly every woman in the room, and he’d been offered enough pieces of wedding cake to open his own bakery. Apparently his stint with Lizzie at the altar combined with his wedding toast had made him a very popular guy. Ordinarily he would have loved it, but tonight he was in a strange, one-woman kind of mood.