“Yeah, I did,” Travis said and seemed pleased at her understanding. “If your brother had any fear at all, I didn’t see it. He just frowned at me like I was an annoyance, then turned back to pull on the donkey’s rope.”
“When was this?”
“2005.”
“Oh heavens!” Kim said. “That wasn’t too long after Reede’s long-term girlfriend dropped him. He was probably still in that stage of not caring whether he lived or died.”
“Like I’d feel if you told me to get out of your life and never come back,” Travis said, then quickly went on with his story. “When I yelled, Ernie looked up from his map and screamed like a girl. I turned the wheel as hard as I could, braked until my ankle felt like it was cracking, and we nearly turned over.”
Kim was blinking at his statement about how he’d feel if she told him to go away. “I guess . . .” she began.
“Your brother stood there and watched the whole thing. For seconds we looked into each other’s eyes; we had a clear view of one another. It was one of those moments when the world seems to stand still. The donkey collapsed from sheer terror, and that’s when the boxes it was carrying hit the ground and broke.”
“And Reede—”
“By the time I got the car headed back toward him, he was in a rage and shouting at us.” Travis put his hand over his heart. “I swear this is true, but I wanted to stop and see about the donkey. I didn’t know the contents of the boxes were important. It was Ernie who said, ‘Good God! He’s an American. Don’t stop or he’ll have us arrested. Go! Go! Floor it and go!’ I did.”
“Did you win the race?”
“Of course not. The transmission fell out about fifty miles down the road. We were so far from anywhere we had to be helicoptered out.”
Kim looked at him as he sat back down. She couldn’t help remembering the boy who’d ridden her bicycle. “I agree,” she said.
“About what?”
“When my brother remembers where he saw you, he’s going to come after you with a shotgun.”
“You’re no help at all,” Travis said, smiling. “I want you to be on my side.”
“I am. Reede probably knew about the race and wanted to provoke a fight. At that time, he had so much anger inside him about his girlfriend dumping him, he probably wanted to get it out.”
Travis sobered. “He came very close to getting himself killed.”
She smiled. “Thanks for taking care of my brother. Thank you for not hitting him and thank you for replacing his supplies. If you weren’t so good at handling a car, all three of you—and the donkey—could have been killed.”
For a moment they looked at each other and again Kim felt drawn to him. It was as if his body called to hers, as though some electrical charge ran from her to him and back again. She could feel the pull, the tingle, the desire that passed between them.
Of its own will, her body took a step toward him. She wanted him to put his arms around her and kiss her. She saw him look at her lips and his eyes grew darker, warmer, hot even.
But in the next second, he turned away and the moment was gone. “It’s late,” he murmured, “and Joe . . . I’ll see you tomorrow.” In an instant he had left the house.
Kim sat down on a chair. She felt like a balloon that had its knot untied. Deflated. Worse, she felt defeated.
When Travis got inside the guesthouse, he was shaking. He knew he’d never wanted a woman as much as he did Kim, but the problem was that he cared about her. He didn’t want to hurt her, didn’t want—
He sat down on the side of the bed an
d punched Penny’s number. “Did I wake you?” he asked.
She hesitated. Never before had Travis been concerned about his secretary’s sleeping habits. “No,” she said, lying.
“Did you find out anything about the caterer?”
“Just his name, but I sent my son to Edilean to see what he could find out.”
“What’s your son look like?”
“What does that matter?” Penny asked.