"Travis?"
He looked up. "Yeah?"
"I'd like to get dressed."
But not in front of him. She didn't have to say the words for him to hear them.
"Sure. Uh, if you'd like to use the shower..."
"I'll shower at home, thank you."
He nodded again. It was all he seemed capable of doing. "Fine," he said briskly. "I'll just be a couple of minutes, and then I'll drive you."
He walked into the bathroom, shut the door and stepped into the shower stall. Then he turned the water on full, bowed his head, pressed his hands flat against the marble wall and let the water beat down on his shoulders.
He should never have brought Alex home last night. Whatever had he been thinking? And what was all this stuff he'd gotten himself into, with her ridiculous Wish List? So she'd never done a lot of things. Big deal. He'd never done a lot of things, either. Never flown a jet. Never ridden a balloon across the Pacific. Never really fallen in love without holding a part of himself back...
"Hell," he whispered. "Oh, hell."
But he wasn't in love. He never would be. He'd thought he was before, and learned the hard way never to tie himself to one woman for too long.
Alex would just have to accept that.
Travis shut off the water, stepped from the shower and flung open the bathroom door.
"Alex," he said, "Alex, look..."
The words caught in his throat. His bedroom was empty. Alex was gone.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GONE? Where could she have gone without a car?
Travis pulled on his jeans, ran into the hall and down the stairs.
"Alex?"
The silence of the early morning echoed her name.
The front door stood open. He stepped outside, called for her again. There was no answer, and no sign of her.
Travis mouthed an oath. Barefoot, bare-chested, he got into his car and turned the key. The engine started with a roar; gravel flew as he made a U-turn and stepped hard on the gas.
She couldn't have gotten very far.
He might have known she'd run. Hey, she always ran. She'd run that first night, run when he'd confronted her the next day. She'd wanted to run at Peregrine, too, but he'd been too quick for her.
The gate at the end of the driveway was open. He gunned the Porsche through it, then stood on the brakes, glared left, then right...
There she was, marching determinedly along the shoulder of the highway, heading south toward Los Angeles. This time of the day, the road was jammed with vehicles, zipping by in a dizzying stream.
Travis jumped from the car and stormed toward her.
"Alex!"
She heard him. He knew she did; he could tell because she picked up her pace, But she didn't turn, didn't acknowledge his presence any other way.
A van shot past, horn blaring.
"Alex, dammit!" Travis caught up to her, grabbed her arm and spun her toward him. Her face was flushed, her eyes and mouth narrowed.
"Let go!"
"What in hell do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? Let go of me, Cowboy!"
"Don't be a bloody little idiot! You can't walk back home."
"I can do whatever I want to do, Mr. Baron." Alex bared her teeth. "Get your hand off me!"
"You're behaving like a child."
"I am neither a child nor an idiot." Her eyes flashed. "Let go or so help me, Travis, I swear—"
"I don't like people running out on me, Princess." He moved closer, his fingers biting into her flesh. "You should have figured that."
"I did not run." Her chin lifted a notch. "I left. And I don't have any reason to give a flying fig what you like and don't like."
"Alex, dammit—"
The sound of tires crunching on gravel made them both turn. A police car had pulled up behind them.
"Now see what you've done," Travis muttered.
"What I've done?" Alex glared at him. "What I've done?"
A uniformed officer stepped from the car. His smile was pleasant but his walk was purposeful and cautious as he approached them.
"'Morning, folks. Is there a problem here?"
Travis took a breath. "No problem, Officer. The lady and I are just having a, uh, a discussion."
The cop nodded. Travis felt the weight of his gaze as it swept over him, taking in his bare chest and feet and his hand wrapped around Alex's wrist.
"Is that what this is, ma'am? A discussion?"
"No," Alex said coldly, "it is not. This man—this man..."
"Do you know him?"
"Yes. And he..." She hesitated. There was nothing she could say that wouldn't make her want to crawl into a corner and hide. Could she tell the officer that she and Travis had spent the night together? That she'd run away because she felt used and cheap? That he'd come after her because he felt insulted, or maybe simply because he'd had second thoughts and decided the sex was too good to give up?