[Kate's Boys 04] - Travis's Appeal Read online

  He smiled at her. “Yes, it’s really over.”

  Over.

  Was everything over? Shana paused for a moment before speaking, searching for the right words—if things like that existed in this case—even as she wondered if she actually should say anything.

  And then she raised her eyes to his. If she didn’t ask now, she never would. And she’d probably regret it for the rest of her life. She’d seen enough regrets. She didn’t want to be shackled by them.

  “Is it over between us?”

  Travis stopped gathering his papers together and looked at her. It took him a moment to answer. A moment in which his heart just ceased beating altogether. He chose his words carefully, knowing the wrong ones could ruin everything. “That’s for you to decide.”

  “You have no input in this?” She tried hard not to sound as disappointed as she felt. She was wrong, wasn’t she? He didn’t care. Not anymore. And that was her doing.

  His words were measured out evenly, as if he’d paused to make sure that they were all equally crafted. “You know the answer to that. But I won’t force you, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  She’d lost something precious before she even realized she had it, didn’t she? “I’m asking if you care which way I decide.”

  “If I care?” he asked incredulously, looking at her as if she’d just lost her mind. “If I care? Damn it, Shana, I care so much, I’m amazed it’s not spilling out of every pore. It’s everything I can do not to have set siege to your house, not to have barged in and made you forgive me.”

  A sad expression played along his face. “But it doesn’t work that way and I know it. You can’t make anyone feel what they don’t want to feel.” How could she not know that every day was an exercise in restraint? That he still loved her so much that it ripped him up inside to interact with her and pretend otherwise. “You just hope to God that there’s a miracle in the offing with your name on it.”

  “A miracle?” Shana echoed. The miracle was that she cared. That she loved. That she could still love after what she’d just endured. “I don’t know about a miracle, but I do know that I’d like to give us another try.” She took a breath, afraid that if she hesitated for a moment, she’d lose her nerve. “I’ve missed you something awful, Travis. And I hate being just a client.”

  Travis smiled and shook his head. “You were never just a client, Shana. You couldn’t be.” He threaded his fingers through her hair, his eyes already making love to her. “I’m a very down-to-earth kind of guy. Ask anyone here and they’ll all tell you the same thing. Including my family. But the first time I saw you, the earth moved.

  “It stopped moving the day I thought I lost you. And working with you these last few weeks, knowing I couldn’t have you,” because he wouldn’t presume to forcibly make her change her mind, “was absolutely hell on earth. I love you, Shana. Whether or not you want to be with me doesn’t change that. I love you. I have from the first moment I saw you. I will until the day I die.” He paused, letting his words sink in, searching her face to see if they’d had any effect. “Does that answer your question?”

  She smiled at him and shook her head, not in response but in amazement. “You are a lawyer,” she said. Then, because he looked at her quizzically, she added, “Explaining everything down to the bottom line and then some.”

  “I want to make sure that there’s no room for misinterpretation.” He framed her face with his hands, wanting to kiss her so badly, he thought he would explode. “Or doubt.”

  “Is it my turn now?” she asked.

  Only if you say the right thing. He inclined his head. “If you like.”

  Here went everything, she thought. “I love you.”

  Travis waited for more. But she stood there, her lips pressed together, looking at him hopefully.

  “That’s it?” he asked.

  “That’s it,” she echoed, then, because she’d just laid her heart at his feet, Shana added, “That’s everything.”

  “Yes,” he agreed, sliding his hands from her face down her shoulders to her waist. He took her into his arms. “That certainly is.”

  Then, because he couldn’t hold back any longer, Travis brought his mouth down to hers, losing himself in the kiss that had haunted his dreams all these nights he’d spent away from her. Absence had showed him all too acutely that he was no good without her. And there was only one cure for that.

  The sound of a short rap on the door forced them to terminate the kiss but not to pull apart. Not yet.

  Looking toward the door, Travis saw his father popping his head in.

  One look told Bryan all he needed to know. A feeling of deep satisfaction pervaded him. Kate was going to be absolutely thrilled, he thought. Christmas was going to be a mob scene this year.

  He glanced at his watch, doing a quick calculation before saying, “You two can have the conference room for the next hour. But I don’t think I can hold the others off longer than that.”

  Without waiting for a response, Bryan winked and then firmly closed the door behind him.

  She should be uneasy, Shana thought. But all she felt was happy. So very happy. She glanced from the door to Travis.

  “Just what is it that your father thinks we’re going to be doing in here?” The man didn’t think they were going to make love in here, did he? Heaven help her, she did like the idea.

  Travis had a pretty good idea he knew what his father was thinking. “Proposing comes to mind.”

  It took everything she had not to let her slackened jaw drop. Nothing worse than looking like a gapping, brainless woman. “Excuse me, but I think my hearing just failed. I thought you just said ‘proposing.’”

  He was still holding her in his arms and right now, he didn’t think that he was ever going to release her. Or at least, not any time soon. “I did.”

  Was she dreaming? Or was this really happening, even after the way she’d treated him. “To me?”

  He pretended to look around. “You see anyone else in here?”

  How could a man look innocent and incredibly sexy at the same time? “No,” she breathed.

  He pressed a kiss to her left temple and then to her right one. His breath whispered along her skin as he said, “Then I guess you get me by default.”

  “Fault,” she said, picking up on the last part of the word, “has absolutely nothing to do with it,” Shana assured him. Rising up, she pressed her body against his as she tightening her arms around his neck. Her own body heated up several degrees.

  He looked into her face. “Are you saying yes?”

  She cocked her head. “Give me ten minutes to play hard-to-get first.”

  He brushed a soft, quick kiss against her lips. “I’ll give you twenty if you like.”

  Her heart was already hammering hard. “No, ten’ll be more than enough.”

  He laughed, just before he kissed her again with feeling.

  Ten minutes turned out to be much too long. “Yes!” Shana cried within ten seconds, just before she threw herself completely into the kiss she pressed against his lips.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-2981-9

  TRAVIS’S APPEAL

  Copyright © 2009 by Marie Rydzynski-Ferrarella

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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