The Best Bride by Susan Mallery

reached behind her for one of the throw pillows and batted his hand away. “What’s wrong with you?”
    â€œI’m one of the Haynes boys. What else am I supposed to do?”
    She’d been in Travis’s house for six days. Louise had filled her head with enough stories to tell her what being a “Haynes boy” meant. “Settle down with one woman. Try monogamy for a change. There is something to be said for quality rather than quantity.”
    His good humor faded quickly. “I tried that, remember?”
    â€œOh.” She did recall him mentioning a divorce. “Sorry.” She was silent for a moment. “So what happened?”
    He turned his head until he was looking at her. The lines around his eyes crinkled when he smiled. “You’ve been hanging around with Louise a little too much, don’t you think? You could have been a bit more subtle with that question.”
    â€œProbably,” she admitted shamelessly. “So what happened? Or don’t you want to talk about it?”
    â€œThere’s nothing to say. It just didn’t work. I’m sure some of it was her fault, but I have to take most of the blame.” He held his hands out in front of him, palms up. “It’s a little difficult to get past who I am.”
    â€œSo that’s why you know Rebecca is a sweetheart?”
    â€œWant to know a secret?”
    She wasn’t sure she did, but Travis was difficult enough to resist most of the time, and now, when he was rumpled and just tired enough to let his guard down, he was impossible to refuse.
    â€œSure.”
    He slid closer to her. Her body tensed. Her incision had healed quite a bit, although it still hurt if she moved around too much. She wanted to pull back, but there was nowhere to go except off the sofa. Six days with Travis had taught her two important things. The first was that being in his presence made her very aware of her body, his body and the potential those two bodies had together. She told herself it was just hormones, and being lonely and afraid that brought on that thinking. The second thing she learned was that even if she was ever foolish enough to get involved with a man again. Travis Haynes was absolutely the worst one she could pick. He and his brothers had reputations for being lady-killers and heartbreakers. Louise had told her story after story about the female conquests made and cast aside. Elizabeth had to admit that in most of the stories, Travis had been honest, caring and had at least tried to make the relationship work. But the reality was he made Sam Proctor look like an amateur when it came to seducing women.
    He leaned over so he could whisper in her ear. His chin rested on her shoulder, pushing aside the thin strap of hertank top. Stubble grazed her suddenly sensitized skin, making her muscles jump and her toes curl against the thick carpet.
    â€œRebecca is my greatest failure.”
    â€œWhat?”
    She made the mistake of turning to look at him. He hadn’t pulled back and their faces were inches apart. Breath mingled with the heady scent of his warm body. She clutched her fingers tightly together to prevent herself from reaching out toward him and touching his arm, his chest, anything she could get her hands on.
    â€œShortly after we met, I took her out on a date. It was supposed to be this great seduction. I had everything planned.”
    The pain in her midsection wasn’t from the surgery, she realized, chagrined. It was envy, pure and simple. She prayed he couldn’t see it in her eyes.
    â€œI picked her up at seven-thirty. By eight-ten I figured out I’d made a large error in judgment.”
    â€œWhich was?”
    â€œChemistry. It was all wrong.”
    She stared at him, at his dark eyes that suddenly seemed to be flickering with the most intriguing fire.
    â€œWhat was wrong with it?” she asked, barely able to disconnect from the flames enough to follow the