disappointment to them. In fact, I haven’t seen them in over a year. We were supposed to get together for the holidays, but as it always does with them, something came up.”
“Disappointment?” He couldn’t imagine ever being disappointed in Jazzy. “You’ve written a book that has touched thousands of lives, my daughter’s being one of them. How could they
not
be proud of you?”
Sarah shrugged. “They wanted me to follow in their footsteps. Become a surgeon. I simply didn’t have the aptitude. Or the desire.”
“That’s because your talent lies with words.”
“That’s kind of you to say.” She spoke in a distant tone, the way people spoke to strangers. But he wasn’t a stranger and it bothered him that she was putting up a wall, pushing him away when he wanted to know everything about her.
Why? What was this strange pull of attraction? She was attractive, yes, but so were a lot of women and none of them had ever made him feel … What did he feel? Mesmerized? Captivated? Neither word was quite right. Spellbound?
Maybe it was the history between them. His interrupted wedding. Her heartfelt vow. She’d been completely infatuated with him at the time and he’d been pretty clueless about it. Now he was the one smitten and she seemed disinterested. Was that why he was interested? Precisely because she wasn’t? How twisted was that?
Last night something inside him had come undone. Pent-up sexual desire gnawed at his insides.
Kissing her had felt so damn good, he’d wanted more. Wanted more right now, standing here on his front lawn looking into her faraway blue eyes. He ached to haul her into his bed, strip off their clothes, and thrust into her. He hungered to feel her legs wrapped around his hips, longed to feel her body quiver beneath his. He yearned to smash through the walls she’d erected around herself, shatter her resistance, and claim her as his woman.
The intensity of his desire scared the shit out of him. He’d never experienced anything like this primal pull, and it made him want to turn tail and run for his life. But Travis stood his ground, held her gaze.
A car rumbled down the lane in front of the house, a neighbor behind the wheel. He tooted his horn at them, raised a hand in greeting. Travis smiled, waved back.
“Anyway,” he said, “I just wanted to thank you again for coming back home to make Jazzy’s Christmas wish come true. You’ll never know how much this means to her.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. “Well, I better head back.”
He could feel her shoring up her emotions, building her walls higher, shuttering the curtains, locking him out. “Have a good day,” he said.
“You too.”
He watched her walk away, her head high, her steps almost a purposeful march as if she were trying to convince herself of something. And he couldn’t help wondering, What would it take to break through that tough shell she’d erected and uncover the real Sarah Collier hidden away inside?
C HAPTER S IX
Raylene and Dotty Mae were waiting for Sarah in the lobby of the Merry Cherub. They stood on the guest side of the front desk while behind it, Jenny was bent at the waist, elbows on the counter, chin propped in her palms. All three were leafing through a catalogue filled with angel-related items that lay open on the counter in front of them.
“There you are,” Dotty Mae exclaimed when she spied Sarah. She eyed her workout clothes. “But you’re not ready to go.”
“Go where?” Sarah ran a hand through her bangs, taming them down from the wind off the lake. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that Travis now owned her grandmother’s house and no one had told her.
“You’ve got a full day ahead of you,” Raylene said. “Didn’t you get your itinerary?”
Guiltily, Sarah thought of the stack of info Mayor Schebly had given her the previous day. She’d tossed it on the bedside table in her room and never looked at
“Disappointment?” He couldn’t imagine ever being disappointed in Jazzy. “You’ve written a book that has touched thousands of lives, my daughter’s being one of them. How could they
not
be proud of you?”
Sarah shrugged. “They wanted me to follow in their footsteps. Become a surgeon. I simply didn’t have the aptitude. Or the desire.”
“That’s because your talent lies with words.”
“That’s kind of you to say.” She spoke in a distant tone, the way people spoke to strangers. But he wasn’t a stranger and it bothered him that she was putting up a wall, pushing him away when he wanted to know everything about her.
Why? What was this strange pull of attraction? She was attractive, yes, but so were a lot of women and none of them had ever made him feel … What did he feel? Mesmerized? Captivated? Neither word was quite right. Spellbound?
Maybe it was the history between them. His interrupted wedding. Her heartfelt vow. She’d been completely infatuated with him at the time and he’d been pretty clueless about it. Now he was the one smitten and she seemed disinterested. Was that why he was interested? Precisely because she wasn’t? How twisted was that?
Last night something inside him had come undone. Pent-up sexual desire gnawed at his insides.
Kissing her had felt so damn good, he’d wanted more. Wanted more right now, standing here on his front lawn looking into her faraway blue eyes. He ached to haul her into his bed, strip off their clothes, and thrust into her. He hungered to feel her legs wrapped around his hips, longed to feel her body quiver beneath his. He yearned to smash through the walls she’d erected around herself, shatter her resistance, and claim her as his woman.
The intensity of his desire scared the shit out of him. He’d never experienced anything like this primal pull, and it made him want to turn tail and run for his life. But Travis stood his ground, held her gaze.
A car rumbled down the lane in front of the house, a neighbor behind the wheel. He tooted his horn at them, raised a hand in greeting. Travis smiled, waved back.
“Anyway,” he said, “I just wanted to thank you again for coming back home to make Jazzy’s Christmas wish come true. You’ll never know how much this means to her.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. “Well, I better head back.”
He could feel her shoring up her emotions, building her walls higher, shuttering the curtains, locking him out. “Have a good day,” he said.
“You too.”
He watched her walk away, her head high, her steps almost a purposeful march as if she were trying to convince herself of something. And he couldn’t help wondering, What would it take to break through that tough shell she’d erected and uncover the real Sarah Collier hidden away inside?
C HAPTER S IX
Raylene and Dotty Mae were waiting for Sarah in the lobby of the Merry Cherub. They stood on the guest side of the front desk while behind it, Jenny was bent at the waist, elbows on the counter, chin propped in her palms. All three were leafing through a catalogue filled with angel-related items that lay open on the counter in front of them.
“There you are,” Dotty Mae exclaimed when she spied Sarah. She eyed her workout clothes. “But you’re not ready to go.”
“Go where?” Sarah ran a hand through her bangs, taming them down from the wind off the lake. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that Travis now owned her grandmother’s house and no one had told her.
“You’ve got a full day ahead of you,” Raylene said. “Didn’t you get your itinerary?”
Guiltily, Sarah thought of the stack of info Mayor Schebly had given her the previous day. She’d tossed it on the bedside table in her room and never looked at
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