A bolt of electrical shock went through her. Travis was kissing her. Travis Kane. Kissing her. Her…Megan O’Brien…tomboy…the girl who…
Her thoughts scattered as her senses took over. She became aware of the woodsy scent of his after-shave, the minty flavor of his mouth, the muscled wall of his chest as it pressed against hers, his uneven breathing as he tilted his head to another angle, teasing her with his tongue. Her eyes drifted closed, savoring all the new and glorious sensations that were sweeping over her.
She’d never been kissed by a man before, a man whose hands were tracing her spine, shaping her buttocks and pulling her closer so that she could feel—could feel…
Megan’s eyes flew open and she gave him a sudden shove. Caught off guard, he took a couple of quick steps back before regaining his balance.
They stared at each other, both of them breathing unevenly. Her heart felt as though it were going to leap out of her chest.
“It was just a kiss, Megan. That’s all,” he said quietly.
“Yeah, and Carlsbad Caverns is just a hole in the ground. That’s all,” she said, mimicking him.
“That’s true,” he replied, smiling.
She spun away and began to busy herself with making some sandwiches, doing her best to forget how she’d felt when Travis kissed her.
“I take it you don’t want me to kiss you,” he finally said in the silence that stretched between them.
She bit down on her lower lip, knowing that she couldn’t lie to him, but not knowing exactly what the truth was. Continuing to keep busy with their meal, she said, “It isn’t that. I—It’s just that—I mean, I don’t have a lot of experience in these things, and…” She couldn’t think of how to continue.
He kept his distance from her when he said, “And you think that I mind? Just because you’re innocent doesn’t mean—”
She turned and glared at him. “I’m not innocent!” She closed her eyes and swallowed. Now she was really giving him the wrong idea about her! She opened her eyes and tried again. “I mean—What I meant was that anyone raised on a ranch knows all about reproduction and sex and—Well, you know what I mean. It’s just that—” She waved her hand helplessly, not knowing how to explain how confused she was feeling at the moment.
He watched her intently. “Yeah, you’ve told me. You haven’t done much dating. I understand.”
She turned back to the counter, picked up the plate of sandwiches she’d prepared and carried it to the table. After refilling their glasses she motioned for him to sit down. “I don’t know what you expect from me, that’s all,” she finally muttered, sitting down across from him and looking everywhere but at him.
He reached for a sandwich and put it on his plate. “I don’t expect anything you don’t want to give,” he said in a careful tone of voice. “I realize that what I’m suggesting isn’t the usual way of doing things.”
“It’s crazy, that’s what it is. Who’s going to believe it? It doesn’t make any sense. I can’t believe I’m actually considering it!” She took a big bite out of her sandwich, concentrating on eating and trying to distance herself from the familiar stranger across the table from her. How could she know somebody so well and yet not know him at all? How could she hate him—well, resent him anyway—for not noticing her when he was the big man on campus and she had so wanted him to see her as a young woman, and not the tomboy he’d pestered on the bus for years. She’d been invisible to him then. So why now? Why was this happening all these years later?
“I have a suggestion,” he said, after finishing one of the sandwiches and reaching for another.
“What?” she asked suspiciously.
“I think we should keep the arrangement we’ve made just between the two of us. I think we’ll both be more comfortable that way. Why don’t we tell our families that we suddenly discovered our true feelings for each other and—”
“Nobody’s going to believe that! Everybody knows that I—That is, that we—uh—”
“Yes?”
“What I mean is, we’ve never even been seen together.”
“So maybe I’ve been writing you.”
“The girls know better.”
“Maybe I finally got up the nerve to confront you and admit how I feel about you.”
She covered her mouth and began to laugh, shaking her head. “Oh, no. The girls would see right through that!”
“Not if you helped me.”
“How?”
He watched her, his distinctive eyes glowing. “By pretending a little that you care for me, that we both want this.”
“Your folks will-”
“I’ll take care of my folks. You don’t need to worry about them.”
“Oh.” She looked at the forgotten sandwich on her plate. She realized that although her stomach had been growling she was no longer hungry.
“When do you want to get married?”
She jerked her head up. “I—uh—”
“If you want to wait a while and let everyone get used to the idea, that’s fine with me. An engagement would look more normal, anyway.”
“You wouldn’t mind?”
“I want you to be comfortable with the idea.”
Her thoughts raced in all directions at once. “Well, if I’m going to make the mortgage payment on time—”
“You don’t have to marry me before you get the money. I’ll write you a check tonight that should cover it, plus whatever else you’re going to need for a while.”
“But I don’t want you to think—”
“Don’t worry about my thoughts, okay? Or my feelings. This is a straightforward business deal. I’m going to be going back out on the circuit next week and will be gone several weeks.” He paused, thinking. “Maybe we should announce our engagement now. I’ll get you a ring to wear, and we can start to plan the wedding. I assume you want to be married in the church.”
“The church?” she squeaked. “But isn’t that—I mean, for a business arrangement isn’t that being a little—” She waved her hand helplessly.
“It’s going to be a real marriage, Megan. Don’t you think it needs to start out in the church?”
This must be the way Alice felt when she fell down the rabbit hole. “But knowing it’s only going to be for a year makes it seem like a sham, somehow. I mean, if everybody’s there to see us get married, aren’t they going to wonder later why we decide to part?”
He washed the last bite of his third sandwich down with a long swallow
