Southern Seduction (15 page)

Seething, Travis accompanied the head of the family to the foyer. Once there, they stepped into a side parlor where they could talk privately.

The old man stared at Travis, an odd expression on his face, before he spoke.
“Do not disrespect this family.”

“What have I done this time?” Travis said, wearily, having had the conversation many times before.
He’d been doing everything wrong since he was born, including the fact that he was born.

“I don’t like this woman you have living with you.”

“You know nothing about her,” Travis countered. “You make it sound like I went out and picked her up in some street.”

“I know her well enough,” Archie de Lobel informed his grandson.
“I expect you to do the correct thing.” With that, he turned and left much like he always had after reprimanding a child.

Several hours went by in a blur of music and idle conversation
. Brooke had danced with everyone. Her neighbors were polite but she could tell they were holding back on accepting her.
I guess some things never change,
she thought.

She was so tired that she didn’t even remember the last time she’d seen Travis.

Travis, however, definitely had his eyes on Brooke, especially when she waltzed. The men couldn’t seem to keep their eyes off her. Each time she accepted a dance with a new partner, Travis felt as though someone were twisting the air out of his lungs. And for the first time, he realized he was jealous of anyone who touched Brooke.

“I will have a word with you,” George D’Aquin demanded.

Again.
Travis thought. First his grandfather and now Hesione’s father. What the hell did he want? Of course, he knew, but that didn’t make him feel any better. Travis finally answered the demand, “On the veranda,” he said tersely.

Once outside, they stepped to the side by the railing.
Travis turned and waited for the man to speak.

“What is the meaning of this, Montgomery?” D’Aquin snapped.
“You are engaged to my daughter, and now you have brought this other woman into your home to live.”

Travis really didn’t care for the man’s accusing tone. “First, I didn’t bring her to Moss Grove.
My father’s solicitor did. Second, Brooke now owns part of Moss Grove. It is as much her home as mine.”

“I am appalled that you let this happen.
It is not proper to have the woman living here.”

“I can’t very well evict her from her own house now, can I?”

D’Aquin’s face turned beet red. “What about my daughter?”

“What about her?”

“Do I need to remind you that you
are engaged to my daughter?”

Travis was fast losing his temper.
He was getting fed up with both men badgering him. He was old enough to make his own decisions, even if this situation hadn’t been exactly his own. “I suggest you get out of my face,” Travis warned him. He then left the man gaping after him as he stormed down the stairs and out into the flower garden. Did the old bastard think he was going to bow down and beg his forgiveness?”

If he did, the old man was delusional.

Brooke was tired of dancing.

She was also tired of smiling and making polite conversation. The only sure place she knew to escape was outside. At least, there she could get some fresh air and rest a moment before rejoining the party.

Thank goodness, she’d escaped without an escort, Brooke thought as she walked down the veranda steps to the gardens.
A slight breeze caressed her skin, a refreshing relief after the hot and stuffy ballroom. Torches that had been placed throughout the flower garden provided just enough light that she didn’t trip.

When she reached the rose bed, she leaned down to smell a perfect red rosebud. She wasn’t disappointed with the light rose scent.
Soon, the weather would turn cold and there wouldn’t be any more roses until spring.

Carefully, she snapped the stem, but a thorn caught her finger and she yelped.

“Sometimes, you have to be wary of beautiful things.”

Brooke jumped, startled at the voice coming from what seemed like nowhere.

She swung around. “Must you always appear out of the darkness to scare me?” she tossed back at him. Not waiting for Travis’s reply, she moved over the gray stone bench and sat down, the rose still clasped in her fingers. She remembered seeing Travis a few times across the room as she’d danced, and she was puzzled why he’d not waltzed with her again. However, he didn’t seem to have a problem dancing with another lovely lady who’d laughed at everything he’d said. Strange, she’d never found anything he said particularly amusing.

For the first time in her life, Brooke found she was jealous.
And she didn’t like that feeling.

Travis moved closer.
“I just can’t seem to get rid of you.”

“Apparently, I was here first,” she was quick to point out.
“What are you doing out here ignoring all our guests?”

“I might ask you the same thing,” Travis shot back.

Evidently he was in the same mood as she, Brooke thought by his tone. “I needed some fresh air,” she finally said.

Travis propped a booted foot up on the stone bench and leaned his forearm across his knee.
“The air is much better out here, I admit, but I figured you loved parties and would want to enjoy every moment.”

She gazed up into his cool blue eyes, which looked much darker in the dim light . . . and stormy.
“There you go again, trying to figure me out. And, as usual, you’re wrong.”

“Wrong,” Travis repeated with a mocking smile.
“I seem to recall that you were having a marvelous time, dancing with every man in attendance.”

Brooke couldn’t believe what she was hearing, not that Travis had actually noticed anything at all about her. “So you were counting?”

“Not necessarily counting,” he said. “Just being observant.”

“You could have very easily asked me to dance again.
Or were you too busy with more important things?”

“And ruin your fun of capturing every man’s heart?” he said as he straightened and glared down at her.

Well, this conversation wasn’t turning out as expected, Brooke thought. He didn’t look in the mood to be seduced. He was angry.

No, Travis was jealous!

And that notion pleased her immensely. “So, why did you come out here, Travis? Surely it wasn’t to irritate me.”

Instead of answering, he lit a cheroot.
He inhaled then blew out a white puff of smoke that circled and floated up into the air. “I needed to calm down after speaking with Hesione’s father.”

Brooke’s curiosity was piqued and she arched an eyebrow in question.
She wondered if Travis would reveal any of the conversation.

“He doesn’t seem to be a very pleasant man.”

“More like a pain in the ass,” Travis snapped, and then added, “Pardon me.”

Brooke had to laugh.
He’d never been that concerned about proprieties before. “What did he want?”

“He wanted me to get rid of you,” Travis informed her.

Brooke pushed to her feet. “Well he has some gall. I’m sure you told him that you wish you could.”

Travis gave her a slow smile.
Brooke’s eyes reminded him of an angry cat the way they glittered in the sparse light, and at this very moment they were full of fight. He liked that. What would it be like to tame this wild tiger before him?

Without another word he pulled her to him.

“What are you doing?”

He noticed she didn’t put up much of a fight.
“The very thing I’ve wanted to do since I saw you coming down the stairs tonight,” he said softly. “I’ll not have you flirting with other men in my house.”

“It’s my house, too,” she informed him as she always did.

“I hate you.”

Brooke gave him a sweet smile before she purred, “I know.”
Then she reached up and placed a feathery kiss on his lips. Apparently, that had much more effect on him than a slap on the face.

His warm breath mingled with hers, but Brooke sensed that Travis was trying desperately to resist her.
Too bad
, she thought. She removed the cheroot from his hand and tossed it away. Then she slid her hands inside his jacket and felt his chest muscles tense and his short intake of breath. “I believe you said earlier about wanting to do something. “Do you want to show me what that something is?”

Chapter Nine

Travis’s jaw tightened.
“Damn you.”

Roughly, he jerked Brooke into his arms.
His mouth claimed hers before she had a chance to say anything. Slowly, his lips parted hers. She dropped her head back and moaned as she felt his tongue, wet and hot, enter her mouth in a devouring kiss.

Immediately, fire roared through Brooke’s blood from the wild excitement of his mouth on hers.
His hands shifted possessively across her back as he kissed and caressed her with very skillful hands.

Finally,
she thought.
She hadn’t lost her
touch
.

She’d merely been rusty, that’s all.
He was doing just what she wanted him to do.

The seduction of Travis Montgomery was going to be pure pleasure.
She would make him beg before the night was through.

Molding herself to his body, Brooke became aware of Travis’s hot masculinity throbbing against her belly.
Knowing she needed to shatter the hard shell he’d built around himself, she touched her tongue to his, giving into the passion of the kiss.

Travis went rigid.

Brooke pressed her advantage, teasing his tongue with wild and free abandonment as she gave of herself for the first time in her life.
Before, she had been merely going through the motions but never felt anything.

A needed hunger that had long lay dormant sprang to life and made Brooke want to strip off both their clothes and make love to Travis.
What a powerful opponent she’d chosen. Now she understood what lust was, having seen it in many men’s eyes. She was lusting after the only man who had the capability of producing this wild heat between her legs.

She couldn’t deny the evidence any longer.
She wanted Travis Montgomery.

Travis tore his lips from Brooke’s and placed kisses down her throat, moving to Brooke’s cleavage, something he’d yearned to touch all night.
Damn this woman
, he thought. She’d somehow managed to rouse his passion and other parts of his body, as well. He tugged on her bodice, and her breasts sprang free of their restraints, and surged at the intimacy of his touch.

Wasting little time, he fondled her breasts and teased her nipples with his fingers, preparing them for his love-starved mouth.
He intended to suck each nipple until she cried out his name.

I’ve
found heaven,
he thought.

“What is the meaning of this?” a voice shot out of nowhere.

Travis jerked up, startled by the sudden intrusion. Slowly, he turned, hiding Brooke behind him as Travis faced the intruder he was ready to murder for this interruption.

“I knew she was a whore the moment I saw her!” George D’Aquin shouted.

Protected behind Travis, Brooke cringed as she crossed her arms to cover her bare breasts. She didn’t need to be caught like this. Her reputation would be ruined.

“If you want to live to see another day,” Travis warned.
“You’ll apologize to Mrs. Hammond.”

“I will do no such thing,” D’Aquin informed him.
“Have you forgotten that you are engaged to my daughter? Apparently so,” he answered his own question with a wave of his hand. “I find you out here with another woman in your arms,” he shouted with a wild look in his eyes. “You bring disgrace to my family and to yours! Your grandfather shall hear of this immediately!”

Travis was actually defending her, Brooke though with a pleased smile. She was thankful Travis blocked her from the man’s view as she adjusted the bodice of her gown.
Then she tried to move beside him.

He caught her and shoved her back behind him, saying under his breath, “Stay where you are.”
Then he switched his attention back to Hesione’s father.

Travis resented the old man who had spoken to him as if he were still a child.
Is this what his life would be like if he married Hesione? Not only would he have his grandfather and mother hounding him, he’d have D’Aquin and Hesione on his back as well. Not that Travis would pay attention to any of them, but he could certainly do without the constant badgering.

“You can tell my grandfather anything you wish,” Travis informed his opponent, his voice courteous but patronizing.
“But, first, you can start by telling him that I’m no longer betrothed to your daughter.”