Page 38 of Irish Thoroughbred
She awoke the next morning ashamed, disgusted, and contrite. She had spent an uneasy night struggling with the aftermath of temper and the realization that not only had she been unreasonable, she had made a fool of herself as well. One was as difficult to take as the other.
Travis has done nothing to deserve the way I’ve been treating him,she decided, pulling on her working uniform of jeans and shirt and hurrying downstairs. She determined to apologize and make a study of being as sweet and mild a wife as any man could want.
Hannah informed her that Travis had breakfasted early and gone out, so Adelia sat down in solitary misery, unable to ease her conscience.
She worked hard in the stables that morning, doing self-imposed penance for her faults. And as morning melted into early afternoon, the manual labor began to erase the depression she carried with her.
“Dee.” Travis spoke from outside the tackroom, where she was busily hanging bridles. “Come out here. I want to show you something.”
“Travis.” She ran after him as he strode away. “Travis.” Catching up to him, she tugged on his arm in an attempt to make him slow his pace. “I’m sorry, Travis. I’m sorry for the way I’ve been behaving, and for raging at you last night when I had no cause to. I know I’ve been mean and spiteful and no fun to have around, but if you’ll forgive me, I’ll… What are you smiling like that for?”
The smile spread to a grin. “You apologize just asemphatically as you rage. It’s fascinating. Now, forget it, half-pint.” He ruffled her hair and slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Everyone has their black moods. Look,” he said simply and pointed.
She gave a cry of pleasure at the glossy chestnut mare prancing around inside the paddock fence. Moving over, she stood on the first rung of fence and scanned the strong, clean lines. “Oh, Travis, she’s beautiful—the most beautiful horse I’ve ever seen!”
“You say that about all of them.”
She smiled at him, then back at the horse with a deep sigh of pleasure. “Aye, and it’s always true. Who will you breed her with?”
“That’s not up to me. She’s yours.”
Adelia turned wide, unbelieving eyes to his. “Mine?”
“I had thought to give her to you next month for your birthday, but”—he shrugged and brushed a lock of hair from her face—“I thought your spirits needed a lift, so she’s yours a bit early.”
She shook her head, the still unfamiliar tears filling her eyes. “But after the way I’ve been acting, you should have been beating me instead of buying me a present.”
“The thought entered my mind last night, but this seemed a better solution.”
“Oh, Travis!” She flung herself into his arms without restraint. “No one’s ever given me such a grand present, and I don’t deserve it.” She drew her face from his cheek and pressed her lips to his. His arms tightened aroundher, the kiss changing from one of gratitude to one of smoldering passion, and she offered herself, lips parting and bones melting. “Travis,” she murmured as his face lifted, his cheek brushing hers.
He set her away from him abruptly. “You’d better get acquainted with your mare, Dee. I’ll see you at dinner.”
She watched him stride away, biting her lip to prevent herself from calling him back. Finnegan bounded over, and she swallowed the tears of rejection, burying her face in his fur. “I don’t have any appeal for him,” she told her sympathetic companion. “And I don’t know how to go about making him see me as a woman—much less a wife.”
CHAPTER TEN
Adelia woke to a blinding flash of lightning and a burst of thunder. The room glowed with brief intensity as the sky was broken with spiderwebs of light, and the wind moaned like a man mourning.
Tossing back the covers, she rose from the bed and threw open the French doors leading to her balcony to let the storm enter the room. The hands of the wind pulled at her hair and whipped the soft material of her thin nightgown, molding it against her. Rain fell in torrents like angry tears from the heavens, and she raised her arms wide, laughing in sheer delight at the raging elements.
“Dee?” She turned her head and saw Travis silhouetted in the doorway. “I thought you might be frightened. The electricity’s out, and the storm’s loud enough to wake the dead.”
“Aye,” she agreed triumphantly. “It’s wonderful!”
“So much for finding you shaking with fear under the covers,” he returned with a dry smile and stepped back.
“Oh, Travis, come look!” she cried as another bolt of lightning illuminated the murky sky and was followed by a deafening roar of thunder.
He watched her slimness outlined against the blackness, the fullness of her hair flying riotously around her bare shoulders. He opened his mouth to speak, but Adelia cried out again.
“Oh, come, just look at it!” Taking a deep breath, he moved to join her. “It’s so wild, so strong and powerful and free!” She lifted her face to feel the full force of the wind on her cheeks. “It’s angry as the devil and doesn’t give a hoot what anyone thinks. Listen to the wind, screaming like a banshee! Oooh, but I love a storm that blows free!”
She turned and found his eyes on her. Lightning flooded the room, and she saw the naked desire darkening his unblinking blue stare. Her smile faded. Her heart pounded in her ears, drowning out the turbulence of the storm as he pulled her against him and crushed her lips in a violent, hungry kiss.
Her arms clutched around his waist as they fused together, and she felt the need in him she had not known existed and knew a moment’s delirious pleasure that it was for her. Fire ignited fire. Her response was abandoned and uninhibited. His mouth ravished hers, hard andbruising, and she opened under the pressure like a flower to the sun. His hand slid to her shoulders, and the soft material of her nightgown sighed to the floor. Her hands fumbled with the belt of his robe until no barrier of silk came between them. With a swift, desperate gesture, he lifted her and carried her to the bed.
The passionate violence of the storm paled against the turbulence of their lovemaking. His lips moved over hers slowly, his hands roaming with gentle experience over her trembling body, releasing her desire while he kept his own in check. When he made her his, she surrendered, drawing her pleasure from the gift she gave.
