two of us?” “I’d be honored,” Kim said. “If it’ s Joe, he wants to go to Al’ s Diner.” “I’ve seen that place and I’m not sure it’ s right. Joe specifically said that he wants al dente pasta and steamed broccoli for lunch. And a tablecloth and—” “Limoges and Christofle,” Kim finished. “Exactly! See you at the greasebur ger at noon?” “My arteries are looking forward to it,” Kim said and went back into the shop with a big smile. Carla looked up as she was putting a tray of bracelets away . “Whatever made you smile like that isn’ t half as good as what just happened to me .” “Oh?” Kim asked as she glanced at the trays. The bracelet T ravis had admired was gone and so was the ring with the big pink diamond. “Good sale?” “Tremendous! A man was buying for his mother . He had an eye and picked out the best in the store with hardly a glance. And . . .” “And what?” “He asked me to go out with him tonight.” “Don’t half the men who come in here ask you out?” “The sleazebags do. And the married losers,” Carla said. “The classy ones like him want you .” Kim was in such a good mood she was willing to listen to Carla, but the door opened and a very handsome man came in. Not as dark as T ravis, and he didn’ t have that world-weary look that T ravis often had, but this man was gor geous. And the suit he wore must have cost thousands. He glanced at Kim, gave a quick nod of greeting, then went straight to Carla. Standing to one side, Kim watched the two of them. They were an incongruous pair . Although Kim had had numerous talks with her about the way she dressed, Carla’ s blouse was always opened one button too far , her skirt an inch or two too short, and she wore too much makeup. The man looked like he’d just left an exclusive club, while Carla . . . W ell, there was a lot of discr epancy between their looks. “I think I’ll take the pearl earrings as well,” he said in a smooth, silky voice as he looked at Carla as though he wanted to devour her . “Sure, Mr . Pender gast,” Carla said. “I told you to call me Russell,” he said.
“Will do,” Carla said but continued to stand there staring at him. Kim went to the far counter and got out her best pearl earrings. Since he’d bought two expensive items, she figured they were the earrings he wanted. A curve like a shell, the pearl embraced by it. She put them on the counter , then nudged them along between the two people, who were staring at each other . The man turned to her , his almost black eyes looking at her with a remarkable intensity , as though he was studying her . If Travis weren’ t here now, she thought, she’d look back at this man. But she just smiled at him in a professional way . “You’re the designer? Kimberly Aldredge?” “Yes I am.” “I’m Russell Pender gast. I’m just passing through town and I had no idea there would be a store of such quality here. Y our designs are exquisite.” His voice and pronunciation spoke of a very good education. Like T ravis, she thought. Behind him, Carla was glaring, her eyes threatening that if Kim made a play for the man, blood might be shed. “Where could I get lunch in the area?” he asked. “I know some places,” Carla said from behind him. “I get of f at one.” “And what about you, Miss Aldredge? When do you have lunch?” Kim took a st ep away from him. As enticing as he was, she wasn’ t interested. “I’m meeting friends at the local greasy spoon. I wouldn’ t recommend it to an outsider . Excuse me.” She went back into her of fice. Interesting, she thought as she picked up her sketchbook and put her mind back on work. Maybe she should make some more designs based on shells. She had to come up with a theme for Neimans, so maybe she’d do something about the sea. An hour later she left for lunch. Mr . Layton and T ravis were already in a booth with their drinks. As soon as he saw her , Travis’s dark eyes lit up in a way that made Kim smile. He stood up, kissed her on the cheek, then let her in first. “Have any idea what you want for lunch?” T ravis asked as he nodded toward Joe. “The old man couldn’ t wait so we ordered.” “Al knows,” she said and waved to the big man they could see in the kitchen. It looked like T ravis and Mr . Layton were getting to know each other well.
“No kisses for me?” Mr . Layton asked. “Y ou just pass them out to the young bucks now?” “Sorry,” Kim said as she stretched across the table to kiss his cheek. She didn’t see Travis as he admired the view of her body . And she didn’ t see Mr. Layton give him a look that said T ravis owed him one. “What have you two been doing?” she asked. “Him nothing; me everything,” T ravis said. She looked at him. His shirt was dirty and there was sawdust on his temple. Reaching up, she brushed it away , then was aware of the way Mr . Layton was staring at them. Kim moved a bit farther down on the seat. “W e had an exciting morning.” “Better than cutting pieces of lumber to make sawponies?” T ravis asked in sarcasm. “Saw horses ,” Kim corrected. Mr . Layton’ s eyes were twinkling. “Y ou’re being wicked and I’m going to tell Jecca on you.” She looked back at Travis. “A young man came in this morning and bought my three most expensive pieces.” “Did he?” T ravis asked. “He told Carla they were for his mother . He had on a suit that looks like the one you were wearing when I first saw you.” “Before I discovered the joys of T -shirts with trucking logos on them?” Travis asked. Mr. Layton didn’ t smile. “What’ s his name?” “Russell Pender gast and he asked Carla out on a date tonight.” Travis choked on his drink. “Pender gast?” “Yes, do you know him?” “Never met the guy ,” Travis said and could feel Joe Layton’ s eyes boring into him. “What’ s he like?” “Gorgeous,” Kim said. “Smooth. He exudes education and wealth.” “Does he?” T ravis asked in curiosity . “And he bought your most expensive pieces for his mother? Interesting. Where’d he go to school? Maybe I know him.” “I have no idea. But after his date with Carla I’m sure I’ll hear everything. I can’ t really see the two of them together . He—” “Did he come on to you?” T ravis asked, his dark brows in a scowl.
“I don’t think that’ s any of your—” Kim began and could feel her temper rising. “Ah, good!” Joe said loudly . “Our food is here. If you two’d rather fight than eat, let me know so I can sell tickets.” “There will be no ar gument,” Kim said. “Russell and I are going out Saturday night.” “On Saturday you’re going to be in a B&B with your almost fiancé,” Travis said grimly . “That’s right,” Kim said, smiling at Mr . Layton. “I can’ t ke ep all my men straight.” “You ought to take young T ravis here with you.” “With me where?” Kim asked. “Over the weekend,” Joe said. “Take Travis on my weekend with my boyfriend?” Kim asked. Truthfully , she liked the idea but she wasn’ t going to say so. If Dave did propose, T ravis’s presence would give her time to think about an answer . And if Dave got too . . . insistent, too whatever , Travis would be there. But she’d eat one of Al’ s ’57 bur gers and have an immediate coronary before she told him so. “Yeah,” Joe said as he bit into a pound of meat that dripped juice—a. k. a. grease—down to his wrists. “T ravis here said you were going to do some work. How can you do that if you’re fooling around with your boyfriend? Take Travis and he can do all the work.” Travis gave Joe a look that was half thanks, half murder . “That’s not a bad idea,” Kim said as she used her fork to move around what was Al’ s idea of a salad. Lots of fried chicken, not much lettuce. “I’ll think about it,” she said and didn’ t dare look at T ravis. She had an idea he was smiling much too broadly . As the morning sunlight came through the windows, T ravis was sitting in Kim’s living room and trying to concentrate on the newspaper , but he couldn’ t. She’d left for work an hour ago, and since then he’d been waiting for Penny’ s son to show up. Yesterday after lunch at Al’ s with Kim and Joe, T ravis had gone to see his mother . As he entered Mrs. W ingate’s house, the hum of his mother ’s
sewing machine reached him, and the familiarity of the sound felt good. When he got upstairs, it was easy for him to fall into place with her and begin cutting out a pattern. Sewing was something they’d done together when he was a child. They never talked about it, but it reminded them of their time in Edilean, a time of peace for both of them. Those two weeks had changed both their lives. Travis had been a bit concerned about what his mother knew about him and Joe, but she soon made him relax. They’d always been close and nearly always in agreement. At first he’d been afraid she’d again lecture him about Kim, but the anger she’d displayed on their first meeting was no longer there. Instead they easily fell into talking about Joe. T ravis told her everything —exc ept that Joe knew T ravis was Lucy’ s son. But all the rest of it, from unpacking to being told sawponies were sawhorses, to having to attach steel shelves to a brick wall, was there. When Lucy began laughing at T ravis’s stories, he got her away from the machines—she worked too much—and down to the kitchen. As they’d done when he was growing up, T ravis made tea while she made the sandwiches. When they were ready , Lucy led him into the conservatory . For a while he walked around, admiring the orchids that filled the room. When he sat down, Lucy asked him about Kim. Travis hesitated. “You can tell me,” she said softly . “Are you still in love with her?” “Yes,” he said, then looked at his mother with eyes that showed the d epth of his feeling. “More than ever . More than I thought possible.” For a moment tears gathered in Lucy’ s eyes. She was a mother who hoped her child would find love. “She’s funny and perc eptive,” T ravis said as he picked up a sandwich wedge. When he was little his mother had cut of f the crusts and sliced the bread diagonally into four pieces. As he grew up, she’d continued. “And very smart. And you should see the jewelry in her store. It’ s all beautiful!” “I have seen it,” Lucy said. “Whenever I heard that Kim was out of town, I visited her shop. I like the olive leaves.” “So do I,” T ravis said. He stood up and fiddled with a long orchid leaf for a moment before turning back. “I feel comfortable with her . I don’ t feel like I have to impress her . Although I do work at that.”
“Joe said you drove down the back road and he couldn’ t see how you’d done it.” Travis shrugged. “Stunt work. It wasn’ t difficult.” “And something about a balloon?” Lucy asked. “I couldn’ t stand to hear the kid cry , so I climbed up a tree and got it down for him.” “You always have had a soft heart.” “No one in New Y ork would say that,” T ravis said. “No, I guess not. Y ou have both your father and me inside you. What are you going to do now?” Travis sat back down. “Joe fixed it so I’m going to spend the weekend with Kim. I’ll be in a connecting room, and she might be with her boyfriend. But still . . . I’ll be near her .” “He told me,” she said as she smiled at her son. She’d never seen him this way , and it did her heart good. “Did he? What other of my secrets did that nosy old man blab to you?” Lucy smiled. Since the two of them had met, all she’d heard from Joe was “Travis.” What T ravis said, did, his worries, his de ep love for Kim, Travis’s suggestions about the hardware store. Every word of it, Joe r epeated to Lucy . “You should have seen him with Kim,” Joe’d said when he’d called her after their lunch at Al’ s. “The poor guy can’ t take his eyes of f her.” “What about her ?” Lucy’d asked. “What does Kim think of my . . . of Travis?” If Joe heard her slip, he didn’ t seem to register it. “She acts like she pays no attention to him, that he’ s just another guy , but if he moves, she sees it. When I suggested that she take young T ravis with her to Maryland, her face lit up like a New Y ear’s spotlight.” Lucy looked at her son. “Joe likes you a lot.” “You’d never know it from what he says,” T ravis said, but he was smiling. “According to Joe Layton, any man who can’ t use a handsaw properly isn’ t worth much. I told him I was a lawyer and you know what he said?” Lucy had heard the story from Joe but she wanted to hear it again from Travis. “I can’ t imagine.” “He said . . .” Now, with the newspaper in front of him, T ravis couldn’ t help smiling. Last night had been the way he remembered with his mother , her kindness,
her humor , her sweetness. He was glad he hadn’ t had to endure another session where she bawled him out. On the other hand, that woman might be able to handle Randall Maxwell in a courtroom. That evening when T ravis had returned home—as he’d begun to think of wherever Kim was—she’d been about to throw a couple of frozen dinners into the microwave. When T ravis was going through school he’d spent more than one summer crewing on private yachts. One year , to his horror , he was assigned the position of “chef.” He didn’ t know how to boil water . He put the dinners back in the freezer and looked to see what else was in there as he told Kim the story . “So there I was, not knowing an egg from a watermelon, and I was supposed to spend six weeks cooking three meals a day for the rich old man and his young wife.” Kim crunched on the carrot stick he’d cut for her . “So what did you do?” “I put on my most helpless look”—he demonstrated—“and asked the wife to help out.” “Did she?” “Oh yes,” T ravis said as he put chicken breasts in the microwave to thaw . He was glad his back was to Kim as he thought about that trip. He didn’ t want her to see his face. But she’d understood. “What else did she teach you?” Travis started laughing. “A little bit here and there.” Moonlight, stars, the old man snoring below . He’d been nineteen years old and innocent. Not so innocent when they got back to the U. S. He and Kim had a dinner that he’d never wanted to end. She told him more about her jewelry and what she hoped to do. “I have a big commission coming up and I need some new inspiration.” “This trip to Maryland will be good for you.” “That was my idea when I let Joce talk me into going.” “You didn’ t originally plan to go with this guy , did you?” “Dave? No, I didn’ t.” “He invited himself?” T ravis asked. “More or less,” Kim said, “but I do think he has something important to say to me. Between him and Carla I’ve been given enough hints.” A lot of things came into T ravis’s mind that he wanted to say , but he thought he’d better ke ep his opinions to himself. Penny’ s son, Russell, was
on a date with Carla and the plan was for him to meet T ravis in the morning and r eport on what he found out. But it was now midmorning and Russell still hadn’ t shown up. At that thought, T ravis had to smile. The small town mind-set was getting to him. In New Y ork he often didn’ t get up until this time. But then he’d usually been out late the night before. Clients loved to be entertained and shown New York nightlife. When the doorbell rang, T ravis put down the paper and went to the door in a few long strides. He was curious to see this man Kim had described as “gorgeous,” and he wanted to meet the son of the woman who his father had described as his “most trusted employee.” She’d worked for Randall Maxwell since she was young, and when T ravis had been coerced into working for him, Randall had released Penny to T ravis to “take care of him.” Travis opened the door to find himself staring into the angriest eyes he’d ever looked into. Considering all the things his father had had him do, that was a lot. The two men were almost exactly the same height, appeared to be the same age, and they were both handsome. But T ravis’s face showed a lifetime of struggle, a life of loneliness. Every time he’d faced death in his extreme sports was in his eyes, and the war between his parents showed on him. Russell’ s eyes were angry . He’d grown up in the shadow of the powerful Maxwell family , and he’d come to hate the name because whatever that family wanted came first. This week he hadn’ t been surprised when his mother asked him to help T ravis Maxwell. It was a name he’d known before his own. He hadn’ t even been shocked to be told that T ravis had never heard of Russell, didn’ t know he existed. The anger he’d felt was on his face, in the way he stood, as though he’d just love for T ravis to say something that would allow him to fight. “You’re Penny’ s son,” T ravis said as they stood at the door. “I didn’ t know she . . .” He trailed of f at the look in the man’ s angry eyes. “Please come in,” he said formally , then st epped back as Russell entered the house and went into Kim’ s blue and white living room. “A bit of a downsize for you, isn’ t it?” Behind him, T ravis let out his breath. The Maxwell name! Being in Edilean and especially being around Joe, had nearly made him for get the
preconceived ideas people had about him. All his life he’d heard, “He’ s Randall Maxwell’ s son so he is—” Fill in the blank. It seemed that Penny’ s son had already decided that T ravis was a clone of his father . Travis’s face went from the friendly one he’d adopted in the last week to the one he wore in New Y ork. No one could get to him, so no one could hurt him. Russell took the big chair and T ravis saw it for what it was: establishing that he was in char ge. Travis sat on the couch. “What did you find out?” he asked, his voice cool. “David Borman wants control of Kimberly Aldredge’ s business.” Travis grimaced. “I was afraid of that. Damn! I was hoping—” He looked back at Russell and thought, the hell with it! This was Penny’ s son, and this was about Kim. It had nothing to do with the Maxwell name. “Y ou want some cof fee? Tea? A shot of tequila?” Russell stared at T ravis as though he were trying to figure him out—and whether or not to take him up on his of fer. “Coffee would be fine.” Travis started toward the kitchen but Russell didn’ t follow . “I need to make it. Y ou want to come in here and talk while I do?” The ordinariness of the invitation seemed to take some of the anger out of Russell’ s eyes as he got up and went to the kitchen. He sat down on a stool and watched T ravis get a bag of beans out of the refrigerator and pour some into an electric grinder . “I guess I was hoping,” T ravis said loudly over the noise, “that I was going to have to fight him over Kim. A duel, I guess.” He lifted his hand of f the top of the machine and the noise stopped. “It’ s going to hurt Kim to find this out.” Russell’ s eyes were wide as he watched T ravis put the grounds into a filter and drop it into a machine. He didn’ t seem to be able to grasp the conc ept that a Maxwell could do something so mundane as make cof fee. Where were the servants? The butler? “He’ s the third one.” “Third one what?” “He’s the third man who was more concerned with her success than with her.” “What does that mean?”
“According to Carla . . .” Russell paused as he ran his hand over the back of his neck. “Was the date bad?” T ravis asked. “She’s an aggressive young woman.” Travis snorted. “Seemed to be. Ke ep you out late?” “Till three,” Russell said. “I barely es caped with . . .” “Your honor intact?” T ravis gave a half smile. “Exactly ,” Russell said. “Have you had breakfast? I make a mean omelet.” “No. That is . . .” Russell was still staring at T ravis as though he couldn’ t believe what he was seeing. “It’s the best I can do for Penny’ s son after all she’ s put up with from me .” “All right,” Russell said slowly . Travis began getting things out of the fridge. “T ell me everything from the beginning.” “Do you mean Carla’ s complete sex history that she delighted in telling me in detail, or what I could dredge out of her about Miss Aldredge?” Travis laughed. “No Carla, but lots of Kim.” “It seems that small town men can’ t handle a woman who earns more than they do.” Travis would have liked to think that he could deal with that, but he’d always had the opposite problem. “So they dumped her?” “Yes,” Russell said as he watched T ravis pour him a cup of freshly brewed cof fee and set it on the counter along with containers of milk and sugar. He wasn’ t surprised that the cof fee was excellent. “St. Helena?” “It is,” T ravis said. “I get it here in Edilean at the local grocery . Can you believe that?” He was pleasantly surprised that Russell had recognized the taste of the rare and expensive cof fee. “I take it that this Dave is dif ferent from the others.” “Carla and Borman’ s ex-girlfriend are friends, and Carla told the girl all about Kim, even about the men who’d walked away from her . Carla has no understanding of the word discretion .” “Or loyalty, ” Travis said. “Onions, p eppers, and tomatoes all right with you?” “Yes,” Russell said. “As far as I can piece together , the girlfriend told Borman and he made a plan.”
“Let me guess. He dropped the girlfriend and went after Kim.” Russell reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out several pieces of paper folded together into a thick stack. “These are the financials of Borman’ s company for the last two years.” Travis let the vegetables sizzle while he went through the first pages, but then he had to stop to add the eggs to the skillet and put bread in the toaster . “Would you . . . ?” he asked Russell. He took the papers and started to go through them, but then paused to remove his suit jacket and drape it over a dining chair . He loosened his tie. “The bottom line is that David Borman isn’ t a good cook, he spends too much, and he’ s lazy.” Travis slid the omelet onto a plate, put it before Russell, and got a knife and fork out of a drawer . “So he dropped his girlfriend and went after Kim —or rather , her business.” “It gets worse,” Russell said as he took a bite. “Not bad.” “Worse isn’ t bad?” “No. Borman gets worse; the omelet isn’ t bad.” “Oh,” T ravis said as he watched Russell eat. He could see things about him that reminded him of Penny . He’d spent a lot of late nights with her and they’d shared many meals. Now he wondered why he’d never asked her about her personal life. But then, he would have thought that if he had, Penny probably wouldn’ t have answered. Russell looked up at him as though expecting something from T ravis. “The ring,” T ravis said. “What about the ring?” “Borman took Carla out to dinner , told her a sob story about how he was in love with Kim. He got Carla to ‘lend’ him a ring to give to her when he proposed this weekend.” “Then Carla told the whole town that’ s what Borman was going to do.” Travis handed Russell the toast and got out the butter . “That’ s why Borman invited himself to go with her to Maryland.” “Carla didn’ t seem to see anything wrong in the fact that you and Miss Aldredge are living together just before she’ s to get a marriage proposal from Borman. Carla’ s exact words were, ‘I think you should take things when they’re of fered.’” “I’m staying in the guesthouse,” T ravis said absently as he thought about what he’d just heard. “The whole town thinks you and Kim are . . .”
“It’s just gossip,” T ravis said, then looked back to see Russell staring at him, his eyes disbelieving. T ravis felt anger rising in him. “It looks like you believed them.” Russell looked back down at his food. “It’ s not for me to judge.” “And a Maxwell takes whatever he wants, is that it?” If T ravis had been hoping for an ar gument, he didn’ t get it. Calmly, Russell finished his cof fee. “In my experience, yes.” The truth of that made T ravis’s anger calm down. He refilled Russell’ s cup. “Maybe so,” T ravis said. “T aking what he wants is a creed of my father’s.” “But not yours?” Russell asked. Travis wasn’ t fooled by the man’ s nonchalant tone. He was asking a very serious question. “No, it’ s not what I believe in at all.” Russell ate his toast and for a moment he didn’ t r eply. “How do you plan to get the ring back?” “I’m a lawyer , remember? I’ll threaten him with grand larceny and prison.” Russell used the napkin T ravis had given him to wipe his mouth. “And what will you tell Miss Aldredge? That her boyfriend only wanted her for her successful little shop?” Travis grimaced. “That will kill her ego.” “And this weekend you’ll have a d epressed, crying female on your hands.” Travis looked at Russell and they exchanged a male understanding between them. An unhappy woman wasn’ t a good companion. Russell stood, picked up his coat and pr epared to leave, but then he turned back to look at T ravis. There was no humor in his eyes. “If you leave your father ’s firm, what will happen to my mother? W ill she be thrown out with the rubbish?” Travis was used to being attacked, used to barely suppressed rage from people who’d had encounters with his father . But this man was dif ferent. His resentment was for T ravis. “It’ s all happened so quickly that I haven’ t had time to think about it. I guess I assumed she’d go back to working for my father .” “No,” Russell said. His expression said that he wasn’ t going to elaborate on that statement, but it was final. “Tell me what she wants and I’ll see that she gets it.”
“It must feel like being an emperor to have such power ,” Russell said. Travis understood the man’ s hostility toward him. He knew the late hours, weekends, and holidays that Penny had worked for his father . And Travis hadn’ t been much better . He’d never thought twice of calling her on Sunday afternoons—and Penny had never complained, never even commented. Her son must have spent most of his life without his mother . He must hate the Maxwell name. And it looked like he especially hated Travis, the Maxwell son who was the same age as he was. But then, did he think Travis grew up with loving parents who doted on him? “What do you do? For a living, I mean?” T ravis asked. The friendliness that had started between them was gone. Russell’ s face was hard, unfor giving. “I don’ t need anything from you or your father , so there’s no need to pretend interest. I’ll get back to you about my mother and I expect you to ke ep your word.” The hostility in his voice and eyes made T ravis’s hair stand on end. T o lighten the mood, he said, “W ithin reason, of course. I can’ t give her the T aj Mahal. It isn’ t for sale.” Russell didn’ t smile. “If it were, your father would have bought it and fired the caretakers. Are we finished here?” “Yes, I think so.” As soon as Russell was out of the house, T ravis called Penny . She seemed to be expecting the call because she answered before the first ring finished. The first thing he needed taken care of was business. He wanted to know where David Borman was right now . As Travis expected, Penny said she’d find out and text an answer . That was T ravis’s cue to hang up, but he didn’ t. “I met your son,” he said tentatively . “He, uh . . .” Penny knew what he was trying to say . A few weeks ago, she wouldn’ t have dared comment, but lately T ravis seemed to be jumping of f the fast track to becoming a second Randall Maxwell. “Hates everything with the Maxwell name on it,” she finished for him. “Exactly . Is it curable?” “Probably not.” Travis took a breath. “I promised him that when I leave the Maxwell firm I’d see that you got whatever you wanted. T o make sure I get it right, why don’t you tell me what it is you want?” “Happiness for my son. Grandkids,” Penny said quickly .
“You sound like my mother .” “From you, that is high praise indeed,” she said. “But let me think about this. From what Russ says about Edilean, I may want to retire there.” “Not a bad idea. Y ou see the jewelry he bought for you?” Penny chuckled. “I did. Quite, quite beautiful! Y our young Kim is very talented.” “She is,” T ravis said, smiling. They exchanged good-byes and hung up. She texted him the address of where Borman was working before he got the kitchen cleaned up. “I’m going to kill him,” he muttered and started for the door . Oceanof PDF . com
%ut T ra Yis didnߥ t make it to the door . His male instinct was to find the man and tear him apart. He could almost feel his fists in his face. But then what? Do as he’d told Russell and threaten the man with prosecution? W ith prison time? W ould Travis use the Maxwell name to intimidate the man? And what would be the r epercussions? A man like Borman who had no morals—or he wouldn’ t have planned to marry for money—wouldn’ t skulk away quietly . He’d go to Kim and . . . T ravis didn’ t want to think what damage the man could cause. For a moment T ravis stood there and tried to cool his temper enough that he could think clearly about what needed to be done. He had to become more calm and figure out how to solve this in a way that would guarantee that Kim wouldn’ t be hurt. Travis realized that this meeting could be the most important of his life. The last thing he should do was go in there with guns blazing, so to speak. Travis had dealt with men like Borman before, ones who thought that whatever they did to obtain what they wanted was permissible. If it took marrying a woman to get her business, then that was all right with them. Travis had also learned that men who lost in a big way tended to retaliate in a like manner . If he threatened the man and forced him to get out of Kim’s life, Borman could contact Kim, and maybe he could turn it all against T ravis. No, it was better to get rid of the man in a way that made him believe that he had won, even that he’d put one over on someone. That way , he wouldn’ t feel a need for revenge, wouldn’ t want to get back at Kim, wouldn’ t want to hurt her . Travis called Penny again, and she picked up immediately . “Rethinking the dueling pistols?” she asked.