Only Skin Deep Read Online Free PDF Page B

bubbled over with ideas on how to dress up the windows and what kind of furniture would be coziest in front of the rock fireplace, Travis couldn’t help but grin at her enthusiasm.
    She turned her back to gaze out the window at the Bridger Wilderness in a moment of reverie. The pristine peaks in the background had nothing on the silhouette with which she presented him. It was surprisingly hard to keep his arms from encircling her curvaceous figure and sharing the view with her.
    â€œThis window is the focal point of the living room,don’t you think? Would you mind if I pounded a few nails in the walls? If I promise to use only small ones?”
    Travis knew how much it would have pleased Grandpa to see someone appreciate the place enough to pay it any kind of loving touch. Only a few hardy perennials that Grandma Banks had planted years ago still bloomed in a neglected window box. He wondered if Lauren would bother to pluck the weeds that were choking them out.
    â€œPound away,” he said, fighting to keep his imagination from leading him to thoughts of undressing this woman right there on the old horsehair couch against the wall.
    Lauren’s eyes shone as she thanked him, promising to keep the integrity of the place intact when considering a decorating scheme.
    Travis didn’t think there was any way she could hurt the place. After all, those thick, old logs had weathered the years without giving up an ounce of character.
    â€œYou’re welcome to keep any of the furniture here. If you’re sure you want to move in, I’ll haul anything you don’t want to the dump. It’s been so long since anyone lived here, I can’t even guess what your electric bill will be. As little square footage as there is, it can’t be much.”
    Not one to quibble over the price of answered prayers, Lauren brushed off his concerns with yet another blinding smile. The wink she gave him was so unexpectedly playful that it caught Travis off guard and left him wondering if he hadn’t, in fact, imagined it.
    â€œDon’t worry about that. Hopefully, I’ll be out of here by the time winter rolls around since I only plan on being here until I’m married.”

Three
    A s odd a look as Travis gave her, Lauren might as well have told him that she was catching a ride on the next spaceship to Mars. That he was so taken aback by her announcement was insulting. For the first time all day, she stiffened in his presence. She may not measure up to the supermodel types with whom he was rumored to cavort, but over the past few days she had come to the conclusion that a man could do worse than be seen around town with her.
    â€œI didn’t even know you were engaged,” Travis stammered.
    Lauren waved her hand as if dismissing something inconsequential.
    â€œI’m not. Yet.”
    A firm believer in the force of language, she subscribed to the concept that a person’s words shaped her future. That is, if she were to ask God for help and accepted what came about as a natural consequence of that prayer, Lauren liked to think that everything she needed would come to her at the perfect time. With her mother firmly entrenched in a new life, Lauren was ready to ask a generous universe to bestow upon her the man of her dreams. Whoever was sent to her didn’t have to be particularly good-looking or have lots of money. She just wanted to finish out the rest of her days with a gentle and kind man who loved children and appreciated a good woman. Too bad if Travis Banks was above such humble dreams.
    â€œDon’t worry,” she said dryly, hoping to wipe the stricken look from his face with the same flirtatious sense of humor that had seemed to work earlier. “I can’t say that I’ve met the lucky man yet. But I believe the secret of success is a good set of plans.”
    Looking relieved to hear that he wasn’t presently in the crosshairs of her sights, he assumed the air