VINA IN VENICE (THE 5 SISTERS) (14 page)

Vina had gone to her room, confused and disappointed. 
She
’d
been so sure th
e
growing attraction was mutual, and
she
actually
wanted
him to kiss her goodnight.
  But
it hadn’t happened.  The subsequent lack of phone calls and absence of invitations for any more dates
had
stripped Vina’s hopes that
Travis shared the same feelings.
  Now all she felt was a sense of dread at having to spend
so much time
in his company because she was terrified she would do or say something to give herself away.

She’d thought about nothing else this past week and had finally come to the conclusion that the only solution was to latch onto the fi
rst man in Venice who found her appealing
.  Well, maybe not the first man, but the first one she could fool Travis into believing
was a potential love interest.
  Maybe if she could convince Travis she wasn’t falling for him, she
w
ould eventually convince herself.

Vina checked her watch again just as the roar of Travis’ Ferrari sounded in the driveway.  With as much composure as she could muster, Vina picked up
her small carry-on bag,
slipped the strap of her purse over her shoulder, and
went to open the front door.  He looked a little surprised to see her standing there, ready to go.

“Is this all you have?” he asked, taking the small piece of luggage from her.

“You know the bulk of my luggage was sent ahead to the plane last night, the same as yours.”

“I know, but
that will be in the cargo hold.  Most women I know would
have a serious case of separation anxiety if they didn’t have access to their wardrobe.”

“Well, I guess I’m not like
most
women
then
,” she replied crisply.

“You’re right about that, sweetheart.”  He opened the car door for her.  “You are definitely one of a kind.”

The drive to the airport was pleasant enough.  She didn’t ask why he hadn’t called the week before except to get together to talk business, and he didn’t volunteer to explain. 
He spent most of the drive telling her about the
Palazzo Vendramin, where they had adjoining suites
, and how spectacular the view was
.
 
Vina
asked a few questions and did her best to act interested, but
her heart just wasn’t in it.

Maybe she was she making a mistake
spending an entire month with Travis in a city that was renowned for its romantic ambiance. 
She felt extremely vulnerable and had to wonder if her sudden attraction to him was nothing more than a desperate attempt to fill
the
horrible void her parents’ death had left in her life.
  Vina missed them something awful
.  B
eing with Travis made her forget
the pain and sorrow
; he made
the loneliness bearable.
 

Oh, who was she trying to kid?  He didn’t just take away the emptiness
.  Travis made her
feel
…really feel, in way she’d never experienced before.  In a way Vina didn’t think she
would
ever feel for any man but him.
  It was exciting and scary at the same time, like taking that first plunge on a rollercoaster ride.
  And yet, she knew
it was
reckless to nurture
her
budding emotions for
Travis
when
he’d made
it abundantly clear
there was no chance
their relationship would progress beyond friendship.

Vina stole a quick peek at Travis, despising herself for wanting more than what they had.  She had to stop
this insanity and get her head on straight before she drove him
away
. 
A man as commitment challenged as Travis was, would
not
be happy to discover she was fantasizing about a future with him.
 
It wouldn’t be easy, but somehow
she had to keep some distance between them
.

***

Travis
was beginning to
w
o
rry whether
he
’d gone
about this
the wrong
way
.  Vina was strung tighter than
a
bow,
her voice as tense as her body,
al
though he doubted she knew how easy she was to read.  T
hose desolate little sighs
claw
ed
at his conscious, and
he
felt guilty as hell for
putting her through
so much
emotional turmoil
.
 

But if he came clean now and told her how he felt, there was a good possibility she
would
either call the whole trip off or find someone else to go with her.
  He could deal with cancelling the trip.  It might not be
as ideal as having her a
ll to himself in Venice, but he’d still have a shot at persuading her to go out with him.  And as long as
she continued to see him, there was a chance she’d fall in love with him. 

What Travis
couldn’t
deal with was letting Vina go
on the trip with another man
.  Even if it was someone
he knew
she could never be attracted to
, i
t didn’t matter
. 
Venice was full of men who
would be willing and eager to entice someone as beautiful as Vina in
to
their arms, into their bed.
 
For now, he’d just have to swallow any feelings of guilt, because he sure as hell wasn’t going to step aside and let Vina fall in love with someone else.

“We’ll be there in a few minutes,” he told her
, after nearly missing the exit.

“What about your car?  Don’t tell me you’re going to
leave it in the airport parking lot?”

“
And have nightmares the entire time we’re gone?  Not a chance.”

“So, what are you going to do,” Vina laughed, “take it with us?”

Travis grinned.  “Actually, that’s exactly what I plan on doing.”

“Not much use for a car in a city where everyone travels by water.”

“Ah, but I plan on showing you more of Italy
than just Venice.  With the Ferrari, we’ll be doing it with style.”

“I hate to burst your bubble, but I think it exceeds the weight and size limit for luggage.”

“On a commercial flight
, yes, but not on the plane we’ll be traveling in.”

Vina leaned forward and peered through the windshield
, apparently oblivious of
the huge aircraft looming before them
until now.
  “
It seems a bit…extravagant, don’t you think?”

“I don’t think Victor Moore ever considered anything too extravagant for his daughters.”

“No, he didn’t,” she replied softly. 

Travis pulled up near the rear of the plane and put the Ferrari in park.  “I’m sorry, Vina.  I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“You didn’t,” she gave him a wobbly smile.  “I’m just overwhelmed by Daddy’s generosity.
”

“I doubt he ever considered it generosity
.”

“No, I don’t suppose he did. 
Giving was his way of showing how much he loved us.
”
 

Travis nodded towards the plane.  “Are you ready for the adventure to begin?”

Vina’s smile brightened.  “Absolutely.”

***

They departed at eight o’clock in the morning
, and after a
sixteen hour flight
and
nine hour time zone difference, they arrived
a little after eight o’clock the following morning, Venice time. 
They had been served breakfast shortly after take-off
and spent the next few hours looking at the brochures and travel guides the flight attendant had provided for them.  It wasn’t easy sitting so close to Travis on one of the cushy love seats, especially when his hand seemed to brush hers every time they exchanged brochures.  It was even more difficult to maintain her composure when
ever
he leaned over to see what she
was looking at.

Desperate to carry out the vow she’d made to herself to keep some distance between them,
Vina
dropped the brochure she’d been browsing onto the coffee table and escaped to the restroom to regroup. 
She returned a few minutes later, casually strolling
through the spacious lounge to the
chair opposite the loveseat.  Travis shot her a curious glance but didn’t say anything.  Not to her anyway. 

Much to Vina’s annoyance, he initiated an animated conversation in Italian with the pretty flight attendant, who
seemed completely enthralled
by every word he said. 
Staring out the window and growing
crankier
when the attendant took it upon herself to perch on the loveseat next to Travis, Vina had to clamp her mouth shut to keep from snapping at the woman.  She wanted to order the bodacious blonde to do her job and stop flirting, but it would have seemed
rude
and petty, so she remained silent.

Vina was painfully aware of the fact that the leggy attendant was exactly the type of woman Travis was attracted to.  From the corner of her eye she watched them converse, noting with a frown that he seemed to have forgotten she was
even
there. 
Her nerves were
raw by the time the attendant excused herself to go prepare their lunch, and Vina’s jaws actually ached from gritting her teeth for so long.
  Childish as it was, she wished one of the attendants had been male so she could give Travis a dose of his own medicine. 
Not that he would have cared
, she thought with
a
pang of resentment. 

Several times throughout lunch, Vina attempted to prove she wasn’t seething with jealousy by happily chatting about the places he’d promised to take her.  But she never got more than a few words out before the blonde
returned to
hover over Travis on the pretence of making sure everything was to his liking.
  Finally, Vina gave up and stifled a fake yawn before leaning back in her seat
and closing her eyes. 
She
supposed it was her own fault for feigning jet lag, but that didn’t alleviate the twinge of hurt feelings when
Travis insisted she
retire to one of the small, albeit elegant sleeping quarters to
get some rest.

Inside her room, she realized i
t hadn’t occurred to her to ask for the overnight case she’d brought onboard, which meant she’d either have to sleep in her underclothes or go back out to retrieve it.  Simple though the choices were, Vina hesitated to do the sensible thing and get her suitcase. 
She was certain Travis had shuffled her off to rest for a while so he could resume his flirtatious banter with blondie. 
Vina
didn’t relish the idea of finding
the woman
fawning all over Travis, b
ut it would have been infinitely worse to discover them both missing.

Given her emotional state,
Vina decided
it was probably wiser to stay in her room. 
After kicking off her shoes and removing everything but her bra and panties, she slipped
between the sheets and made a futile attempt to fall asleep. 
But e
very time she closed her eyes, Vina envisioned Travis with the flight attendant.  Rolling onto her back, she stared up at the
ceiling, torturing herself by listening for sounds from the sleeping quarters next to hers.
 
How long she lay there nursing the dull ache in her chest, Vina didn’t know, but t
he hum of the plane’s engines
eventually lulled her into a restless sleep.

Haunted by the same nightmares that had been plaguing her for weeks, Vina
woke
with a start, gasping for air and drenched in sweat.  Throwing off the heavy comforter, she curled up on her side and
quietly
cried herself to sleep.  Within a few minutes, she was drawn back into the dream. 

She felt the vibration of the airplane and immediately knew something was terribly wrong.  Leaning towards the window,
Vina
peered down at the vast ocean below, fear clutching at her heart when she saw how quickly they were descending. 
She turned her head and saw her parents sitting across the aisle, apparently so absorbed in their conversation they were oblivious to
the
danger they were in.