Free Larger than Life by Kay Hooper Page B

making instinctively for a mountain path she knew well. It took an hour or more before she reached her favorite spot: a cluster of large boulders thatjutted out from the mountainside, providing a breathtaking view of the valley below.
    Saber climbed onto the largest of the boulders, allowing her legs to dangle over the edge. She had no fear of heights, and the dizzying drop from her seat to the valley floor earned no more than a careless glance from her. She looked out over the valley, absently watching the distant movements of Cory’s guests.
    The panic died away only gradually; she didn’t try to think until even the faintest echoes of alarm had vanished. Then, very carefully, she etched an analysis in her mind.
    Travis’s avowed love frightened her. Why? Because she was afraid of love? No. Afraid of him? No. What was it he’d called her? A touch-me-not flower.
    His understanding seemed to be—had to be—instinctive. He knew nothing of her past, nothing of the months “missing” from her life. Yet he saw a touch-me-not plant wincing away from contact. A flower that would open cheerfully to warmth andlight but shrink from a touch. Not a physical touch, but the touch of someone … too close.
    Was that she?
    It was disturbing to think of herself in that way. She didn’t
want
to be that way. Yet now that she considered it, she realized her entire life had molded just that trait. Guardedness, a sense of wariness where other people were concerned. Never allowing anyone to get too close, never letting her inner self be touched.
    Until Travis.
    Pushing all emotion aside with an effort, Saber made use of the “worst” scenario she had taught herself in order to keep things in perspective. What was the worst that could happen if she became more deeply involved with Travis? She could give her heart and be left empty and alone. Could she take the worst and refuse to let it destroy her? She didn’t know.
    A part of her wanted badly to reach for what Travis offered. He was an intelligent, humorous, sensitive man, possessing an innate warmth and a great sexuality that drew her strongly. Instinct toldher now that he would keep her secrets as well as she could herself, but she had no idea how those secrets would affect their tenuous relationship.
    It was ironic in a way. Always, she’d wanted to be loved for what she was, not who she was. She’d fought to escape a life thick with the risk of being taken at value of face—or bank account. Now, by her own ability, she was again a
who
, a personage. As he’d said … a larger-than-life personality.
    Which did Travis believe he loved—that larger-than-life person or the woman he barely knew? Could it matter to him that that part of her had been born in a hell of survival?
    He was fascinated by the abrupt change from girl to woman, and she couldn’t help wondering if he, too, would prefer the girl she had been to the woman she now was.
    Was that what she feared? That he would learn the truth of her physical and emotional catharsis and, the mystery solved, fold up his tent and steal away into her past? Case solved and on to elusive horizons? It was fun, sweetie, and let’s do it again sometime?
    Saber smiled in spite of herself. No, Travis would never be flippant. He thought that he loved her; she believed that. Only time could sort out her own tangled emotions, and only time and honesty could prove his to be real.
    Thoughtfully, she climbed down off the boulder and began the walk back to the ranch. There was still a ghostly panic in the back of her mind; she expected it and accepted it with equanimity. She was strong enough, she believed, to be able to deal with that. And strong enough to take a chance, because she’d realized sometime during the past moments that she had to.
    She was already half in love with Travis Foxx.
    He was waiting for her near the valley floor, leaning on a whitewashed fence and watching as she approached. She could see as well as feel a certain