Read Online Crossed Hearts (Matchmaker Trilogy) by Barbara Delinsky - Free Book Online

provide for himself, learning to respect himself as a clean-living human being.
    Buoyed by that confidence, he turned to Leah. “You’ve come to know Victoria well in a year. You must have spent a lot of time with her.”
    Leah, who’d eyed him steadily during his latest bout of silence, was more prepared for its end this time. “I did.”
    “Socially?”
    “If you’re asking whether I went to her parties, the answer is no.”
    “Are you married?”
    “No.”
    “Have you ever been?” It wasn’t crucial to the point of his investigation, but he was curious.
    “Yes.”
    “Divorced?”
    She nodded.
    “Recently?”
    “It’s been final for two years.”
    “Do you date?”
    “Do you?”
    “I’m asking the questions.”
    “That’s obvious, but I’d like to know why. I’m beginning to feel like I’m on a hot seat.”
    She sounded hurt. She looked hurt. Garrick surprised himself by feeling remorse, but he was too close to the answer he sought to give up. He did make an effort to soften his tone. “Bear with me. There’s a point to all this.”
    “Mmm. To make me turn tail and run. Believe me, I would if I could. I know that you don’t like the idea of a stranger invading your home, but you’re a stranger to me, too, and I’m not so much an invader as a refugee, and if you think I like feeling like a refugee, you’re nuts…” Her voice faded as her eyes began to skip around the cabin. “Paper and pencil?”
    Garrick was nonplussed. “What—”
    “If I don’t write it down, I’ll forget.”
    “Write what down?”
    “The idea—nuts, nutty, nutty as a fruitcake, having bats in one’s belfry. Perfect for a theme puzzle.” She was moving her hand, simulating a scribble. “Paper?”
    Bemused, Garrick cocked his head toward the kitchen. “Second drawer to the left of the sink.”
    Within seconds, she was jotting down the phrases she’d spoken aloud, adding several others to the list before she straightened. Tearing off the sheet, she folded it and tucked it into her breast pocket, returned the pad and pen to the drawer, then sent him a winsome smile. “Where were we?”
    Garrick didn’t try to fight the warm feeling that settled in his chest. “Do you do that a lot?”
    “Write down ideas? Uh-huh.”
    “You really do make crossword puzzles?”
    “You didn’t believe me about that, either?”
    He moved his head in a way that could have been positive, negative or sheepish. “I’ve never really thought about people doing it.”
    “Someone has to.”
    He considered that for a minute, uttered a quiet, “True,” then withdrew into his private world again.
    Wondering how long he’d be gone this time, Leah walked softly toward the bookshelf nearest her. Its shelves had a wide array of volumes, mostly works of fiction that had been on best-selling lists in recent years. The books were predominantly hardbacked, their paper sheaths worn where they’d been held. Both facts were revealing. Not only did Garrick read everything he bought, but he bought the latest and most expensive, rather than waiting for cheaper mass market editions.
    He wasn’t a pauper, that was for sure. Leah wondered where he got the money.
    “It must be difficult” came his husky voice. “Finding the right words that will fit together, coming up with witty clues.”
    It took Leah a minute to realize that he was talking about crossword puzzles. She had to smile. He faded in and out, but the train of his thought ran along a continuous track. “It is a challenge,” she admitted.
    “I’d never be able to do it.”
    “That’s okay. I’d never be able to lay traps, catch animals and gut them.” She’d offered the words in innocence and was appalled at how critical they sounded. Turning to qualify them, she lost out to Garrick’s quicker tongue.
    “Is that what Victoria told you I do?”
    “She said you were a trapper,” Leah answered with greater deference, then added meekly, “I’m afraid the elaboration was