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

that everything she’d told him was the truth. Had she started to shout and pace the floor in anger, he would have wondered. That would have smelled of a script, a soap-opera reaction, lacking subtlety.
    But she wasn’t shouting or pacing. Her anger was betrayed only by quickened breathing and the rigidity of her stance. From the little he’d seen of her, he’d judged her to be restrained where her emotions were concerned. Her reaction now was consistent with that impression.
    Strangely, Garrick’s own anger was less acute than he would have expected. If he’d known beforehand what Victoria had planned, he’d have hit the roof. But he hadn’t known, and Leah was already here, and there was something about her self-contained distress that tugged at his heart.
    Almost before his eyes, that distress turned to mortification. Cheeks a bright red, she cast a harried glance over her shoulder.
    “I’m sorry. She had no right to foist me on you.”
    “It wasn’t your fault—”
    “But you shouldn’t have to be stuck with me.”
    “It goes two ways. You’re stuck with me, too.”
    “I could have done worse.”
    “So could I.”
    Unsure of what to make of his agreeable tone, Leah turned back to the bookshelf. It was then that the full measure of her predicament hit her. She and Garrick had been thrust together for what Victoria had intended to be a romantic spell. But if Victoria had hoped for love at first sight, she was going to be disappointed. Leah didn’t believe in love at first sight. She wasn’t even sure if she believed in love, since it had brought her pain once before, but that was neither here nor there. She didn’t know Garrick Rodenhiser. Talk of love was totally inappropriate.
    Attraction at first sight—that, perhaps, was worth considering. She couldn’t deny that she found Garrick physically appealing. Not even his sprawling pose could detract from his long-limbed grace. His face, his beard, the sturdiness of his shoulders spoke of ruggedness; she’d have had to be blind not to see it, and dead not to respond.
    And that other attraction—the one spawned by the deep, inner feelings that occasionally escaped from his eyes? It baffled her.
    “I didn’t want this,” she murmured to her knotted hands.
    From the silence came a quiet, “I know.”
    “I feel … you must feel … humiliated.”
    “A little awkward. That’s all.”
    “Here I am in your underwear…”
    “You can get dressed if you want.”
    It was, of course, the wise thing to do. Perhaps, once she was wearing her own clothes again, she’d feel less vulnerable, less exposed.…
    Crossing to the dryer, she removed her things and folded them over the crook of her elbow. When she reached for her sweater, though, she found it still damp.
    “Here.” Garrick stood directly behind her, holding out one of his own sweaters. “Clean and dry.”
    She accepted it with a quiet thanks and made her escape to the bathroom. He was working at the fireplace when she came out. She suddenly realized that though the fire had gone out during the night, the cabin had stayed warm.
    “How do you manage for heat and electricity?” she asked, bracing her hands on the back of the sofa.
    He added a final log to the arrangement and reached for a match. “There’s a generator out back.”
    “And food? If you can’t get to the store in this weather…”
    “I stocked up last week.” Sitting back on his heels, he watched the flames take hold. “Anyone who’s lived through mud season once knows to be prepared. The freezer is full, and the cabinets. I picked up more fresh stuff a couple of days ago, but I’m afraid the bacon we had for breakfast is the last of it for a while.”
    He’d have had some left for tomorrow if he hadn’t had to share. Leah’s feelings of guilt remained unexpressed, though; there was nothing more boring than a person who constantly apologized.
    Garrick stood and turned to face her, then wished he hadn’t. She was