Read Online The Eden Tree by Doreen Owens Malek - Free Book Online

his blue gaze seemed to fill the world. Linn turned her head away from its heat.
    “You want me,” he urged. “What’s amiss?”
    Linn swallowed. “Con, I can’t do this,” she said miserably.
    He didn’t answer. The patter of raindrops on the leaves above them was drowned in a peal of thunder. Linn pressed her face into his shoulder, feeling the mist drift down and enclose them in a soft embrace. The storm was passing, but not for Linn and this ardent, impatient man.
    “And why not?” he finally said, his voice calm, deliberately controlled. But the tension in his body had not relaxed; he was wound as tightly as a steel cable.
    Linn moved to sit up and Con released her. When she clutched her clothes to her bosom awkwardly he reached over and expertly hooked her bra, settling the straps back on her shoulders neatly. Linn rebuttoned her blouse with shaking fingers, noting unhappily that he was very familiar with women’s apparel.
    “It’s difficult to explain,” she began.
    “Try,” he responded tightly.
    He was angry and hurt, but too restrained to show it. It was amazing how well he could master his feelings. Linn wished that she had such command of hers. She pressed her hands to her flaming cheeks, trying to think of a way to make him understand. She was tongue tied and he was so good with words.
    “I’ve been here little more than a day,” she said, struggling, “and if I haven’t been crying, I’ve been”— she gestured helplessly, close to tears yet again—“rolling around in the grass with you.” She covered her mouth with her hand, shaking her head helplessly. “We’ve just met, we don’t even know each other.” She gulped and added, whispering, “I hardly recognize my own behavior.”
    He was silent, crouched next to her, listening. The dripping from the leaves above suddenly seemed very loud.
    Why didn’t he help her, say he understood, tell her that everything would be all right? Instead he held his breath with unnatural stillness, his expression unreadable in the gloom. His dark hair curled about his head, the ringlets glistening. He looked like a creature of the woods that surrounded them.
    “I’m ashamed of myself,” Linn burst out, desperate to get through to him.
    That got through to him. He stood abruptly, dusting grass and mud from his jeans smartly.
    “I’d not realized that my lovemaking shamed you,” he said evenly. “Thank you for explaining it to me.”
    Linn tensed with alarm. “Con, no,” she began.
    “Get up,” he said tersely.
    She remained as she was, staring up at him.
    “I said get up!” he repeated, his calm facade cracking. He yanked on her hands and hauled her ungently to her feet. Linn stumbled against him and he held her off, steadying her with as little contact as possible. Then he turned away and stared into the distance, giving her a chance to collect herself.
    Linn clasped her hands together, striving not to panic. In trying to make her feelings clear she had only succeeded in alienating him.
    “Connor, listen to me,” she said flatly.
    He whirled on her angrily, no longer trying to conceal his reaction to her tactless statement. “No, I will not listen to you!” he said vehemently. Then he took a deep breath, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “Why did I not learn? How did I get mixed up with somebody like you again?”
    “Somebody like me?” Linn repeated numbly.
    “An American lady ,” he clarified, drawing out the last word with exquisite sarcasm. “One experience should have been enough to cure me.”
    “Cure you of what, Con? What are you talking about?”
    He examined her with narrowed eyes, as if determining whether or not to tell her. Then he gestured with irritation. “When I was a student in the States I met a girl there. Her name was Tracy Alden. They all have names like that, don’t they? Tracy, Stacy, Lacy, Candy, Sandy, Mandy. All those long-haired, long-legged American girls.” He smiled mirthlessly.
    “Not