Dreams Don't Wait (Contemporary romance) (25 page)

* * *

The drive home was made in silence. With the heavy rain, it was impossible to watch the passing scenery, so Evan watched Linc. He was so obviously thoughtful. Once, she caught the tail end of a smile that hovered between a smile of satisfaction and an irritating smirk.

It rankled.

She'd done it again. Acted against her own better judgment. In a parked car. In the light of morning. The tips of her ears burned at the thought. She was hopeless. Linc made one play for her, and her defenses crumbled.
Hopeless
. Maybe she was some kind of sex addict. Maybe she should get treatment. She looked at him and sighed. There was no cure for Lincoln Stewart.

So, what now? Do I take Linc up on his offer of uncomplicated sex and no commitments or—

"Are you going to get out?"

She looked up from her reverie. They were home—Linc's home—she corrected herself. She hadn't even noticed.

He leaned over and opened the door. His arm brushed over her still-sensitized breasts. When she gasped and instinctively stiffened, he smiled—a maddening, knowing smile—and brushed a feathery-kiss over her mouth.

"Me, too," he whispered.

Evan clamped her mouth shut and got out of the car. She absolutely refused to make love with Linc again until things were clear in her own mind. This stew of emotion was making her a wreck. Her plans were in chaos. Cal was livid with her. Linc had taken his proposal back—and given her another one. And Jenny? Jenny had asked her last night at the hospital if she would be her mommy.
What a mess
.

Linc was leading her to the door.

She dug her heels in. "I'm not going in. I have to get ready for work."

"You're already late. Call in, tell them you can't make it. We need to talk." Linc—doing his commander best routine.

"No."

"No? Just like that?" He raised a questioning eye-brow.

"Just like that. I don't want to talk, until I have something to say. And right now all I am is confused. If you're looking for rational conversation or... commitment, now is not the time for it."

"You've already made the commitment. You just haven't acknowledged it. I didn't know that until now."

She stared at him. What on earth was he talking about? "If you're talking about what we, uh, did in the car"—she blushed hotly—"that was
not
a commitment. That was just... just—"

"Sex?" His grin was pure innocence.

Unable to stop herself, she smiled, lowering her head to hide it.

Linc chuckled. "Okay, no talk and no questions. Not today." He touched her hair. "But you might want to come in and tidy up before you see Cal. At sixteen, they know all the signs."

Evan's hands flew to her messy hair. "Thanks," she muttered, and followed him into the house. Inside she headed straight for the guest powder room off the hall.

Linc was waiting for her when she came out, a dark, backlit silhouette in the open door of the library. He was holding two mugs of coffee. He held one out to her. She hesitated.

"Chicken," he teased.

She studied him but didn't rise to the bait. "I don't get it," she said.

He took a drink from his mug and handed her the other. With a resigned gesture, she took it.

"Get what?" he asked, turning to go into the library. She followed.

"This about-face you're doing. A few days ago, you couldn't wait to get rid of me. Nothing's changed."

"I've decided it has."

"You've
decided—"

He shrugged. "Someone has to take charge of this relationship. If it was left up to you, you'd bury yourself in some book and let it self-destruct."

She lifted her eyes to his. They were steadier than the beat of her heart. "I can't be Jenny's mother, Linc. You should find someone who can."

His gaze was thoughtful. "Maybe I should, but for now I'm only interested in finding a lover—for me. Interested?"

She gaped at him, incapable of keeping up with the twists and turns in this conversation.

Linc carried on. "Let's accept that we got in over our heads. That's all. Occasionally I can be a trifle... aggressive. I pushed you, too far, too fast. The white-picket-fence, two-car-garage thing. It was a mistake. I take it back."

"You can't simply take a proposal of marriage back." She ignored the painful opening of a crack somewhere near her heart.

"I just did." Linc drained his mug, looked at his watch. "And you should go now. You must be beat. I'll walk you to the cabin." He took her mug, put it beside his own on the side table, gripped her elbow, and started for the door.

Evan was mute. Either she'd gone insane or someone had tilted the world. And who was this man gripping her arm? It wasn't Linc, surely. Linc was that angry, sarcastic man who'd greeted her at the door last night. This was a stranger who, with heady kisses and a few well-chosen words, had made his intentions clear. He wanted her as his... mistress.

Linc took an umbrella from the hall closet. It kept the worst of the rain off them as they hurried down the path to the cabin. There was no sign of Cal. Evan guessed he'd already left for class. She quickly took the three steps up to the door. She had some serious thinking to do, and she needed to do it alone. When she turned to say good-bye, she bumped into the solid wall of Linc's chest.

He stepped toward her, propping the umbrella against the wall, and braced both hands on the door behind her. Her hands lifted to rest, palms flat, against his chest. She intended to push him away, but her body disobeyed the order. He leaned toward her and nuzzled her under the ear, and again her body defied her. Her breathing stalled. He nibbled on her earlobe, and his hot breath tickled and teased her ear. This was no good. No good at all.

"I think you should—"

"Shush. And no more shoulds." His lips grazed hers in a light promise of a kiss. Keeping a tantalizing distance between them, his mouth again brushed over hers as he stroked her parted lips with his tongue. Her uneven sigh whispered of her growing excitement. Held against the door by the weight of his body, Evan couldn't move, couldn't make him come closer or move him away. Linc was in total control. Her hands, crushed between them, balled into fists as she waited breathlessly for him to deepen the kiss.

He pulled back and let his hands slide up the door behind her head. The effect was to wedge them even closer together. Cocking his head, he looked down at her, his gaze hungry. His voice when he spoke was smoky and low.

"I'm not going to let you go, Evan."

Oh, God, I hope not,
was the thought speeding through her brain. She barely finished it before his mouth slanted over hers in a kiss that moved her soul.

* * *

With a thank-God-it's-Friday stretch, Evan tossed her bag and jacket on the sofa and headed for the kitchen. She let the tap run to chill the water and filled a glass. The day had been unbearably long, and her brain had stayed on overdrive during all of it, though that had had little to do with the technical manual she'd been editing all day.

It was last night—and this morning. Thoughts of Linc, of what had happened between them, ran through her head constantly. Did he truly believe she'd become his lover—his mistress? Surely not. Not after—

After offering me marriage only days before.
Evan shook her head. A proposal he'd been quick to take back when it suited him, she reminded herself. She wondered why that made her so angry and confused. She drank the last of her water and rinsed out the glass.

"Mom?" Cal came in the door. His bag of books joined her purse and jacket before he came into the tiny kitchen area. " How's Jenny?"

"She's fine. When I called from work, Linc said she was trying to put one of her sweaters on Copper. I was just going up to the house to see her. Want to come?" When she issued the invitation to Cal, Evan knew a tickle of anxiety. They'd barely spoken in days, and she hated the tension between them.

Their glances met, and Cal nodded. "Sure," he said, "but wait a minute. I've got something for her."

He went to dig in his backpack. He pulled out a coloring book and crayons. When Evan smiled, he looked faintly embarrassed.

"You always got
me
coloring books when I was sick," he said, adding, "Think Jenny will like it?"

"Cal, it wouldn't matter what
you
gave Jenny, she'd love it. I think she's your number-one fan."

"She's a neat kid. I like her."

Evan went quiet for a second before reaching out to touch his hair, almost as dark as her own. "Friends?" she asked.

He nodded, and his flush deepened. "I'm sorry, Mom," he said. "I wouldn't really stay here. If you want to go—we go."

Evan resisted throwing her arms around him for a seriously long cuddle. He'd be mortified. So she said, "Thanks, love. That means more to me than I can say, and I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean to spring a move on you like that. I know how much you like it here. I do, too."

Cal gave her a searching look. "Then why, Mom? Why not—? Sorry, forget it," he mumbled.

She straightened away from the counter she'd been leaning on. "Let's go see Jen, okay? Then let's go out for pizza."

"You hate pizza," he reminded her.

"Consider it a bribe. I want to hear all about your first week at U Vic."

He nodded then. "Deal."

As they walked the path to Linc's house, Cal's question made its way into her mind and refused to leave.

Why not? Why not? Why?...

Chapter 13

Jenny, Cal, and Evan were sprawled on Jenny's bedroom floor, coloring, when Linc came in a half hour later. He stood in the doorway unnoticed and watched them until he got that peculiar lump in his throat.

"I thought you were supposed to be in bed, Princess Jennifer Mae Stewart," he said, adopting an appropriately sober tone.

"I'm better now," Jenny stated matter-of-factly and continued her coloring.

Linc glanced down at Evan. "Some baby-sitter you are."

"She's fine. Honestly," she said. "There's not a trace of fever. She probably didn't need to go to the hospital at all. I guess I overreacted." She looked away from him, seeming intent on getting her crayons back in their box. The lady was edgy, very edgy. He didn't know why, but the thought cheered him.

"People tend to do that when they care. You did the right thing. Thank you. I meant to tell you that earlier, but I, uh, got sidetracked."

Evan flushed crimson.

"Daddy, Cal brought me a coloring book. Come see. Look what he's done." She pointed to one of the pages Cal had colored. "You do one, Daddy. I'll pick it. Okay?"

Linc joined the trio on the floor. "Okay. Which one is mine?"

Jenny turned a couple of pages. "This one. It's a castle, and it's right next to Evan's page."

He picked up a blue crayon. "Good. I can't think of anyplace else I'd rather be."

"I'm going to visit with Maud awhile," Evan stammered, getting to her feet. Was that Cal chuckling as she stepped into the hall?

* * *

"Of course you'll stay for dinner. I've made enough for a small army. I wouldn't want it to go to waste." It was seven o'clock, and Evan and Cal were at the back door, ready to leave.

"Thanks, Maud, but I promised Cal a pizza," Evan protested.

"That's okay, Mom. We can do that tomorrow." Cal sniffed the air. "I'll pass on pizza for Maud's cooking anytime. And I'm going to study at Mike's tonight, so it'll save me some time."

Maud looked pleased. "That settles it then."

Evan cast a nervous glance in the direction of the kitchen door. Linc was still upstairs. She didn't know how he'd feel about her and Cal staying for dinner. She didn't know how he felt about anything. He'd been strange since last night, acting as if their terrible argument never happened. Evan felt as though she were in a house of mirrors, where nothing was quite what it seemed. She was about to protest again when Linc came in carrying a pajama-clad Jenny in his arms. Copper wasn't far behind.

"Evan and Cal are staying for dinner," Maud said before she could open her mouth.