Green Lake (14 page)

Tanner shut the door in her face in response.

My god, Madeleine thought. What was with these people? First Dale Russell, and now Sherman Tanner, both of them exacting revenge and behaving like vicious, spoiled children.

She trudged back up the hill, stopping to search Eris's garage for a spade. She found one hanging on the wall and took it to the cabin with her, where she picked up the dead kitten in the grass and searched for a place to bury it, somewhere Tanner wouldn't find. She could just see him digging up the dead kitten and re-burying it in his own yard.

She picked a spot near some hedges, where she could camouflage the overturned earth, and wrapped the kitten in a small dishtowel before burying it. The silence of the cemetery across the road beckoned then, and she went to squeeze through the gate and walk among the stones, calming herself by reading what inscriptions could be read and thinking about the lives buried deep beneath the earth. It was a strangely peaceful place to sit, and she did just that, until the stone's lengthening shadows and her own growling stomach told her it was time to go.

Madeleine carried the spade back to Eris's garage and found his truck inside. She hadn't seen him come down the road. She walked around to the front yard and saw him lifting up the railroad ties bordering his coleus.

“What are you doing?” she asked, and he looked up with a start to see her. She waited, breathless, for some acknowledgement in his eyes of the intimacy they had shared, but he only nodded to his porch, where a young bird of some kind sat in a cage, its feathers ruffled up around its neck.

“Looking for worms.”

“I already got them,” she said, and he dropped the railroad tie to face her.

“Did you take my spade?”

She swallowed and nodded, wondering if he was angry with her. “I had to bury one of the kittens. Tanner's dog killed two of them today.”

Eris looked beyond her, toward Tanner's house. “Why did you need the worms?”

“I ran out of cat food and needed something to feed the kittens. I found a cane pole in the garage and decided to try and catch a fish for them. I caught six fish, but Dale Russell made me throw them back because I didn't have a license. When I got back here I found Tanner's dog with a kitten in its mouth. One kitten was already dead.”

“Where was Tanner?”

“In his house. When I confronted them they swore it wasn't their dog, but I'd know that sick little weasel-looking hairbag anywhere.”

Eris's mouth twitched. “Russell made you throw your fish back?”

“He was mad because I rejected him this morning.”

“He came over this morning?”

“Right after he left your house.”

“He left before I did.”

“Then he came back. I told him I wasn't interested and he seemed all right with it at the time, but when he caught me with the fish later he was an absolute jerk.”

“You don't have a license,” said Eris. “Can't fish without one.”

The matter-of-fact statement caught Madeleine by surprise and she stared at him. “This day hasn't been bad enough, but you have to come home and side with these lake mutants against me.”

“I'll get you a license,” said Eris.

“Forget it,” Madeleine flashed at him. “I only have one kitten left to feed.”

She walked away from him, leaving him to hunt worms to feed whatever bird it was he had in the cage. Beside the door at the cabin she found a sack of cat food waiting for her. She looked over her shoulder but couldn't see him. Madeleine sighed and picked up the heavy sack to carry it inside with her.

Later she carried a covered plate of spaghetti, meatballs, and garlic bread with butter down to him. He was still on his porch, trying to feed the bird.

“What kind is it?” she asked as she set the plate down beside him.

”A red-tailed hawk. Found it in the road today.”

“How old is it?”

“Not very. Can't find anything it'll eat.”

“Try a meatball.”

Eris looked at the plate. “Smells good.”

“Better eat, before it gets cold.”

“Here,” he said, and gestured to a dish with what looked like chopped raw meat inside. ‘‘You try.”

Madeleine made a face, but she stuck her fingers in the dish while Eris went inside for a fork to eat his spaghetti. She picked up a pinch of the meat and put her hand through the bars to hold it temptingly above the baby hawk's head.

The bird's head moved slightly, but its eyes were in a half closed state and Madeleine didn't think it was even aware of the food. She dipped her hand to touch it lightly on the head, and Eris came out in time to see the baby hawk's beak open. Madeleine dropped the meat in, and then had the top of her finger punctured as the beak made either a swift gobbling or attacking motion. She jerked her hand out and looked at the blood welling up on the finger.

“Must be a woman's touch,” she said.

“Come on,” said Eris, and he led the way into the bathroom, where he poured stinging disinfectant over the torn flesh and then put on a bandage.

Madeleine applied pressure with another finger so it would stop the bleeding, and she looked up to find Eris's dark eyes on her face.

Her breathing went suddenly shallow and a surge of warmth spread through her at his expression. She took an unconscious step forward and he leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose before turning her and leading her back outside again.

Madeleine was disappointed. Everything inside her was ready and eager to join with him again, and his eyes told her he wanted the same. She didn't understand why he brought her back outside. She looked at him with questioning eyes as he picked up the plate of spaghetti and began to eat.

She doubted it was hunger that kept them apart. When she was close to him she didn't care if she ever ate again.

He picked up a long instrument that looked like tweezers and handed it to her. “Pick up the meat with this and feed it to the bird.”

“Oh,” she said, feeling incredibly stupid.

While Eris ate, she fed the bird, which had suddenly found its appetite and was greedily choking down every morsel she passed through the cage. When the dish was empty she put it down and saw that Eris had finished as well. He excused himself to go and clean the sauce off his shirt, and after a moment she followed him into the house. She found him in the bathroom sluicing water over his face. Madeleine propped herself in the doorway and stood watching him until he opened his eyes and saw her.

He took a towel from the rack and dried himself. Then he said, “I don't have anything to protect you.”

Madeleine said, “I have a diaphragm.”

“Were you wearing it last night?”

“No.”

He went still, watching her. Then he asked if she was worried.

She shook her head. “Do you want me to go and get it? The diaphragm?”

“If you're asking me if I want to make love to you, the answer is yes. If you're asking me would I like to see you protect yourself from me, the answer is no.”

Madeleine's gaze fixed on his. “You just said you didn't have anything to protect me. It sounded like you were concerned about it.”

“For your sake yes. I'm sure you'd rather not leave here pregnant.”

“Then you're all right?” Madeleine asked. “The chicken pox didn't—I mean, sometimes sterility can result.”

“I've never found out.”

He put the towel back in the rack and moved past her to leave the bathroom. Madeleine followed him and walked out of the house and up to the cabin. She put her diaphragm in place and came back to find him sitting in his chair in front of the silent television. She closed the door behind her and approached the chair. Eris hesitated only a moment before he put out a hand and pulled her to him, bringing her to sit on his lap. She slid her arms around his neck and closed her eyes while she pressed her mouth against his cheek and jaw. He turned his head and caught her lips with his, and she emitted a moan as he opened her mouth and deepened the kiss.

His hand moved to the buttons of her blouse while he kissed her, and her fingers were already busy pulling the band from his hair. She unbuttoned his shirt while he unhooked her bra, and soon their hands were free to touch flesh with no hindrances. Eris lifted her slightly to kiss her breasts and lightly tug on her hardened nipples and she buried her face in the dark silkiness of his hair. When his fingers trailed down her stomach to her navel and beyond, she squirmed so he could get at the snap on her shorts.

The shorts soon joined the pile of clothes beside the chair, and Madeleine gasped as his hand went directly between her legs and cupped the center of her, feeling the moisture that soaked the fabric of her underwear and told him of her state of readiness.

He tugged the panties off her and then lifted up while she struggled to pull his trousers and briefs down to free him. He jerked and drew in a sharp breath as Madeleine wrapped her hand around him. He stared into her face, willing control, and nearly came undone at the way she was looking at him. She moved above him, never taking her eyes off his, and slowly lowered onto him, taking him all the way into her and then leaning forward to gasp into his mouth as she settled over him. Eris's limbs began shaking again, and he held off not even half a minute, just long enough for Madeleine to move half a dozen times and come to a quivering orgasm, her mouth still attached to his.

They sagged against one another, still breathing hard, and with all urgency dissipated they relaxed and began to take their time touching and kissing and looking. Neither of them spoke, both unwilling to reduce to words what was happening, or to put a name to the feelings they were experiencing.

Madeleine could never get enough of kissing his lips, or of feeling her naked breasts pressed against his chest. She loved it when he put his arms around her and held her so tightly against him she could hardly breathe. He was telling her things with his actions that would never be expressed in words and it touched her more deeply than any trite, often repeated phrases ever would. She held him just as tightly, until desire arose again and their kisses became impassioned rather than sweet, and their touching had more purpose than tender caresses.

Eris put her legs around him and left the chair to carry her to his bedroom, where he placed her on the bed and then removed the rest of his clothing. Madeleine looked at his long, lean form and wondered to herself how any woman could not find him irresistible. He was so beautifully proportioned and had such wonderfully shaped hands and feet. Not to mention other proportions of him that she had grown intimately fond of.

In her enamored state Madeleine no longer saw why anyone would consider him ugly. She was blinded to the pits and scars that marred his skin and saw only his deep brown eyes and the strong white teeth that hid behind his perfect lips. The color and texture of his hair made her squirm with pleasure when she drew her fingers through it. She wanted it down always, framing his head and giving him a look of wildness that she loved.

He came onto the bed with her and she took his face in her hands as he moved over her. He paused, looking at her, and she whispered to him how beautiful he was, and how she loved to look into his eyes. Eris stared, his dark gaze seeking hers in the dimness, until she found his mouth and began to kiss him as passionately as ever, driving away whatever thoughts her murmuring had brought to him. He soon moved above her and she was carried away all over again by the instant ecstasy he brought to her and her inability to find control over her responses. All he had to do was touch her and she was on the brink.

His own control was much better now, and he was happy to be able to exhaust Madeleine before allowing himself the pleasure of release. Afterward they lay gasping together on the bed.

Madeleine made a trip to the bathroom and found her diaphragm ready to fall out. She stared and wondered if Eris had somehow dislodged it. It was entirely possible. She went to get a glass of water and drank it down at the sink before refilling it to take to Eris. Before she turned away, out of the corner of her eye she saw something that made her stop. She looked up at the log cabin and saw Dale Russell's truck backing out of the drive.

What on earth was he up to?

She went back and told Eris, and he sat up. In the darkness she could tell he was frowning.

“The man obviously has a problem with rejection,” Madeleine said.

“I doubt it's ever come up before,” said Eris.

“I can't believe he came back after the way he treated me today.”

“Maybe he came to apologize.”

Madeleine handed him the glass of water. “It won't work.” She slid onto the mattress and curled up against him. Eris drank down the water and put the glass on the night stand. Then he turned and put his arms around her.

He didn't ask if she was staying the night and she didn't ask if she could. They simply fell asleep.

When Madeleine awakened she heard the shower running. Noiselessly she left the bed and went into the living room to put on her clothes. Then she walked into his kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

Ten minutes later Eris walked into the hall with a towel wrapped around his waist. He looked to see where she was, and then he returned to his bedroom.