Читать книгу The Lawman's Romance Lesson - Marie Ferrarella - Страница 12

Chapter Two

Shania made sure that she always parked her feelings of doubt and insecurity outside the door before walking into any classroom. It was the one major rule she always abided by. She felt it was her personal mission to inspire her students, to get them to focus on not just their schoolwork, but also on their abilities to surmount any and all obstacles that existed in their daily lives. She did her best to instill a work ethic within them that enabled them to work hard at achieving their personal goals.

On those occasions when things got particularly rough for her, it was then that Shania found herself channeling her great-aunt Naomi.

Early on in their relationship, the gruff, far from soft-spoken woman became her inspiration. To Shania’s recollection, there was no problem too big or too taxing to bring Aunt Naomi down or cause her to throw in the towel and give up. No matter what it was, Aunt Naomi had taught them that they could always find a way to deal with it.

Today had been about as taxing a day as she could ever remember enduring.

Usually, on those days when her students turned out to be particularly challenging, she’d go home and then she and Wynona would act as each other’s cheering section—or support group—whatever way wound up doing the trick.

But Wynona was no longer here. Right after the wedding had taken place, she and Clint had moved in together at the ranch. For a few minutes after her day had ended, Shania debated picking up the phone and calling Wynona just to unwind for a minute.

She would be damned if she was going to call her cousin to complain about today. Wynona didn’t need to hear her carping. What her cousin needed was to spend quality time with her husband, not to mention that she was also acclimating to being a mother to Clint’s nine-year-old son, Ryan.

No, Shania thought, growing more restless, Wyn had her hands more than full with all that going on, plus teaching. Her cousin definitely had no time to offer her a shoulder to lean on, Shania thought, even though Wynona would if called upon.

She wasn’t going to call her. But that didn’t mean that she didn’t still need at least a willing ear to listen to her, Shania thought as she chewed on her lower lip.

She could only think of one place where she could find that willing ear. An ear that only listened, but didn’t feel obligated to give advice.

“No offense, Belle,” she said, looking down at the rather diminutive German shepherd that was shadowing her every move and weaving in and out between her legs when she walked, “but tonight I really think that I need a human to talk to.”

Belle stopped moving and looked up at her with her big brown eyes. Shania could have sworn that the dog understood what she was saying—and forgave her.

“I won’t be long,” Shania promised as she grabbed her jacket from the coat rack by the door and shrugged into the garment.

Granted it was only just the end of September, but sometimes the weather took an unexpected turn around seven or eight o’clock, becoming cold. The last thing she wanted to do was to catch a cold. It was bad enough having to deal with low spirits, something she was not accustomed to having.

* * *

Murphy’s, the town’s only saloon, has initially been owned by Patrick Murphy, the present owners’ uncle. A lifelong bachelor, he had taken in the three orphaned brothers when they were just boys after his younger brother, their widowed father, died. Eventually, since they comprised his only family, Patrick left the establishment that was his pride and joy to them when he passed away.

Although the two younger Murphy brothers occasionally took turns operating it, everyone agreed that the saloon was Brett’s baby. The oldest of the Murphy brothers was the force behind its present success and he was the reason that most people in and around Forever would find their way there.

Murphy’s had an unspoken agreement with Miss Joan, the woman who owned the town’s only diner, which was also its only restaurant. Miss Joan’s was where people went for food and, on occasion, for advice. Murphy’s was where they went to have a drink amid people they knew. It was also where they went to enjoy some camaraderie and have their spirits lifted.

It was exactly the latter that Shania found herself needing tonight.

The moment she walked into Murphy’s, she found herself feeling better. Unlike bars that were located in the larger cities, Murphy’s didn’t shun ample lighting, opting instead to lean toward atmosphere that was created by a lack of darkness. Because of the bright lighting, there were no shadows to hide in, no dimly lit areas to gravitate toward that would enable the patrons to observe without being observed.

Shania quickly looked around. As usual, she noted, Brett was tending bar. Married to one of the town’s two doctors, whenever Alicia worked late at the clinic, Brett was the one who worked late at the bar. In any given emergency, he and his brothers traded off shifts, although Murphy’s was doing so well, they could afford to hire a bartender for the nights that none of the brothers could be here.

“Don’t usually see you here, pretty lady. I know that my paper’s overdue, but I’m still working on it,” Brett told her with a wink. Wiping down the bar, he gestured toward a stool directly in front of him.

“I’ve got a feeling you’ll be working on it a long time,” she told him, sliding in on the stool.

“You could be right,” Brett responded. “So, what’ll it be?” he asked, flashing a welcoming smile at her as he retired the cloth he was using. “Or are you just here for some good conversation?”

“I’ll have whatever you have on tap,” Shania told the man.

“Coming right up,” Brett responded. As he spoke, he filled up a mug. There was foam taking up two thirds of the space. Placing the mug down on the bar right in front of her, Brett took a closer look at her expression. “Something wrong?” he asked her gently.

Shania squared her shoulders. “Why does there have to be something wrong?” she asked, drawing the mug closer to her.

“Because it’s a school night and you’re here, having a beer,” Brett pointed out.

“I drink beer,” she protested defensively.

“Didn’t say you didn’t,” he answered. “Just not used to seeing you drinking it here.”

She couldn’t really argue with that. Shrugging off his observation, she told him, “Maybe I just came out to make contact with my fellow man.”

The look on Brett’s face told her that he knew it had to be more than that, but he wasn’t about to challenge her.

“This is the place to do that,” Brett agreed. Someone called out to him. Brett glanced over in the patron’s direction, then excused himself. “Sorry, Shania, duty calls.” He hesitated just for a moment. “You’ll be all right?” he asked.

Shania nodded. “I’ll be fine. I’m not fragile,” she assured him.

“That’s good to know,” a deep voice behind her told her.

Not so much startled as surprised, Shania turned around to see who the voice belonged to and found herself looking up into the softest brown eyes that she had ever seen. With broad shoulders, a taut, trim waist and standing approximately six one, the rest of the man was even more strikingly impressive.

“Fragile women don’t have an easy time of it,” the man said.

There was something about the man that looked vaguely familiar, but she was fairly certain that she had never met him.

“And you know this how?” Shana heard herself asking the dark-haired man.

“Years of experience,” he answered.

Shania saw the badge he was wearing and she made the logical assumption. The man had to be one of the sheriff’s deputies. She also guessed that given the man’s high cheekbones, he was also at least part Navajo, which instantly gave them something in common.

But rather than comment on that—it sounded like such a line to her—Shania took another sip of her drink. The beer tasted particularly bitter, but she had gotten it expressly for that very reason. The bitter drink would keep her from having another—if she finished this one at all.

“Are you saving this seat for someone?” Daniel asked her, nodding at the empty stool beside her.

Her hands tightened around the mug she was holding. “No, I’m not saving it.” Her voice sounded almost tinny, she thought disparagingly.

“Then you don’t mind if I sit down next to you?” Daniel asked, still not making a move to slide onto the stool.

Shania shrugged, doing her best to seem nonchalant. It occurred to her that she had spent so much time looking out for Wynona, she had forgotten how to socialize on her own.

“It’s a free country,” she replied, taking another sip, a longer one this time.

Daniel slid his long frame onto the stool, setting his drink—a beer—down on the bar in front of him. His eyes skimmed over the woman next to him. The second look was even better than the first. Simply dressed, the dark-haired woman was nothing short of a knockout.

He hadn’t come here looking for anything except for people who didn’t look at him hostilely the way that Elena had. But, having found someone who definitely captured his attention, he wasn’t in a hurry to leave.

“I haven’t seen you in here before,” Daniel commented.

“There’s a reason for that,” Shania replied, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth as she faced the long mirror that ran the length of the bar.

Daniel’s eyes met hers in the mirror and he said the first thing that occurred to him. “It’s your first time here?”

“No.” While she didn’t frequent the saloon on anything that would have passed as a regular basis, she had been here a few times since her return to Forever. But she’d never seen him during any of those times.

“I’m confused,” Daniel admitted.

This time she did look directly at him. And then she smiled. “Happens to the best of us,” she told him.

His smile was slow as it spread over his lips—and extremely compelling. She could feel something inside of her responding to it.

“I’m also intrigued,” Daniel said.

Finding it disconcerting to make eye contact, she lowered her own. “I can’t help that.”

“Oh, but you might be able to,” Daniel told her. Even though he continued sitting exactly where he was, it felt as if he had somehow drawn closer to her.

Shania had to concentrate in order not to fidget. “Oh? And just how do you propose that I do that?”

“Propose?” he repeated, the smile on his face deepening. He had dimples, she realized. One in each cheek. She found herself growing more intrigued than she wanted to be. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Daniel told her. “Although, the evening’s still young.”

Mention of the time had her looking at her watch. “Actually, it’s getting late.”

Daniel glanced at his own watch. It was only a few minutes past eight.

“No, it’s actually not,” he contradicted. “It’s still early.”

But Shania held her ground and shook her head. “Not really.” And then she explained by saying, “It’s a school night.”

Her response only served to confuse him further. “What’s that got to do with it?”

And then he looked down at her hand as a belated explanation for her concern hit him. Was she married and needed to get home? There was no ring on her hand, but in this day and age, that didn’t mean that the woman was single.

The shortest distance between two points was a straight line, so instead of beating around the bush, he decided to ask her. “You’re not married, are you?”

“No, I’m not,” Shania answered. Even as she said that, she felt an atypical pang twisting the pit of her stomach.

What was wrong with her? All these years, she had never once felt that marriage was for her. But ever since Wynona had gotten married, Shania had found herself reevaluating everything, including what she’d thought were her deeply rooted feelings about marriage. Maybe it was time to rethink her position on that.

Would it be such an awful thing to get married? Marriage had certainly made Wynona happy.

“The conversation just got more interesting,” Daniel said with a smile that unnerved her.

Shania thought of finishing her beer in order to dramatically put the empty mug down on the bar and push it away before she got off the stool. But in order to do that, she’d have to actually drink the brew and she decided that she’d had enough. So she just pushed the mug aside.

“I’ve got to go,” she told him, and started to get up off her stool.

He gave her a long, soulful look. “Was it something I said?”

She needed to avoid looking into his eyes, she silently insisted. He had beautiful, sexy eyes and eye contact had a way of making her thoughts evaporate.

“No, I just have to go,” she told him seriously. “I have school tomorrow,” she explained.

His eyes narrowed as he studied her more closely, doing his best to see past her beauty even though it wasn’t easy.

“No offense, but just how many times have you been left back?” he asked.

“Left back?” she echoed, clearly confused about what he was asking.

“Well, yeah. Because I know for a fact that the Murphys are really strict when it comes to serving alcohol to minors.” Then, because she was still staring at him quizzically, he clarified it for her. “They don’t, which means that you’re not a minor even though you’re fresh-faced and pretty enough to pass for one.”

“I’m not a minor,” she assured him, not sure if she was flattered or insulted by his comment.

“Then why...?” He left the end of his question up in the air, waiting for her to finish it.

“I’m a high school teacher,” she told him.

“A high school teacher,” he repeated.

He hadn’t thought of that. He was slipping, he upbraided himself. But then, he wasn’t used to putting moves on a woman. Because Elena had aggravated him, he’d wound up doing something out of character.

“Yes,” she confirmed in case there was any doubt. “So you see why I have to go.”

But Daniel wasn’t quite ready to let this go just yet. Questions popped up in his mind. “What do you teach?”

“Algebra and physics,” she answered.

He nodded, impressed. “Ambitious.”

“Tiring,” she countered.

He thought of what he’d just endured trying to deal with his sister today and he understood exactly what this woman was telling him.

“It’s a tough age,” he agreed.

“You say that like someone who’s been in the trenches,” Shania noted. “Were you a teacher?”

“Me?” he asked, surprised that she’d think that. “Hell no.” Realizing he might have offended her, he corrected himself. “I mean heck no.”

She tried not to laugh and only partially succeeded. “That’s okay. I find myself swallowing a few choice words too, especially whenever I’m having a particularly bad day communicating with my students.”

Although, she thought, those were happily few and far between.

“Was that what this was all about?” Daniel asked, nodding at her unfinished mug of beer. “A particularly bad day?”

“You might say that,” Shania admitted. “There are some times when I really don’t think I’m getting through to them.”

“If it’s only ‘some times’ then you’re doing better than the rest of us,” Daniel assured her, thinking of Elena. “Why don’t you let me buy you something that you enjoy drinking and we can compare war stories?”

She felt a bit confused again. “But I thought you said you were never a teacher.”

“And I wasn’t,” he answered.

“Then I don’t understand. How can you have any war stories?” she asked.

“Because my war stories all involve my younger sister,” he answered. “My sixteen-year-old younger sister,” he specified, as if that should make everything clear to the woman he was talking to.

“Your parents having trouble handling her?” she guessed.

“My parents aren’t there to handle her,” he answered, doing his best to mask his reaction to her question. Thinking of his parents always made him feel sad. Then, before she could ask anything further, he told her, “For better or for worse, it’s all me. Mother, father and, according to my sister, thick-headed older brother, all rolled up into one big package.”

The way he’d worded his response caused something to click in her head. “You said she was sixteen?” Shania asked him.

He nodded and finished his beer. “Yes.”

She knew the deputy looked familiar to her, Shania thought. Even if she threw the reservation into the mix, Forever was rather a small town.

“What’s her name?” she asked.

He narrowed his eyes again as he studied the woman he’d been flirting with.

“Why are you asking me that?” Daniel asked her suspiciously.

Shania tried to sound off-handed as she answered, “I was just curious to find out if perhaps she’s in my class.”

Bits and pieces of their conversation began to align themselves in Daniel’s head, forming an imperfect whole. A whole he didn’t really want to own up to.

He suddenly realized that he might have very well just tried to hit on Elena’s teacher and, if that was the case, he was fairly certain that if Elena got wind of this, he was never going to hear the end of it.