Читать книгу The Lawman's Romance Lesson - Marie Ferrarella - Страница 13

Chapter Three

He debated his next move—did he mention Elena’s name and hope that there’d been some mix-up and this woman wasn’t her teacher, or did he just not say anything?

At the apex of his debate, Daniel heard his cell phone ringing.

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he looked down at the screen. Rather than someone’s name or a number, he saw that what was vying for his attention was an app. The second he saw it, all thoughts of possibly embarrassing his sister because he was trying to get to know her teacher instantly vanished.

Shaking his head, Daniel frowned at the screen he was watching.

Shania saw the change. “Something wrong?” she asked him.

“Yeah,” the deputy answered, closing his phone and putting it away again. “My sister is attempting to escape.”

“Escape?” she repeated uncertainly. “Are you holding your sister prisoner?”

“That just might be the next step,” he murmured, more to himself than to the woman sitting beside him at the bar. “No, I put up a basic security monitoring camera by the front door while she was at school.” He could see by the woman’s expression that he needed to explain this a little more clearly. “I grounded her after the last incident—she went to a party during a school night and there was alcohol flowing like the Mississippi River. She’s not supposed to go out on school nights for a month and it looks like she’s breaking the rules again.”

Shania looked at the deputy thoughtfully. A different take on the situation occurred to her.

“Maybe your sister found out about the security monitor and she decided to try to pay you back,” Shania suggested.

Daniel’s frown deepened. “You sound like you’re on her side.”

“No,” she answered without hesitation. “I just happen to know how the teenage mind works. How mine worked for a little while,” she added to convince him. “Until I suddenly realized I was being totally selfish and ungrateful.”

Shania vividly remembered the confrontation between her great-aunt and herself. The verbal altercation really straightened her out and left her feeling not only very humbled but utterly grateful to the older woman for putting up with her.

“How long did it take you to realize that?” Daniel asked, wondering just how long he and Elena were going to be at odds over absolutely everything from morning until night, because he was really getting tired of butting heads with his sister.

“Longer than it should have,” Shania admitted ruefully, since she should have realized immediately that Naomi had been under no obligation to take them in, much less put up with her antics.

Daniel saw something in the woman’s face that moved him, something that spoke to him even more than the fact that he found her to be an incredibly beautiful woman.

But right now, he had an emergency with Elena to deal with and that took precedence over everything else.

“Look,” he told her, “I’d really like to stay here and talk some more with you, but I’m afraid that I’ve got to handle this.”

Shania flashed a smile at him. “I understand perfectly,” she told him. Then, on the off chance that she’d correctly guessed whose brother he was, she called after the deputy, saying, “She’s a good girl who’s just testing you and her boundaries, and being rebellious.”

But Daniel had already crossed the floor and gave her no indication that he’d heard her. Within another minute, he was gone.

Shania stared after him, wondering again if she’d accurately guessed who his sister was. She could have very well just been reading into the situation.

“Another one?” Brett asked, standing on his side of the bar right behind her.

Startled, Shania managed not to gasp. Instead, she turned around to look at the bartender. “You really should wear squeaky shoes so you don’t scare your customers when you sneak up behind them.”

“I wasn’t ‘sneaking’ and squeaky shoes wouldn’t help,” he told her. “There’s too much noise in here to hear anything as understated as squeaky shoes.” Brett nodded toward her mug and repeated, “Another one?” He added, “On the house,” no doubt thinking that might sweeten the offer and make it more tempting.

But Shania shook her head. “That’s okay. One was enough.” Brett looked at her doubtfully. When he went on to tilt the mug she’d pushed aside, emphasizing the fact that there was still some beer in it, Shania added, “More than enough, really.”

“I can get you another brand,” Brett offered. “Something less bitter,” he added.

Shania smiled at the man. Brett Murphy was a decent, down-to-earth man, even more so than his younger brothers, and she appreciated his offer to appeal to her tastes, but that really wasn’t the problem.

“Maybe next time,” she told him, sliding off her stool. “I really just came in for the company.”

Brett nodded. “His name’s Daniel Tallchief,” he told her, even though Shania hadn’t asked. After having been behind the counter for as long as he had, Brett prided himself on being able to read people accurately, at least for the most part.

Tallchief. Shania smiled. She’d guessed right, she thought.

“I thought so,” she said aloud, secretly congratulating herself, then quickly added, “I mean, I didn’t ask.”

Brett’s smile deepened. “You didn’t have to,” he told her.

Rather than become defensive, Shania regarded the man a little more closely, then teased, “You’re adding mind reading to your list of talents?”

“I’m not one to brag,” he replied, his tone indicating otherwise.

“Okay,” she answered gamely. Shania’s eyes met his. “What am I thinking right now?”

He studied her for a long moment, then deadpanned, “You deal with impressionable young minds all day long. Should you be using words like that?”

It took her a second to realize that he was teasing her. “It’s how I survive.”

“Whatever gets you through the day,” Brett answered. He gave her an encouraging grin, then made one final offer. “How about some coffee? It’ll get the bitter taste of that beer out of your mouth.”

She looked at him, surprised. “How did you know I thought it was bitter?”

“I could just say it’s all part of being a mind reader,” he said, for a moment falling back on the label she’d given him. “But the truth is you have a very expressive face, at least when it comes to some things.” He leaned over the bar, pretending to share a confidence with her. “I wouldn’t let myself be drawn into any poker games if I were you.”

“No danger of that,” she told Brett just before she turned to leave his establishment. “Poker games require money and I’m just a teacher.”

“There is no ‘just’ in front of the word ‘teacher,’” Brett called after her.

Shania smiled to herself, her good mood restored as she walked out the door.

That was why she’d come here in the first place, to forget about everything that had happened today. Everything that she hadn’t managed to accomplish. Meeting Elena Tallchief’s brother turned out to be an added bonus.

Don’t go there, she warned herself. The last thing she needed was to entertain anything that was even remotely like a daydream about one of the students’ relatives.

* * *

Belle was waiting for her just behind the door when Shania walked in a few minutes later. The second the dog saw her, her tail began to thump against the floor, underscoring the fact that the dog was very happy to see her.

Shania grinned, responding to the welcome. “I missed you, too, Belle,” she told the German shepherd. When the dog paused to look up at her, Shania put her own interpretation to that look. “I know, I know, if I missed you so much, why did I go out without you? Number one, they don’t allow dogs in saloons—”

Belle seemed to whimper in response.

“Yes, I know. That’s not very nice of them but everyone likes to have rules. And number two, sometimes I need to communicate with other humans. Other adult humans,” she emphasized because there were times when she could swear that Belle thought of herself as being her equal and human as well.

Belle barked loudly once, as if in response to the last sentence.

Shania ran her hands over the dog’s head, petting her. “Thank you, you’re being very understanding.”

Ready to settle in and continue petting her dog, Shania heard the house phone ring. Because cell phone reception could be spotty, usually at the worst possible times—especially when the weather was inclement—she and Wynona had opted to keep the landline that was in the house when they moved in.

Curious as to who could be calling her at this hour, Shania crossed the room and picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

The voice on the other end didn’t bother with a polite greeting but got right down to business, asking her, “Where have you been?”

“Wynona?”

Recognizing the voice, concern reared its head instantly. Because Wynona taught all day at the elementary school, evenings were reserved for her husband and stepson. Shania made it a point not to call her cousin except occasionally on the weekend. To have Wynona call her during the week and at this hour, something had to be wrong.

Shania felt her stomach tightening as she asked, “Is something wrong?”

“Well, if there was, you wouldn’t have been home to find out,” Wynona answered.

Shania felt obligated to explain why she hadn’t been home this one time. “I needed some company.”

If Wynona had been harboring as much as a drop of annoyance—which she wasn’t—all pretense instantly vanished.

“You could have called here, Shania. Or just come over,” Wynona told her.

“That’s called intruding,” Shania pointed out, then explained, “I’m not about to invite myself over to your place, Wyn. You and Clint are still in the honeymoon stage.”

She heard her cousin chuckle softly before saying, “Well, that’s about to change.”

“Change?” Shania repeated. “Why?” She was back to being concerned. Was there a problem between Wynona and her husband? “You do realize that men require a lot of patience. Whatever Clint’s done, he didn’t mean it so just forgive him and move on from there. I guarantee you’ll both be happier.”

Rather than agree with her, Shania heard her cousin sigh—or was she stifling a laugh? “I’m afraid it’s not that easy.”

This wasn’t like Wynona. Her cousin didn’t give up this easily. She was exceptionally stubborn. Shania searched for a way to convince her cousin to dig in and fight for her marriage.

“Sure it is. You just have to be the bigger person, that’s all. In every relationship, there’s always someone who loves more and someone who forgives more. Sometimes, that’s the same person,” Shania added, hoping she was convincing her cousin to find a way to forgive Clint if that was what was necessary here and give their marriage another try.

And then she heard Wynona laugh. Was her cousin just putting her on?

“Have you ever thought of writing these gems down in a ‘how to make a marriage work’ book?” Wynona asked.

“Too busy,” Shania answered, letting go of the breath she’d been holding. “So, is everything okay then?”

“Well, that all depends on your definition of ‘okay,’” Wynona answered.

They were going around in circles, Shania thought. Why?

“Are you like this with Clint?” she asked. “Because if you are, I can see why he might lose his temper with you.”

“Lose his temper?” Wynona echoed. “That’s not what happened.”

Shania took a deep breath, trying to hold on to her patience, which was quickly being shredded. When did her cousin get this trying?

“What did happen?” she asked. “And no more beating around the bush. Tell me straight out why you called or I swear I’m going to drive over to your place right now and ask Clint to tell me what’s going on with you.”

“Well, if you put it that way...” Wynona said, still hedging.

Shania took a deep breath, struggling to keep her temper under control.

Why did it sound as if Wynona was grinning? she suddenly thought.

“Wynona,” she cried, a warning note in her voice. When her cousin still paused, not saying anything, concern returned in spades. Maybe her cousin was too afraid to tell her what was wrong. “Wyn, please. You can tell me anything, you know that.”

“You promise not to tell?” Wynona asked in a subdued voice.

There went her stomach again. This had to be worse than she thought. With effort, Shania reined in her imagination, which was on the verge of running away with her. Big-time.

“I promise,” she told her cousin solemnly.

Then, to her surprise, she heard Wynona suddenly start to laugh. “That’s okay, Shania. You can tell anyone you want.”

Okay, Wynona’s life wasn’t in danger and neither was her marriage. Relieved, she was back to being annoyed. She’d had enough.

“What I’m going to tell them,” Shania told her cousin, “is why I committed justifiable homicide if you don’t stop this and tell me what’s going on.”

“You’re going to feel bad about threatening me once I tell you.”

From the sound of her voice, Wynona was still grinning, Shania thought.

“I’ll be the judge of that. Now talk!” she ordered, coming perilously close to the end of her patience.

The words seemed to burst out of Wynona’s mouth all at once. “I’m pregnant, Shania!”

This was the one thing that hadn’t occurred to her. Shania’s mouth dropped open. “Excuse me? Did you just say—”

“I did,” Wynona interrupted her. “And I am. I’m pregnant!” she repeated because she liked saying it and liked hearing it even more.

Still stunned at the news, Shania asked, “When? How?” Realizing what she’d just blurted out, she amended her question. “I mean, I know how. But when?”

“You want the exact moment?” Wynona asked her, laughing. “Because there’ve been a lot of them and I can’t really pinpoint when we—”

“No!” Shania cried, stopping her. “That’s okay. That was just the surprise talking,” she explained. She took a breath, collecting her thoughts so that she could sound like a coherent person instead of an overjoyed babbling idiot. “Have you seen a doctor? Did he tell you how far along you might be?”

“She,” Wynona corrected. “I went to see Brett Murphy’s wife, Alicia.”

Shania was equally torn between being overjoyed and being impatient to have her question answered.

“And what did she tell you? When am I going to be an aunt—again?” she added belatedly, remembering that Ryan was her nephew now that Wynona had married his father.

All of this was so new to her, Shania thought, trying her best to get used to the idea.

“Well, according to what she said, you’ve got about a seven-month wait,” Wynona told her.

Her mind was already going full speed ahead. “Great, that’ll give me a chance to amass some baby clothes and toys for you.”

“Don’t get crazy, Shania,” Wynona warned her with a laugh.

“Sorry.” She couldn’t stop grinning as the thought of Wynona being pregnant took root. “Too late. So what does Clint say?”

“Well, at first he was speechless,” Wynona told her. “And then he couldn’t stop grinning. Actually, he’s still grinning.”

“Grinning?” Shania repeated. She tried to picture that and failed. “Are we talking about the same Clint?”

“We’re talking about the new Clint,” Wynona corrected. “He’s absolutely thrilled, Shania. And so am I.”

“Well, that makes three of us. Four,” she amended, looking at Belle. Responding to the mood the dog was picking up on, Belle’s tail was thumping against the floor again. “The dog’s very excited for you.”

“Probably not as excited as Ryan is,” Wynona told her.

“You told Ryan?” Shania asked, surprised. “And he’s not jealous?”

“Jealous?” Wynona laughed. “He’s already stacking up his old toys and baseball equipment so he can give it to the baby. He can’t wait until he gets here.”

“What if it’s a girl?” Shania asked. Working with her students had made her anticipate problems.

“It doesn’t matter. Ryan’ll be happy. Besides, girls play baseball, too.”

Pregnant. Wynona was pregnant. Shania couldn’t get over the news. “This is really great, you know.”

“I think so,” Wynona agreed. “Well, enough about me. What about you? How’s everything going?”

In the wake of her cousin’s news everything else paled in comparison, but since she’d asked, Shania felt obligated to answer.

“Same old, same old,” Shania told her. “Mostly I’m too busy to notice much of anything. I’ve got to drill them to get ready to take their PSATs.”

“Are you doing all right?” Wynona asked, more interested in the personal aspect than the scholastic one.

“I wouldn’t mind a magic wand that would transform some of my rebellious students into studious ones. Got one of those lying around somewhere?” Shania asked.

Hearing Wynona laugh was really the best medicine Shania could ask for.