“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.
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 ou
t 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?”
The Lawman's Romance Lesson Page 3