LOVE in a Small Town

by Janet Eaves

  But when he looked at her, his brain raced with thoughts of how physically attractive he found her, and how he could be incredibly interested in her—

  If things were different.

  But things weren’t different.

  Clearing up the mystery of Rob Carpenter’s murder was the goal, not romancing the object of his investigation. Sure, he never thought he’d end up undercover in Carpenter’s wife’s classroom, but here he was, posing as a school drug cop in order to get into her life.

  Somewhat.

  But not into her panties.

  That was not part of the deal.

  Still, he never expected the woman to be a curvy blonde who would cause his pulse to quicken. But she was. And it was all he could do not to imagine that halo of flame unleashed from its single braid, fanning out around her on a pillow.

  His pillow.

  Dammit. Forget it Lehmann. This you don’t need. Not now.

  He watched her round the corner of the school building, calling out to a child. His heart raced, unable to keep his mind from wandering… How her lips might feel pressed against his. How soft she was. How passionate. How deep he could slide into her….

  And how the hell Rob Carpenter could screw over a woman like that.

  He washed his hands over his face, shaking his head.

  Fuck. Give it a break.

  Perhaps Jenkins was right. Perhaps Kate Carpenter’s image of the widowed school teacher, prim and proper, was a hoax.

  “You could have made this a lot easier, sweetheart,” he mumbled, “if you were about a hundred pounds heavier and a foot shorter. Maybe about fifteen years older. With bad teeth.”

  But she wasn’t. She was a beautiful young woman. One he hoped wasn’t mixed up in the hottest drug-running operation to hit this area in years. One he hoped to hell wasn’t hiding away a husband who was supposed to be dead.

  Chapter One

  Jim Hamilton waved her into his office. “Kate. Come in. We need to talk.”

  With an inward groan, Kate Carpenter seated herself in an overstuffed chair facing Jim’s desk and glanced about her surroundings.

  Uh-oh. Now what?

  The tiny principal’s office that Jim inhabited was cluttered with trophies—the Legend Dragons excelled in sports, football in particular—along with shelves full of pictures, dusty books, and out-of-date professional journals. He turned away and her patience grew thin as he picked up a green file folder from a stack to his left and flipped through it.

  Stop it! It never failed that when she was called to the principal’s office, she didn’t quaver with anticipation. Even after eight years of teaching, she hadn’t shed the fears she had harbored as a child of being told to “go to the office.” She watched him in quiet prospect as he scanned the folder’s contents before looking up at her.

  “I wish there was some way around this. Believe me, I don’t like springing this on you now, right before school starts, but I have no choice.”

  “What?” She was half afraid to ask.

  “New student.” He handed her the folder. “Glance over this now but spend some time with it later, when you have a minute.”

  Hesitant, she took the folder, her gaze meeting his for a second. Surely it couldn’t be that bad? She shuffled through school and medical records for a twelve-year-old boy named Danny Jackson. She came across psychological reports and suspension records. Finally her fingers rested on a release form and grades from a rehabilitation hospital near Knoxville. The child had been admitted over the summer for possible alcohol addiction.

  “Alcoholic?” To say she was dumbfounded was an understatement. “How in the world…? We don’t have these kinds of problems in Legend.”

  “Evidently both his parents are addicts. Bad family life. He’s with foster parents now and won’t be going back with his real parents. He’s up for adoption but you know how that goes, no one wants a half-grown kid. Especially one with problems.”

  Kate bit her lower lip. “It’s going to be difficult, don’t you think? He’s nearly thirteen—and with fifth graders?” Her concern was not only for how awkward this could be for the boy, but how the other students would react.

  “I know you can handle it. He missed one entire year of school. Academically, fifth grade is where he should be. Kate, the boy has been a victim of abuse and is, according to his foster father, somewhat defiant. The kid has had a hard life and is street smart.” He drummed his fingers on his desk pad. “I understand he’s calmed down somewhat since rehab, but still, we’ve got to be alert to any signs of violence.”

  She nodded, trying to quell the anxious feelings creeping up in her gut.

  “Public schools have failed him in the past. I don’t want that to happen here. Not at Legend Elementary, and not on my watch. I know you won’t let it.”

  Jim rose and took a step toward the door. A crowd of noisy students burst through the front school entrance just outside his office. Kate opened her mouth to speak.

  He glanced impatiently toward the hallway. “Look, let’s talk later.” Before she could respond, he’d turned and left, shouting at a couple of boys rough-housing near the trophy case.

  She stared at the folder in her lap. Oh boy. What could she say? She couldn’t refuse. She didn’t have that option. Yes, it would be a challenge, but she could handle it.

  Couldn’t she?

  Ten minutes later she rounded a corner and spotted the child who must be Danny. No doubt. Had to be him. He stood taller than most of her students. His dishwater hair furled around his head in an unkempt fashion. He wore stiff jeans and high-top tennis shoes and an orange UT football jersey, like any other school-age boy, but somehow he looked…different. Hard. Would most people suspect all he’d been through?

  Her heart went out to him. He looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but here.

  Can you really blame him? He’s too old. It’s going to be tough.

  His gaze met hers. She felt every inch of his stare. As she approached, he held a bead on her like a hawk with eyes hard as steel. Eyes that knew and had seen too much in his young life. She was certain of that fact.

  He leaned into the doorframe, flanked by two adults—the foster parents, she assumed—who stood stoic but on guard, as if their sole purpose was to grab the kid should he decide to bolt. The foster father’s face was stern and proper. The mother’s thin-lipped smile said she meant business. Kate felt like they were getting ready to hand over their prisoner to her, the warden, and wondered if that was how Danny felt, too.

  Tucking the folder under her arm, she approached the trio and extended her hand. “I’m Mrs. Carpenter. You must be Danny.” She looked directly into the boy’s eyes.

  He stared at her outstretched hand, glanced to her face, and then out into space. The man beside him briskly took her hand.

  “I’m Tom Elliston.” He nodded toward the woman. “My wife, Anna. I assume Jim told you everything. We don’t expect no trouble out of the boy.” He handed Kate a piece of paper. “Our phone number and address is right here. Don’t think nothing of calling if you need anything or if he gets out of line. We expect him to be real good. If he gives you any problems, just let me know and I’ll handle it.”

  Kate wasn’t sure she liked the way Mr. Elliston talked about Danny, as if he wasn’t there. She glanced at the mother, who remained quiet, meekly letting her husband commandeer the conversation. Danny, meanwhile, projected annoyance and frustration. But he took in a whole lot more than she or anyone else realized, she imagined.

  “Mr. Elliston, I assure you I’ll call when necessary,” she said firmly. Her classroom was filling with students and she felt it high time to get Danny inside. “Danny and I will find him a desk now. Everything will be fine.” She nodded, indicating that it was time to go in. She didn’t, and wouldn’t, touch the boy, not knowing how he would react. Still, she could feel him tense as they entered the classroom and she led him across the room and showed him his desk.

  In a hurry to get
the day started, she gathered all the necessary forms and put them into Danny’s school folder, printed his name in bold letters with a red magic marker across the top, and placed it on his desk. “We’ll go over all this in a few minutes, Danny, when all the other students arrive. Are there questions I can answer for you now?”

  He looked straight ahead, his face blank. “Nope.”

  ****

  “Do the odd numbered problems for homework. I’m giving you time to work on them now.” Kate finished writing the page numbers on the board and turned back to face her class. “If you should need help, ask. Don’t wait until you get home and find you can’t do them.”

  She watched as her students fumbled with paper and pencils, turning to the correct pages of their books. Glancing Danny’s way, she grimaced. It had only been three days, but she was concerned about his reluctance to get involved in the school atmosphere. He refused to talk in class and was a loner. He reacted to her only when spoken to directly. Otherwise, he existed in his own world.

  He ambled through the pages of his math book, resting his chin on his clenched fist. He glanced up, then to the classroom door. Kate followed his gaze as Jim Hamilton’s face peered through the tiny window.

  She stepped across the room and held the door partially open.

  “Yes?”

  Jim peered beyond her into the classroom. “How are things? With the new kid?”

  She shrugged and tried to avoid looking back at Danny, not wanting to raise his suspicions. Her glance raked over the entire classroom. “For the moment, we’re fine. He doesn’t talk much.”

  “You need anything?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’ll let you know.”

  “Good. By the way, the DARE officer is coming by today.”

  “What?”

  “Trooper Lehmann, with the drug program. Remember? Said he’d be by to talk to your class. Just a little pep talk to get them hyped. Be here in,” he glanced at his watch, “soon, I’d say. He called about thirty minutes ago. I’ve been tied up. Told him I was sure it would be convenient.”

  Convenient? Not convenient…

  Heat rose to her cheeks, but it was the shock of alarm coursing through her body that startled her more. “All right,” she said, “I’ll work it out.”

  He left. Standing there, she sucked in a cleansing breath, and watched Jim stroll down the hallway, stop to pick up scraps of paper, and peek his head inside classroom doors. Her thoughts turned to the trooper.

  Not now.

  Not ready for this.

  She released a pent-up, dizzying whoosh.

  She had no choice—she would do this, it was her job—but it wouldn’t be a picnic. And right about now any excuse not to like the officer, like showing up unexpectedly, was something she’d grab at.

  Her chest tightened, a little bit of anger rising inside, along with something else.

  Alarm.

  She had to diffuse it. A spiraling rush of emotions sped over her, aimed at a man she had never met. Even more disconcerting were the niggling tremors of trepidation emerging from somewhere deep inside.

  Why had she agreed?

  Mistake. Big mistake.

  Panic. Yes. That was it. Anxiety.

  Alarm rippled across her chest, tightening like rubber bands. Maybe she needed to dig up that little-used bottle of Xanax her doctor had given her after Rob’s death.

  No.

  Get a grip, Kate.

  The last thing she needed was drugs.

  She inhaled, exhaled, and moved to her desk.

  Her mind drifted to the day Jim Hamilton said her students would be working with a drug officer on a prevention project this semester. Then, she hadn’t exactly thought through what that would mean. Later the nightmares returned and she had questioned why Jim would suggest she do such a thing in the first place. He knew her history. Her past.

  Hells bells. He probably thought it might be therapy, or something. Damn him. Last thing she needed was more therapy. Let alone working side-by-side with a man who worked in the same profession as her husband—correction—the profession that had killed her husband.

  Fact was though, after looking over the materials the trooper had left with Jim, she knew she couldn’t deny her students the opportunity to get in on the program.

  Even if it meant working with him.

  Even if there were nightmares.

  Her students were that important.

  Okay. Keep your chin up, be professional, let the man do his job.

  Think about the children. About Danny.

  These children were her own substitute children, replacements for the child she would never have—the child she imagined as a smiling imp with onyx hair and midnight blue eyes, like her father’s—eyes so unlike her own Irish green ones, or her mop of berry-blond hair that could only be described as unruly.

  She’d wanted Rob’s child. It would never be. But she still had her students.

  And that was why she had agreed to work with this program.

  A hand shot up across the room, shattering her musing.

  “Kyle?”

  “Ms. Carpenter? I need help.”

  “Sure.” Kate smiled and walked toward his desk, and tried to ignore the flash of movement in the open door.

  Brown. Uniform. Trooper.

  He’s here.

  A flicker of dread swept through her tummy. She pushed it away and ignored the specter of her past as best she could while leaning over Kyle’s desk, worming the answer out of the boy. Only then did she glance at the open door. Trooper Lehmann could wait until it was convenient for her.

  She straightened and strolled toward the door, stopping to spot check some of the other student’s work on her way. She lifted her gaze and looked him square in the face.

  His grin nearly took her breath. Nestled amidst striking features—firm chin, high cheekbones, thin lips, evenly tanned skin—his smile captivated. She tried not to think about that as she held out her hand.

  I’m damned irritated with you and in a bad, bad mood. But his smile broke through any annoyance she felt. Dammit.

  “Trooper Lehmann? I’m Kate Carpenter.”

  Her trembling hand stayed between them, untouched. He didn’t take it. All she could do was stand there and run her tongue over her suddenly parched lips.

  He looked at her as though she was not the person he expected. But after a moment, he took her hand anyway, his grasp firm—leaving her palm warm, her fingers tingling.

  Spellbindingly handsome, he could take a woman’s breath away. Military-cut sandy hair, chocolate brown eyes, the broadest shoulders she’d ever seen.

  Except for Rob’s.

  Shaking, she took a step back, putting space between them.

  “I— I’m afraid this is an inconvenient time. We’re getting ready for a…a math quiz. And then recess.” She cast a nervous glance at her class and back to him again. “Could you to come back in about, oh, thirty minutes?”

  Was she babbling? She really couldn’t tell. But her babble was the truth. She did plan to give a pop math quiz this afternoon. And there was recess. She needed to get these kids outside so they could run off steam.

  And she needed a moment or two to gather herself.

  “Definitely.” He nodded. “I need to talk to Jim anyway. I’ll be back in thirty.”

  “That will work. Thank you.”

  He tipped his hat. “Thank you, Ma’am.”

  He left and she turned toward her class, steadying her shaking hands on the solid oak of her teacher’s desk. Behind her, the door closed with a soft click. Time. She needed time to collect her thoughts and her sanity.

  I am a bumbling idiot.

  So familiar….

  Uniform.

  Spit-shined shoes, knife-sharp pant creases, starched soft brown shirt, the hat, the belt. The 9 mm strapped to his side….

  Her throat ached to release a sob.

  A hand in the back of the room caught her eye. Danny.

&nbs
p; “What’s that cop doing here?” he barked. “He coming back?”

  Thrust back into reality, Kate gave him her full attention. Several students’ heads turned the boy’s way. It was the first time they had heard Danny speak out in class.

  “All right. I see puzzled faces. Let’s put our things away and I’ll explain.” She waited as they folded papers and stashed away pencils and books.

  Chapter Two

  After the math quiz, Kate couldn’t get the children outside fast enough. They were all antsy and wound-up, especially after she’d talked with them about Trooper Lehmann. But now, as she scanned the playground for her students, she sighed….

  Enough is enough.

  Her heart pounding, Kate stepped closer to Danny. Recess was no better this afternoon than any other. The boy was so out of place. A loner. She watched as he walked along the edge of the building, kicking at stones and dirt, his head lowered, hands pushed deep in his pants pockets. So determined was she to get some sort of conversation out of this child, she blocked out all other activity on the playground.

  “Danny?”

  He stopped his shuffling feet, hands still in his pockets, and stood for several seconds studying her face before he spoke. “You think I’m some kind of loser don’t you,” he challenged.

  Not the reaction she’d expected.

  “No, actually, I don’t. Why would you say that?”

  “I’ve been watching you, watching me. I can see it in your eyes. I can read adults like a goddamn book.”

  She tried hard not to react. “Oh? And what can you read about me?”

  He kicked a large stone and watched it zing off a nearby jungle-gym. Kate cringed, glad no children were nearby. Then he turned and looked her full in the face. “You’re wondering how you got stuck with me, some reject kid, too old and too bad for your neat little classroom. Wondering what you did to deserve me. I’ll bet you even wanna know how long it’s gonna be before I go off or something, huh? You’re no different from the rest.”