It Started with a Cowboy

by Jennie Marts

  “I was just so frazzled. I never run late. But with the snow this morning and Agatha being sick and seeing poor Maddie out in the storm with no boots, then running into you—” She clasped a hand to her mouth. “Oh no. Should we be calling the police? Exchanging insurance information? Is this going to raise my rates? I’ve never been in an accident.”

  He could barely keep up with the way she jumped from subject to subject, but he liked to hear her talk. “Don’t worry about it. We’re on cold reporting this morning anyway, so the police only want you calling in if someone is hurt. And no one was hurt.”

  “Thank goodness.” She shook her head, sending another wave of honeysuckle scent swirling through the air. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything had happened to Maddie.” She looked up at him from under dark snowflake-dotted lashes, her eyes round and sincere, as she whispered, “Or you.”

  A hard pull of protectiveness and need spun through his gut. This woman got to him. He wanted to pull her close, to hold her against him and protect her, while at the same time he wanted to capture her pretty, pink bow-shaped lips with his and kiss her proper—and thoroughly.

  It had been a long time since a woman had gotten to him—a long time since he’d let a woman get to him. He’d learned years ago that it was easier not to take a chance at all than to risk taking a chance and having his hopes destroyed. He lived his life like that now—freewheeling through his days, taking life as it came, but never letting himself hope for something more. Until he’d met Chloe.

  Something about Chloe Bishop was poking the edges of his heart, as if looking for a soft place to sneak in. And he could feel those rough edges giving in—not breaking, but bending a little each time she offered him a bashful smile.

  He knew better than to hope though. The Colton Curse—the self-inflicted jinx that kept good things from happening to him—had hit too many times. Best to stick to the details, the everyday minutiae, and keep matters like feelings and possibilities at bay.

  “Don’t worry. No one got hurt. And the damage isn’t that bad. You weren’t even going fast enough for the air bag to deploy. We can worry about filing a report later.” He had no intention of reporting the accident. He was sure it hadn’t done any damage to his truck, and he didn’t want her to incur any kind of loss with her insurance. “I’ve got a buddy who runs the auto body shop in town, and he owes me a favor.” Justin really owed him about seventeen, but they’d quit counting a long time ago. “If you want to leave me your keys, I’ll have him come over and take a look at your car. He can tow it in to his shop if he thinks it needs it.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “Would you quit arguing with me, woman, and just let me help you out? I’m trying to be the hero here, and you’re seriously messing with my man card.”

  She grinned and pushed the keys into his hand. “Fine. I already crashed into the front of your truck. I don’t want to be responsible for wrecking your man card too. But make sure your buddy sends me the bill.”

  “Will do.” Not really. He doubted Justin would charge him for anything more than parts.

  Colt shielded the side of the car from her view as he opened the truck door and got her settled in the cab. He knew the car was going to need some major repairs—the front of the heavy plow had hit it just right, and the driver’s side door was completely crumpled in.

  Chloe and Maddie were buckled in by the time he got back around to his side and climbed into the truck. He’d left the engine running, and the cab was plenty warm. Although he imagined he was feeling warm for another reason—a petite-curly-haired-brunette-crushed-against-his-chest reason.

  He put the truck in reverse, and they all cringed at the screech of metal as the plow implement separated from the smashed-in side of the sedan.

  “Son of a beach chair. That’s loud,” Maddie cried, pressing her hands to her ears, the too-big mittens flopping over the tops of her fingers.

  Chloe looked down at her, a stern teacher expression on her face.

  “Sorry.” Maddie shrank back against the seat, the impish grin on her face implying that she wasn’t really that sorry.

  Colt pressed his lips together to keep from laughing as he pulled out and drove toward the school.

  Chapter 2

  The final bell rang at three o’clock, and after giving the children a last reminder to push in their chairs, Chloe dismissed them for the day.

  Relief flowed through her that this school day was finally over. Not that she didn’t like her job. She loved being a teacher, loved the kids, but this day had gone from bad to worse. She just wanted to go home, put her comfy sweats on, and curl up on the sofa with a warm cup of tea.

  Not that she would. Between grading papers, making two dozen cupcakes for the bake sale the next day, and figuring out what the heck she was going to do about her car, she still had hours of work ahead of her. She wasn’t ready to admit she also wanted to go home to where it was quiet so she could relive and analyze every moment of the time spent that morning with Colt. She still couldn’t believe she’d crashed into him. Of all the people in Creedence, Colorado, she had to run into the guy she’d been crushing on for the past two months, but had been too timid to say more than a few words to.

  Not that a guy like Colt James would ever take notice of her. She knew he was just being friendly and doing that gentlemanly thing that all the James brothers were known for, but she certainly took notice of him.

  She let out a dreamy sigh and clutched her planning book to her chest as she remembered how it had felt to be cradled in his arms as he’d carried her to his truck. He’d picked her up like she weighed nothing, and she’d wanted to cuddle against him, wanted to bury her face in his neck and inhale the scent of his aftershave. Heck, she’d wanted to lick him and claim him as hers.

  Stop it, she admonished herself, rolling her eyes at her own foolishness. Hadn’t she just established that there was no way a guy like Colt would be interested in her licking anything of his?

  Lord have mercy. Now all she could think about was licking him. Heat flared to her cheeks, and sweat gathered in the center of her back. She fanned herself with the planning book and let out another sigh as she looked around her classroom.

  Her brain had been too fuzzy with thoughts of Colt and her damaged car, and she’d let the last half hour of arts and crafts go longer than usual. Trails of gooey glitter and scraps of construction paper littered the craft table, and piles of books lay scattered on the floor in the reading corner. Normally she wouldn’t let the kids out until they’d cleaned all the stations and returned the room to its tidy state, but today she’d figured it would be easier to clean it herself than make the kids stay after the bell rang.

  It took her only a few minutes to wipe the tables clean and return the books to their assigned shelves. She pushed the last book neatly into place, then ran her fingers over the straightened spines. Her chest eased as she scanned the neatly ordered book corner. An overstuffed chair sat in one corner, and she’d arranged carpet squares in a perfect rectangle in front of the bookshelf.

  Each section of her classroom was organized and arranged so everything had a place and a purpose. She tried not to think too much about her need for tidiness, preferring to brush it off as a quirky part of her personality, but she knew the more she felt in control of her surroundings, the more she felt in control of her life. Her mom had left when she’d still been a kid, and the duties of cooking meals and keeping the house had fallen to Chloe. It didn’t take her long to figure out that the best way to keep her dad happy—to control his moods, to keep him from going to the dark place—was to keep the house clean and the chores done. And even though her dad was gone now, it still settled her to straighten and tidy and keep her surroundings neat. It wasn’t a full-blown obsession, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to go to bed with dishes left in the sink or leave for the day with her classr
oom in disarray. Even if she did have a million things she still needed to do that afternoon.

  A timid knock sounded at her door, and she looked up to see one of her former students standing just inside the room.

  “Hi, David,” she said, pushing to her feet.

  “Hi, Miss Bishop.” He stared at the floor as he shifted from one foot to the other. After a few seconds, he looked up and glanced around the room before nodding at the black-and-white guinea pig rustling in the cage sitting on the counter. “I was just wondering if I could come see Oreo.”

  “Yes, of course. Would you like to feed him a carrot?” She crossed to the mini-fridge behind her desk, pulled out a bag of baby carrots, and dumped several into a bowl.

  The boy shrugged and crossed to the cage. “Sure, I guess.” His coat was threadbare and hung loosely on his small frame. His dark hair was in need of a cut, and he brushed his bangs from his eyes before taking the bowl of carrots.

  “You know Oreo only likes to eat carrots if you eat one too,” she reminded him, her heart breaking as she watched him gingerly push a carrot into the cage before stuffing one in his mouth.

  David was in fourth grade now, but he had been one of her most challenging students a few years before. Not that he wasn’t bright enough; he was smart as a whip, but his home life often prohibited him from turning in his homework or, at times, just staying awake in class. He’d made excuses for a long time, then finally admitted that his family didn’t always have electricity and sometimes slept in a car or in the homeless shelter.

  Poverty was an issue for several of Chloe’s students, and she tried to bring in healthy treats once or twice a week. Plus she always kept extra snacks and protein bars in her classroom.

  She opened the cupboard above her head and drew out a box of graham crackers. She tore open the top of a fresh pack and held it toward him. “I was just about to have a cracker. You want one?”

  He shrugged again but took a cracker. She left the rest of the package on the counter and busied herself with straightening the art supplies next to the cage.

  “So what’s new? Anything exciting happening in fourth grade?” She kept her tone nonchalant, her focus on the tubes of glitter she was arranging by color.

  “Nothing much.” He kept his eyes trained on the guinea pig, pushing his finger through the bars of the cage to pet the end of the animal’s nose. His voice was soft, and he seemed to be talking to the guinea pig instead of her. “I got an A on my math quiz last week.”

  “Wow. That’s awesome. Good for you.” She expected to see his shoulders pull back with pride, but they stayed slumped forward. There had to be something else going on. “How’s your little sister doing?”

  “Fine.”

  Hmm. That wasn’t it. She tried a lighter approach, knowing he’d eventually get around to what was troubling him. “Read any good books lately?”

  He shook his head, and his eyes cast to the floor. “Nah. Miss Ledbetter doesn’t have as many books in her room as you do.”

  “Would you like to read a book?”

  He shrugged again. “Kinda. I’m supposed to read one at home and do a book report on it.”

  Chloe patiently waited, holding her tongue in hopes his would loosen.

  “But…ya see…we moved again, and it didn’t work out to bring all our stuff…so I don’t really have any books at my house right now.” He scratched at a small scab on the back of his hand. “And I don’t have my notebook anymore either.”

  Chloe pressed her lips together as a ball of anger burned in her chest. What was wrong with that Miss Ledbetter? How could she give out an assignment that some of the kids in class couldn’t complete? Joyce Ledbetter was new this year and seemed more concerned with hanging out and gossiping in the teachers’ lounge than taking her turn for recess duty. She’d tried to share some tidbit of a rumor with Chloe earlier in the year, but Chloe had shut her down and hadn’t spoken to her much after that. But this was unacceptable. So she’d be speaking to her now.

  Chloe tried to keep her own shoulders from slumping because she knew she wouldn’t actually confront Joyce. No matter how outraged she was, she didn’t have the guts it took to challenge another teacher. She avoided confrontation like the plague.

  But she was fearless when it came to helping her kids. And she could help David. She nodded to the bookshelf in the reading corner. “I’ve got plenty of books. Probably too many. In fact, you’d be doing me a favor if you took one or two of them home with you. It would make more room on my shelf. And then you’d have one to do your report on.”

  The boy let out his breath, and the tightness in his shoulders eased. “Yeah, I guess I could do that. If it would help you out and all.”

  “It really would. And I think I’ve got an extra notebook around here that’s cluttering up my cupboard.” She opened another cabinet and peered inside. Every summer, she combed the back-to-school sales and stocked up on extra supplies. Grabbing an extra pencil and a blue notebook from the stack, she passed them to David, then nodded toward the bookshelf. “Why don’t you go take a look and see if there are any books that interest you?”

  He tucked the notebook under his arm and grabbed the remaining graham crackers before crossing to the reading corner and plopping down in front of the books.

  Chloe busied herself with rinsing the carrot bowl as David pulled almost every book from the shelf and thumbed through them, scattering cracker crumbs across their pages as he tried to pick which two to take home.

  She didn’t care, didn’t even cringe, didn’t give a second thought to the mess she’d have to clean up or to the fact she’d be even later getting home. The smile on David’s face and the soft chuckle of laughter he gave as he found a book he liked were worth everything.

  “I found a couple,” he told her, holding up two.

  She peered at the books. “Great choices. But that one is the first in a series, so you should take the second one in the series too. In case it ends with a cliffhanger.” She handed him an extra book. “Let me know what you think, okay?”

  “Okay, I will.” He stared down at the toe of his shoe, a pink flush coloring his cheeks. “Thanks, Miss Bishop. You’re the best.”

  “You’re the best, David. I know your book report is going to be great.” She crossed to her desk and pulled out her drawer, then gave him the all-natural protein bar she’d been saving to eat after her classes ended for the day. “I always like to have one of these while I read. It helps me think clearly. You better take this one. Just in case.”

  He nodded. “Okay. Just in case.”

  She followed him out the door and watched him head down the hallway before turning and bumping directly into the hard-muscled chest of the object of her earlier licking fantasies.

  He grunted as he grabbed her shoulders to steady her. “Woman, you are bound and determined to wreck into me today, aren’t you?” he teased.

  “Colt, what are you doing here?” Her skin flushed. Her cheeks burned warm enough to roast marshmallows over.

  “I thought you might need a ride home.” He held up her snow boot. “And, since it hasn’t stopped snowing yet, I figured you’d be needing this.”

  Thankfully, she kept a pair of sneakers at school to wear when she had recess duty, so she hadn’t had to go shoeless all day, but her day had been so crazy, she hadn’t given much thought to what she was going to wear after school. Or to how she was going to get home.

  She took the boot from him. “Thank you. That was really thoughtful.”

  He shrugged. “It was no big deal. I was out anyway.”

  Of course. He was just being nice. He would do the same for anyone, she was sure. That’s just the kind of guy he was. Why would she think it had anything to do with her? She did nice things for people all the time. It didn’t mean she was attracted to them.

  “I just have a few things to finish up
, then I’ll be ready. If you don’t mind waiting a few minutes.”

  “I don’t mind.” He sauntered into her classroom and gazed around at all the things she had on the walls. “Your class is nice. Everything is so neat.”

  She flushed again. Like he’d just told her she was pretty instead of complimenting her on her organizational skills. “Thanks. I like to keep things organized.” She sidestepped around him as if trying to block the messy reading corner. “Usually, I mean.”

  He took a few steps closer and knelt down to gather a handful of books. His forearm brushed the side of her leg as he reached to put them back on the shelf. “I heard you with that kid before. You did a great job convincing him to take a few books and something to eat.”

  He was listening? Her cheeks burned hotter, and the side of her leg where he’d touched her felt like it was on fire.

  She should laugh off his compliment, dazzle him with her sparkling wit—do something, anything. But she couldn’t. Besides the fact that she was woefully lacking in sparkling wit, even when she wasn’t trying to talk to a devilishly handsome cowboy, her body felt so hot that if he said anything more, she was afraid she might spontaneously combust.

  But she had to say something. She swallowed. Focus on the student. “Thanks. He’s a good kid. He’s just had a rough life.”

  He nodded, obviously understanding. Holding a book up by one edge, he shook cracker crumbs from its pages. “He got a few crumbs on some of these.”

  “It’s fine,” she said, trying not to cringe as he pushed the rest of the books back onto the shelf. It was fine. She could always go back and straighten them tomorrow.

  He stood and turned to survey the rest of the room. “I like the bookworm.” He pointed to the segmented creature that circled the top of the room, each part of its body listing a child’s name and the book they’d finished reading.

  She caught her breath as his arm skimmed her shoulder when he pointed. She stared at his chest, her mouth dry. His jacket was unzipped, and a stray thread had broken in the seam on his shirt. She wanted to reach up and pull it. Maybe his shirt would come apart and fall off. That could happen.