Rancher's Deadly Risk by Rachel Lee Page B

interested in the first place. Maybe she ought to take his aversion as some kind of compliment—aversion was a long way removed from indifference—because clearly she was having an impact on him.
    Just not the kind of impact she would have liked.
    Unfortunately, Monday night had not just been fun. He’d managed to stir her interest in him beyond being attracted to his good looks, to being attracted by the kind of guy he seemed to be—a man of many talents and interests who appeared to have a good heart. The kind who were usually married with children by the time they crossed her path.
    Much as she tried to get her thoughts to behave, to focus on work, teaching, the bullying program and settling into her new place in the world, Linc kept drifting through them. When he did, all other concerns vanished. She’d wander off into some girlish daydream in which he somehow wanted her, wanted to be with her.
    Ah, she was getting too old for this. That kind of thinking was better suited to the kids they had just met with, not to a grown woman who’d already experienced her share of dings and knocks from dating. She even had a few permanent dents, so why wish for the unobtainable?
    It struck her that wishing for the unobtainable might be a way of keeping herself safe. Oh, boy, she hoped she wasn’t that far gone.
    She had just climbed out of her car and started walking toward the store when an angry woman approached her. Cassie judged her to be about forty, showing signs of too much sun and wind, with hair almost as dry as straw. A ranch wife? she wondered.
    “You!” The woman said the word sharply, taking her hand off the handle of her cart to wag a finger at Cassie.
    Startled, Cassie stopped. “Yes?” she said uncertainly.
    “It’s your fault my boy is on detention today. I know my boy. He never shoved you. You’d better watch your step, lady, because if you want to lie about my kid, you won’t be in this county for long.”
    Cassie’s jaw dropped. She didn’t know what to say. Les hadn’t wanted her to bring James into it, but she hadn’t expected him to tell the parents that those boys had shoved her. They hadn’t been that forceful, even though the way they had brushed her had felt like a warning of what they could do. She thought Les was just going to say that they had defied her authority.
    “Ma’am...” But what exactly could she say? Before she could marshal her words, the woman was storming away, cussing in a low voice.
    Well, wasn’t that lovely, she thought, her mood souring as she headed into the store. She wasn’t going to chase that woman across the parking lot and have a public fight with her, and even if she thought of anything to say that didn’t involve what had happened to James, it wouldn’t matter. Clearly the woman had made up her mind. She wondered if one of the other teachers would be able to identify her by description.
    But did she really want to know?
    Damn. Sighing, she pulled a cart from the line, yanking with more force than necessary, and tried to school her face to a pleasant expression as she walked into the store.
    She felt a change inside, though. Almost like the way you could feel your ears begin to respond to changes in altitude in an airplane. As she entered it was impossible not to notice that the store was quieter than usual. That people looked at her. That the usually friendly expressions weren’t there.
    So the parking-lot lady must have been talking.
    Her mood sank even more. It would have been nice to just walk out. This would pass, after all, unless those bullies got themselves into trouble again. It was just a detention, no big deal. So she paused to look at a display near the door, one that held no interest for her, and tried to ignore the way her neck prickled with uncomfortable awareness. She could almost feel eyes boring into the back of her head.
    Then, as if someone threw a switch, the store returned to normal. Carts started squeaking up and down aisles, a