The Lawman's Romance Lesson

by Marie Ferrarella

  Daniel was about to say no, then admitted, “I don’t know.”

  “Want to talk about it?” Rick Santiago asked, picking that moment to walk into the room to get himself a cup of coffee. He paused by the space between the two deputies’ desks.

  “Not particularly,” Daniel answered honestly.

  Talking to Miss Joan this morning had been something out of the ordinary for him. He usually kept things to himself and at this point, he felt pretty close to being talked out.

  However, it looked as if the sheriff had other ideas on the matter.

  “Three heads are better than one, Tallchief,” Rick told him. “Even if two of those heads are more stubborn than sin,” he added.

  Daniel thought it might be better for everyone all around if he kept his own counsel for the time being. “I think this is something that I need to work out on my own.”

  “Whatever it is that you’re working out, is it going to interfere with work?” Rick asked.

  Daniel gave his superior a look. “You know me better than that, Sheriff.”

  But the expression on Rick’s face was skeptical. “Trouble is, I’m not sure I really know you at all, Tallchief. I appreciate you being self-sufficient and wanting to handle things on your own,” he told his deputy, “but you need to know when to ask for help.”

  Daniel gave it one last try. “I don’t need help...exactly,” he amended.

  The sheriff moved closer to him. “But?” Rick asked, waiting to hear the rest of the man’s sentence.

  Daniel paused, thinking. He supposed it wouldn’t hurt things if he asked a few general questions—just in case he was being too lax about what was going on with his sister’s behavior.

  “But my sister’s driving me crazy,” he finally told the other two men.

  Rick laughed in response, something Daniel hadn’t expected. “Been there,” the man told him.

  Joe looked at the sheriff sharply. “No offense, Sheriff, but that’s my wife you’re commenting on.”

  Rick grinned. “And she’s your problem now. Don’t mind telling you that you’re having a lot better luck getting along with her than I did,” Rick admitted. “Of course, Ramona’s done a great deal of growing up in the last ten years.”

  Daniel listened to the two men he’d come to admire and respect over the course of the past couple of years talk. And as he listened, the wall that he kept around himself and his thoughts began to soften and recede to an extent. So much so that he felt that perhaps it wouldn’t be interpreted as a sign of weakness if he did ask some questions.

  But just before he was about to, he suddenly remembered the woman he’d run into at Murphy’s the other night. She’d said something about butting heads with headstrong students. That was the best description of his sister that he’d come across recently. A headstrong student.

  “Either one of you know anything about that physics teacher at the high school?” he asked the other two men.

  Both men stopped talking and turned to look at Daniel. One smile seemed to spread across two faces.

  “Why?” Joe asked.

  “You interested?” Rick asked.

  Daniel looked at his superior as if the question was too ludicrous to even consider. Instead, he told the two men, “I think she might be Elena’s teacher. I was just wondering if she’s the kind of teacher to inspire her students to study hard and change their outlook when it comes to doing well.”

  “I could ask around,” Rick told him.

  “Might be better if you asked her that yourself,” Joe suggested.

  Rick nodded, changing his mind about his initial offer. “What he said,” he told Daniel.

  Daniel had the eerie feeling that somewhere, Fate had just cast a die.

  Chapter Six

  More than twenty-four hours later, Daniel was still debating whether or not to drop by Forever’s high school and introduce himself to the woman he’d probably already met at Murphy’s.

  Since no names had been exchanged that evening, Daniel was uneasy that Elena’s teacher would naturally jump to the conclusion that he was merely trying to complete the pass he had initiated at their first meeting. Therefore, she might not believe that his real reason for going out of his way to talk to her was because he wanted to know what he could do to help encourage his sister with her studies.

  But apparently, he realized as he walked into the office, the decision to make that first step had been taken out of his hands.

  He had just come back after breaking up a dispute between two ranchers who weren’t seeing eye to eye about where one property line ended and the other began. Two steps into the office he became aware that there was someone talking to the sheriff.

  A female someone.

  Daniel wasn’t generally in the habit of eavesdropping, but the sound of the low, melodic voice caught his attention immediately, even before he could make out any of the woman’s words.

  Going over a report at his desk, Joe happened to look up, and he noticed the attentiveness on Daniel’s face. He observed Daniel for a moment before making any sort of a comment.

  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you look like a bird dog that just realized he’d had a quail walk across his path.”

  Annoyed, Daniel waved his hand at the senior deputy, implying that Joe should be quiet.

  Daniel strained to listen more closely.

  The next moment, he realized that it wasn’t his imagination playing tricks on him. He would have recognized that voice anywhere. Not to mention that shapely figure.

  It was the woman from Murphy’s saloon, the one he was almost certain was Elena’s teacher.

  What was she doing talking to the sheriff? Had something gone wrong at the high school?

  Had...?

  And then there was no time left for any more speculation. Because the sheriff was escorting the woman out, bringing her into the general area where the deputies sat.

  “Tallchief, I need a word.” The sheriff beckoned him over to where he and the woman were standing.

  Concern ricocheted through Daniel with each step he took as he approached them.

  “Sheriff?” he asked, finding it less disconcerting to center his attention strictly on his superior instead of on the woman standing next to Santiago.

  Maybe he could have pulled it off if the woman had been less compelling. But she wasn’t. She was the kind of woman who immediately drew all eyes to her whenever she entered a room, even one that might have been filled with other beautiful women—which was definitely not the case this time.

  Once his eyes met hers, Daniel nodded a silent greeting, doing his best not to focus on the fact that this woman by her mere presence was causing his stomach to pull into itself and all but tie itself up in a knot.

  It had been a long time since he’d felt that way—and that had ended in a disaster, he reminded himself.

  He felt barriers going up. Protective barriers.

  “Ms. Stewart would like a word with you,” Rick told Daniel, his expression giving nothing away, including the fact that the three of them had just discussed this woman a little more than twenty-four hours ago. “Why don’t you use my office?”

  The suggestion was made not to Daniel but to the woman, who it was becoming apparent had come here to speak to him, not the sheriff.

  “That’s very generous of you, Sheriff,” Shania told him, then asked, “Are you sure it’s all right? I can just as easily talk to your deputy outside.”

  “My office will afford you more privacy,” Rick answered. “Go ahead. Go right in.”

  Because there were now questions burning in his chest—was the offer for privacy because the sheriff had anticipated this would hit him hard?—Daniel made no effort to turn down the offer. Instead, he quickly followed the woman into the sheriff’s office and closed the door behind them.
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  The second the reassuring click signifying their separation from the others was heard, Daniel couldn’t restrain himself any longer. He had to know. “What’s wrong?”

  Shania looked at him, surprised by his question. “What makes you think that there’s something wrong?”

  “Well, for one thing, I can’t think of a single reason for a teacher to come into the sheriff’s office that doesn’t have some sort of a dark explanation attached to it,” Daniel told her.

  Shania smiled. “I can see that you’re not the Neanderthal that Elena claimed you are, but you’re certainly not given to having optimistic thoughts, are you?”

  For a moment, he thought of asking her if she remembered their brief encounter at Murphy’s. But given the situation, it really made no difference right now. Instead, he addressed her comment.

  “Elena hasn’t given me any reason to harbor any optimistic thoughts,” he told her, reacting more defensively than he would have thought he would. He ordinarily just allowed things to unfold before him, but Elena was too important for him to merely passively stand by, waiting for questions to be answered.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that if I were you. Your sister is a very bright girl who exhibits a great deal of potential—”

  Daniel swept away the woman’s flattering statement to get down to what he felt was the actual crux of the matter.

  “Which my sister seems pretty set on squandering away,” he pointed out.

  She needed him to see that his sister was really trying hard now. “Elena struck a bargain with me that she was going to give studying another try for a short period of time...”

  Daniel looked at the attractive teacher, wondering how well she handled disappointment. As for him, he didn’t expect any sort of decent breakthrough to take place. “Emphasis on the word ‘short.’” It was more of a statement than a question.

  She was beginning to understand why Elena would find her brother’s reactions daunting. “I thought that maybe you could encourage her, let her know how proud you are of her for trying so hard.”

  “You don’t know my sister,” he told her. “The second I say anything to her that even remotely sounds like an opinion about anything, she’s going to do the exact opposite.”

  “Then don’t say it,” Shania answered simply.

  Daniel looked at her as if he thought she was just babbling nonsense.

  “How’s that again?”

  Shania took a breath and did her best to put it in a different way.

  “Don’t say—do,” she told the deputy. But she could see that Daniel still didn’t get what she was telling him, so she spelled it out, citing something specific—and positive—he could do. “Take down that surveillance camera you put up by the front door.”

  “Elena told you about that?”

  “Yes, she did. And, more importantly,” Shania told him, “I could see how you putting that up made her feel. Like you didn’t trust her.”

  His first instinct was to deny her assumption, but he knew that wouldn’t help accomplish anything. Not to mention that it wasn’t true.

  “I didn’t—I don’t,” Daniel stressed.

  “Elena is only going to behave the way you expect her to behave,” Shania told him.

  He frowned. “Yeah, well, she’s already shown me that she can’t be trusted. How am I supposed to build on that?”

  “Here’s an idea,” Shania suggested gamely. “Why don’t you trust her and let her live up to that image?”

  Daniel stared at the teacher as if what she’d just espoused was nothing short of crazy. She had to know that, he thought.

  “She’s a sixteen-year-old girl. Do you have any idea what can happen to a sixteen-year-old girl running wild like that?”

  The man was allowing his imagination to run away with him.

  “I think you might be exaggerating, Deputy Tallchief. Elena wouldn’t run wild. Besides, Forever is a decent, quiet little town,” she reminded Daniel.

  But he shook his head. The woman was obviously missing a very crucial point.

  “Teenagers are still teenagers. At sixteen, they all think they’re immortal and their hormones run hot.”

  “Short of putting her in a tower and periodically cutting off her hair, there’s not much you can reasonably do.” When she saw the deputy’s eyebrows draw together over eyes that regarded her in total confusion, she made a guess that her reference had gone right over his handsome head. In his defense, she supposed that the man probably wasn’t the type who had ever read any fairy tales when he was growing up.

  “Rapunzel?” she told him, but the name, like the reference, meant nothing to him. She tried again. “There’s only so much you can do to ensure Elena’s safety before she starts to feel like she’s in prison. So, instead, why don’t you get her to want to live up to your standards because it’s the right thing to do?”

  She could see that he didn’t think very much of her idea, but, on the plus side, he wasn’t dismissing it out of hand, either. There was hope.

  Shania went over her suggestion again. “Take down the camera. Also, tell her you and I had a parent-teacher conference and that you’re proud of the progress she’s made.”

  “In other words, you want me to lie to her.”

  Instead of answering him, Shania took a folder out of her purse. She spread out a number of papers she had placed inside the folder. “Take a look at your sister’s latest tests scores.”

  Daniel did as she suggested and then he raised his eyes to Shania’s. He was clearly surprised by what he’d just seen.

  “Elena never said anything about doing well on her tests.”

  “Your sister’s not the type to brag,” she told Daniel. “Don’t you know that about her?” Putting the pages back into the folder, then tucking the folder into her purse, Shania turned her attention back to Elena’s brother. “Did you ever even ask her about her test scores?”

  Guilt made him react defensively. “How was I supposed to know she took any?”

  “Seriously?” Shania asked. “She’s in high school, Deputy Tallchief. She’s always taking tests. That’s what students do. And, just so you know, my students are going to be getting ready to take their PSATs next month. I’ll be holding practice sessions for anyone who wants to take them after hours and on Saturdays.”

  That sounded like a lot of extra work for the teacher, Daniel thought. Didn’t the woman have a life? Or was she just really, really dedicated?

  He took a guess at why the woman had said anything to him about the sessions. “And you want me to talk her into taking them?”

  “No, I just wanted you to know that she won’t be out running around. Elena will be staying after hours to take these practice tests,” Shania told him. “She’s already signed up.”

  That did surprise him. “She is?”

  “She is,” Shania answered. “As a matter of fact, your sister was the first one to put her name down on the list.”

  Daniel didn’t even pretend that he wasn’t impressed by all this. And he gave the credit where it was due. At this woman’s feet.

  “You got her to do all this?” he marveled.

  “I really didn’t ‘get’ her to do anything,” Shania corrected him. “I just made suggestions. Elena’s the one who took those suggestions to their logical conclusion. You know your sister well enough to know that I couldn’t have made her do anything if she didn’t want to.”

  He laughed shortly. Maybe Elena’s teacher did understand what he was up against after all. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

  “What I will tell you,” Shania said, picking up on the deputy’s phrase, “is to try to spend a little time with Elena—not telling her to do something,” she pointed out, “but just doing something with her.”

  These days Elena had made it clear that she didn’t want to do anything wi
th him. He was busy with work and she was hardly ever home. And when she was home, she was locked up in her room. Now he knew she was obviously studying in there.

  Since this woman seemed to have all the answers, he swallowed his pride and asked, “Like what?”

  “Like—” Her voice trailed off for a moment as she tried to think. “What did you used to do with her when she was younger?”

  One thing came to mind and that in turn made him laugh. Shania looked at him quizzically, so he explained, “Elena’s a little too big to give her a pony ride on my back.”

  “True,” Shania agreed. “But she’s not too big for the two of you to go out horseback riding.”

  He had no idea how to even get Elena to agree to that idea. “Just like that?”

  “Why not?” Shania asked. “My cousin and I used to go out riding on the weekends. It rejuvenates you and gives the two of you the opportunity to talk. Going out like that clears your head, makes you feel closer to nature. And that’s kind of important.”

  Daniel stopped her right there. “Because we’re Navajo?”

  No doubt about it. Under all that self-assured manliness, the man definitely had a chip on his shoulder, she thought.

  “Because we’re people,” Shania answered simply.

  “I wasn’t talking about you,” he told her. “I was talking about my sister and me.”

  “I was thinking about my cousin and myself,” she clarified. “And before you ask, Wynona and I are part Navajo. Actually,” she amended, “we’re three-quarters Navajo.”

  He shrugged. Maybe he did take offense a little too quickly sometimes. “That’s none of my business.”

  “I didn’t say it was,” she pointed out. “But it’s also nothing I’m ashamed of. I’m proud of where I came from and what I’ve managed to become.” Maybe it would help if she shared a little of her own story with this solemn man. “I’m not sure if I would have been where I am if it hadn’t been for my great-aunt helping out, but even if she hadn’t been there for me, I knew I wasn’t going to wallow in self-pity and do nothing my whole life.