Prince Michael, who considered his daughters’ purpose in life to be purely decorative, anyway, hadn’t objected to her visit since he assumed she was planning to make herself even more alluring in order to appeal to one of the young men he would soon begin parading before her. The thought of that old-fashioned idea made her fume. She wouldn’t think about that right now, though.
Jace opened his mouth to say something, but she barreled ahead. “Now that you’ve decided I can stay, why don’t you show me to the school, so I can get started? There’s a great deal to be done before the first day.”
She held her breath, thinking he was going to question her further, but after a long moment in which he seemed to be trying to see right inside her head, he nodded slowly and said, “All right. You can drive your car over there and park it by the teacherage.”
Relieved, she nodded and broke into a wide smile that made her face glow. “Teacherage,” she breathed in delight. “That sounds so…”
“Old-fashioned,” he supplied with a lift of his brow. “Out-of-date?”
“Respectable,” she answered and saw surprise flicker in his eyes. “Remember that in the days of the Old West, the local teacher was the one people came to for information or to have disputes settled.”
This time his eyes narrowed and he gave her another long look. She wished he wouldn’t do that. It was unnerving. A lifetime of adeptness at hiding her thoughts seemed to do no good around him.
“You don’t think you’re in the Old West, do you?”
“No, of course not.” Alexis clasped her hands at her waist. She didn’t know how she could explain what she meant. If she told him how delighted she was to have the job, to be living in this remote corner of Arizona away from prying eyes and from her wellmeaning but meddling family, he might become suspicious of her and her abilities.
Evasively, she cleared her throat. “Well, never mind that.” She turned away from his too-penetrating gaze and said, “Let me get my things and I’ll be right with you.” She dashed to her room where she grabbed her things, made sure the place was neat, and then met Jace outside.
One of the twins had brought her car around front and she was dismayed to see the dent she’d put in the back fender. At least only a few people knew about it, she thought, with the instinctive reaction of someone whose family had long been stalked by the paparazzi. In Inbourg, the accident would have been front page news in their tiny weekly newspaper. In Sleepy River, it hardly mattered. She knew Rachel would trust her to have the damage repaired.
Jace drove by in a dark blue pickup truck and called out, “Follow me,” as he passed.
She doubted that he would be willing to wait long, so Alexis tumbled into her car and followed, wincing at the sight of the burned area of grass. She sincerely hoped it would grow back quickly and the near-disaster would be forgotten. Of course, there was still the matter of what to do about the heirloom quilt she’d ruined, but she decided to worry about that another time. She was determined to handle her problems like one of those American television martial arts experts handled the bad guys—one at a time.
Halfway down the lane leading to the highway, Jace turned off on a road she hadn’t noticed the night before. Through towering trees that almost scraped the sides of the car, they emerged into an open field that held a small white schoolhouse, an even smaller cottage and a baseball diamond.
Alexis’s happy gaze swept the area, then lighted dubiously on the ball field. She hoped no one expected her to coach baseball. She knew very little about it. Tennis, now, that was something she could coach, but she didn’t think she’d be called on to do so.
Her eyes were drawn back to the school and teacherage, pleased that everything looked to be in good repair. She stopped the car and bounced out, then up the ramp that led to the front door of the school.
Jace had stepped from his truck and was following her actions with puzzlement. “Don’t you want to see where you’re going to live?”
“Later,” she said, waving her hand airily. She tried the knob and found that it was locked. “Do you have the key?”
“I’m the school board president,” he grumbled, following her. “Of course, I’ve got the key.”
He sounded so grumpy, Alexis had to resist the urge to laugh. Instead, she stood back and let him open the door and push it open for her. When Jace stood back, she stepped inside and took an excited scan of the place.
“Oh, this is much more modern than I’d expected,” she said, seeing the teacher’s desk in the corner, a double row of students’ desks, supply cabinets and a line of computers along one wall.
“What did you expect?” Jace asked. “Teacher’s desk on a raised platform? A wood-burning stove in the corner?” He chuckled. “A two-holer outhouse instead of a rest room?”
A blush washed over her cheeks as she glanced at him. He was teasing her. And that sound he’d made. Could that have been a laugh? She gave him a smile and he seemed to recall who she was—the woman who’d set fire to his grass. He scowled.
“I’m only surprised that there’s such modern equipment up here in the mountains.” She indicated the row of computers. “This will make my job much easier.”
Jace gave her an interested look. “You know quite a bit about using these things, hmm?”
She stepped forward to open a cabinet and was pleased to see it was stacked neatly full of reams of paper and boxes of pencils. Absently, she answered him. “Yes. I’ve taken classes and I helped Bevins work up spreadsheets to keep track of expenses and make an inventory of the wine cellar.” She glanced around at the bookcases full of textbooks and the open shelves of art supplies. She was becoming more and more excited about her first school. This was going to be wonderful. She could arrange her curriculum to take advantage of the students’ real interests.
“Wine cellar?” Jace asked in a level tone.
Alexis blinked. “What?” The scowl on Jace’s face had deepened.
“You said you helped Bevins inventory the wine cellar.”
“Oh, I did?” Her hand fluttered up to fiddle with the collar of her shirt. Darn, why hadn’t she been paying attention to what was coming out of her mouth?
“You did,” he assured her. “Who’s Bevins?”
She put her hands behind her back and rocked onto her toes nonchalantly as she avoided his gaze. “Oh, he’s a man who’s in charge of a very large wine cellar. Did you go to school here?” she asked brightly.
He frowned at her abrupt evasiveness and she sighed inwardly. He was becoming suspicious of her and there didn’t seem to be anything she could do about it. Subtlety had never been her strongest trait, which was another reason she’d been kept out of the glare of publicity. Any nosy reporter asking her a question was likely to receive a rude response.
“Yes, I did, but eventually the school closed and we were bussed into Morenci. It was a long trip for all of us kids, and hard because we had chores. My dad wasn’t one to let me off just because…”
Interested, Alexis stared into his dark eyes, seeing something flash in their brown depths. Was it regret? And was the regret because of those long bus trips of his childhood, followed by chores, or because he’d almost said something personal?
“Just because of what?” she prompted.
His frown deepened. “Never mind. It doesn’t concern you.”
Stung, she straightened. Obviously, subtlety wasn’t his strong point, either.
Gifting him with the down-the-nose look that all good teachers develop early, she said, “Why don’t you show me the house now? I might as well get settled in so I can start work.”
Jace nodded and for an instant, she thought he looked relieved that she wasn’t going to ask him any more questions. It annoyed her that he was so willing to ask them, but was unwilling to answer them.
However, given her own secrets, she couldn’t complain. Besides, theirs was a working relationship, after all, not a friendly one. No matter how much he intrigued her, she needed to rememb
er that.
She took her suitcase, which he easily lifted from her hand and carried up the steps to the tiny porch. A sturdy old Adirondack chair sat there, and she envisioned herself on fine fall evenings, sitting in it quietly enjoying the peace.
Jace unlocked the door and pushed it open, then handed her the key before stepping back to let her walk inside first. He seemed to realize immediately that it was a mistake because he cleared his throat and said, “Some of the mothers of the students intended to come clean the place before you—I mean—the other teacher arrived, but you came early.”
“It’s all right,” she said quickly, glancing around. “I can do it.” The living room contained a sagging leather-covered couch that looked perfect for afternoon naps, a couple of mismatched chairs, tables and lamps. It was as if everyone in the neighborhood had brought something in for the teacherage, but hadn’t planned things out beforehand. She liked that.
Smiling, she walked through to the kitchen which besides the appliances, held a small table with two chairs. The bathroom was strictly utilitarian and the bedroom held only a bed and dresser. The mattress looked as though it had cornered the market on lumps, but she thought she could survive it for a few months.
When she didn’t say anything, Jace seemed to feel the need to fill up the silence.
“No one’s lived here in years,” he said, walking around the living room, putting up the shades and opening the windows. “The regular teacher, Martha Singleton is married to a local rancher and has her own home.” He looked around the room with dismay. Dust lay thick on every surface. “Not exactly a palace, is it?” he asked ruefully.
“No,” Alexis answered firmly, thinking of the perfection Bevins maintained, the battles over repair budgets for the four-hundred-year-old structure that was her family home, the vast numbers of people who came and went at all hours of the day and night. “It certainly isn’t.”
He seemed to misunderstand the emphasis she’d put on the words. “It’s the only place available,” he told her with a hint of defensiveness. “I’m the closest neighbor to the school, but you can’t live at my house. Rocky and Gil would never get a lick of work done. As it is, it’ll probably take them a week to recover from breakfast this morning.”
Insulted, she stared at him. “I was hardly trying to entice them, you know.”
“You don’t have to try,” he said, throwing out a hand in a tight little gesture of frustration. “Having you around, having any woman around, throws everything off, and…” He broke off and ran a hand through his hair. “Oh, for crying…” He took a breath and lumbered on while she stared at him, open-mouthed. “If you’re going to take the job, you have to stay here, at least until other arrangements can be made, though what those would be, I don’t know.”
She was beginning to get angry with him. “I never said this accommodation wasn’t suitable. This is fine. Perfectly fine.” For emphasis, she stomped across the room and flopped down on the sofa. A cloud of dust rose into the air, sending her into a coughing fit. Sneezing, she staggered to her feet, rubbing her itchy nose, and wiping her eyes. “It…ahchoo! Only needs a…a…ahchoo, a little cleaning.” Attempting to regain her dignity, she swiped tears from her eyes and wheezed, “I don’t need your help, but I’d like to…to…whoo…ahchoo, know one thing.” That sneeze doubled her over, but she straightened and glared at him.
“What’s that?” he asked warily, standing back from the line of fire she was maintaining with her sneezes.
“You have no children in the school, you don’t seem to want anything to do with it. Why are you the president of the school board?”
“Because it’s a small community and we have to take turns at the jobs. Last year, I had to be the one to deal with the county regarding our water pumping station. This year, that’s Dave Kramer’s job, and I’m school board president.”
“Well, I certainly don’t want to make your unwanted job harder, so I’ll call on you as little as possible,” she said primly. “Now that you’ve shown me inside, and given me the keys, I can take care of myself.”
He raised an eyebrow at her as if to say, “That’ll be the day.” Instead, he answered, “All right, then. I’ll go and let you get to work. The cupboards are stocked with dishes, pots and utensils, but you’ll have to go into town to get food. I can send Gil or Rocky if you don’t want…”
“I’ll take care of it, thank you,” she responded, lifting her chin. “I need to buy cleaning products, anyway.”
Jace strode toward the door, then paused as if he was going to say something else, but then thought better of it. “Goodbye, then,” he rapped out, and left, rattling the door in its frame and clumping across the porch.
Fool, he called himself once he was outside. Why had he made the idea of having her staying in his house sound like it would be a visit from Typhoid Mary? The truth was, that what with knocking down mailbox posts and setting fires, she’d livened the place up. He’d never seen his two hired hands so spiffed up for breakfast. It had made a nice change.
Jace headed for his truck, grabbed a pair of pliers and a wrench, and then made a U-turn and strode around to the back of the cottage to turn on her water and electricity, and make sure there was plenty of propane in the tank that supplied gas to her water heater and kitchen range.
As he wrenched the water valve open, he acknowledged that he’d snapped at her for the very same reason he’d tried to get rid of her earlier, because she unnerved him.
Well, he didn’t have to see much of her, he assured himself grimly. He would stay away from her, send one of his love-struck cowboys over to check on her. He was too damned busy, anyway, to spend time checking on the new schoolmarm, to trot over whenever she needed a nail hammered or a door unstuck. He had a ranch to run, for pity’s sake, plenty to think about and do.
There was no way he was going to lope through the woods like a faithful puppy whenever she needed something. He would finish this little job, and then be gone. One of the other board members, Stella Kramer, for instance, could handle things from here on out. After all, she had three kids in the school, so she had a reason to keep the teacher happy.
His job finished, his mind made up, Jace picked up his tools and started for his truck. His decision to stay away from Alexis lasted all of five seconds and ended at the precise moment he heard her scream.
Chapter Four
“What’s the matter?”
Alexis could hear Jace shouting to her as she sprinted out of the kitchen and into the living room. Panicked, she made a flying leap toward him. He caught her around the waist, then twirled her behind him as he searched the room for the threat.
“What is it, Alexis?” he asked, his gaze scanning the dusty room with its mismatched furniture.
“It’s…it’s in the kitchen. Something…a whole bunch of somethings…in the cupboard.” Her breath came in quick, sharp struggles for air. Somehow her hands had fisted into the front of his shirt and she was holding on for all she was worth. A part of her mind told her she ought to let go, but she couldn’t just yet.
“I’ll take a look.” Jace started forward, then seemed to realize they were attached at the chest. His dark eyes curious, he glanced down at her white-knuckled hands clenching his shirtfront. In a mild voice, he said, “Uh, Alexis, you’re either going to have to let go or you’re going to have to come back in there with me.”
She stared into his face for a second. “What? Oh! Oh, no, I don’t want to do…” Heat flooded her face as she finally managed to uncurl her fingers from the fabric of his shirt and step back. “Sorry.” She cleared her throat. “I didn’t realize I was…Sorry.”
His eyes were serious, but she saw amusement kindling there. No doubt he now thought she was a nitwit as well as a firebug. She cleared her throat. “I’d appreciate it if you’d take a look.” She couldn’t quite meet his eyes so she stared at his mouth which seemed to be twitching in amusement. “I assure you that if it was some ordinary family of creatures I could
deal with it, but obviously these are a rare sort of…of Arizona mountain varmint that…that requires your expertise.”
His slight smile bloomed into a full grin. “Oh, really? Well, I’ll go take a look and see if I can get rid of this bunch of varmints on my own, or if I’ll need to call in all the neighbors and the Arizona National Guard.”
She lifted her chin. “Thank you.”
With a shake of his head, he started toward the kitchen.
“Jace,” she quavered, stopping him.
“What?”
Alexis gulped, her eyes wide. “Be careful. Whatever those things are, they might be rabid. They looked rabid.” She lifted her hands and formed them into claws. “Big yellow eyes. Even bigger yellow teeth.”
The corner of his mouth crooked as if he was trying not to laugh, but he gave a single nod.
Cautiously, Alexis trailed along in his wake even as she berated herself for her ridiculous display of panic. She’d been surprised, that’s all. And she really didn’t deal well with little scurrying creatures who squawked and screeched when they were surprised. She lingered near the door.
In the kitchen, Jace stopped and cocked an eyebrow at her. “Which cupboard?”
“The one on the right-hand side of the sink, next to the window. Be careful,” she warned again as he reached for the scarred old wooden door.
He cracked the door open and peeked inside. More scurrying followed and he quickly shut the cupboard, holding it firmly closed. “You’re right,” he said solemnly. “These are wild, dangerous mountain creatures. Living in these mountains has caused them to morph into vicious, feral beings the likes of which modern science has never seen.”
Eyes wide, Alexis gulped. “Really? What…what are they?”
He dropped the solemn look and rolled his eyes. “Ordinary tree squirrels,” he said. “Step back.” When she did so, he stretched over to open the back door, then threw the cupboard door wide and banged the underside of the cabinet with his massive fist.
The Runaway Princess Page 4
