[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
while we have our tutoring session.
He nodded an acknowledgement at Jennie, who stared at him curiously before
nodding back with a slight smile. Shifting his books under his arm, he raised an eyebrow
and pointed to the back of the classroom.
Yes. We ll sit there. Go ahead. I ll be right with you.
Catherine provided Jennie with her grade book so she could enter the scores on the
tests, and thanked her for helping out. As she walked toward Jim, a shaft of sunlight from
the window shone on his hair, illuminating strands of copper in the silky black. The
memory of his mouth covering hers, his hands pressed against her back, flashed through
her. Swallowing, Catherine suppressed the images as she sat down beside him.
His book was open, and he handed her the homework assignment she d given him
the previous week; simple sentences composed of the words he d learned.
With her eyes on the work and with Jennie in the room, it was easier to put
inappropriate thoughts out of her mind and concentrate on teaching. Today, let s try
reading from the McGuffey primer.
If his gaze lingered a few seconds too long while reading her lips, Catherine ignored
it as she opened the textbook to the little stories intended for elementary readers. She set
her finger under the line of type and moved it along slowly. Run, Spot, run. The book s
illustrations made it easy to follow and very soon they d worked through several pages.
She asked Jim a few questions to test his comprehension of the words, and he printed his
answers on the slate. On his own accord, he wrote a sentence based on his new
vocabulary. Cat eats rat.
He printed his name and indicated himself, before pointing to her with raised
eyebrows.
Miss Johnson, she said, and wrote the long name on paper.
He copied it with chalk on his slate. Dimples flashed in his cheeks as he added two
more words like cat.
Catherine leaned to make the correction. Likes cats.
Jim s hand moved farther down the slate to write another short sentence. Jim likes&
Pausing, he gazed at her with significant meaning in his dark eyes, then finished the
sentence cats.
Her throat was dry and her heart pounded from that brief, intense look. It was really
too much. She had to gain better control of herself and not encourage his flirting by
staring moon-eyed at him.
They d only worked together for an hour, but she decided to end the lesson. You ve
learned a lot, Mr. Kinney. Well done. But our time is up. I have assignments to prepare
for tomorrow s class and essays to grade.
She d almost forgotten Jennie s presence in the room, but a quick glance at the
teacher s desk showed her the girl was so concentrated on her work she wasn t even
aware of them. Catherine rose from the desk, putting some space between herself and Jim
with his intoxicating aroma of hay and horses.
He stood and collected his things. She noted his displeasure at the short lesson in his
tense mouth, but he smiled and mouthed, Thank you.
You re welcome. We ll continue tomorrow.
He nodded, turned and strode to the door.
It closed behind him and an empty feeling like dry leaves scudding down a vacant
street swept through her. Silly to be so deeply affected by his arrival and his leaving. Silly
and wrong. Why couldn t she control these feelings tumbling through her for a man she
barely knew?
Catherine walked to the front of the room, where Jennie was so intent on her work
she hadn t even heard Jim leave. When she saw what the girl was doing instead of
grading papers, Catherine choked back a laugh. A page of Mrs. Ned Hildebrandt and
Jennifer A. Hildebrandt in elegant script lay on the desk, and Jennie currently appeared
to be writing a poem.
Suddenly aware of her presence, Jennie s head shot up and she shuffled her papers
together. She blushed and rose, handing Catherine a stack of schoolwork. I did grade
them, but then I got distracted.
It s all right, Jennie. Girls daydream about boys sometimes.
He s in my mind all the time. I can t stop thinking of him, Jennie confided, as she
put her books and papers in her school bag.
I know just what you mean. Feeling she should give the girl rational advice rather
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]