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Lessons from the Heart

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Год написания книги
2018
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“No bother.” David tucked the posters under his arm, paid for the ink cartridge he was buying and followed her out the door. “Where’s your car?”

“Across the street. I like to walk in the park when I’m finished shopping.” She hurried her steps.

“That sounds like a good idea. Would you mind if I joined you?”

Did he think—? Erin jerked her head sideways to look at him. She’d disabuse him of that notion right now! “You don’t have to do that. I wasn’t hinting. I really do walk in the park whenever I come shopping.” She stopped beside her car and pushed the button on her key to unlock the trunk.

“I believe you.” David smiled down at her. “And even if you were hinting, I wouldn’t have asked to join you unless I wanted to.” His smile spread into a slow grin that paralyzed her lungs. “I was going to call and tell you I’ve finished the piece about the center and the new grant, but this way I get to tell you in person. The piece will be in the paper this Saturday.”

“Wonderful! Professor Stiles will be so pleased.” Erin put her shopping bag into the trunk. All right, Mr. Carlson, message received! You can take your charming grin and leave any time now, so I can start breathing normally again.

“Aha! What’s this I see? A word game?” David picked up the box he’d moved aside to make room for the poster boards.

Erin nodded. “I play it with the children. You’d be surprised at how quickly a five-year-old can catch on to the concept of crosswords.” She busied herself tying the handles of the plastic bag together so she wouldn’t have to look at him.

“I’ll bet you always win.”

“Well, of course I would if we played that way!” Erin shot David an annoyed look. What sort of teacher did he think she was pitting her wisdom against the children’s? He was grinning again. Hot blood swamped her cheeks. He’d been teasing her—and she’d risen to the bait. His grin widened when their gazes met and she went breathless again. Where was a paper bag when you needed one!

“How are you against someone your own age?”

“I beg your pardon?” He couldn’t mean—

“I challenge you to a game. Right here and now—on that table in the park.” David pointed. “But before you accept, remember—I’m a reporter. Words are my business. I never lose at word games.”

“Oh no?” Erin’s lungs started to function correctly. This she could handle! She smiled. “I believe you may have just opened yourself up for your first loss, Mr. Carlson.”

His eyes crinkled with amusement. “Because I’ll be playing against you?” He reached out and gripped the trunk lid with his free hand.

Erin shook her head. “No. Because God’s word says, ‘Pride goeth before destruction,’ and that warning you gave me sounded suspiciously like pride to me.”

“I see.” David studied her for a moment, then gave the box he held a shake that rattled the tiles inside. “And I say, that you, Miss Kelly, do not know the difference between pride and certainty.”

“Really?” Erin tipped her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at him, relieved that, for whatever reason, his high-voltage grin had faded into a low-amp smile. “And I say, you’re ready to take a tumble, Mr. Carlson. I accept your challenge.”

“Good!” The trunk lid thudded down, emphasizing the word. “Have you eaten?”

Erin shook her head. “Not yet.”

“Do you like subs?”

She nodded. “Yes, but—”

“Great!” He handed her the box. “You set up the game, while I run across the street and get a couple of subs—my treat. What’s your pleasure?”

She stared at him a moment, then acquiesced. She was hungry. “A half ham and cheese—easy on the oil.”

“Soda to drink?”

Not since Mr. Gorseman had drugged hers. She suppressed a shudder and shook her head. “I’ll have coffee and a chocolate-chip cookie.”

David’s grin returned. “A woman after my own taste buds! Okay, you’ve got it.” He pivoted.

“Wait!” She gave him an apologetic smile when he turned back. “I forgot to tell you I want three creamers with the coffee.”

“Three!” David gave her a look of absolute horror. “Are you sure you don’t want me to get you a cup of milk and just have them toss a spoonful of coffee in it?”

She grinned at his teasing. “Don’t be a coffee snob, David. I happen to like it that way. Three creamers.”

He gave an exaggerated shudder. “All right. To each their own. But it’s sacrilege.”

Erin watched him jog across the road, then turned and headed for the picnic table, not quite certain what had just happened. David Carlson was too charming for her own good. He had breached her defensive walls. But one simple word game in a public park couldn’t hurt.

“Ah, I’ve got one—torose.” David laid down his tiles. “Now, with the s added to graze and on a double-word square that will be forty-four points.”

“Wait a minute!” Erin laughed and shook her head. “I’ve never heard of torose. Use it in a sentence.”

David raised his left eyebrow and gave her a diabolical grin. “Are you challenging me, Miss Kelly?”

She lifted both her hands into the air in a gesture of surrender. “I don’t dare challenge you, Mr. Carlson. I learned my lesson on retene.” She gave a little laugh that reminded him of water flowing swiftly over rocks in a creek bed. “This request is for my edification only.”

“In that case…” David made a manly effort to pull his thoughts back from Erin to the game. “The stem of many plants is torose in nature.” He grinned. “That’s knobby to the uninformed.”

“Another new word learned for me—and another forty-four points earned for you.” Erin gave a magnified sigh. “I can see if I ever want to win a game with you, I’m going to have to start reading the dictionary in my spare time.” She jerked her gaze to his. “That was just a comment. I wasn’t implying anything.”

“I didn’t think you were.” David scanned her face. Tension had drawn the muscles taut. He smiled. “But it wouldn’t bother me if you were. I always grant a rematch. It’s only fair. I like to be a gracious winner.”

His teasing had the desired effect. Erin visibly relaxed and began to study the board. David studied her. What was it about the woman that undermined his determination to stay away from her? She wasn’t tall and blond, or sophisticated and classically beautiful like the women he usually dated. Quite the opposite. She only came up to his chin. And right now, her dark-red hair was held up on the top of her head with one of those puffy fabric things Brandee wouldn’t be caught dead in, and those little bits of hair that had popped free were driving him crazy!

David’s fingers twitched. He pulled his gaze away from the errant tresses and took inventory of the rest of Erin’s face. She had a sort of pert little nose. And great cheekbones. And her mouth… His went dry. It was dangerous to look at Erin’s mouth. She wore no lipstick and her lips looked so soft and inviting—

“—be forty-two, thank you very much!”

David snapped back to attention. “I’m sorry?”

Erin pointed at the board. “Squat—on a triple-word square. That will be forty-two points please.”

No extra long, fashionably painted nails. Just a nice, neat manicure. David picked up his pen and added her score. “That makes you twenty-seven points behind me.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “Not exactly a commanding lead for me.”

“Not exactly.”

Her answering grin took him like a fist in the stomach—again. He wasn’t sure he was going to survive many more such blows, but he couldn’t think of a nicer way to expire. He also couldn’t concentrate. He glanced at his tiles, then looked at the board. A drop of rain fell on the z in blaze and spattered across the checkered surface. Another fell. Then another.

“Uh-oh!” Erin reached for the box.

“I’ve got it.” David jumped to his feet, scooped the tiles into the box then folded the board and slapped it on top. By the time he got the cover on, Erin had shoved the residue of their impromptu picnic into the paper bag.

Rain pelted down.
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