Sealing the Deal (31 page)

“Exactly.” With a chuckle, he pulled her into his arms and planted a kiss on her lips. “You know me too well, B.”

Considering the Ladies and their guys were all staring at them, Beth could feel heat bloom on her cheeks. Would she ever become accustomed to showing affection to her husband in front of others?

She’d have to since Robert had a fondness for holding her hand, draping an arm over her shoulder, or giving her a kiss whenever the mood struck.

“Let’s eat!” Ben announced from where he stood at Robert’s grill, which had been surrendered by Robert because he’d acknowledged Ben’s superior chef abilities.

The rest of the crew had supplied the side dishes for the adoption celebration pot luck. Emma was now officially Beth and Robert’s daughter. A visitation schedule had been approved by the court so Darren would be a part of Emma’s life, but her day-to-day care now rested in the Ashfords’ hands.

Everything was finally as it should be.

“Matka!” Emma twisted in Dani’s arms, reaching for Beth.

Beth wondered if her heart would ever stop reacting with a surge of happiness whenever her daughter called her. Her gratitude to Darren for putting aside his parental rights and doing the right thing for Emma was boundless. “C’mere, Em.”

“I said let’s eat,” Ben grumbled.

“In a minute, honey,” Mallory said as she and Jules joined Beth, Robert, and Dani.

“Did you decide anything about your job yet?” Dani asked Beth.

“Yeah,” Mallory said. “I’m dying of curiosity, too. Will you be heading back to school with us in a few weeks, or will Dani and I be the only Ladies who still teach?”

“I’ll be back,” Beth announced.

Robert jumped into the conversation. “At least for now. Once she’s pregnant—”

“Pregnant?” Jules gaped at them. “You’re trying to have a baby?”

Beth nodded and smiled as she leaned against her husband. “We are.”

Hands on her hips, Jules tried to look angry. The smile belied the body language. “How did I not know this?”

“You missed Ladies’ Night Out last week,” Mallory teased. “Drama always ensues.”

“Flushed the rest of the birth control pills last week,” Beth announced.

“We’re free, free falling,” Robert sang to the tune of the Tom Petty song.

“
Let’s. Eat!
” Ben said through a clenched jaw. “Or I’m not going to be held responsible for hamburgers that taste like hockey pucks.”

* * *

The sound of a car horn repeatedly honking in a slow, steady rhythm caught Beth’s ear.

“Did you hear that?” she asked the Ladies as she put the last plate in the dishwasher and shut the door.

“You mean that annoying neighbor with the stuck car alarm?” Jules asked.

Beth nodded.

“Oh yeah. I hear it.”

“Sounds kinda close.” Dani went to the back door and opened it. “Like it’s coming from the front of
your
house.” She shut the door. “You should really go check, Beth.”

Since she’d just finished rinsing the sink, Beth dried her hands and set aside the dishcloth. She knit her brows at Mallory and Jules, who’d begun laughing after Dani made her suggestion. They were up to something—something that obviously included Robert. Perhaps Beth could finally find out what they’d all been up to. “Okay… spill.”

“Spill?” Dani tossed Beth her faux innocent look, one that had never worked before. “Spill what?”

Rolling her eyes, Beth said, “Fine. I’ll play along. How about we all go see whatever it is my husband wants me to see?”

She led the procession to the front door. As she stepped over the threshold and onto the porch, she stopped so abruptly that Dani ran right into her back. “What in the devil…?”

A dark blue Honda CRV sat in the middle of Beth’s front lawn, so close she could’ve stood on the edge of the porch and crawled right into the passenger seat.

Dani gave her a playful push between the shoulder blades. “Go on, silly. Go see for yourself.”

Tears stung her eyes as her gaze caught Robert’s from where he sat in the driver’s seat. “You told me the Beetle was getting new brakes.”

A grin lit his handsome face. “I lied.”

“I can see that.”

“Admit it,” Dani said, coming to stand at Beth’s side. “You needed something bigger.”

“Especially if you’re thinking of having another munchkin,” Jules added as she and Mallory moved to Beth’s other side.

“It’s wonderful.” Beth would never stop feeling as though she was truly blessed to have such a generous and loving man in her life. “Thank you so much.”

Robert kept on grinning. “You like it?”

“I
love
it.”

He put the CRV into gear and drove it off the front lawn to park on the driveway. He strode over to the porch, wrapped his arms around Beth’s hips, and lifted her. A squeal spilled out as he spun her around in a circle. Then he let her slide down his body until she was in his arms. “You really like it?”

“I told you, I love it. You’re so good to me.”

“Anything for you, Mrs. Ashford.”

Mrs. Ashford
. She still had a hard time thinking of herself as anything but Beth Rogers. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to hearing that name.”

Robert gave her a long, lazy kiss. “You’re going to have to, B. Good thing you’ve got a lifetime to learn.”

About the Author

Sandy lives in a quiet suburb of Indianapolis with her husband of thirty years and is a high school social studies teacher. She and her husband own a small stable of harness racehorses and enjoy spending time at the two Indiana racetracks. She has been an Amazon Best Seller and has won numerous writing awards, including two HOLT Medallions.

Please visit her website at sandy-james.com for more information or find her on Twitter or Facebook at sandyjamesbooks.

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the next book in the Ladies Who Lunch series

Chapter One

One more day.

That was all Danielle Bradshaw had left. One more day before the school year started and her life would become a routine that made an air traffic controller’s schedule seem relaxed.

Up at five in the morning. A three-mile run. Shower and pour some coffee down her throat—maybe finding a moment for some oatmeal or granola—and then get herself dressed and haul her fanny to work. Teach six sophomore English classes, usually with at least thirty kids in each, and head home to do some laundry and try to make a dent in the eternal pile of student papers to grade.

And the next day?

Do it all over again.

“Danielle?” Her principal’s call kept her from leaving the main office.

She’d made a quick trip to the heavily guarded supply closet to grab a new gradebook and was going back to her room to get ready to face her new students. Her clean escape had just been thwarted. “Yes?”

“I need your help.” He turned to motion to someone in his office. “Nathaniel? Come on out here. I want you to work with Ms. Bradshaw.”

Oh no
.

She had no doubt what Mr. Reinhardt wanted from her. The department was getting a new teacher. Finally. That would mean some relief for the onerous number of kids the teachers of Stephen Douglas High School faced on a daily basis.

But with that blessing came the need to break in a new teacher. Since she’d been promoted to department head this school year, a position that came with an embarrassingly small raise and a hell of a lot more responsibility, she’d have to be the one to show the newbie the ropes. There was no doubt this was a kid fresh from college, because there was no way the corporation would scare up enough pay for someone with experience. The administrators were too cheap.

Her day was now shot to hell.

Her biggest concern, aside from having to spend every minute of her work day spoon-feeding some barely-old-enough-to-shave guy, was that as department head she should’ve been included in the decision on which teacher to hire. Since her summer had gone by without a single word from her boss about interviews, she’d simply assumed that the school corporation hadn’t scraped together the funds to get a new English instructor.

With a sigh, she tried to paste a smile on her face and welcome the guy who now faced the most challenging nine months of his life. “Hi, I’m—”

The words froze in her throat as she took in the man standing in front of her, flashing her a smile that damn near stopped her heart before sending it slamming against her ribs.

He was blond, his hair cut in a neat, conservative style and slicked back with the right amount of gel. He wore a dark suit and red tie as though a born executive. His eyes were the most fascinating shade of blue, the color of the clearest of the Caribbean waters. And exactly like those waters, Dani could feel herself sinking into them.

“Nathaniel Ryan.” He held out his hand. “But I prefer Nate.”

Somehow she was able to force herself from her stupor to shake his hand. “Danielle, um, Dani Bradshaw.”

Jim Reinhardt cuffed Nate on the shoulder. “Dani will get you introduced and give you a tour of the place.” His gaze shifted to her. She knew that look well. It was the same guilty grimace he gave her whenever he’d just given her a nearly impossible task.

Breaking in a new teacher the day before school qualified as a “nearly impossible task.” The only thing that kept her from being furious with Jim was the fact that he was the best principal she’d ever worked for.

She found her voice. “What room will he be in?”

“Nate’s going to be in the empty room at the end of the English hall.”

“Um, okay.” The last time anyone had used the room was five years ago. Since then, it had been a place to store all the broken desks. The teachers in her department called it the
Black Hole of Calcutta
.

“Don’t worry, Dani,” Jim said. “I already had the custodians clear it out. Nate, Dani’s going to be your mentor this year. She teaches sophomore English—same thing you’ll have. She’ll help get you ready for tomorrow, and my office door is always open if you need me. We’ll both be observing you a couple of times this year—once the first week or two, so be ready.”

On that, he strode back to his office, leaving her with the new teacher.

God, her friends would be laughing at the way she gaped at Nate Ryan. The Ladies Who Lunch, her closest friends, loved to joke about how nonchalant Dani always acted around handsome men. Even though all three of her friends were happily married, they had an eye for good-looking men and ogled any hunk who passed them while Dani rolled her eyes at their brazenness.

If they could only see her now… She couldn’t even put together enough words to make a coherent sentence.

She should be talking a blue streak right now, telling this guy—this Nate Ryan—about the ins and outs of Stephen Douglas High School. She should be explaining how to set up his electronic gradebook and attendance file. She should be doing something productive rather than standing there staring at a man who had to be at least nine years younger than her own thirty-one. Thirty-two in a matter of weeks.

The man had a cliché baby face. She’d be amazed if he was more than twenty-one or twenty-two, fresh out of college and full of that naïve enthusiasm for teaching that she lost a little of with each new school year.

A decade ago, she’d been standing where Nate Ryan stood, ready to take on the world. Ready to teach kids and believing she had the power to change the world, to reach each and every student and help them learn to love reading and writing.

Ten years at Douglas High School had seasoned her. She wasn’t entirely soured on teaching. Not yet, but that time was on the horizon. One of the Ladies Who Lunch had left teaching only two years ago. Juliana Wilson had been a special education teacher who’d burned out and carved herself a profitable new career as a real estate agent.

Would the Ladies Who Lunch still be the Ladies Who Lunch once they all left the profession? They’d found each other years ago, bonding as they shared their lunch period each day. They’d weathered Juliana jumping ship, still finding time to get together a couple of times a week.

But if Dani left, too?

Who exactly was she fooling? There was no reason even worrying about leaving. As it was, she’d be lucky if she saved enough money to retire at sixty-five.

“So, Ms. Bradshaw…” Nate raked his fingers through his short hair.

Dani got a hold of herself. The poor kid was obviously nervous. “Call me Dani. Please. How about I show you your room? I have no idea what’s usable in there, but the department has several sets of classroom books you can use that I can help you carry over. We normally use e-books for our kids because they all have electronic tablets instead of textbooks.”

His eyes widened. “Really? Wow. That had to be expensive. I thought schools were pinching pennies like crazy nowadays.”

“We are. E-books are cost-effective. They’re a helluva lot cheaper than hardcover textbooks. Plus the kids don’t get strained backs from carrying them around.” She led the way to the big double doors leading to the main office and was pleased when Nate reached past her to pull one open for her.

The man had manners, something sorely lacking in the guys she’d dated the last few years. Not that there’d been that many.

“Follow me,” she said, gesturing toward the English hall. “I’ll show you to your new home.”

* * *

Nate Ryan followed his new boss, trying desperately to keep from staring at her ass.

But
damn
… Her backside was tight and round and begging to be squeezed.

He hadn’t expected a department head to be so young. She couldn’t be that much older than his own twenty-three. How could she already be the leader of the whole English department? His mother had retired from teaching just last spring. She was barely fifty, but she’d been her school’s science department head for only three years.

Maybe Dani was the oldest in the English department. A lot of experienced teachers were leaving the profession. His mother’s retirement had all but been forced on her when the school corporation sponsored a buyout for teachers at the top of the pay scale. She’d crunched some numbers based on the money she’d saved over the years and what she’d get for jumping ship and decided that she’d do fine retiring.