Front Range Cowboys (5 Book Box Set) Read online

  “Well, show me how much energy you have!” Darren shouted. He started clapping his hands. “Get up! Let’s do some jumping jacks. Go! One. Two. Three…”

  Darren began bouncing up and down with the kids doing some basic jumping jacks. He got the kids to ten before he started going through the line and trying to help out a few youngsters who weren’t quite coordinated enough to get the legs out, hands out, and were too eager to clap their hands together over their heads to worry about form.

  They moved from jumping jacks to push-ups and from push-ups to sit-ups. He even got the kids to split into pairs and hold each other’s feet while they counted. It was actually pretty startling how willing and how excited these kids were about physical fitness once you got them moving. Darren was having a blast. That was something he hadn’t expected. He’d obviously figured that he could handle it, but he hadn’t anticipated how much satisfaction he would get from teaching a bunch of nine-year-olds how to do a proper jumping jack.

  Finally, a teacher showed up at the double doors of the gymnasium, presumably to pick up the class currently doing modified shuttle runs on the far side of the echoing space. She was wearing one of those pink wraparound dresses that are supposed to be very flattering, and it was plain to see that she carried herself very much as though she was aware of her good looks. She also had a huge rock on the ring finger of her left hand.

  Darren didn’t think much of her appearance. The big clock on the far wall told him that it had been forty-five minutes, which seemed like a reasonable amount of time for a gym class. He raised his hands. “All right, class! I need you to line up for me right now. Go to the blue line, and no shoving. It doesn’t matter where you are in line because you’re all going to the same place.”

  The teacher did a double take. It was almost comical to watch. Darren tried to gauge what she might be thinking. He was wondering if he was doing a decent job or if he was completely mucking this up. It had been decades since he’d been in an actual gym class. He’d certainly never actually taught one. So, there was a real question in his mind as to his effectiveness in this new albeit temporary job.

  “My, my,” the teacher breathed. She had dark brown hair cut into a bob and a whole lot of makeup. “Aren’t you just a lifesaver for all of us?”

  “A lifesaver?” Darren knew they’d been without a gym teacher for a long time, but it didn’t seem like the classroom teachers would be affected quite as much as the administration.

  The woman sidled closer and put out her hand. “I’m Sarah Farnsworth. I teach third grade.”

  “Darren Hernandez.” He took the hand and gave it a very formal shake. For some reason, just being around the woman made him feel like he needed to take a bath. Strange. “I’m just substitute teaching as a favor to Ms. Brown.”

  “Oh. Ms. Brown.” There was a glint in Sarah Farnsworth’s eyes that Darren recognized all too much from the many years he’d dealt with women in general. Obviously there was no love lost between the two. “Yes, poor Maggie is always sticking her nose into the principal’s business. You know it isn’t her place to hire or fire staff. You should really talk to the principal if you want to stick around.” Farnsworth was clapping her hands together in order to get the class’s attention. “Go ahead and head on out of the gym, Julian. Bentley, you may be our door holder. Come on, let’s go!”

  It was obvious that the three obnoxious boys were personal favorites of Sarah Farnsworth. Darren wondered if it had anything to do with their parents’ bankrolls. In any case, he wasn’t here to make friends, lose them, or get in the middle of school politics. So, he raised his hands and gave Sarah a smile. “I’m just here temporarily, ma’am. I don’t know anything else about it.”

  “Well, then, you have yourself a wonderful day!” Sarah beamed at him before sashaying down the hallway.

  About five seconds later, the double doors opened once again and Bella exploded into the gym. “Uncle Darren!”

  “Hi there, Poodle.” Darren picked her up and gave her a hug. “Now, you have to call me Mr. Hernandez like everyone else, and you can’t expect to get away with any rule breaking.”

  “Yes, sir!” She was jumping up and down with glee. “I promise.”

  “Let’s have everyone go and stand on the blue line!” Darren told the class entering the gym. Ah. Third graders. How many classes full of these kids were there anyway? “I want you to tell me your name and your favorite sport! If you don’t have a favorite sport, that’s okay. Just be honest about it.” Darren felt himself settle into what he might have actually called “the zone.” It was pleasant. No. It was more than that. It was just—it felt right.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Maggie kept finding excuses to walk by the gymnasium while Darren was teaching. It was fascinating to watch him. It was almost impossible to tell that he had never taught before. He was a complete natural. Perhaps there was a slight hiccup sometimes when he had to deal directly with the kids one on one. There was a priceless moment when a little girl stood in front of him and yanked on his pant leg to tell him that she had to pee really badly. He just sent her to the bathroom, and Maggie realized that she had been so distracted with kissing him in the little gym office that she hadn’t gone over some very critical classroom etiquette information.

  “What are you doing?”

  Maggie startled so badly that she nearly smacked her nose into the narrow glass set into the gym doors. Whipping around, she found herself face to face with Principal Olivia Witherspoon. Maggie swallowed and tried to find any shred of her composure. She wasn’t doing anything wrong. Olivia Witherspoon hated Maggie. That was just how it had been since the school’s board of directors had hired Maggie over another candidate that Olivia had preferred.

  “I’m just checking in on the new substitute.” Maggie gestured to the gym. “He’s fitting in really well and seems very comfortable. I just wanted to make sure he didn’t have any questions or additional problems that needed addressing.”

  “If that were the case,” Olivia said, thrusting her chin out aggressively, “then don’t you think that’s more my job than yours?”

  Maggie drew back in surprise. Maggie did not consider herself tall, but Olivia was barely five feet tall and had always exhibited some pretty serious hang-ups about it. She wore super-high heels, but that didn’t even bring her to eye level with Maggie. At the moment, Olivia looked as though she were dressed for a shopping trip on Madison Avenue and not running an elementary school. Her camel-colored suede skirt was snug and barely came down to the tops of her thighs. Her matching jacket was strapped down tight over a black blouse that exposed a generous amount of bosom in an environment where that was completely unnecessary. And today the heels took the form of black knee-high boots with a stiletto heel. Olivia’s brown hair was twirled into a chignon at the back of her head, and her nails were blood red and very long.

  Maggie exhaled a long sigh. This was not the time to poke at Olivia. In fact, there really wasn’t a good time for such a thing. Olivia was the principal. It was her job to find substitute teachers and deal with staffing issues. But when Olivia wouldn’t take care of her job, then someone had to step in.

  “Well?” Olivia raised one waxed eyebrow and shot Maggie a gimlet glare. She put her hands on her hips and glared. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

  “I’m not a student,” Maggie said drily. “That’s the first thing I have to say for myself. And—as you well know—we’ve been having a real issue with some of the third grade boys. They haven’t been showing very much respect to the teachers, the other students, or each other. Gym class is important. Not only does Mr. Hernandez provide a strong male role model for these boys, but he can get them working off some of that energy in a positive way.”

  “So, you just decided to step in on my behalf and hire this guy?” Olivia’s voice rose to a screech.

  “No.” Maggie cocked her head and frowned. What was Olivia’s deal? It was so odd that she was jumping to conclusions
. She should have been glad that Maggie had taken this problem out of her hands. “I just asked him to substitute. I was sure that if it worked out and he was able to continue, that you would want to speak to him and arrange either a salary or some kind of compensation or schedule in line with the school’s policies about those things.” Maggie gave a shrug. “You’ve seemed very busy lately, and I knew that finding a gym teacher was going to take time. This was a good stopgap. And yes. I exercised some autonomy because of the situation. Mr. Hernandez has a niece who attends here.”

  “Hernandez,” Olivia said quickly. Then she tapped one blood-red fingernail against her lower lip. “Oh! Are you talking about Laredo Hernandez?”

  “His brother Darren, actually,” Maggie told Olivia. It was obvious that Olivia was now not quite as angry with Maggie as she had been a few moments ago. In fact, there was an odd little dance going on right now as Olivia straightened her skirt and her jacket and smoothed her hair all while trying to peek through the window of the gymnasium. “Is Darren Hernandez single like his brother?”

  Maggie ground her teeth together to keep from screaming. This school was populated to the max with married teachers and staff members. How was it possible that the only other single woman in the entire organization seemed to just show up right now? Olivia had been officially divorced from her first husband for perhaps eight months. She had been on the prowl the second the man had moved out nearly two years before. Apparently, she had just found her next target. It wasn’t fair.

  Maggie had the urge to tell Olivia that no, Darren Hernandez wasn’t single. He was dating Maggie. She wanted to belt out that they had kissed in the gym and that both of them loved to go out and eat burgers. Of course, that was all Maggie knew about the guy, so it wasn’t a very compelling story, but it might have thrown Olivia off her game for at least a second.

  Olivia gave Maggie an imperious wave. “You may go back to your office. I’ve got this.”

  “Sure.” Maggie forced the word past her pinched lips and struggled with the urge to grab Olivia by her ratty chignon and drag her away from the gym.

  That wasn’t going to solve anything. In fact, it wasn’t going to help. It wouldn’t further Maggie’s cause. And honestly, if Darren Hernandez fell prey to Olivia Witherspoon’s particular brand of romantic charm, then Maggie didn’t want him anyway. Yes. That was what she would just keep telling herself as she turned her back on Olivia and the gym and headed for her office. Her office. That was a great place to sit and think. Hopefully she would be able to go in, completely relax, and then try to figure out where she had completely lost her damn mind over a man she had just met.

  Into the school’s main office, past Rhonda’s empty desk—where was the woman anyway—and down the hallway to her personal fortress of solitude. This was all she needed.

  “Excuse me, Ms. Brown? We really aren’t finished with our conversation just yet.”

  Oh, yes. Laredo Hernandez was pacing back and forth in front of Maggie’s desk as though he had some kind of right to be in her personal space. Maggie felt her hackles immediately rise to the occasion and had to stop herself from going into full on aggressive mode. No. That was not going to do right now.

  How many hours had it been since Darren had chased Laredo away from school? Two? That seemed about right. School would end in exactly forty-seven minutes. That was when the final bell would end and the day would be done. Darren had been here since noon. Laredo had probably been stewing about that confrontation ever since it had happened. No doubt he had plenty to get off his chest. Unfortunately, Maggie made a handy target.

  With that in mind, Maggie decided that she was going to treat him like some super-anxious counseling client. She moved into her office and closed the door. Sitting down in her chair, she ignored the fact that he was still pacing from one end of her office to the other. The man was wearing a tailored Western suit with expensive heeled cowboy boots and a bolo tie with a huge chunk of turquoise on it. Had he been dressed like that before? Maggie honestly couldn’t remember. She had been so enthralled with Darren’s appearance at the school that Maggie hadn’t focused much on the details of Laredo. But she was focusing now. He looked like he was wearing the equivalent of a cowboy power suit. Why?

  “All right, Mr. Hernandez,” Maggie said in the mildest tone she could muster. “Explain to me what’s on your mind. Help me understand what the problem is.” Yes. That was extremely non-confrontational and encouraging. She just had to stop herself from getting personally involved in the fact that the guy was a total douchebag.

  “I’m not one of your clients,” Laredo said bitterly. He pegged her with that blue gaze. It was so like Darren’s and yet so very unlike Darren’s that she could hardly reconcile them. How had she ever thought the two men even looked alike?

  “You’re acting like one of my clients,” Maggie said, doing her best to sound almost bored. “So, until you stop acting like a client, I will not treat you otherwise.” There. That was an appropriate boundary to set.

  Laredo’s mouth quirked up at one corner. “Fine. Here is my issue. You have encouraged my very lazy and very work-avoidant brother to substitute teach at your school when he has other commitments to his family business. This is not in his benefit, and it isn’t in yours.”

  “Oh really?” Maggie raised her brows and wondered exactly how to say what obviously needed to be said. “I do realize that Darren has made a commitment of sorts to your family business. He spoke to me about this and seemed honestly worried that the two might interfere. However, he does not strike me as lazy. He has been working with the kids all afternoon and seems not only engaged but also eager to be here. I would call him motivated and extremely talented at this task.”

  Laredo opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. He ran his fingers through his hair and then started laughing. “You must be joking.”

  “No. I’m not.” Maggie pressed her fingers together to keep from trying to strangle this arrogant man. “I wouldn’t joke about something like this. Darren is really good with the kids, and he teaches the class as though he was born to it.”

  Laredo snorted. “He does have a degree in elementary education. I suppose he paid attention at least a little in order to finish the useless thing.”

  In spite of her resolve to seem unaffected and calm, Maggie’s mouth popped open. “He’s got a degree in elementary education? He didn’t say that!”

  “It’s useless.” Laredo shrugged. “I’m sure he knew better than to tell you something that doesn’t matter.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Maggie shot to her feet. “Do you realize that it would be fairly simple to get him licensed in Colorado to teach elementary physical education? He could get a permanent position here or at any other school in the district. That’s a great job! You want him to be a part of your family business, but maybe the Land & Cattle gig isn’t for him. Maybe this is!”

  “Now, Ms. Brown, don’t be silly.” Laredo’s condescending drawl made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. “That’s a hobby, not a job. Just like football was a hobby. It never did anything for my brother financially. It destroyed his body and completely ruined him for any decent career. Now you want him to continue with that instead of doing something that will actually net him enough money to take care of himself financially. Do you really have his best interests in mind, or yours?”

  Maggie was stung by the implication there. She felt attacked and didn’t like it. “Money isn’t everything, Mr. Hernandez. Maybe Darren has realized that even if you haven’t.”

  Laredo threw his head back and laughed. “Obviously you don’t know my brother as well as you think you do.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Darren finished up for the day and glanced at his watch. It was ten minutes to three, and the last teacher had just picked up the last third grade class for the day. Laredo had just sent Darren a text that he would be picking up Bella on time. As unusual as that seemed, it was a bit of welcome news. Now Darren was fre
e to go knock on Maggie’s office door and ask her out for the evening.

  He strode into the main office at the school and realized that, this close to the end of school, there were moms milling about on the pretext of picking up their kids. As soon as Darren walked into the office, he felt as though there was some weird kind of target painted on his forehead. Something along the lines of HEY! I’M SINGLE!

  “Mr. Hernandez!” The school secretary was waving him down with both hands to get his attention. “You can go on back to Ms. Brown’s office. I think she would be glad to talk to you and see how it went.” The secretary flashed a brilliant smile his way and then shooed him toward the hallway that led to Ms. Brown’s office.

  Darren was glad to slip past all of the gawking moms and into the quiet of the administrative offices. Of course, that lasted until he passed a door that was marked PRINCIPAL OLIVIA WITHERSPOON.

  “Oh, Mr. Hernandez!” The principal jumped up from behind her desk, which was probably ten feet from the doorway. She bounced over to the open door and grabbed Darren’s arm. “I’m so glad I caught you. We need to sign a few employment documents and discuss compensation.”

  “Can that wait?” Darren wondered out loud. He realized that he seemed unpleasant and tried to smile to cover up his distaste at being accosted like this.

  “Not really.” Ms. Witherspoon was already shoving a clipboard full of papers at him. “These are just the standard employment documents. I’ll need a copy of your driver’s license of course. I’m sure you know the drill.”

  Darren murmured something, but the truth was that he didn’t know the drill because he had never actually had a job outside the Hernandez Land & Cattle Company, and sports contracts didn’t work the same way as standard employment crap.

  With a deep sigh, he took a seat in Olivia Witherspoon’s office and started scribbling his name on the signature lines of everything that looked like it needed one. From the corner of his eye, he watched Ms. Witherspoon. She had a bare spot around her left ring finger that suggested she was recently divorced or something of the sort. It was an odd thing, but Darren had been around enough women to be able to tell when they were used to wearing a ring or not. This woman had a pale spot around her finger and looked like a lioness on the prowl for her next mate.