Kathryn Albright - Christmas Kiss From The Sheriff

The meeting continued for another thirty minutes. Talk of the coming Christmas presentation by the children had the women getting all a-flutter and putting in their two bits. Women sure thought things down to the smallest of details. Holly sprigs? Mistletoe? Nice but wholly unnecessary by his way of thinking. Somewhere between the pies and the eggnog he stifled a huge yawn.

Tanner followed suit thirty seconds later. “I think we’ve covered most of the items we needed to discuss,” he said, breaking into the conversation.

“Not quite,” Miss Starling said in her clear northeastern accent, raising a finger for attention while she glanced down at her notes. “I wonder if I might have permission for one of the older boys to do custodial help about the school. Things like cleaning out the ashes in the woodstove and sweeping the floors after class. And for the winter, starting a fire in the stove to warm the room before school starts every day.”

Mr. Philmont immediately lifted his chin. “Not Duncan. He helps me at the land office.”

“’Fraid we can’t afford that,” Tanner said. “And when you signed your contract...”

She pressed her lips together. “I am aware of what I signed. I was thinking that the chore would help foster responsibility in one of the boys. Not necessarily your son, Mr. Philmont.”

Craig about choked on her dig. His gaze sliced to Philmont. The man didn’t even comprehend the double meaning of her words. Or if he did, he wasn’t about to acknowledge that he had been one-upped by a woman. From the determined expression on Miss Starling’s face, she wasn’t about to give up her quest for help. Like just about any woman he knew, she was a woman who bristled at the word no.

The meeting ended and Craig stood with the others. Miss Starling neared, deep in conversation with Mrs. Winters. She stopped when she came abreast of him.

“Sheriff Parker. I am surprised to see you here.”

He cleared his throat. “Thought I’d walk you home.”

Was that fear in her eyes? It disappeared so fast he wasn’t sure.

“I’m capable of seeing myself to the boarding house.”

Considering the way things had gone between them at the school, he was ready for her rebuff. “It’s not an offer. There is something I need to discuss with you.”

She pressed her lips together. The effort brought out her dimples.

“Official business,” he said, gruffly.

“Oh,” she said, her voice tight with resignation. “I’ll get my coat.”

He slipped his Stetson on and headed outside to wait.

* * *

On Main Street, the others had all started toward their homes with the exception of Patrick Tanner and his wife.

“First time I’ve seen you at one of these meetings,” Tanner said, tugging his coat closer to ward off the wind.

Craig shrugged. “Thought it was about time.”

Tanner’s gaze flitted back into the meeting room for a second, and then he turned back to Craig and lowered his voice. “Do you ride by the school much?”

“On my rounds. Two, three times a week. What’s on your mind?” It was obvious Tanner was mulling something over.

“Sounds like these older boys could be more than Miss Starling can handle.”

“Maybe you should have taken Philmont up on his idea and hired a man.”

“Tried to. Right after we lost Miss Talloway to marrying last March. I was sick and tired of hiring a new teacher every year—sometimes two in a year. Single gals just don’t last long around here. Even the older ones get snapped up.”

Craig commiserated with him, but didn’t see what could be done to change things now. Miss Starling had already signed a contract.

“I brought up hiring a man at the town hall meeting in the spring,” Tanner continued. “Just about had a riot on my hands from the single men hereabouts. Must have been right before you started as sheriff.”

Craig had started in July. As far as he knew, he and Miss Starling were the newest additions to the town. He didn’t know much more than that about her. “Guess it makes sense moneywise. The town can pay a lot less for a woman teacher than a man.”

He snorted softly. “That had nothing to do with it. People here wanted the diversion.”

“By people you mean men.” He could understand the miners’ attitudes. While working all day in the mines it would be enjoyable for most men to hope for the chance of crossing paths with a pretty woman in town. And it would be near heaven to have a chance at courting a soft and willing woman. He frowned. Miss Starling didn’t quite fit that image.

Tanner sighed. “At least she agreed to finish out a complete year. I’ve heard she has discouraged the few cowpokes that have tried to pound a path to her door. She’s keeping her end of the bargain.”

So she’d had a few callers? Already? “Well, don’t include me in your stampede. The one time I interrupted her class she got real prickly. Left me to understand that she didn’t appreciate my interference.”

“You don’t say?” Tanner seemed to take hope at that. “Maybe she’ll stick around two years—at least until my oldest finishes with her schooling.”

“So how did you find her?”

“Well, I’ll tell you. I didn’t want anybody real young. I was hoping for a widow or an old maid. Someone with experience. By August, when nobody like that had answered the advertisement I placed in the San Diego newspaper, I was starting to sweat. Here the new school was almost finished and there was no one to teach in it—at least no one with the right qualifications. I happened to mention it to the traveling preacher one Sunday. He passed along the word down in La Playa. It wasn’t but a short time after that, Miss Starling wrote and agreed to an interview.”

“So...in the nick of time.”

“Yep. Last-minute. And when she came she had all her things with her, just like she expected to get the position and stay on. But you know? That gal has more education behind her than any woman I’ve ever met. My children are learning things—things I never knew which isn’t saying a whole lot. We are lucky to have her.”

There. Another inconsistency with Miss Starling. Craig blew out a breath. If what Tanner said was true, why would Miss Starling come here? Why not some private, rich school in the city where she could draw a better salary?

He’d leave Patrick to his fantasy. Miss Starling was too pretty to stay single long, but it wouldn’t be because of him that she left teaching. She was too full of starch for him. Besides, he wasn’t planning to go down that road again anytime soon.

Even as he said it, the memory of her playing ball with the children in the schoolyard came to him. A woman who was stiff and starchy wouldn’t do that. Was it just around him...or maybe men in general...that she put up a barrier?

Just then the woman of their conversation emerged from the building and headed their way. As Miss Starling neared, Craig breathed in the scent of jasmine that circled around her. That clean-smelling soap she used was headier than any perfume worn by the saloon women he’d met in passing. Miss Starling should have more sense. He stopped midbreath when he noticed Tanner watching him.

Tanner shook his head once, then bent down and locked the door to the town hall. “Good night, Sheriff. Miss Starling.”

“Good night,” Gemma said with a pert nod, at the same time tying her hat ribbons under her chin, while crunched over to hold on to the loose papers tucked under her arm. Not surprisingly they didn’t fly off into the night the way they would with most people. Starch and burrs. When she was all together and her notes folded and contained within her satchel, she turned her face up expectantly. “Now. You wanted to speak with me?”