Sherryl Woods - Miss Liz's Passion

He made it sound as though she were some dried-up old prune. “Mrs. Gentry,” she retorted.

He shrugged indifferently. That faint suggestion of amusement continued to play about his lips. “You may be in charge of your classroom, Mrs. Gentry, but I’m in charge around here. Unfortunately at a construction site things are apt to go wrong according to whim, rather than your rigid schedule. If you can think of some way to make these girders do your bidding, more power to you. I’ve had a helluva time with it.”

This time he waited expectantly. Liz felt her insides quiver. Possibly with fury. More likely with something entirely less rational. The man was positively maddening. And far too attractive. She suspected the two characteristics were probably related. She realized she was gripping the handle on her purse so tightly the leather was biting into her flesh. She tried to relax. When that didn’t work, she went for the jugular.

“You’ve already explained that you run the company, Mr. Lewis. You don’t strike me as the sort of man who’d be foolish enough to believe he’s either indispensable or indestructible. I’m sure you have assistants who could handle any crisis that occurs in the brief time it would have taken for you to keep an appointment with me.”

He simply scowled at the note of censure. “That’s not the way I do things,” he said with finality. “Now what was so all-fired important that it couldn’t wait another twenty-four hours?”

She glanced at Kevin and hesitated. She’d already said far more than she should have in front of him. What on earth had gotten into her? “I don’t think this is the time or place to be discussing this.”

“You picked it,” he reminded her.

“Mr. Lewis!”

He stared at her intently, then finally nodded. “Kevin, go into the trailer and ask Hank if he’ll take you to the top of the garage. It’s another story higher since the last time you were here.”

“Oh, wow! Great, Dad. Thanks.” He bounded off without a second glance at either of them.

Todd Lewis watched Kevin until the door of the construction trailer slammed behind him. Then once again he propped his foot on a pile of girders, put his elbow on his knee and said, “You were saying…”

Liz sighed at the challenge and tried very hard not to stare at the way his jeans stretched across his hips. “Mr. Lewis, I did not come here to argue with you. I came to ask permission for Kevin to have a hamburger with me as a reward for working so hard this afternoon.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just want to check out his irresponsible father firsthand?”

The teasing glint in his eyes unnerved her. Again. “I’m sorry for some of the things I suggested in the note.”

“But not all?”

“Kevin is a problem.”

“Maybe you just don’t know how to manage him.”

The cool, unexpected taunt struck home. Liz practically shook with indignation. It was a welcome relief after all those other feelings she’d been experiencing.

“Don’t you dare try to turn this into my failure, Mr. Lewis. Since you are so cognizant of your responsibilities, I’m surprised you don’t pay more attention to Kevin. Surely he counts among them. If you had, you would have noticed long ago…”

Her furious tirade faltered as his expression suddenly became all hard angles. She’d seen pictures of cold, merciless dictators who looked less severe. His eyes glinted dangerously. She actually shivered as he took a long stride to tower over her. For an instant she regretted the impulsive tongue-lashing.

“I do know my son. He’s a good kid. Maybe a little high spirited, but that’s all to the good in a boy. Kevin and I do just fine,” he said in a voice that chilled. “We don’t need some high-minded do-gooder interfering in our lives. If he’s having a problem with his schoolwork, we’ll talk about it. Otherwise, you stay the hell out of our lives.”

She flinched under the attack, then dared to glower right back at him. This was too important for her to back down now. “I can’t do that. Kevin is in trouble in school and that’s my responsibility.”

“Fine. I said I was more than willing to talk about his schoolwork. I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon, no matter what the damn girders do. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll be getting back to work.”

He strolled away without a backward glance. Before Liz could fully recover from the unnerving confrontation, she saw the burly, redheaded man who’d accompanied Kevin to the top of the skeletal structure join Todd Lewis. Hank, that was his name, she recalled as she watched them. For some reason, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the encounter between the two men. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was seeing a drama of some sort unfold. Suddenly, with a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach, she realized that Kevin wasn’t with them. Even from a distance, she thought she could see Todd Lewis’s complexion turn ashen.

Unaware that she had even begun to move, she found herself not more than a few feet away. She heard Todd Lewis’s harsh oath and Hank’s apology.

“I swear, Todd, I thought he was coming right back to you. You want me to get the men together?”

“Not yet. What exactly did he say?”

“He asked me for some quarters for the soda machine, then he took off. That’s it. Last I saw him, he was in the trailer getting a drink. If he’s not there and he’s not with you, I don’t know where the hell he could have gone.”

Hesitantly, Liz touched Todd Lewis’s arm. “You think he heard us arguing, don’t you? You think he’s run away.”

He turned on her, his shoulders tense, his jaw tight. That furious stance might have frightened her, if she hadn’t looked into his eyes. There was the expected flash of anger, but there was also panic and a touching vulnerability.

That glimpse into Todd Lewis’s soul removed forever any lingering doubts she might have had about the depth of his love for his son. It also left her shaken in a way she couldn’t begin to understand.

Todd felt like strangling somebody. Right now it was a toss-up whether it should be Hank or Elizabeth Gentry. He glowered at both potential victims, then muttered a curse under his breath. There was no point in blaming them. They looked every bit as worried and dismayed as he felt. Besides, he was the guilty one. He knew how sensitive Kevin was, how easily hurt. He should never have been discussing him where Kevin might overhear the argument. The kid had a way of popping up when you least expected it. Sending him off with Hank had been no guarantee he wouldn’t be back ten seconds later.

“Hank, you take your car and head east,” he said finally, fighting to think clearly through the haze of self-recriminations. With great effort, he kept his voice calm and reasonable. “I’ll go west on foot. He can’t have gotten too far.”

Hank, the most easygoing man he’d ever known, looked downright uncomfortable.

“What is it?” Todd demanded impatiently.

“Don’t forget he had those quarters. He could have taken a bus.”

The already tense muscles across Todd’s shoulders knotted. Only the quiet presence of Elizabeth Gentry kept him from uttering a whole arsenal of swear words. He closed his eyes and imagined shouting every one of them at the top of his lungs. Even the imagery had a restorative effect.

“Okay,” he said with the careful deliberation of a man battling hysteria. He clung to his businesslike ability to remain calm in a crisis, to put his emotions on hold until every last detail had been handled. “Then we’d better take both cars. We’ll meet back here in an hour. If you find him, call me.”

To his amazement he sounded decisive and controlled. He felt as though he were splintering apart.