for Caleb to have missed what had to have been warning signs of her self-centered personality. The thought unexpectedly depressed her.
“Why now?” The question suddenly occurred to Julie.
“What?” Caleb looked puzzled.
“Why suddenly give you custody of your son after all this time?”
“Murna’s been commissioned to sculpt something or other in Venice, and she doesn’t think Will would like it there.”
Translated, it meant that dear Murna thought that a six-year-old would be too much trouble to drag around Europe, Julie thought angrily. So the woman off-loaded Will onto his father.
“Anyway,” Caleb continued, “when I realized that Will was going to have to go to school not knowing what all the other kids knew, I called John, the only educator I know, and asked him for advice.”
“And John suggested me?” Julie said slowly, beginning to understand.
“Yes, he said you were the best first-grade teacher he’s ever encountered.”
Julie tried not to be swayed by the compliment. But she was. John had never handed out praise with a liberal hand, and his comment was praise of the highest order.
“I want to hire you for the summer to teach Will what he needs to know so he can enter second grade next fall on a level with all the other kids his age,” Caleb said. “It’s going to be hard enough for him to adjust to living with a father he’s never met, in a town he’s never even heard of, without flunking the first grade through no fault of his own.”
“We don’t flunk kids these days.” Julie instinctively rejected the bleak picture he presented.
“So you plunk him down in the second grade where he can’t do the work and let him constantly fail?” Caleb demanded. “Is that supposed to be better?”
“No, of course not, and I sympathize with your problem, but I have plans for the summer.” Julie tried to sound firm. She did have plans, she assuaged her conscience. She was going to landscape her yard. And she was enrolled in two graduate classes at the university. And she had a stack of reading material six feet high to get through. Her entire summer was over-flowing with activities. Safe activities that wouldn’t threaten the secure life she’d built for herself. Something she instinctively knew Caleb had the power to do.
“You can name your price,” Caleb tempted her.
For one mad moment, a vision of her being enfolded in his arms filled her mind. Appalled, Julie shoved it aside. What was the matter with her? she wondered uneasily. Why did her attention keep drifting from what Caleb wanted to the man himself? She didn’t have an answer and that bothered her almost as much as her unprecedented physical reaction to him. She wasn’t used to her emotions going off on their own agenda. Usually they did exactly as they were told. Which was to stay firmly out of sight.
“It isn’t a question of payment,” she finally said. “It’s a question of time. I really do have a lot planned this summer.”
Caleb shoved his fingers through his dark hair in frustrated desperation.
“Please.” He gritted the word out as if it were one he didn’t use very often. “At least come and meet Will before you refuse to help. See what the situation is. Tell me what he needs.”
Julie stared into the swirling depths of Caleb’s blue eyes and was lost. His appeal, combined with the child’s obvious need, made her retreat from a flat refusal.
“All right, I’ll meet Will and assess his skill levels. But that’s all I’m promising,” she hurriedly added at his suddenly hopeful expression.
“Now?” Caleb asked eagerly, afraid to let her out of his sight for fear she’d change her mind.
Julie grinned at him. “You did meet Miss Boulton on the way in, didn’t you? The only way I’d get past her without having turned in my end-of-year reports is on a stretcher.”
“Tomorrow morning?” Caleb persisted. “Say, ten?”
“Okay,” Julie agreed, and then swallowed uneasily as her stomach suddenly lurched, giving her the oddest feeling that she’d just stepped off a stair that wasn’t there. She wasn’t actually getting involved with Caleb Tarrington, she assured herself. Not really. All she had promised was to meet his son. She’d do that and then recommend someone else to tutor Will.
“Thanks.” Caleb gave her a relieved grin that lit diamond sparkles in the depths of his blue eyes. Sparkles that momentarily seemed far more interesting than her carefully planned future.
Chapter Two
“Julie, any chance of you having lunch with me?”
Julie looked up, smiling at the unexpected sight of her older sister, Darcie, standing in the classroom doorway.
“I’d love to. Miss Boulton signed off on my materials list ten minutes ago, so I’m free. And starved. Let’s get out of here before the woman finds something else for me to do.”
“Why are you covered with glitter?” Darcie asked. “Are you starting a new trend?”
“Only for being caught in embarrassing situations,” Julie said. “The stuff fell on me earlier while I had a visitor. I felt like a perfect fool.”
“Nobody’s perfect.” Darcie grinned at her. “Although I will admit, you’ve improved enormously since you were a pesky little kid.”
Julie grinned back. “I could say the same about you, but I’m much too polite. Although…”
She paused as it suddenly occurred to her that Darcie, with her active social life as well as her extensive contacts in the business world, might know Caleb Tarrington.
“What?” Darcie prompted as they left the classroom.
“What do you know about Caleb Tarrington?” Julie asked.
Darcie’s green eyes widened slightly. “I know he’s outside your league, Julie. Don’t try to cut your teeth on him. You’ll wind up breaking them.”
“I cut my teeth, as you so inelegantly put it, years ago. And I have a perfectly valid reason for asking that has nothing whatsoever to do with what you are obviously thinking. Now, tell me what you know.”
“Well, there’s the obvious. That he looks like the answer to every woman’s romantic fantasies.”
The memory of Caleb’s head tilted to one side, a lopsided smile softening his dark features, and his eyes gleaming with humor as he’d brushed the glitter from her hair popped into Julie’s mind. She shivered slightly as she savored the image. No doubt about it. Caleb Tarrington was most definitely qualified to star in a romantic fantasy. Just not hers. She had better sense.
“True, but looks can be deceptive,” Julie said. “Take me, for example. I may look like the proverbial girl-next-door, but beneath my prosaic exterior beats the heart of a dedicated career woman.”
“Where
