books with care, read them promptly and return them before the due date, so help me God.”
Chuckling, Mac repeated the promise and when he was finished, she handed him the paper. “Thanks,” he said.
“Is there anything I can help you find? What do you like to read? Besides Shakespeare.”
“I’ve been reading the biographies of the great explorers—Columbus, Marco Polo, Amundsen.”
“That sounds interesting.”
“What do you like to read?”
She took a moment to formulate an answer. “My favorite is true-life adventure. Climbing Everest and surviving in a life raft for seventy days. Books about people with daring and courage.”
“And do you have daring and courage?” he asked.
“No,” Emma said. “Quite the opposite. That’s why I find those books so fascinating.”
“Note to self,” he murmured. “Add more adventure to Marry-Me Emma’s life.”
She giggled softly and her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink. “There’s a new biography of David Livingstone. If you haven’t read it, you should. I thought it was excellent.”
“Good. I’ll read it. And maybe we could get together and have coffee and talk about it.”
“Are you asking me on a date?”
Mac had never needed to clarify his intent when it came to women, but he wasn’t quite sure if coffee and a book discussion qualified as a date. “Would you consider that a date?” he asked.
Emma thought about her answer for a long moment. “Probably not.”
“What would I have to add to make it a real date?” Mac asked.
“Maybe dinner? Definitely dinner. And a movie? But we don’t have a theater in town, so dinner would be enough.”
She blushed more deeply and Mac could see that the question had flustered her. “Emma, would you like to go out to dinner with me?”
She drew in a sharp breath, then nodded her head. “Yes. Yes, that would be lovely. When?”
“Soon? But I’m probably going to need three or four days to finish the book.”
“Or I could recommend a shorter book,” she said.
“How about Saturday?”
“The Livingstone bio is about four hundred and fifty pages long, including the notes and index.”
“I’m a fast reader,” Mac assured her.
“It’s a date, then. Saturday night.”
Mac wanted to stay longer, to find an excuse to grab her hand or steal a kiss. But he had officially secured a date with Emma and, considering her unpredictable nature, he thought it best to leave while he was ahead. “I’m going to go now, before I find a way to screw this up. I’ll see you Saturday night.”
“Where?” she asked.
“Great question. Any thoughts?”
“I’ll pick you up at the hangar and we’ll decide then.”
She smiled and Mac felt his blood warm a few degrees. “Good idea.”
“Enjoy the book, Mac,” she murmured.
“See you Saturday, Emma,” he said.
As he walked back upstairs to the circulation desk, Mac smiled to himself. He’d managed to play that perfectly, yet he hadn’t a clue how it had all happened. When he’d set out to find her, he hadn’t been sure she’d agree to a date.
With the exception of their love of books, they had absolutely nothing in common. She was a homebody, content in a small town, living a small life. Her only adventures came from books. She’d put down roots and was a respected member of the community. Emma had history that included friends and family.
Mac had no roots, no family, no past. He’d spent his adult life drifting from place to place, taking work when he needed it. Everything he owned fit into his plane. His freedom was all he’d ever required in life. He had nothing to offer a woman like Emma.
So why was he so determined to charm her, Mac wondered. Did he see her as a challenge? Or did he want to experience just a tiny bit of the life he’d never had? Or was she just so amazing that he couldn’t help himself?
“It’s just a date. You’re not climbing Everest.”
It was only dinner, and yet somehow Mac felt that it was the start of so much more.
THE NORMALLY QUIET library came alive after school when students strolled through the front door and took their customary spots at the reading tables. The students who wanted to study usually chose to stay at the school library. But Emma had a loyal group of outsiders, kids who either weren’t comfortable at school or had been kicked out of the school library for bad behavior. The former she welcomed, the latter, she considered a challenge to be won over.
“Where are the books about T. rex?”
Emma smiled at Joey Hammersmith. “See that big green dino over there? Right underneath him.”
“Thanks!”
Joey ran off and her gaze fell on a young girl who’d been part of the after-school crowd for the past few months. She appeared to be about eleven or twelve and always sat at the same table, in the same chair. Emma caught her eye and smiled, but the girl quickly looked back down at her books.
“What time is your date tomorrow night?”
Trisha leaned over the counter and pulled out the lollipop container, grabbing a root beer-flavored sucker for herself. She held out the container to Emma. “Join me?”
“I’m on a diet,” Emma said. “I bought a new dress for the date and I—”
“Oh, is it a dress kind of date?” Trisha inquired. “I just assumed it would be a jeans date.”
Emma frowned. “Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. Just from the way you described him. He seemed more like a casual kind of guy.”
“He didn’t really specify,” Emma said. “Crap, now I’m going to have to go buy a new pair of jeans. And stop eating completely for the next twenty-four hours.”
“Why don’t you just call him and ask?”
The idea of phoning him caused a flood of nerves. There was something about Luke MacKenzie that turned her into a stammering schoolgirl. And now that she’d decided he was going to be “the one,” she couldn’t think about him without picturing the guy naked and lying
