Rancher's Deadly Risk Read Online Free

Greaves—Cassie. Make it about ignoring a teacher’s direction. We’ll get to the rest of it as we go, but for now let’s take the spotlight off James Carney. Maybe they’ll duck and leave him alone since he won’t be the source of their headache for the time being.”
    Cassie turned the incident around in her mind, remembering the way those students had bumped her shoulder on their way out. It had been a little more than disrespectful. Almost like a hinted threat. Linc was right, she had been bullied, too. A little flicker of anger started burning in the pit of her stomach.
    “I don’t want to make Cassie an inadvertent target,” Les said.
    Cassie shifted in her chair. “Look, Les, we can’t let this go. What do you think those students will do to me, anyway? They can get as mad as they want. Surely you aren’t suggesting they’d physically hurt me.”
    Les looked shocked. “No, of course not. You’re a teacher .”
    Cassie didn’t think that was much protection, but on the other hand she figured these students wouldn’t want the veritable hell that would come their way if they treated her the way they had treated James.
    Linc spoke. “Just make it clear to them that it’s unacceptable to ignore a teacher, and then add something about how touching her, so much as touching, however briefly, is a crime called battery. I don’t think any of them is stupid enough to ignore that.”
    “I agree,” said Cassie. “Let’s get this program going, give the students detention for ignoring me, call their parents about their behavior and see how much help you’ll get. Keeping the spotlight off James is the best thing to do. I don’t want them turning on him any more than they already have. He’s the one in most need of protection.”
    “Okay then.” Linc rose from his chair, an almost iconic figure in old jeans, cowboy boots and a faded chambray shirt. “I’ve got to get to the locker room again before the team wonders if I fell off the edge of the planet. We have an away game tonight.” Then he turned his attention to Cassie. “Are you okay with this? Really?”
    “Being the center of the storm? Of course. Those bullies don’t frighten me, they make me mad.”
    One corner of his mouth ticked up in a smile. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow morning and we’ll set up some meeting time to get this ball rolling.”
    He strode out, and Cassie’s gaze followed him helplessly. Wow, she thought, he was going to call her. Maybe she didn’t stink as bad as she sometimes thought. Les called her attention back.
    “If you’re okay with this, then that’s how we’ll handle the matter for right now. But not for too long. I don’t want those students to think they’re going to get away with bullying anybody.”
    “I couldn’t agree more.” Finally feeling satisfied with the direction they were taking, she said goodbye to Les, picked up her book bag and headed out for the weekend.
    The day was still glorious, although twilight wasn’t far away. Winter nights came a lot earlier up here than she was used to.
    But instead of thinking about the glorious weather or the relaxing weekend ahead, she was thinking about Linc Blair again. Dang, he almost acted like it hurt to even look at her. Had she turned ugly since yesterday?
    Shaking her head, she tried to think of other things. Despite her reaction in the principal’s office, she wasn’t entirely easy about transferring the bullies’ anger toward her.
    She had taught in a school where a teacher had been attacked by a student, and she didn’t labor under any delusions that her status protected her. On the other hand, bullies were usually cowards at heart.
    It would be okay, she assured herself.
    But it would be even nicer to know why Linc seemed so determined to keep such an obvious distance. He didn’t even make the normal friendly overtures to her, like the other teachers.
    No, it was as if he, or she, were surrounded by some kind of repulsion field. Keep