Sweeter Than Wine Read Online Free Page B

appealed to her. However, he
wanted to know more about her and that intrigued her. If he was
flirting, she didn't recognize it. His huge sorrowful brown eyes
captured her heart and imagination.
    "Yes, I found you on the beach, dressed in a
towel, but by your excuses I could tell this wasn't normal for you.
Then you took a fishing trip, which wasn't the norm either, I
gather, as you get seasick. So what are you out to prove?"
    "I'm that obvious?" she asked sitting back
against the chair and sipping the wine. She felt the tingle in her
blood as the wine tickled her tummy. Funny and true, she
acknowledged.
    "Some boyfriend challenges your
integrity?"
    "No boyfriend, but I suppose it could be
called a challenge." She quipped, grabbing a napkin and dabbing her
lips. She shouldn't burden this man with her troubles. He had
plenty of his own, it would seem.
    "Want to talk about it?"
    "Why would you want to listen?" She couldn't
stop the smile.
    "Let's just say you intrigue me."
    "Well, perhaps I should stop while I'm
ahead."
    "You enjoy being a woman of mystery?"
    "Me—a mystery?" She looked at his face, a
pleasant well-tanned face that spoke of hard work, and lots of
life. He said he was a forest ranger that would explain his
beautiful tan; it contrasted so acutely with the white shirt he
wore. "I suppose it might help explain my actions."
    "That's not what I asked. Do you want to talk
about it?"
    She held his gaze for a second and it
rendered her almost speechless looking into those warm brown eyes
that held both mischief and understanding. The man was such a
puzzle, one minute he was so caring and probing, the next, abrupt,
and rude. Which man was this?
    "I'm a school teacher. Does that tell you
anything?" She began, her eyes straying to his long wayward hair,
as her imagination embarrassed her. She wondered what it might be
like to curl a finger around that hair at his nape. Not a
conventional man, but all man, she deemed him. "A teacher, that's
nice." He smiled magnetically.
    "Oh please…it's boring. I teach at a private
all girls school in Houston. And I guess you above all deserve to
know why I'm making such a fool of myself."
    "I wouldn't go that far, but go on." He
encouraged.
    "I had my eye on this summer trip with the
girls. I thought I was a natural for it, because all the girls
wanted me to go with them. So I applied, blindly to the Dean."
    He frowned, "Blindly?"
    She frowned and sighed and put her napkin
down a little too heavily, "Yes, well, the Dean of the school let
me know in no uncertain terms that I wasn't qualified to take the
girls on such an adventure."
    "Not qualified, for a vacation? Since when do
you need an education to take a vacation?"
    "Exactly, not qualified. That's exactly my
thoughts, too. I had all the teaching credentials anyone could ask
for, but I lacked in the department of living according to him at
least, as though he would know."
    "I don't follow," he frowned.
    She firmed her lips and looked away, "I
haven't done enough living according to the Dean. I've been
nowhere, done nothing, and experienced nothing of life. In other
words I'm about as boring as one gets. Therefore, I am unqualified
to lead the girls into an enjoyable vacation. I don't swim, don't
snorkel, don't surf, and don't do anything that young girls do. I'm
not even a good dancer. How could they possibly have a good time
with me?" she finished with a touch of scorn in her voice. "Those
were his words. The vacation was paid for by the school and I was a
risk factor so, no vacation. "
    "I see…" he studied her a moment, "And is
this true?"
    She frowned again and firmed her lips, "Yes,
it is. Probably what set me off with him? He was right. But not
without reason."
    He nodded for her to continue.
    "I really don't want to bore you with my
troubles."
    "Indulge is a better word. I find other
people's troubles make mine looks smaller sometimes."
    "Stop me when I start boring you, okay?"
    He nodded.
    "My mother had been ill for some