Guardian in Disguise

He nodded. “And I had to get through it without ever doing drugs myself. It’s not easy, and it can cause a lot of suspicion. Why do you want to know about McKenny?”

“I don’t know a damn thing about him,” she said frankly. “Something doesn’t add up.”

“Such as?”

“I can’t exactly put my finger on it. He wants to take me up into the mountains on a ride sometime.”

Gage shook his head. “You reporters. I did his background check for the college, Liza. Is that good enough?”

She felt like squirming, wondering yet again if she was being unreasonable about all this. Maybe this was nothing but a major fail for her instincts. Or maybe her whole problem with Max was that she was nervous about the attraction she felt for him. Attraction had given her nothing but grief in her past.

“I guess it’s good enough,” she said finally to Gage.

“He’s clean?”

“They hired him, didn’t they?” Gage smiled that crooked smile of his and headed for the door. “Let me know if he does anything to justify your suspicion.”

Ouch, she said to herself as Gage disappeared.

She thought again about the complaint her ex-boyfriend had made. Was she really too inquisitive? Too suspicious? Maybe so, she admitted as she returned to her office. Max McKenny had passed a background check performed by the sheriff’s office. That should be enough for her. Absolutely enough.

His reasons for coming here to teach were purely personal and none of her business unless he made it hers. God, she needed to rein this in. Even Gage thought she was being a bit ridiculous, although he hadn’t come right out and said so.

She was walking head down, waging an internal war with herself as she crossed the quadrangle. A few dead leaves rustled as they blew by her, an early announcement of autumn, but she barely noticed them.

Okay, she was trained to want to know everything, but she wasn’t trained to question everyone who crossed her path. What had Max done to arouse her suspicion except seem out of place? And who was she to decide he was out of place?

Heck, she was out of place herself.

So a good-looking guy with a law enforcement background came all the way from Michigan to teach at an out-of-the-way junior college. Maybe it was the only job he could find, given that jobs were harder to find than ladybugs without spots. She ought to know that, since she’d spent months searching after she got her pink slip.

Maybe he really did just want a break from chasing speeders. He wouldn’t be the first cop who found the job not to his taste after a while.

And look at her. If her life had followed her plan, she’d be working at an even bigger daily paper now instead of teaching.

She sighed.

Okay, maybe all this was happening simply because she was frightened of being so attracted to him. Maybe she was doing the deflecting, finding reasons to try to stomp down that attraction. Any other woman with these feelings would be trying to draw Max’s attention, not trying to find something unsavory in his past.

Maybe years as a reporter had screwed up her thinking in some major way. It had certainly screwed up her life and her relationships with men.

Just as she was concluding that this was all about scars from old relationships and fears of garnering new ones, she saw the booted feet in front of her.

Too late to stop, she collided with Max McKenny’s hard body. At once he gripped her elbows and steadied her.

“Oops,” she said and looked up reluctantly. To her horror a blush heated her cheeks, as if he could read every thought in her head. Not to mention her lack of attention that had caused the collision.

“Sorry,” he said. “Are you all right? I wasn’t paying close enough attention.”

Another ouch. If her head had been up, she wouldn’t have been able to avoid seeing him approach. She would have fixated on it. But he hadn’t even noticed her.

“I’m fine,” she said in a muffled voice, embarrassment and annoyance both rising in her.

“One of my students called to me,” he offered pleasantly enough as he released her elbows. “Note to self, never turn head while walking forward.”

The heat began to leave her cheeks. “I could give myself the same note.”

“You were lost in thought. Your head was down. I should have kept that in mind.”

“I shouldn’t walk when I’m woolgathering,” she admitted, stepping back a little when all she wanted to do was step forward and press herself up against him. Her cheeks warmed again. “Sorry.”

“Hey, we teach at a college. Aren’t we supposed to be absentminded?”

That smile again, that devastating smile. It reached out and filled her with warmth, especially in her most secret places. God, she hoped he couldn’t smell her pheromones. She was glad when the breeze quickened, blowing any possibility away. “I don’t think we’re supposed to be that absentminded,” she replied.

He laughed quietly. “I was coming to look for you.”

Her heart leaped and she forced it back down. “But my office is that way.” She pointed.

“I checked your schedule and figured you were on your way back from class.”

Another wave of heat rolled through her. She almost hated him for the effect he had on her. “Oh,” she said, unable to think of anything witty. “Why?”

“Because tomorrow’s Saturday. It’s going to be a beautiful day. Want to ride up into the mountains with me?”

She wanted to say no just because she wasn’t ready to admit she might be a fool. Because she really didn’t trust men all that much. Because it would be easier to convince herself all over again that this man had something to hide than it would be to risk the possibility of getting hurt by him.

But Gage’s reassurance rang in her ears, reminding her that she’d never vetted a boyfriend before. Besides, this was a bike ride, not a date. He probably thought it would be more fun to share the time than ride alone.

And she really, really wanted to go. She knew she was lying to herself when she decided it would be an opportunity to learn more about him. She just wanted to be on that bike, wrapped around him, winding up mountain roads with the wind in her face and the changing leaves showing between the firs.

“Yes,” she said, the word escaping her before she even realized it was coming.

“Great.” His smile widened a bit. “I’ll pick you up around ten, so the air has a chance to warm.”

She gave him directions to her apartment building, promising to be out front.

“Wear something warm and rugged,” he said. “Basic safety rule.”

“I know. Thanks.”

Then before she could gather herself, he was striding away again.

She realized that she watched Max walk away an awful lot for someone she had just met.

Resuming her trek to her office, not all that far really given the small size of the campus, she wondered if she needed her head examined.

She only wished she knew who was crazier, Liza the woman or Liza the reporter. At the moment, it seemed like a toss-up.