Sugar Plums for Dry Creek & At Home in Dry Creek by Janet Tronstad Read Free Book Online

door.
    Lizette wondered if Judd thought his look wouldkeep strange cars off the street in front of the school. Actually, he might be right about that one. That scowl of his would stop an army tank from approaching him.
    With all of the frowning, Lizette knew there was no sane reason she should feel drawn to go up and talk to him. But she was.
    She thought it might be his shoulders. For as hard as his face scowled, his shoulders told a different story. It wasn’t anger he was feeling, but worry. Anxiety hung on his shoulders. It was there in the way he angled his head when he heard a sound and the way he stood to take a look down the road every half hour or so.
    Judd was taking his duty seriously, and he was worried.
    That’s it, Lizette thought to her self in relief. She found him compelling because he was protecting the children. She’d just lost her mother, and the man was obviously doing everything he could to guard the children in his care. That made him an unconscious picture to her of her mother, she told her self. She’d be as attracted to a chicken if it sat there guarding its eggs. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was a man. He was simply a concerned parent.
    Lizette felt better having figured that out. Not that she would have been op posed to finding the man attractive as a man, she just didn’t have time for thatkind of distraction right now. She only had three students—Amanda, Bobby and Charley. She needed to worry about get ting more students in stead of thinking about some man’s shoulders.
    And, yet, she let her self walk over to the doorway. Bobby and Amanda were sitting on the wooden floor untying their dance shoes. Since Charley wore socks in stead of dance shoes, he didn’t have to worry about ties. Instead, he was pulling in his stomach and admiring him self in the mirror she’d hung be hind the exercise bar. None of her students needed her immediate attention.
    â€œThey’re al most done,” Lizette said as she walked out on the porch and crossed her arms in the chill. At least she wasn’t asking about snow this time, even though the air felt cold enough for it. She al ways wore black tights and a black wrap-around dress when she practiced. Unfortunately, the dress was sleeve less. “Aren’t you cold out here waiting for the kids?”
    Judd looked up at Lizette and for got to frown. He al most for got to breathe. She was standing in front of the sun, and al though the temperature was low enough out side to make his fingers ache if he didn’t keep them in his pockets, the sun was shining brightly and she looked as though she was rimmed with gold. Her black hair was pulled back into a bun, and the smooth lines of her head made him think of an exotic princess. Her face was smooth and, evenwith out lip stick, she looked like a picture he’d once seen of Cleopatra. The flimsy black thing she had draped over her made her look as if she was in constant motion. No wonder there had been so many wars fought back in Cleopatra’s day.
    Judd was out classed and he had sense enough to know it. All he asked was that he not embarrass himself around her. “It’s not that cold. Forty-six, last I checked.”
    â€œYes, well.” Lizette smiled.
    â€œAnd no snow,” Judd added.
    He’d al ready figured out that it wasn’t snow she was worried about. The few clouds that had been in the sky this morning were long gone. No, it was the kids’ father she was fret ting about. She didn’t know Judd well enough to know that she didn’t have to worry about him leaving his post.
    Not that he minded her coming out to check on him. He knew he hadn’t been around many women in his life, but he didn’t remember women being this naturally beautiful. He al most smiled in return. “So the kids are al most finished? Did they do all right?”
    Lizette smiled even wider. “You do make a good