Authors: Judy Angelo
“Around six. And
come with your game face on. I’m warning you, Tessa won’t take kindly to a
grump asking her out.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Wolf
said, dismissing him. “I can handle her.”
“I don’t know, she
can be a challenge…” A look of concern crossed Stone’s face. Of course, it was
fake. “If she gets to be too much, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Wolf could only
laugh as he headed for the door. “I’ll be all right,” he said over his
shoulder.
After all, who
couldn’t handle a pretty little thing like Tessa Tyndale?
******
“I’m telling you,
Manuel, get down off that desk before I take you down.” Tessa’s voice was firm
as she stood at the front of the classroom. It didn’t matter that the boy she
was addressing was, at eighteen years old, already a man and twice her size.
He was disrupting her class and it was going to stop. Right now.
“He’s drunk, Miss
Tyndale.” Jackie’s voice piped up. “They dared him to drink three beers and he
did and look at him now.” The girl stared at her classmate with huge eyes as
if the whole scenario was just too much for her.
“Drinking while
under age and getting intoxicated on the school grounds is bad enough, but
acting like a lunatic-”
Tessa was cut off
when Manuel jumped off the desk...and fell on his behind at Jackie’s feet. She
shot up with a shriek that made the class erupt in peals of laughter.
“Quiet! Or else
you’re all staying one extra hour after school.” That shut them up fast, and
except for a few titters from the girls at the back, they were good as gold.
Tessa walked over
to where Manuel still sat looking dazed. She grabbed his arms. “Now, come
on. You and me, we’re going to the principal’s office.”
“You and I, Miss
Tyndale,” came a whisper. “That’s what you told us.”
Tessa gave her a
nod as she continued to pull on the boy's arm.
Yes, Jackie, that’s the
proper way to say it but now is not the time
. She beckoned to the boys
sitting close by. “Come on, help me get him up. I’m strong but not that
strong.”
Two of them hopped
up immediately and helped Manuel to his feet then she draped his arm over her
shoulder and headed for the door with her charge leaning heavily on her.
“I’ll be right
back, guys,” she squeaked, gasping under Manuel’s weight. “Start reading
chapter eight till I get back.”
And so began her
second session for the day at Princess Diana Memorial High School. A typical
day in the drama that was Tessa’s life.
She’d been
teaching at the high school since leaving York University three years earlier
and she’d never had a dull day since arriving that rainy September day. She
loved teaching, molding young minds and motivating her students to always being
their best but goodness, every day brought a new challenge. She suspected that
part of the problem was the simple fact that she was so small. Only five foot
two, most of her students, and especially the boys, towered over her. She
guessed sometimes her diminutive size made it harder for them to take her
seriously.
And Manuel, her
burden to bear right now, was one of those who had a big problem with accepting
the fact that she was in charge. He reminded her of another student who had
been a real trial her very first year in the classroom. Ivan Fisher, or Ivan
the Terrible as she’d begun to think of him. She’d been only twenty-two then,
not much older than her students, and at six foot three and almost three
hundred pounds her first view of Ivan had been scary, to say the least. But a
good dose of Tessa Tyndale had him – not right away but by the end of the semester
– eating out of her hand. You just had to know how to handle these giants.
So Manuel thought
he could do what he wanted and disrupt her class? Little did he know she’d had
to handle worse than him and before this second semester was over he would be
as calm as Lake Ontario. She would make sure of that.
“I’ve been cutting
you a lot of slack, Manuel,” she grunted as she struggled under his weight, “but
no more. This time you’re getting it.”
Manuel only moaned
and rested even more of his weight on her. Great.
By the time Tessa
and Manuel finished their impromptu meeting with the principal – which lasted
only five minutes since she had to get back to her class – Manuel was mourning
and Tessa was rejoicing.
Getting drunk on
campus was grounds for suspension but Tessa had a better idea and one that she
was sure would be far more effective with a boy like Manuel. Instead of
suspension he would be her teaching assistant until the end of the semester.
Tessa never saw a boy apologize so fast. But no, he would not get out of it so
easily. She was looking forward to having Mr. Manuel Pryce under her wing.
And as she walked back to her class, leaving her student in the care of the
principal, she had a huge smile on her face.
That night Tessa
was pleasantly surprised to get a call from her best friend, Indie, just as she
was getting ready for bed.
“Oh, so now you
call me back?” she said in the toughest voice she could muster. “I left you a
message a week ago.”
“I know, Tessa.
It’s just been crazy around here. I had to fly back to South Africa to do some
follow up work with the project manager who replaced me, but I’m back now and I
want to see you.”
“Yeah, yeah, throw
poor old Tessa a pity bone,” Tessa said, rubbing it in. She loved making Indie
feel guilty. There was no telling what she could get from her friend when she
felt guilty. She decided to rub it in some more. “Now that you’re a married
woman you don’t have time for li’l ole me, your spinster friend. But it’s
okay. I expected it.”
“Tessa Tyndale,
don’t make me come over there,” Indie said in her big bad girl voice. And then
she spoiled it with a laugh. “Seriously, we need to connect. Can you come
over for dinner on Sunday?”
“Hmm, let me see.
Sunday, Sunday…I may already have an engagement.”
“Yeah, right. You
get your butt over here Sunday evening at six o’clock." Indie’s tone was
adamant. “And it’s not just me saying that. Stone wants to see you, too. He
was the one who suggested we have a special dinner and invite you over.”
“Oh, so it was
Stone’s idea, not yours?” Tessa tried to sound offended but it didn’t come off
as great as she’d hoped. It was hard to sound mad when you were grinning.
“Look here, girl,
I’m not going to debate with you," Indie said sternly. "When you get
here on Sunday I’ll give you a big, fat hug and it will be all from me. Okay?”
“Okay,” Tessa
conceded, “but I want two.”
“You’ve got it.”
Indie was chuckling now. “Oh, and Tess, Stone said to dress pretty.
Apparently, he’s also invited one of his friends over.”
“Darn, and there I
was planning to wear my sweatpants and a hoodie.”
“Not this time.
We’ll be having company so make sure you look decent.”
“So, who’s
coming?” Tessa asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. “Somebody from
the TV station?”
“He won’t say.
All he told me is, it’s a surprise.
“Hey, I like
surprises.” Tessa twirled a lock of her hair as her mind raced. “What if it’s
a movie star? Do you think it could be Brad Pitt?”
“I doubt it,”
Indie said drily. “It’s probably one of the executives or a major investor or
somebody like that.”
“Aww.” Tessa
didn’t hide her disappointment. “Probably some old fogey who’s going to bore
me to death with investment advice.” She began to pout even though she was the
only one who could see it.
“You never know,
Tessa. You might be pleasantly surprised.” Indie was trying to be reassuring
but Tessa wasn’t buying it.
“I’ll come,” she
said to her friend, “but if he’s a bore I might just have to do something
drastic.”
“Tessa, I’m
warning you, no funny business. No ‘accidentally’ setting the man’s toupee on
fire. Promise me you’ll be good.”
Tessa heaved a
sigh. There went her first idea for livening up the evening. “All right, I
promise.”
“Okay, see you
Sunday. Love you.” And with that Indie was gone.
And as Tessa
placed the phone receiver back in its cradle her mind began to wander as it so
often did. A surprise visitor, eh? Indie thought it would be some executive
or other but she didn’t know that for sure. And what if, just like Tessa
thought, it really was a movie star? As crazy as it sounded, she had a feeling
it would be somebody big, like Jim Carrey or Johnny Depp. Or, better yet,
maybe it was a star who was free, single and disengaged, like Keanu Reeves.
Well, whoever it
was, Tessa planned to put her best foot..and face...forward. When Sunday night
came, she would be ready to wow any man’s socks off.
CHAPTER TWO
The black tie or
the gray tie? Curses. Wolf hated having to dress up. In the end he abandoned
both neckties and just threw on a black dinner jacket. He’d go tie-less
tonight. To hell with looking fancy.
It had been four
days since Stone had invited him to dinner and now that the day had arrived,
for some reason he was beginning to have doubts. Tessa Tyndale had been intriguing
when he’d seen her months ago but what was she really like? Was she as soft
and sweet and innocent as she’d seemed?
The chances were
good that she wasn’t. Wolf had first-hand experience with women who were
experts at deceit. He’d almost married one. And as much as he was taken with
Tessa, he was also determined to protect his heart. Cynic though he was, he
had feelings and he would not, under any circumstances, be trampled on.
Come off your
high horse, Wolf. Just relax and see how the evening goes. Everybody’s not
out to get you
. He sucked in his breath and let it
out slowly. Nerves. That was what his problem was. As much as he hated to
admit it he was as tense as a tightrope. Who would have thought a near
thirty-year-old man would be scared of a woman, a tiny one at that. At six
foot one he was a giant to her. He gave a snort of self-derision.
Some big
man you are
.
He grabbed his
keys from the hall table and went through the door and as he sauntered down the
driveway toward his Mercedes Benz SLR he was smiling to himself. Despite his
last minute doubt he was looking forward to seeing Tessa Tyndale again.
Wolf got to
Stone’s house ten minutes early and as he climbed the stone steps he was
practically whistling. Talk about a change of mood.
“Hey, man, good to
finally have you over.” It was Stone who greeted him at the door. “First time
since the wedding. Way overdue.”
“Don’t worry about
it.” Wolf shrugged. “You’re getting settled into married life. You need time
with your wife. I don’t blame you for keeping her all to yourself.”
They both laughed
at that. Stone took his coat and hung it in the closet then he led him down
the hallway toward an elegant dining room with furniture that looked like they were
Louis XIV.
And there was
Indie, Stone’s new wife, so graceful as she came toward him and extended her
hand. “Glad you could come, Wolf.” Her voice was husky and low, a combination
that made it super-seductive. Her hair was longer than it had been at the
wedding, now falling in a sleek bob around her face. With startling green eyes
and a striking face, she was beautiful. No doubt about that. He could see why
Stone had been captivated by her. He could even understand why his friend had
wanted to snap her up right away.
But as lovely as
she was, it wasn’t Indie that Wolf’s eyes sought as they scanned the room.
Where was she, his little fairy?
“She’s not here
yet,” Stone said as he walked over to the sideboard to pour a glass of wine.
What? Had he
spoken out loud? No, Stone was only being his usual perceptive self.
“That’s cool,”
Wolf said with a shrug, his tone nonchalant. It wasn’t that he was anxious to
see her, he told himself, just curious to see if she’d arrived yet. He shoved
his hands into his pockets and raised his eyebrows. “So…did you catch the
baseball game last night?”
“Almost missed
it,” Stone said with a shake of his head. “Good thing Indie reminded me.
She’s an even bigger baseball fan than I am.” Then he headed toward the
hallway. “Come on. Let’s go down to the den. There’s a game on right now.
The Blue Jays and the Indians.”
“Cool.” Stone was
already halfway down the hall but Wolf was right behind him.
“Don’t go losing
yourselves in the game, guys,” Indie called out to them. “Tessa will soon be
here.”
“Just give us a
shout when she gets here,” Stone said over his shoulder then led the way
through the door and downstairs to the den. He was just closing the door
behind them when Wolf heard Indie’s chuckle.
“Give a man a ball
game and a TV…” The rest of it was lost as the door closed behind them but her
laughter echoed down the hall and under the door, making the two men laugh with
her.