A Better Man(10)

"Please." She kept the handshake brief and formal before she disengaged and motioned toward the chair in front of her desk. "Have a seat."

He glanced at the standard school chair with a you've-­got-­to-­be-­kidding-­me lift of his brows. When he sat down, the orange plastic chair creaked and seemed ridiculously small beneath the scope of his height and muscles.

Lucy took her own seat and noticed that the difference in chairs made her tower over him and seemingly give her another advantage. But when he leaned back and crossed an ankle over a knee, he appeared completely comfortable.

So much for one-­upmanship.

"I apologize if I seemed taken aback just now." She opened the folder and pulled out Nicole's progress report as well as several exams and the few assignments Nicole had actually turned in. Late, of course, but complete nonetheless. "I expected your brother Ryan."

"He had business at the vineyard and sends his regrets."

She couldn't help noticing how very deep and smooth his voice had become. Like hot buttered rum on a cold winter night. He had the kind of voice a woman could imagine whispering sweet nothings in her ear while he caressed her in places that tingled beneath his touch.

"I understand." Snapping out of the fantasy, she imagined the enormous scope of duties Ryan Kincade must need to tend to after the death of their parents. Her heart sank a little further for the family. Especially for Nicole, who was so young and really needed the love and guidance of her mom and dad. "I hope you'll accept my condolences. And I sincerely apologize for having you come down at this sorrowful time to deal with what might seem insignificant but-­"

"Anything regarding my sister is important, Ms. Diamond. Now more than ever." His brows dipped in a no-­nonsense fashion. "So don't judge me when you don't even know me."

Oh, she knew him.

Knew he was the type who'd make a promise, then shatter it without ever looking back. 

But that was then, and this was now.

"My apologies, Mr. Kincade. That was certainly not my intent."

His piercing eyes perused her face for a long, uncomfortable moment and she had to admit that the look did something funny to the beat of her heart.

Especially when with a slight tilt of his head he asked, "Why do you look so familiar?"

"Do I?" That erratic heartbeat kicked up another notch as she let go a chuckle to cover up what was really going on inside. "People say that all the time. I guess I just have one of those faces."

She pushed Nicole's schoolwork in his direction. "If you'll take a look at these projects, you'll see that even though she didn't complete the assignment exactly as it was defined, Nicole has an enormous gift."

"I'm pretty sure that's a lie."

"Excuse me?" Irritated, Lucy's gaze shot up to the slight smile curling his lips. "How can you say that without even reading anything? I guarantee your sister has a multitude of talent."

"I'm not talking about my sister's work. I'm talking about you just having 'one of those faces.' " He uncrossed his long, muscular legs and leaned forward without even looking at the papers she'd put in front of him. "So now I'm wondering why you sidestepped my question."

Good God, the man was intense. There was something in the combination of that nearly black hair that fell over his ears and his nape in perfect waves and those deep blue eyes that seemed almost otherworldly. She could imagine how he'd intimidate an opponent on the ice.

And it had nothing to do with his size.

But as far as admitting who she really was? Not going to happen. No need to dredge up a bad memory when all she really wanted was to help his sister.

"I apologize." Her heart beat erratically as she avoided the intensity of his gaze. "But I would like to stick to the subject of your sister's grades-­or lack thereof-­that may prevent her from graduating with the rest of her class. I genuinely care about her, which is why I noticed a problem way before the loss of your parents."

"And now you won't even look at me," he said. "Why is that?"

As he leaned in, his intoxicating scent came with him. Normally such things didn't affect her. Well, at least not with her colleagues, who tended to wear either too much aftershave or worse, too much body odor. Jordan wore his masculine scent like a sexual promise, and Lucy swore he should come with a warning label.

But back to business.

"In this assignment"-­she pointed to the paper on top of the stack-­"the class was asked to write their favorite childhood memory. Instead Nicole chose to write a review for a rerun of Pretty Little Liars. The review was entertaining, but that wasn't what she'd been asked to do. And I can't grade her on a movie review."