Read Online Taming Jesse James by RaeAnne Thayne - Free Book Online

her door, trying to figure out her appeal. She was soft and pretty in a pale blue short-sleeve sweater set and a floral skirt. Her sun-streaked hair was held back on the side by some kind of clip thing, but it fell long and luxurious to the center of her back, just inviting a man to bury his hands in it.
    And that mouth. Full and lush and soft enough to make even a priest have to spend a few extra minutes in confession.
    But she was still much too innocent for a wild, somewhat-reformed troublemaker like Jesse Harte.
    He clamped down hard on his unruly imagination and opened the door to her classroom.
    Sarah turned toward him at the sound and her big green eyes widened. Interesting. Now, what made her cheeks turn pink and her breathing speed up a notch?
    Before he could put his crack investigative skills toward figuring it out, he was attacked. Lucy and Dylan ambushed him from the left, throwing their arms around him and jabbering like two monkeys in a zoo.
    They fired questions at him one after another. “Uncle Jess! What are you doing at school? How long will you be here? Can you stay and have school lunch with us? Can we use you for sharing today?”
    He opened his mouth to pick one question to answer, but Ms. McKenzie beat him to it. “Girls,” she interjected firmly, “I know you’re excited about your unclevisiting our classroom. I’m sure it’s a real treat for all of us, but you need to take your seats again.”
    He raised his eyebrows when they immediately obeyed and hurried back to their desks. Wow. The woman knew how to run a tight ship. Who would have thought someone as meek as she seemed to be could command instant order with her students?
    â€œCan we help you with something, Chief Harte?”
    He was pretty sure that tight schoolmarm voice shouldn’t turn him on so much, especially with a classroom full of interested fourth graders looking on. It shouldn’t be able to slide through his bones, settle in his gut.
    He was a bad, bad boy and the idea of pulling her silky hair from its clip, undoing that sweater a button or two and seeing if he could make even more color soak that honey-soft skin appealed to him far more than it should.
    He was sick.
    He had to be, to entertain prurient fantasies about a sweet, shy schoolteacher like Sarah McKenzie.
    He reined in his rampaging thoughts, shifted his weight and turned his attention to the class. He recognized most of the students from around town. Near the back he found Corey Sylvester, sitting alone and looking very aloof. The boy met his gaze warily, then looked down at the book open on his desk.
    Was he acting guilty or just resigned to what he had already figured out was coming?
    Jesse couldn’t tell. How would the kid react if he singled him out in front of his whole class? If he yanked him out into the hall and started grilling him like a suspect? It sure as hell wouldn’t put the kid inany kind of mood to chat about who or what was causing his mysterious accidents.
    Chuck Hendricks and his suspicious little mind could go to the devil, he decided abruptly. He would run this investigation his own way.
    He turned back to Sarah with a smile. To his guilty amusement, the color dusting her cheeks turned a darker shade. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Miss McKenzie. Could I take a few moments of your class time?”
    â€œI…of course.”
    â€œThanks. I’ll make it brief and then you can get back to whatever you were doing.”
    â€œMath,” his new niece, Dylan, said with a disgusted sigh. The implication in her voice was obvious: Take as long as you want. We don’t mind. He swallowed a sympathetic grin and turned to the rest of the class.
    â€œI suppose you’ve all heard by now that somebody broke in to the school last night and took the money you’ve been collecting for the hospital.”
    As he expected, the students buzzed with reaction, from boos and hisses to shocked