The teenager had flushed red with embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I didn’t know...I didn’t realize that... Oh, dear.”
Richard didn’t appear the least bit nonplussed at being caught in a compromising position. Of course, given his worldly reputation, one kiss wouldn’t do a thing to hurt his image. In fact, there was talk around town of far worse exploits back in his high school days. She’d heard of more blatant incidents of rebelliousness than the theft of Mabel Hartley’s girdle. Folks probably wouldn’t bat an eye over this, at least where he was concerned.
Anna Louise, however, was mortified.
Oblivious to Anna Louise’s dismay, or determined to put the best possible face on things because of it—Anna Louise couldn’t be sure which—Richard winked at Maribeth. He looked downright unrepentant.
“Pastor Perkins was feeling a little down in the dumps about the weather. I was just trying to boost her spirits a little. You know how it is,” he said cheerfully.
“Sure, I suppose,” Maribeth replied, still a little wide-eyed with shock.
Richard gave the teenager a quick kiss on the cheek, as if to emphasize that his kissing Anna Louise had been no more serious in intent. “See you two.”
When he had gone and Anna Louise could manage to speak, she said, “Maribeth, I hope you didn’t misinterpret what you saw.”
“I don’t think so.” Suddenly she grinned at Anna Louise. “It looks to me like Mr. Walton has a serious crush on you.”
“Nonsense,” Anna Louise said quickly. “He was just...just...well, you heard him. He was trying to cheer me up.”
“Jeremy tries to cheer me up a lot, too. It works, doesn’t it?” she inquired, her expression thoroughly innocent.
Anna Louise finally gave up. “As a matter of fact,” she admitted, “it was very effective.”
* * *
Richard didn’t see a sign of Anna Louise for the next two weeks. She didn’t set foot on Walton property or, if she did, she came when he wasn’t around. He knew what was keeping her away. She was troubled by that kiss. He had felt her response. He had been aware of her sweet surrender.
And, to be perfectly honest, what had begun as a game had ended up scaring the dickens out of him, as well. He had been surprised by the way his blood had pulsed harder just from the touch of her mouth against his.
Anna Louise, it seemed, was likely to continue to astonish him.
He admired the way she had pitched in to shore up the banks of the creek. He was even more admiring when he heard from neighbors that she’d once sat up half the night with cantankerous old Mr. Jordan, when moonshine had given him the blues, which it had on a regular basis every Friday night for the past fifty years. Day after day there were new examples of her generosity and caring.
To his deep regret, Richard found himself longing for more of her warmth and attention. That purely masculine yearning made him grateful that she was steering as far away from him as she could. He didn’t trust his own willpower any more to cause him to do the right thing.
Fortunately, even Maisey seemed to have pulled back in her attempts to throw them together. He didn’t doubt that it was a temporary slowdown, but he was grateful for whatever time he could get to gather his thoughts and shore up those barriers he’d erected around his heart long ago.
He worked long, hot hours in the orchard, tiring himself out thoroughly so that he fell into bed each night exhausted. He didn’t want to think about Anna Louise Perkins for even an instant.
For the most part, the plan worked. The only thing he couldn’t seem to control were his dreams, and Anna Louise, darn her little hide, turned up in more and more of them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Anna Louise hadn’t been able to look Maribeth Simmons in the eye since that night in her kitchen when the teenage girl had caught her being kissed by Richard. In fact, if she hadn’t had duties at the church to attend to, she might very well have taken to her bed, pulled the covers over her head and stayed there until Maribeth left for college at the start of the second semester.
As it was, Anna Louise was certainly getting a lot of paperwork done. In her determination to avoid another confusing encounter with Richard, she spent every spare minute locked away in her office. When Maisey called to ask what was keeping her away, she said she had a special project for the church council that had to be completed.
It wasn’t exactly a lie. She had been assigned to make a report at the next meeting of the pastors from all of the neighboring counties, but she had finished it weeks ago. If she typed it over a hundred times, it wouldn’t take up all the time she’d claimed to need for it.
“You’re working too hard, dear,” Maisey said worriedly. “You looked a mite peaked at services on Sunday.”
“I haven’t been getting much sleep,” she admitted with some caution. The last thing she wanted was to alarm Maisey or to put any notions into her head about why she might suddenly be unable to fall asleep the minute her head touched the pillow.
“Perhaps you should see Doc Benson for a tonic.”
“No. I’m just a little restless. I’m sure it will pass. It probably has something to do with the change of seasons. Have you noticed that just about all the leaves have turned? We’re truly into autumn now. It’ll be Thanksgiving before we know it, and then Christmas.”
Maisey made a sound that might have been agreement or a barely muffled chuckle. Anna Louise preferred to think it was the former. That was the only reason she dared to mention the man who’d put her in such a state. “I haven’t seen Richard around town the last few days,” she said casually.
Maisey, blast her, chuckled
