Her Chance Encounters Read Free Page B

Never have to. I'm just a man who is determined to get what he wants. River Oaks will be mine one day. Make no mistake about that fact. It doesn't matter who I have to get the deed from or how. The result will be the same. But after ten years of waiting, my patience has started to grow thin. Frankly, it would not be prudent to be the person responsible for making me wait any longer."
    If that wasn't a threat, Adrienne thought, what the hell was it? She took a step back without thinking. A knock at her office door caused her to startle, and the principal almost fell through the open window. Chance reached over to straighten her before she could hurt herself. His touch felt like a jolt of electricity, and he gave her a sexy grin.
    Pulling away quickly, she walked behind her desk again and cleared her throat. "Come in."
    The door busted open. "Don't run!" Donny's father called after the small boy who rushed around the desk to hug his principal. Unfortunately, the child was holding a planted cactus, and both he and Adrienne ended up with tiny prickles on their clothes. "Donny, no. I am so sorry," the boy's father tried to pull the boy away. "I knew I should have bought the ivy arrangement instead."
    "For you," Donny held up the now damaged plant. "Donny loves you."
    Smiling like she had just received a plaque for Principal of the Year, Adrienne bent down to kiss Donny's chubby little cheek. "I love you, too." She looked around the room for a place to display her new gift. A crystal vase was moved to another location and the plant replaced it as the dominant piece on a bookcase. "How does it look here?"
    "Don't touch," Donny proudly warned his principal. "Ouch!"
    "My wife wanted to thank you for taking care of our prickly little sweetheart this year. I thought a clinging ivy was more appropriate, but Donny agreed with his mother, so a cactus it is." The boy's father smiled at his son.
    Donny turned and saw Chance Breaux and jumped on the desk to rush for him. "Big man! Hold Donny!" Adrienne was glad 'big man' had excellent reflexes. He caught the child in mid leap. "Donny loves you." The delightful boy gave his hero a wet kiss on the cheek. Why did the sight of the tall man holding a small child warm Adrienne's heart? It was not like she was in the market for someone to father her children, even if her childbearing years were ticking away.
    Donny's father looked embarrassed as he reached to take his son out of the other man's arms. "I am so sorry. We didn't realize you were in a meeting, Ms. Claireborne. I just had to stop by before you left for summer break. There is no way we can thank you enough for helping Donny learn so much this year."
    "Are you kidding? His oral reading scores helped raise our achievement percentiles two points. Next year we'll work on those comprehension skills, right Donny?"
    The two visitors left, and Adrienne couldn't stop herself from smiling, even if Chance Breaux was still irritating her about River Oaks. Maybe she should call his bluff about wanting her aside from the property. She really needed to stop putting off dealing with River Oaks. First things first, she needed to at least visit the place.
    "Chance, how would you like to show me River Oaks first hand? You can point out all the reasons why I should sell it to you then."
    "It would be a waste of time, babe. You don't want to visit the place. Most of the land is thick, bug-infested swamp, accessible only by airboat, helicopter, or horseback. The house is falling apart. The roof leaks in several places and the gutters are rusty."
    "Didn't you hear Donny's father? I'm on summer vacation after today so I have lots of free time. Besides, it would be interesting to see how accurate your descriptions are about the place. Not that you'd stoop to fibbing about the matter to convince me to sell..."
    "Do they still use the paddle on sassy people in schools these days?"
    Adrienne could not help but laugh at the image that popped up in her head. Chance