Mad Love (Hearts Are Wild): Hearts Are Wild (3 page)

“I know you’re fine but I’m offering to help
anyway.”

“Suit yourself.” She stepped out of the way
and crossed her arms over her chest.

Lord, even the haughty way she held herself
got his engine revving.

He wanted her. More than he’d wanted any
woman since he’d been an adolescent teeming with hormones.

He’d have to be careful though. This woman
wouldn’t be easy to win over. She had walls surrounding her. Walls
on top of her walls. Except Toby had a feeling they weren’t of her
making. Since she’d joined the faculty, he’d caught fleeting
glimpses of yearning, sadness in her eyes. He may have imagined
them but he didn’t think so. There were emotions lurking in her
gaze he wanted to explore.

She’d barely given him the time of day and he
possibly bordered on stalkerville with the way he’d watched her in
the last few months, but there was this pull he couldn’t seem to
ignore. It was sick and probably made him a masochist or something,
but the more she telegraphed her dislike, the closer to her he
wanted to get.

Toby didn’t doubt scaling her barriers would
be hard work, except when he looked at her, with her starched
blouse askew and scraped-back hair slightly mussed from their
tumble, he couldn’t deny he wanted to get beneath her stay-away
veneer no matter what it took.

Why he thought there was something worth
discovering under Madison’s façade, he didn’t know. He should take
her at face value. Except the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its
cover’ kept rolling though his head. And every second he spent with
her made him more determined to unearth the real Madison.

***

Madison shivered. She wasn’t cold. There
wasn’t a breeze. The early autumn evening was actually quite balmy.
No. Her body had gone into some sort of…well, she didn’t know what
it was doing precisely except she’d never experienced it
before.

The only thing that was undisputable was the
fact that Tobias Moreland was responsible.

She’d gone all hot and shivery lying in his
arms. He was hard. Everywhere. Muscled but not obscenely so, and
the hardness in his pants confused her. Did holding her arouse him?
The thought had left her fumbling to understand what was happening,
and the urge she’d had to rub against him shocked her. Then angered
her.

He had no right to make her feel all soft and
melty.

And brainless.

Whatever he’d done, it had short-circuited
her brain. Even now, several feet away, she could feel the heat
radiating off him like the shimmer on a hot summer day rising from
a long stretch of black tarmac. It took an extreme amount of
control to remain where she was—to not walk up behind him and press
herself against his back to soak up all that warmth.

What on earth was that?

“Pull yourself together, Madison,” she
muttered.

“Huh?” Tobias looked over his shoulder. “Did
you say something?”

“Uh, no.” She forced a smile. A thin stretch
of her lips, no teeth.

He raised an eyebrow in a way that gave her
the impression he knew she was lying.

She scrambled for a distraction and hit on
what she’d been thinking right before his notable arrival. “You’re
late.” Madison didn’t even attempt to keep the censure from her
voice.

“Sorry. I was—”

“Don’t let it happen tomorrow. We need to
leave here at eight. Sharp.” She didn’t need—or want—excuses. She
needed someone she could rely on, who could perform his task on
time and properly.

Tobias frowned at her. “Look—”

“No.” She pointed her finger at him. “You
look. This is an important component in the curriculum for these
students. If you aren’t able to fulfill your obligation and arrive
on time, I need to know now.”

The man infuriated her.

She didn’t understand the level of irritation
he inspired or the rude way she dealt with all these foreign
emotions and sensations. Contrary to her recent conduct, she wasn’t
an ill-mannered person. Or driven to aggravation easily.

Madison knew her current behavior was an
overreaction but couldn’t seem to stop. She lowered her eyelids and
drew in a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, she opened her eyes
and focused on the man in front of her.

Had he moved closer?

Striving to keep her voice even and
nonthreatening, she said, “Please be on time in the morning. We
have to allow for traffic and I don’t want to be late for our first
guided session.”

“I’ll be here.”

“Yes, but will you be on time?”

He was grinning at her now. Why was he
grinning?

“I fail to see the amusement…”

Reaching over, he brushed lose hair away from
her forehead. “It’s curly.”

“What?”

“Your hair.” Tobias picked up a strand near
her chin. Twirled it around his finger. “It’s curly.”

“Stop that.” Madison slapped his hand away
and stepped back as a shiver racked her.

He flustered her. Made her thoughts splinter,
shoot off in every direction.

He tipped his head toward the bus. “Anything
else need to go in?”

In an effort to clear her thoughts, as well
as answer him, she shook her head. “No.”

“Right. Let’s lock up and grab dinner.”

“Dinner?”

“Yes.” He slammed the doors and made sure the
lock engaged. “You know, food?”

“Oh.” Madison shook her head again. “That
won’t be necessary.”

“You don’t want to go over the program?”

“No. I have it under control.” Madison pushed
the alarm button on the bus key.

“Never thought you didn’t, but
I
would like to know the details of the excursion before we’re
there.” Tobias gripped her elbow and steered her toward the admin
building.

She yanked her arm from his grasp and turned
to face him. “Tobias—”

“Toby.”

“What?”

“Everyone calls me Toby. Well, except my mom,
but she gets a pass on account of the fact she gave birth to me.”
He flashed straight white teeth.

Madison was momentarily stunned by his
dazzling smile. Shaking her head—
again
—she continued,
“Fine. Toby. There’s no need to go over the program. Everything is
summarized in the file Mr. Richardson gave you. As long as you show
up—on time—you’ll be doing what’s required.”

“I’ll feel better if you go over it with me.
You have to eat, right? So do I. May as well do it together and go
over the plan. Kill three birds with one stone. Plus you want me to
be prepared for tomorrow, yes?” He gripped her elbow and moved them
forward once more.

“Tobias.” His fingers tightened, moved across
her skin a fraction, and she sucked in a breath as heat traveled up
her arm and flooded into her chest like warm caramel syrup.

“Toby.” Reaching out, he opened the door and
ushered inside. “And don’t bother with another argument. We’re
getting dinner and going over what you’ve got planned.”

She opened her mouth but snapped it shut when
she caught the look he gave her.

He released her. “Go get whatever it is you
need from your staffroom. I’ll wait here.”

“I don’t need anything. I packed my car
earlier.”

“Right. Let’s go then.”

Opening the door they’d just come through,
Tobias propelled her outside with a hand to her lower back. A
shudder ricocheted up her spine. Madison wasn’t sure if it was
frustration, resignation or anticipation. Whatever it was, she
didn’t have the first clue how to deal with it—or him.

Toby ground his teeth and tried to pretend
the woman next to him didn’t set them on edge. Or get his blood
boiling. This morning she’d been waiting for him, arms crossed, one
foot tapping the ground, a scowl on her face. A scowl she reserved
exclusively for him.

Everyone else got her smiles.

Like now. They sat in a loose circle with
their students, discussing the day so far. And she was smiling.
Big. Wide. Natural.

Not the forced stretch of lips she
occasionally graced him with.

He’d missed a lot of the historic site around
them because he’d spent most of his day studying Madison. She was
in her element with the students. It was as though she had a split
personality—the cold, aloof, sometimes abrasive woman he interacted
with and the warm, engaging woman the kids got.

He found himself jealous of a bunch of
teenagers.

He
wanted this Madison.

It didn’t take a genius to work out it came
down to comfort and confidence. For some reason, she felt at ease
with her students, relaxed enough to let down those walls she hid
behind. He’d watched her interact with their guide too, and she
seemed as standoffish with him as she was with Toby.

From the corner of his eye, he watched Kim
and Rick attempt to sneak off behind their backs and was about to
speak when Madison beat him to it.

“Park your behinds back down, you two.” She
didn’t even look at them. “If you’re going to attempt to slip away
to find a secluded spot to engage in kissing, at least wait until
we’re all a little more distracted and it’s dark.”

“
Miss
…” Kim hissed as she flopped
down on the grass where they were all enjoying the last of the
sun’s rays while they ate dinner and waited for their night tour to
begin.

“What? You think I don’t know you two are
dating?” Madison aimed an eyebrow-arched look the young girl’s way.
“Although I would have thought all the information available on
communicable diseases would have turned the two of you off swapping
body fluids.”

A couple of gasps, a few yucks and even a
gagging sound reverberated around the group. Everyone protested
Madison’s comment in some way except Rick. The kid was grinning for
ear to ear.

Toby smiled.

He’d had little to do with these particular
students, none of them were in his PDHPE classes or on any of
Huntington’s sports teams, but he’d found them to be an exceptional
group of individuals. He had no clue why they’d been given
full-ride scholarships; some no doubt for their genius IQs, others
for being classified underprivileged or disadvantaged. What he did
know was that each of them took their education seriously,
enthusiastically. They were like sponges soaking up every molecule
of information.

And they loved Madison Keibler.

The connection between this group of
teenagers and Madison was tangible. If he didn’t know better, he’d
say they’d known her for years. It was a rare teacher who could
connect with students that well, never mind that quickly. He’d
known she was good at her job. Hard to miss the talk of the
‘excellent new teacher’ in the staffrooms, hallways and schoolyard,
even if he hadn’t been hungry for any little detail about her.

He was intrigued before. After spending
eleven hours straight with her, not to mention the two hours at
dinner last night, he was downright enthralled.

“Sir?”

Snapped out of his thoughts, Toby focused on
the boy across from him. “Sorry, Brian. I missed that.”

“Do you think we’ll see any ghosts?” Brian’s
voice raised a few octaves with his excitement.

“Um…” He couldn’t exactly say he didn’t
believe in them, could he? “According to all we’ve been told today
and the number of people who’ve reported seeing one here, I’d think
our chances are high.”

“I’m sleeping with the light on,” Kim said
with a visible shudder.

“Don’t worry.” Rick threw his arm around the
girl’s shoulders. “I’ll sleep in your room to protect you.”

“Nice try, Rick.” Madison got to her feet.
“All right. We’ve got ten minutes before our night experience
guided session starts. Everyone collect your rubbish and dispose of
it in the garbage then make a trip to the bathroom. Once we start,
we’ll be walking around with no pit stops for at least an hour, so
if you’ve got to go, go now.”

Toby stood and held open the bag they’d been
given to use for their rubbish. Once all the students had dumped
their trash and headed towards the toilets, he turned to Madison.
“You want to do a bathroom run while I wait here?”

She jolted. “Ah. Sure. Okay.”

He smiled. She always seemed surprised when
he spoke to her. As though she were ignoring him so well that she
completely forgot he was there. He’d like to change that but
couldn’t do what he really wanted to do to get her attention. Not
while they were at work. Unless, unlike Rick, he
did
manage to sneak off somewhere secluded with the woman he wanted to
get his hands on.

Then he’d be sure to get Madison’s focus
solely on him.

Watching her walk away, he marveled at the
fact she still looked pristine-fresh. As though she hadn’t spent
the day wandering around dusty old buildings and along dirt paths.
Her hair remained in her usual severe bun, not a strand out of
place, and the white blouse with high collar she wore didn’t have a
crease or sweat mark on it.

The only clue to her day was the dullness of
her shoes, their shine reduced by the layer of grime that no one
would really notice. Other than that, Madison looked exactly as she
had eleven hours ago when he’d first seen her standing by the bus
in the school’s parking lot.

He wanted to mess her up. Badly. It was like
a bindi-eye in his foot. Sharp and stinging until he removed it,
but even then the discomfort remained. Toby had a feeling he
wouldn’t get rid of this particular pain until he’d gotten Madison
well and truly ruffled.

***

All day Madison had made a valiant effort to
ignore Tobias.

Except he was impossible to overlook.

If wasn’t only his size. That alone would
need fifty gallons of invisible paint to hide, and last she checked
that color wasn’t available at the hardware store.

His personality matched his physique in
stature and attraction. It was big and friendly and drew everyone
in.