Carolyn Arnold - McKinley 04 - Politics is Murder (6 page)

They left the dorm room about an hour after arriving, Halie’s journal in hand. “At least it wasn’t a wasted trip.” Sara held up the book. “More than that, we have Halie’s class schedule without having gone to the dean.”

“Easy for you to say it wasn’t a wasted trip.”

She looked over at his red-rimmed eyes, which were barely open, and empathy coursed through her, but she flipped it to the positive. “At least, on the upside, darling, it wasn’t your nose getting the brunt of it this time.”

He stopped walking and she ceased movement with him. She turned to him and he flicked her gently on the nose.

“Hey.”

He shrugged, a smirk on his lips. “What can I say? Misery loves company.”

“You’re a brat.” She laughed.

“Yes, but I’m a brat who loves you.” He pulled her in tight and kissed the tip of her nose.

She laughed. “So, first you flick it and then you kiss it? I must say you’re confusing me, Mr. McKinley.”

“It’s a good thing you have a lifetime to figure me out then, isn’t it.”

“I’d say.” She caressed his arm and then his forehead, down, tracing around his temples and touching his brow line. “Poor fella.”

“Sorry about your nose.”

She narrowed her eyes, released herself of his embrace, and reached for his hand. “Uh-huh.”

“I am, darling.”

“As Dad would say to Mom, I’ll get even, and when you least expect it.”

“Oh.”

She glanced over at him. A smile rested on his lips, humor had returned and that meant he was feeling somewhat better. In a couple more hours, he’d be feeling almost as good as new.

Class Is In Session

HALIE WAS GOING THROUGH TO acquire her bachelor in literature and her eleven o’clock class was with Professor Harland. Sean and Sara arrived to the room in the middle of his lecture. He was discussing topics that soared over Sara’s head and she was starting to second-guess her ability to write a piece of fiction.

Her thoughts drifted to her work in progress for a moment. She had left her protagonist in a precarious situation and really needed to find the time to get back to writing. She hadn’t written a word in over a month.

Sean gestured to a couple available seats in the back row and they excused themselves as they slid in, past a few students, to reach them.

Their arrival didn’t seem to affect the professor at all. He carried on as if he wasn’t even aware of his tardy, older visitors.

Sean leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Anything like you remember?”

A young woman in front of them, turned around and shot a glare at them, brows furrowed.

“Quiet, darling.” Sara laughed while noticing another female student had her attention on Sean—for a different reason. It caused Sara to smile. He could get so jealous of her, whether he’d admit to that or not was another story, but he had women lined up who were interested in him too.

As the professor carried on, her mind kept going back to her book. When they got to the hotel tonight, she’d make some time to sit down in quiet. The concept, which had mostly eluded her before, due to a busy schedule, now seemed squashed out by a desire to spend as much time as possible with Sean. They had been inseparable since they were married. In fact, her whole way of life had changed.

She glanced over at Sean, taking in his dark hair and the set of his jaw, the way he exuded charm just by breathing. She didn’t regret her decision or have a desire to go back in time. She loved him, deeply, but in this moment—blame it on a visit to the past—she missed her identity. If even for an iota of time, she realized her old schedule was obliterated. She didn’t take time each morning to read the obits, and, while she wasn’t the most dedicated writer, she would have at least scribbled down a couple hundred words in the last month and a half.

Sean turned to her and smiled, sending a pulse of regret through her for even thinking about her life before. It was perfect now, wasn’t it?

While Sean faced back toward the professor, she kept her eyes on him. Really, the fact she missed certain aspects of her former life didn’t mean she loved him any less. He loved her then, for the person she was. Wasn’t she risking more by changing so much, by conforming to a settled existence in marriage?

She reached for his hand and held it tight. No, he would understand her need to have time for herself. He would likely even encourage her, as he had before. She was truly blessed.

Her mind not on the words of Harland at all, she surveyed the room and noticed a familiar student, a few rows down and one section over. She nudged Sean and pointed toward him.

The guy must have felt their eyes on him because he looked over and smiled at her.

“Seems to me he’s fallen really hard,” Sean whispered.

It warranted another glare from the female student in front of them.

“Sorry.” He offered his apology with a smile that had the girl rolling her eyes.

It made Sara laugh. She recognized that type of student who was more focused on her studies than the opposite sex—not that she could relate. She had spent a lot of her youth dreaming of the day she’d find the right man and get married. Her thoughts collided with their discussion about a two-door versus a four-door and she realized that vision never included kids. It would soon be time they have that conversation.

Professor Harland finished up and the students filtered out of the room. The girl who had been sitting in front of them cut another blazing stare in their direction as she went to leave her seat.

“See the effect I had on her.” Sean laughed.

“Some women don’t know what they’re missing, and now they’re never allowed to find out.” She touched his thigh and it shot shivers of carnal hunger through him.

He glanced down at her hand on his leg and lifted his eyes to look at her, wishing they were anywhere but here at this moment.

“Hello again.”

The male student Sara had asked directions from earlier was standing there.

“We meet again.” His eyes were on Sara when he spoke, and, after his words came out, a touch of red hit his cheeks. He adjusted the books in his arms and seemed to grip onto them tighter.

“Yes, how lovely. I’m Sara and this is Sean.”

“Justin.”

There was an awkward few seconds of silence. Justin’s eyes flitted about the room but kept coming back to Sara.

Sean couldn’t blame the kid, but if he didn’t turn things around, he’d never get a woman like Sara. One had to have self-confidence to begin with, and charm was another element the kid was missing.

“Do you know most of the students in this class?” Sara asked.

“Yes, well, their names anyway.”

The way his eyes shifted away, Sean could fill in the blanks. Justin was an outsider and didn’t really fit in with any clique. It explained the floundering social nature and the hiding behind books. “So, you know Halie Davenport?” he asked.

“Yes, she’s in a few of my classes. I haven’t seen her around campus in a few days, come to think of it.” There was a glint in Justin’s eyes, disclosing he wondered why they were there.

“We’re literary agents.” Sean ignored Sara’s stare on his profile.

Justin managed to point a finger from beneath the pile of books he held. “Looks like you met the wrong end of a mace bottle.”

“You could say that.” He glimpsed at Sara, back to Justin.

“One student really didn’t like the terms of our contract, but it is what it is. We don’t have the power to change it,” Sara said, playing along beautifully.

There was a subtle smile on Justin’s face. “Agents, you said?”

Sean nodded. “What about you? Are you looking to get published?”

His eyes enlarged. “I’d love to be,” his excitement waned as somberness washed over his expression, “but I have to finish school first.”

Sara waved her hand, dismissing his thinking. “Nonsense. You can do both.”

“Really?” The smile was back in full force. “Well, I’d love for you to see some of my work then. I have a business card somewhere.” He went to place the books on the chair, but they weren’t balancing and threatened to spill to the floor. He ended up handing them to Sean. After seconds of patting his pockets, he came up empty. “Figures. I can’t put my hands on it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Justin.” Sara crossed her legs toward him. “So, Halie…tell us about her.”

He took his books back from Sean. “You’re really interested in her, aren’t you?”

“Honestly? We came here for her.”

Sean glanced at his wife. Smooth.

“I should have known.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, she has luck on her side. Always has.”

Sean studied the kid’s eyes. Did he really have no idea her luck had changed?

“Why do you think she’s lucky?” Sean asked.

“She’s the daughter of a politician. Enough said?”

Sean nodded as if he understood the implication.

Justin didn’t seem satisfied, and he continued. “He’s a wealthy man, hence, she gets to come to a school like this.”

“You’re at a school like this.”

“Yes, but that’s different. It’s not that I really had anything against her.”

Sean picked up on the past tense but let it go at this juncture. “Do you know of anyone who didn’t like her?”

“I know of a few, yeah. She was always praised for her work.” He waved a hand in the direction of the lectern. “Professor Harland’s pet student.”

Sean followed the direction where Justin implied and noticed that Harland had left the classroom. “Sara?” He almost said
darling
, as he butted his head forward.

Receipt of the message dawned in her eyes, but she carried on with Justin anyhow. “That wouldn’t have made her very popular with the other students.”

“One would think that, but then, you know who her father is.”

“So that swayed people’s affection for her?”

“It bought their votes.” Justin laughed at his joke, while Sean and Sara smiled. “It probably would have made her the winner in the writing contest that is going on right now too.”

“What contest?”

“The entrants need to be approved of by Professor Harland, and then they are passed on. It’s something he handles through a publishing house he runs.”

Sean turned to Sara. “Busy man. A professor and a publisher.”

“Yes, I’d say.”

“So, did Halie enter this contest?”

“I’m not sure. We weren’t what you’d call close.”

“All right, Justin, while it’s been nice talking to you, we really must get going.” Sean got up and Sara followed his lead.

“You don’t think anything bad happened to her, do you?” Justin asked.

A response almost slipped from Sean’s mouth. The kid was good. Instead, Justin left without an answer, and, with him out of earshot, Sean turned to Sara. “He knows we’re not literary agents.”

“Is that all he knows?”