Chill Factor Read Online Free PDF Page B

on the stool beside her. His knee nudged hers as
he
slid his legs beneath the counter. "Mind if I join you?"
    "Not at all."
    "You ought not to be cussin', Wes Hamer," Linda said. "You
being a
role model for kids and all."
    "What did I say?"
    "You said 'damn.' "
    "When did you get to be so prissy? I remember a time or two
you
letting fly with a cussword."
    She snorted, but she was grinning. Wes had that effect on
women.
    "You want some cocoa too, hon?" Linda asked Scott, who was
standing
behind his father, hunched inside his coat, hands in his pockets,
shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Sure. Thanks. That'd
be great."
    "No whipped cream on his," Wes said. "He won't win any points
with
football scouts if he's got a gut on him."
    "I don't think he's in danger of getting a gut anytime soon,"
Linda
said. But she left off the whipped cream. Wes had that effect on
people, too.
    He turned on his stool so that he was facing Marilee. "How's
Scott
coming with American lit?"
    "Very well. He made eighty-two on the test over Hawthorne."
    "Eighty-two, huh? Not bad. Not great. But not bad," he said,
addressing Scott over his shoulder. "Go on back there and speak to
those young ladies. They've been all aflutter ever since you walked in.
Make sure William knows you're here."
    Scott ambled off, taking his cocoa with him.
    "Girls won't stay away from that boy," Wes said as he watched
Scott
make his way down the aisle toward the video section.
    "You cain't be surprised," Linda said. "He's cute as the
dickens."
    "They all seem to think so. Calling the house at all hours and
hanging up if he doesn't answer. Drives Dora nuts."
    "What do you think about his popularity with the ladies?"
Marilee
asked.
    Wes's gaze swung back to her, and he winked. "The apple
doesn't fall
far from the tree."
    She looked down into her cup and nervously searched for
something to
say. "Scott is doing well on the extraassignments,
too. His writing has improved dramatically."
    "With you tutoring him, how could he keep from learning
something?"
    Several weeks into the fall term, Wes had approached her about
tutoring Scott on Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings. For her
services, he offered to pay her a modest stipend, which she'd tried to
reject. He'd insisted. In the end, Marilee had accepted the offered fee
and consented to help Scott with his studies, not only because she knew
the importance of his scoring high on his college entrance exams but
because few could say no to Wes Hamer and make it stick.
    "I hope you think you're getting your money's worth," she said
to
him now.
    "If ever I don't think so, you'll be the first to know,
Marilee." He
grinned at her, his eyes twinkling.
    "Hey, Wes?" William called to him from the end of the aisle of
baby
care products. "I've got a free minute. You want to come on back?"
    Wes held Marilee's gaze for several more seconds, then asked
Linda
to add the two cups of cocoa to his account and left them to join
William and Scott in the pharmacy section.
    "That's curious," Marilee said, wondering what business the
Hamers
had with her brother.
    But Linda was busy filling the order of another customer and
didn't
hear her.
     
* 
*
*
    Lilly was still puzzling over how Ben Tierney knew she had a
cabin
on Cleary Peak when he asked testily, "Have you got a better idea?"
    Being buffeted by the strong wind, she had to think about it
for
only a moment. "No. We should go to the cabin."
    "First, let's check out your car."
    They made it to her car without mishap, although he was wobbly
on
his feet. She got in on the driver's side. He pushed her suitcase aside
and climbed into the backseat because the right half of the dashboard
had been jammed into the front passenger seat. Once he had pulled the
door closed, he removed his gloves and rested his forehead against the
heel of his right hand.
    "Are you going to faint again?" Lilly asked.
    "No. We don't have time for it." He lowered his hand and
peered at
her over the back of the seat,