Her Texas Ranger Hero by Rebecca Winters Page B

dozens of family pictures to the dining room, where twelve or more people could fit around the table easily. The large antique armoire had two Texas stars carved into the woodwork.
    Ally saw where he was looking before she sat down at the head of the table. “When I was little, I used to pretend that those stars were Texas Ranger badges.”
    From a distance, that was exactly what they looked like. He grinned. “A precursor of things to come?” Luckey took the chair on her right. “It’s a good thing for me you came back from China to fulfill your destiny. I’m eager to get started, but first I need to know how much you charge for lessons.”
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous,” she said. ”Before we get started, would you like coffee or a soda? Maybe some tea?”
    â€œNothing right now, thank you. Don’t I need a book or paper?”
    â€œNot yet.” The seductive curl of her lips intrigued him to no end. He couldn’t go much longer without tasting them, but he’d promised not to touch her. “Mandarin is a tonal language. You need to master the tones. When you do that, we’ll add new words. I’ve labeled these cards for you in order.
    â€œLook at these first two cards. Both are labeled 1-1. The left one shows an arrow indicating the direction of the sound of this Chinese word. The card on the right holds what’s called a tone pair. Notice how the pair of words follows the graph on the left, with the arrow in the same direction and the same tone mark over the vowels.”
    Luckey studied both cards to get the drift. She made him pronounce the sounds several times.
    â€œAll right. Now I’ll take the next two cards, labeled 1-2. This time notice that the arrow on this one goes in a different direction. Now look at the two words on the other card. They follow the arrow, and the tone marks are different. One is level, the other goes up.”
    â€œI get it.”
    â€œGood. There are four different tones. The fifth set of cards shows a dot to indicate that you will pronounce the word in a middle-toned voice, but we’ll get to that later.
    â€œYour first assignment will be to memorize these twenty tone pairs, since most Chinese words are made up of pairs. You must learn to pronounce them absolutely perfectly. I’ll drill you until you can do them in your sleep. Then I’ll teach you the writing.”
    He had news for her. His sleep was filled with dreams of her that had nothing to do with homework.
    â€œThey will form the basis for everything you learn. When you add a new word, you’ll recognize which tone pair it matches and you’ll be able to learn new words that much faster.”
    â€œYou mean like memorizing your times tables?”
    â€œYes. Here are the next two cards, labeled 1-3. Notice the arrow is different again, as well as the direction of the slash over the vowel.”
    Learning Mandarin was a complete revelation to Luckey. By the time she’d taken him through twenty sets of cards, his head was spinning.
    â€œIn a few weeks you’ll be able to tell me which tone pair matches a new word I give you. I’ll send a disk home to help you with the meanings and pronunciation.”
    He looked up from the cards she’d handed him. “Are you saying our lesson is over? I’ve only been here an hour.”
    She laughed. “We can’t do any more until you’ve had time to memorize the tones. Those cards are yours.”
    He put them in his pocket. “In that case let’s go to my house and I’ll barbecue us some hamburgers for dinner. It’ll be my way to repay you for this lesson.” He’d made certain he had all the ingredients on hand in case she said yes.
    â€œI don’t want repayment, but I won’t say no to dinner.”
    Hallelujah. He got to his feet. “How early do you have to be at work in the morning?”
    â€œEight