The Complete Mackenzie Collection by Linda Howard

own hat. Certainly everyone else in the room was. Almost everyone, Mary thought, as she spotted Dottie Lancaster’s cold face. Suddenly she realized that the other teacher would have been glad to see her fired, and she wondered why. She’d always tried to be friendly with Dottie, but the older woman had rebuffed all overtures. Had Dottie seen Joe’s truck at Mary’s house and started the gossip? Would Dottie have been out driving around at night? There were no other houses on Mary’s road, so no one would have been driving past to visit a neighbor.
    The uproar had died down, though there was still an occasional chuckle heard around the room. Mrs. Karr continued to glare at Eli Baugh, having for some reason made him the focal point of her embarrassed anger rather than turning it on Francie Beecham, who had started it all.
    Even Mr. Is by was still grinning as he raised his voice. “Let’s see if we can get back to business here, folks.”
    Francie Beecham piped up again. “I think we’ve handled enough business for the night. Miss Potter is giving the Mackenzie boy private school lessons so he can go to the Air Force Academy, and that’s that. I’d do the same thing if I were still teaching.”
    Mr. Hearst said, “It still don’t look right—”
    “Then she can use the classroom. Everyone agreed?” Francie looked at the other board members, her wrinkled face triumphant. She winked at Mary.
    “It’s okay by me,” Eli Baugh said as he tried to reshape his hat. “The Air Force Academy—well, that’s something. I don’t reckon anyone from this county has ever been to any of the academies.”
    Mr. Hearst and Mrs. Karr disagreed, but Mr. Is by and Harlon Keschel sided with Francie and Eli. Mary stared hard at the shadowed hallway, but couldn’t see anything now. Had he left? The deputy turned his head to see what she was looking at, but he didn’t see anything, either, because he gave a slight shrug and looked back at her, then winked. Mary was startled. More people had winked at her that night than in the rest of her life total. What was the proper way to handle a wink? Were they ignored? Should she wink back? Aunt Ardith’s lectures on proper behavior hadn’t covered winking.
    The meeting broke up with a good deal of teasing and laughter, and more than a few of the parents took a moment to shake Mary’s hand and tell her she was doing a good job. It was half an hour before she was able to get her coat and make it to the door, and when she did, she found the deputy waiting for her.
    “I’ll walk you to your car,” he said in an easy tone. “I’m Clay Armstrong, the local deputy.”
    “How do you do? Mary Potter,” she replied, holding out her hand.
    He took it, and her small hand disappeared in his big one. He set his hat on top of dark brown curly hair, but his blue eyes still twinkled, even in the shadow of the brim. She liked him on sight. He was one of those strong, quiet men who were rock steady, but who had a good sense of humor. He’d been delighted by the uproar.
    “Everyone in town knows who you are. We don’t often have a stranger move in, especially a young single woman from the South. The first day you were here, the whole county heard about your accent. Haven’t you noticed that all the girls in school are trying to drawl?”
    “Are they?” she asked in surprise.
    “They sure are.” He slowed his walk to keep pace with her as they walked to her car. The cold air rushed at her, chilling her legs, but the night sky was crystal clear, and a thousand stars winked overhead in compensation.
    They reached her car. “Would you tell me something, Mr. Armstrong?”
    “Anything. And call me Clay.”
    “Why did Mrs. Karr get so angry at Mr. Baugh, instead of at Miss Beecham? It was Miss Beecham who started the whole thing.”
    “Cicely and Eli are first cousins. Cicely’s folks died when she was young, and Eli’s parents took her to raise. Well, Cicely and Eli are the same age, so