Free The Complete Mackenzie Collection by Linda Howard Page B

consultation, they looked up again. Harlon Keschel wiped his perspiring face with a handkerchief. Francie Beecham looked outraged. This time it was Cicely Karr who spoke. “Miss Potter, this is a difficult situation. The odds against Joe Mackenzie being accepted into the Air Force Academy are high, I’m sure you’ll admit, and the truth is that we don’t approve of your spending so much time alone with him.”
    Mary’s chin lifted. “Why is that?”
    “Because you’re a newcomer to this area, I’m sure you don’t understand the way things are around here. The Mackenzies have a bad reputation, and we fear for your safety if you continue to associate with the boy.”
    “Mrs. Karr, that’s hogwash,” Mary replied with inelegant candor. Aunt Ardith wouldn’t have approved. She thought of Wolf standing out in the hallway listening to these people slandering both him and his son, and she could almost feel the heat of his temper. He wouldn’t let it hurt him, but it hurt her to know he was hearing it.
    “Wolf Mackenzie helped me out of a dangerous situation when my car broke down and I was stranded in the snow. He was kind and considerate, and refused payment for repairing my car. Joe Mackenzie is an outstanding student who works hard on their ranch, doesn’t drink or carouse—” she hoped that was true “—and has never been anything but respectful. I consider both of them my friends.”
    In the hallway, the man standing in the shadows knotted his fists. Damn the little fool, didn’t she know this would probably cost her her job? He knew that if he stepped into that room all the hostility would instantly be focused on him, and he started to move, to draw their attention away from her, when he heard her speaking again. Didn’t she know when to shut up?
    “I would be as concerned if any of your children dropped out of school. I can’t bear to see a young person give up on the future. Ladies and gentlemen, I was hired to teach. I intend to do that to the best of my ability. All of you are good people. Would any of you want me to give up if it were your child?”
    Several people looked away and cleared their throats. Cicely Karr merely raised her chin. “You’re sidestepping the point, Miss Potter. This isn’t one of our children. This is Joe Mackenzie. He’s…he’s—”
    “Half Indian?” Mary supplied, lifting her brow in question.
    “Well, yes. That’s part of it. The other part is his father—”
    “What about his father?”
    Wolf had to stifle a curse, and he started to step forward again when Mary asked scornfully, “Are you concerned because of his prison sentence?”
    “That’s cause enough, I should think!”
    “Should you? Why?”
    “Cicely, sit down and hush,” Francie Beecham snapped. “The girl has a point, and I agree. If you start trying to think at this stage of your life, it could bring on hot flashes.”
    Just for a moment there was stunned silence in the room; then it exploded in thunderous laughter. Rough ranchers and their hard-working wives held their stomachs as they bent double, tears running down their faces. Mr. Is by turned so red his face was almost purple; then he burst into a great whooping laugh that sounded like a hysterical crane laying eggs, or so Cicely Karr told him. Her face was red, too, from anger. Big Eli Baugh actually rolled out of his chair, he was laughing so hard. Cicely grabbed his hat from the back of his chair and hit him over the head with it. He continued to howl with laughter as he protected his head with his arms.
    “You can buy your motor oil from some other place from now on!” Cicely roared at Mr. Baugh, continuing to bash him with his hat. “And your gas! Don’t you or any of your hands set foot on my property again!”
    “Now, Cicely,” Eli choked as he tried to dodge his hat.
    “Folks, let’s have some order in here,” Harlon Keschel pleaded, though he looked as if he were enjoying the spectacle of Cicely bashing Eli with his