into courtship and certainly not marriage. So no one would have ever known she wasn't anything but what she seemed had she not continued the lie.
But it was too late to take it back now. She was a virgin no longer, so she might as well act the part of experienced woman. Harding was telling her something about his days as his mother's student, but her mind had wandered. Now she smiled at the right moment, made reassuring noises, and was about to move on when a movement down the street caught her eye. Tyler.
He was supposed to be doing posse duty. Couldn't she do anything without him interfering? Ignoring him, she turned a brilliant smile on the older man who had evidently fallen for her vapid Southern belle pose.
"I can't wait to meet my new students, Mr. Harding. I wish I could learn something about them before class begins. Will many of them be attending Sunday services?"
"I'd be more than happy to introduce a few of them to you now, Mrs. Peyton." Mr. Harding took her arm and gave the school board man a nod, which Powell returned with a wink. "I'm certain the ladies in town are dying to meet you, too. We could..."
Jason halted as Tyler stepped up on the stair in front of them. Sweeping his hat off the golden glory of his hair, he made a formal bow. "Mrs. Peyton." He lifted a questioning brow, forcing her into introductions.
As Evie seethed, Tyler ingratiated himself with the two men, calling himself a plantation owner looking for new ventures and all but patting Evie on the head since she had introduced him as an old family friend. When Jason lost interest in her and seemed more intrigued by Tyler's new herd-breeding theory, she nearly put her foot through the floor.
Instead, she smiled her most saccharine smile and turned to Mr. Powell. "Well, I can see that my services aren't needed immediately, sir, so I'll bid you adieu for the moment. I must see how Daniel fares."
Jason recovered rapidly, catching her arm before she could escape. "I meant that, Mrs. Peyton. I'll introduce you around if you would like."
Tyler replaced his hat and neatly drew Evie's hand into the crook of his elbow. "The lady has a prior appointment, but I'm certain she'll be happy to take up your offer at a later date. Gentlemen." He doffed his hat in farewell, then swung Evie out into the street.
She wanted to dig her heels in and screech, but she knew as well as he that such a scene would ruin her chances. As it was, it was going to look mighty odd that an "old family friend" would behave so proprietarily. She followed at his side in hostile silence.
"You can't keep from flirting with every damn man who crosses your path, can you?" Tyler asked from between clenched teeth. The sight of Evie batting those long lashes at a good-looking man who reeked of respectability and wealth had given him a few bad moments, and he meant to make her pay for them.
Until now, he had thought they had something in common. Seeing her with Jace Harding was making him think twice. She might be a liar, but she gave every evidence of being a lady of means. And until he had ruined her, she had been an innocent whether he wanted to believe it or not. Just because she had fallen into his company didn't mean she was accustomed to low life. So they really had nothing in common at all. She looked quite in place with that damned rancher.
Evie sent Tyler a look of incredulity. "Flirting? Is that what I was doing? How absolutely criminal of me. 1 should be taken out and flogged. Or perhaps you have found a card game where you have some use for me?"
He could throttle her. He didn't think there was a man in this town who would condemn him once he heard the whole tale. But she wasn't worth the explanations. Tyler stopped in mid-stride and glared at her. "Do you want to discuss this privately or publicly?"
"I don't wish to discuss anything with a man who cannot see reason. You are no longer in my employ, Tyler Monteigne. You have no call to act like this."
She was wearing blue. It brought out the blue in her eyes as he had known it would. Damn, but she shouldn't have lashes like that. Any other woman with hair that color would