excerpt

usual from the heat and being on them all day, were propped on an
ottoman.
“I really am vexed with you, Will.”
“Oh?” Will did not look up from the prize list in his hand.
“Yes, you certainly were not using your head when you put that
Fielding woman to work in the same booth as Jean McKinnon.”
Will leaned over and switched on the lamp beside his chair.
“Damn it, Molly, I’m not in the mood to argue.”
“I don’t intend to argue,” Molly said in a tone Will recognized as
being sarcastically sweet, “because you must have realized by now
that you were in the wrong.”
Will looked at her over the top of his eyeglasses. “If giving the girl
a chance to get to know the town women was wrong, then I plead
guilty. As a matter of fact, now that you’ve mentioned Sarah, I’ll tell
you I’ve been thinking of asking her to join the Agricultural Association.”
His eyes twinkled mischievously. “With her background
she’ll make a great secretary.”
Molly’s mouth fell open then clamped shut with a click of her
dentures. “Will Andrews,” she gasped, “you wouldn’t dare.”
“Why wouldn’t I?’
“You know perfectly well why. Not one of the town women would
ever have anything to do with the Association again, and you know it.”
“Then it would be their loss, not mine.” He felt his bile rising.
“Anyway, none of you even know Sarah. What’ve you got against
her except that she married Ben Fielding?”
“Well, that’s it, isn’t it? She married Ben Fielding, and only a
coarse woman or a slut would have considered doing that.”
“Then,” said Will mildly, “there must have been sluts in Nimkus
long before Sarah arrived.”
Molly sprang to her feet, her lower lip trembling. Turning her
back to him she strode, with all the dignity she possessed, to the
bedroom and slammed the door behind her. Will watched her over
the top of his gold rims.
Oh drat, why wouldn’t she talk about it, even after all these years?
“Oh, you’re an old fool, Andrews,” he muttered under his breath.
He should know by now that needling her never got him anywhere.
He sighed and looked down at his papers.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981073530