Summer Rose (23 page)

He had to find a crack in her argument that would allow the board to vote this suggestion into the ground. And he knew just where to look for that flaw.

“Let’s look at the bottom line here, Ms. James. What will it cost the school to get this program started?” Luc leaned back in his chair.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that Charles Henderson, ever the accountant, had readied his pencil to write down the figures he expected to be forthcoming from Mandy.

If the board had to take money from their precious, inflated athletic department budget to finance this scheme of Ms. James’, there would be no baby simulators coming into Carson High. And having access to the budget and its allotment, Luc knew Asa had been right in that respect anyway. He could see no other venue from which to get the money. He glanced at Mandy and waited for her bottom line.

“To be effective, the program should start out fully equipped to provide at least half of the students in the class with a simulator to care for during the first phase of the project. The simulators would then go to the other half of the class for the second phase.” She took a deep breath. Her next bit of information would either make or break the entire project. “Please look at the amount I’m about to quote as an investment in your youth and in the future of this community.” She named the price per baby.

With a sinking heart, she watched their collected faces register everything from shock to absolute rejection—everyone except Catherine Daniels. Was she going for the idea or did money mean so little to her?

Charles Henderson’s accountant’s mind clicked in. “And exactly where would you suggest we access the funds to buy these . . . baby simulators?”

This was the one stumbling block in her plan. She had no idea if the school had money for unbudgeted purchases, but she was aware that they had a huge athletic budget. However, Becky Hart had advised her strongly to allow the board to find their funds without any prompting from her.

Mandy shook her head. “I’m sure you can answer that better than I can. Since I’m not privy to the school’s operating budget . . .”

Asa Watkins, who had been ominously quiet until now, looked pointedly at Luc. “Perhaps we should get some input on this point from Luc.”

Luc stared at Asa for a long time, hearing the words the superintendent had said as Luc had left Asa’s office the week before.

It’s simple, Luc, if this woman gets her way, I’ll see to it that you’re contract as principal isn’t renewed.

Luc had gotten the message loud and clear. If this proposal went through, the only logical place to get the funding was to cut back the athletic department’s lion’s share of the school budget. Support anything that would jeopardize the athletic scholarships, and he’d be history in Carson.

Though it grated against his better judgment, Luc was not about to give up the life he had so painstakingly established and start all over.

He straightened in his chair and looked directly at Asa. “Well, the athletic budget has already been strained by adding a new chemistry teacher to the faculty. I really don’t think—”

Becky had warned her, but Mandy still couldn’t believe her ears. “The athletic budget?” Mandy fought to control her anger. “When did sports become more important than the welfare of your children?”

Lucas Michaels glared at her. “That’s not the case at all. If you’ll allow me to finish, Ms. James.” Mandy leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed over her chest, her expression clearly exposing her efforts to control her temper. “The welfare of our children is, of course, uppermost in our minds. However, the athletic scholarships that our students earn are immeasurably helpful in getting them into colleges that would otherwise be financially out of the question for them. It occurs to me that we are already doing a sufficient amount of preventative teaching by supplying condoms and teaching abstinence—”

“Abstinence?” That was the last straw. Mandy jumped to her feet and faced him. “Abstinence, Mr. Michaels? You want to preach abstinence to a bunch of teenagers with raging hormones? Hormones they’ve just discovered and are chomping at the bit to experiment with?”

“Aren’t you being just a bit over-reactive?”

Mandy couldn’t believe this. They might as well put a bottle of whiskey in front of a confirmed alcoholic and say
don’t touch
. If it wasn’t so sad, she’d have laughed out loud at the absurdity of his statement. What was wrong with him? Didn’t he care about these kids?

As far as abstinence went, who was Michaels kidding? What could a man with his good looks and obvious charm know about abstinence? He probably had women coming and going from his bed with all the regularity of planes at Charleston’s Yeager Airport.

That the board would put sports before the welfare of a child enraged her. The collective lack of logic and caring for their own children displayed by the board and the school principal severed her already strained composure, along with any attempt at caution.

“And, of course, you know all about abstinence, right, Mr. Michaels?” Sarcasm dripped from Mandy’s words.

A collective gasp rose from the board table.

Asa smiled.

Instantly, Mandy knew she’d overstepped her bounds and may have made a fatal mistake in attacking Luc, but her frustration level had imprudently pushed the words from her lips before she’d been able to stop them.

Slowly, Luc uncrossed his legs, then targeted her with a dark, censoring glare. “As a matter of fact, Ms. James, I grew up in all-boys military schools, which left little opportunity for anything but abstinence.” His gaze grew colder. “So, to answer your question, yes, I do know about abstinence.”

“I’m very sorry. That remark was beyond rude, Mr. Michaels. I can only blame it on my passion for the subject.”

Luc raised an eyebrow, and then nodded. “Passion, huh?” The corner of his mouth quirked up in a suggestive half smile, then immediately relaxed into a firmly set expression of censure.

Passion?
She didn’t like the way he’d said that or that smile.

Before Mandy could say anything, Catherine Daniels intervened. “Please, let’s leave personalities out of this.” She glanced at her fellow board members and favored them with a smile. “If the board will allow me, I have a suggestion that might settle this whole matter.”

The members looked at each other and then back to her. Collectively, they shrugged, then nodded in agreement to let her voice her plan.

“I think we should give the babies . . . a test drive.” She looked at Mandy. “Do you have one of these simulators available?”

A glow of hope rose in Mandy. Had she found a sympathetic ear in Catherine? “I don’t have one with me, but I know we can borrow one from the company. They assured me that because of the huge investment, testing the system is quite common.”

Catherine smiled. “Good.” She leaned back in her chair and extracted a white handkerchief from her purse. Carefully, she used the handkerchief to brush a spot of dirt from the lapel of her pristine navy suit.

“Can we get on with it, Catherine?” Bill Keeler obviously had grown impatient with the entire process. Mandy had to agree with him. “I promised Mildred I’d be home by ten.”

“Patience, Bill, patience. I want to get everything straight in my mind before I present it. This young woman’s suggestion has merit, and I think we need to give it more than cursory consideration. As for you hurrying home, I’m sure you’d rather be anywhere but 47 Elm Street, so don’t use that as an excuse to get to Hannigan’s Bar for your nightcap.”

Bill sat back in his chair, his cheeks glowing bright red.

Mandy hid a smile and grasped at the thread of hope Catherine had thrown her. Maybe she hadn’t ruined everything with her outburst.

Asa looked around at his fellow board members. “Let’s give Catherine a chance to explain what she has in mind.” His tone held reluctant resignation rather than enthusiasm.

“We seemed to have two distinctly different viewpoints here, neither of which any of us are equipped to make judgments on. My suggestion is that the baby simulator be put to the test in a real family setting. Once that’s completed, we can use the findings to make an informed decision.”

Reverend John Thomas leaned forward to address Catherine. “And exactly who would you suggest do this testing, Catherine? All the board members, having already experienced the dubious joys of parenthood, would know what to expect. Thus making us the guinea pigs would prove nothing. And I’d like to go on record as saying that until the board makes a decision, I strongly object to bringing anyone in from the outside.”

“Exactly, John.” Catherine smiled sweetly, and then turned back to Mandy and Luc. “That’s why we need a couple who can keep this discreetly confidential and who have no parenting experience. The obvious choices for the test are Ms. James and Mr. Michaels.”

Being a romantic at heart and having devoured romances like Hershey Kisses, it was inevitable that Elizabeth Sinclair would one day write them. Following her dream, which took more than a couple of wrong turns along the way, in 1993 she sold her first romance,
JENNY’S CASTLE
, to Silhouette Intimate Moments7, which reached #2 on the Walden Bestseller List and won a Georgia Romance Writers’ Maggie Award of Excellence. Since then, this multi-published author’s books have sold in ten foreign countries and been translated into seven foreign languages.

Elizabeth is a member of Romance Writers of America, The Author’s Guild and Thriller Writers. She’s taught creative writing and given seminars and workshops, locally and nationally, on the craft of writing. Her books have finaled in the Daphne de Maurier contest and won The National Reader’s Choice Award, The Anne Bonney Reader’s Choice Award, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award, the Heart of Excellence Readers Choice Award and earned a Gold Medal Top Pick from the Romantic Times Book Club.

Elizabeth co-founded and is a member of the Ancient City Romance Authors of St. Augustine, FL. She is also a member of RWA’s Kiss of Death Chapter, Sisters In Crime, and the Indiana Romance Writers. Elizabeth served as RWA’s Region 3 Director and chaired the 2001 RWA New Orleans Annual Conference.

In addition to having authored the widely-acclaimed instructional books, THE DREADED SYNOPSIS and FIRST CHAPTERS, she has published a total of eighteen romances with Silhouette Intimate Moments, Harlequin American, Kensington Precious Gems, and Medallion Press.

Her Hawks Mountain series for Bell Bridge Books continues next with
FOREVER FALL.
Visit her at www.elizabethsinclair.com.