Let Them Talk. Susanna Carr

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      Sydney pulled her gaze away from Matthew, her pulse skipping a beat. Maybe she had approached this diary challenge the wrong way.

      She sat up straight. Instead of making up Victorian-era characters she didn’t understand and couldn’t imagine, she should write down all the things she had dreamed of doing to Matthew Stone. She bit her lip as fragments of several fantasies crowded her mind.

      “We’ll discuss this later.” Isabel glanced at her watch. “Come on, Laura. We need to get back to work.”

      Work. Sydney flipped open her notebook and grabbed her pen. This idea could work. But she didn’t dare use Matthew’s real name. She couldn’t have it get around town that she had the hots for the mayor. She would be accused of showing favoritism to a man she had to report about in the paper.

      “Already?” Laura slumped in her chair and groaned. “When will this community service end?”

      “You only have a few more hundred hours left,” Isabel said in an encouraging tone. “They’ll go by fast, I promise.”

      Laura reluctantly stood and followed Isabel to the shelving carts. “All this for damaging my ex-boyfriend’s stuff when I threw it out my window.”

      “See you later, Sydney,” Isabel said. Sydney gave an absent wave as she wrote. In her mind, the buttons on Matthew’s shirt were flying off.

      * * *

      AS DORIS BROWN interrupted her tirade to greet one of her friends, Matthew glanced over her head and saw that Sydney was still at the table. Her writer’s block was clearly gone as she was writing furiously.

      He liked watching her work because she put her whole body into it. Sydney would tuck her tongue in the corner of her mouth if she was thinking about something. She’d flip, twist and push her curly brown hair. If she wasn’t muttering to herself or gesturing with her hands, her eyes would widen and narrow as she worked out an idea.

      And then there was what she did with her pen. She’d tap and rub it against her lips. Bite down on it, draw it into her mouth or nibble on it. He knew she didn’t mean anything suggestive by her actions, but he still found her incredibly distracting.

      At first he had considered pursuing her but she was a sophisticated woman who wouldn’t be interested in a guy like him. He hadn’t traveled the world; he didn’t wear designer brands. A fling, a one-night stand, was all he could hope for.

      But even as the attraction grew stronger, he’d held back, knowing that one night would not be enough for him. And he couldn’t afford to have a wild, passionate affair while he was the mayor of this conservative town.

      So it was a good thing he hadn’t asked her out. It was. Definitely.

      “Thanks for taking the time to talk to me, Matty,” Miss Doris said. She gave him a kindly pat on his arm. Matthew was sure she would have ruffled his hair if she could reach that high. “Now you can go flirt with that pretty reporter.”

      He looked at Sydney again. Her head was down and she was mouthing the words she’d written on her notebook. She pulled her hair into a messy ponytail as if she was getting down to business. “My charm doesn’t work on her.”

      “Your charm works on every female in town,” Miss Doris said with a cluck of her tongue. “You know, when you were appointed the interim mayor, I thought the townspeople had lost their minds.”

      “Yes, you’ve made that clear.”

      “Can you blame me? We had just lost a mayor who ignored his duties while having an extramarital affair with his secretary. And then he runs off with her before his term is over.”

      Matthew nodded and wondered when people would stop talking about the former mayor, who had run away with his secretary six months ago.

      “And then the town has to follow the line of succession and appoint the council member who acts as deputy mayor. And it happens to be you, the most eligible bachelor. It seemed to me we had stepped out of the skillet and into the fire.” Miss Doris lowered her glasses and gave him a stern look. “Is it true that you dated all of the Reed sisters?”

      “Not at the same time,” he insisted. That was the problem with living in a small town. He’d dated half the women and was related to the other half. “And that happened years ago. I shouldn’t be held accountable for who I dated in high school.”

      “But you will be held responsible for who you keep company with these days,” the older woman warned. “Rumor has it that you’re not dating anyone.”

      “That’s true.” Considering his reputation and his predecessor’s actions, Matthew knew he had to be on his best behavior. He could not give his opponents any ammunition against him, especially since he planned to run for mayor in the next election. He hadn’t thought his love life would be an issue until he met Sydney at her first town hall meeting.

      “No one believes it,” Miss Doris declared. “The women in my book club say you’re dating someone in secret. We’ve taken bets.”

      Matthew wasn’t surprised. The people in Seedling took bets on everything from the first frost to whether a pregnant woman would have a boy or a girl. “Who’s in the lead as my secret lover?”

      “Isabel Bennett.”

      “Izzy? The librarian?” He had known her since kindergarten. They’d gone on one date when they were teenagers and they hadn’t even held hands much less shared a kiss.

      “She’s showing a little more spirit and a lot more skin lately. It has to be a man.”

      “It’s not me,” Matthew said. “I recommend you change your bet or you’re going to lose your money.”

      “You’re telling me you’re not interested in any of the women in Seedling?” Miss Doris watched him closely. She gave a cackle when he tried to keep his expression blank. “Oh, you are. She must be off-limits if you’re not already dating her.”

      Yeah, Sydney Tate was definitely off-limits for the next six months. Even longer if he won the next election. But he wasn’t sure he could wait that long. “There’s no one,” he said.

      “Yes, there is,” Miss Doris said as she walked away. “You are flirtatious and charming to every female over the age of twenty-one, but I’m going to figure out which one of them is special to you.”

      “Don’t you have something better to do with your time?” Matthew asked, his voice tinged with exasperation.

      “Everyone is curious why you are being so secretive about your love life. You’ve never been secretive before. It can’t be good.”

      “Maybe it’s because I’m focusing on my job.” And maybe he didn’t want unfavorable comparisons between him and the previous mayor.

      “Matty, there are only two kinds of entertainment in Seedling. You either have your own sex life or you’re discussing someone else’s. Most of the bets made in town are about who is in whose bed.” She looked over her shoulder. “And I was the only one who bet correctly about the previous mayor. I’m going to get this one right, too.”

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