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allowed that privilege. She used it to her benefit now.
    The sheriff nodded grimly. "We think so. He's a drifter, camped at the river behind your place last night. Don't think he did it deliberately. Probably got drunk and fell asleep and let his campfire get out of control."
    "Is that the story he tells?" A moment of apprehension shook her. The story seemed very plausible. She hadn't intended to rescue a drunk. She had meant to rescue the man who had saved her home.
    "He swears he put out his fire before he went to sleep, but there ain't any other explanation. The school's been closed up this past week or more and there's been no fire in the stove that might have blazed up. There warn't anyone else out there but you and him. Facts is facts."
    "Well, I certainly can't debate that," she assured him, but her mind spun. She knew what she'd seen. That man had nearly killed himself trying to save the school. And she was quite certain that without him she wouldn't have a home today. The thought of losing those few precious possessions she had accumulated with such hard work over all these years made her shiver as she spoke. She didn't care if he was a drunk. He didn't deserve to be punished for what he couldn't help.
    She turned her gaze to Jason. He had the money and position in this town to make his voice heard. And he was her friend. "I saw the man they put in jail this morning. He's the same man who almost single-handedly saved my house last night. If he started the fire, I'm sure it was an accident, and he did everything humanly possible to put it out. What do you intend to do with him?"
    "Well, Miss Harrison, I reckon it's up to a jury. Arson is a serious charge." The sheriff drawled the answer even though she wasn't looking at him.
    Janice disregarded this nonsense and continued staring at Jason. He shifted his weight uneasily and ran his fingers through his graying hair. The gray made him look distinguished rather than old. He was still a handsome man, but he didn't seem aware of it. Jason wasn't aware of much of anything but his damned ranch.
    "Now, Jenny, don't you go lookin' at me like that." The pet name he used for her had developed gradually over a period of years. "Janice" was just too clipped and formal for him. "There ain't nothin' I can do about it. We can't just let drifters roam through here, burning the town down."
    "He didn't burn the town down, he worked to save it. You don't think I'd be here now if I thought anything else? That fire's likely to have cost me my job and almost cost me my home. If I thought he was responsible, I'd be the first person to say hang him."
    She hesitated about mentioning that he'd come to her first, warning her of the fire. Somehow, the fact that he'd been the first to see the fire made his presence all the more suspicious.
    A couple of the men from the school board snickered in the corner. Janice clenched her jaw against an urge to smack their hands with a ruler and demand that they tell the class what they found so all-fired funny. In this case, she had a suspicion she knew. The image of the old-maid schoolteacher come to save the virile young drifter would fire their limited imaginations.
    One of them cleared his throat and poked Jason in the ribs. Out of habit, Jason leaned in his direction, and the man whispered something in his ear. Jason had spent years telling the school board what to do with his stepmother's trust fund. The habit of deferring to him died hard. His eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he listened to the suggestion.
    "I don't know, Mick. You seen the man? He looks a scoundrel to me. Don't look to me like Miss Harrison would be safe with a man like that out there all day."
    Janice felt her stomach plummet to her toes. Out where all day? What in the name of heaven were they cooking up now? She didn't like the look on anybody's face as Mick whispered his suggestion to someone else. If he'd been in her class, he would be sitting in the corner right now. Whispering