Mail Order Mix-Up. Christine Johnson

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СКАЧАТЬ woman then turned a dazzling smile on the gentleman. “We’re fortunate that you were here, sir. I’m Miss O’Keefe, but you may call me Fiona.”

      He bowed with the perfection of a diplomat. “Pleased to meet you, Miss O’Keefe. I am Mr. Decker.”

      * * *

      The three women stared at Roland with mouths agape. What on earth was wrong with them? The brunette had recovered sufficiently that he did not expect a repeat of the fainting spell, but they all looked as if he had just said the most shocking thing possible. Yet all he had done was introduce himself.

      Behind Fiona O’Keefe a fourth woman squeaked and dropped a glass of water. The liquid splashed on Fiona’s skirts while the glass rolled over the edge and into the lake far below.

      The redhead turned on a tiny mouse of a woman. “How could you be so clumsy? Do you know how much this dress cost?”

      The startled young woman looked ready to burst into tears. “I’m sorry.”

      Fiona O’Keefe relented, though she looked none too pleased. “I planned to wear it to dinner at the captain’s table. Now what will I wear?” She turned back to Roland. “I had hoped to make a fine impression.”

      Roland stifled a groan. Clearly she intended to impress more than the captain. “I can assure you, that you cannot help but impress anyone you meet.”

      That turned Fiona O’Keefe’s distress into triumph. “I hope to see you later, Mr. Decker.”

      Her emphasis on his title perplexed him, as did the peculiar looks the other three women shot in his direction. The mousy woman hid behind the others as if afraid he would strike her. The brunette kept glancing between him and her friend with an almost wistful look. That friend, on the other hand, had rapidly moved from shock to confusion to disappointment. A moment later, she straightened her elegant neck, tossed back her loose chestnut locks and steeled her shoulders in much the same way Eva once had.

      He choked back the bitter memory and turned his attention back to Fiona. “Perhaps we shall meet again.”

      He would do his best to avoid her. Fiona O’Keefe had all the makings of a woman intent on capturing a husband, and marriage was the last thing Roland sought. Even if he was the marrying type, he certainly wouldn’t choose the fiery redhead. The no-nonsense lady who had stuck by her stricken friend was much more intriguing. From her unusual height to her lively green eyes, she was a woman worth knowing. Alas, he had no time for pleasantries, not with a potential investor at his elbow.

      “Perhaps I might convince the captain to add you to our company,” Fiona O’Keefe suggested with a coy smile.

      Roland wished he wasn’t already included at the captain’s table. With Miss O’Keefe present, he would not be able to conduct a moment’s business with Mr. Edward Holmes, the investor from Chicago that he was trying to interest in his plans for a glass factory. He chose his words with care. “I have been invited already.”

      After warbling her delight, Fiona O’Keefe swept down the promenade deck and into the nearest door.

      “I know it’s not the Christian thing to say, but that woman is insufferable,” the take-charge woman muttered.

      Roland had to stifle a grin. He liked a woman who spoke her mind.

      “Now, Pearl,” the brunette scolded with a touch to her friend’s arm. “She did help me.”

      Pearl. Roland rolled the name around on his tongue. A pearl was a bit of sand that irritated an oyster long enough to become a gem. He had a feeling the name fit.

      The brunette had settled her attention on him. “Thank you, Mr. Decker. Your assistance was most gallant.”

      Her wide eyes and stunning dark curls would captivate most men. Perhaps they might interest his brother, who desperately needed a wife. Maybe he could convince Garrett to come aboard long enough to meet her when the ship stopped in Singapore. If the purser refused to let him board, Roland would bring the lady to Garrett. A simple dockside meeting might set ablaze the dried-out tinder of his brother’s heart.

      He answered the brunette but couldn’t stop watching the lady named Pearl. “Thank you, miss, but any gentleman would do the same.”

      None of the women pointed out that no one else had come to assist them.

      Instead, the victim graciously accepted his response. “I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Decker. I am Miss Amanda Porter, and this is my friend, Miss Pearl Lawson.” She paused, apparently hoping he would give his Christian name, thus putting them on a level of intimacy that he did not care to initiate.

      “Pleased to meet you, ladies.”

      Amanda frowned. “Pearl is the new schoolteacher in Singapore, Michigan.”

      “Is that so?” He had not imagined any of them would be getting off at Singapore. He looked at Pearl anew. Her take-charge, plainspoken demeanor might fare well in the rough-edged society of Singapore. “I wasn’t aware we needed a new teacher.”

      “You clearly don’t have children, then,” Pearl stated.

      “Uh, no.” His brother might have mentioned the need for a schoolteacher, but as a bachelor Roland had little interest in such matters.

      “Pearl,” Amanda cautioned her friend before turning back to him. “I’m afraid the long journey from New York has wearied us. Pearl isn’t usually this forward.”

      Roland suspected Miss Pearl Lawson was behaving exactly as she always did. Those thrust-back shoulders and strong chin indicated she took no nonsense from anyone. Rather refreshing. Usually women simpered around him. He’d endured cloying attention, batted eyelashes and every manner of feminine wile down to the feigned swoon. He didn’t know if Amanda Porter’s fainting spell had been genuine, but he doubted Pearl would ever stoop to that deceit. She seemed honest and straightforward, without one bit of artifice.

      “I’m Louise Smythe,” a voice squeaked from behind the two women, drawing his attention from Pearl.

      Roland had forgotten about the fourth woman. “Miss Smythe.”

      Her cheeks flushed. “Mrs. Smythe, actually. But my husband was killed in the war.”

      “My sympathies, ma’am. Most families lost someone. Two of my cousins never returned.”

      She bowed her head, as if overcome.

      Roland glanced back to see Holmes had joined them at some point. He made further introductions and then began to angle the investor toward the gentlemen’s lounge. “If you will excuse me, Mr. Holmes and I have business to attend to. I hope to see you ladies later.”

      “You will hardly be able to avoid Fiona,” Pearl noted, “since she will join you at dinner.”

      “Ah, yes...dinner.” Why did she have to remind him of that now-onerous task?

      He opened his mouth to say more, but Holmes interrupted with an even more unwelcome proposition. “Why don’t all of you join us?”

      Roland couldn’t stifle this groan. Four women СКАЧАТЬ