Read Deborah Camp for Free Online Page B

should look like a spring flower.”
    “Mr. Dane, I couldn’t possibly go to the cotillion with you,” she insisted, although the image of herself on his arm persisted. She, in the green gown; he, dashing and dangerous in a black swallow-tailed suit coat.
    “Why can’t you go?” He frowned and shook his head. “And don’t give me those measly work excuses. Everyone has work to do, Miss Rose.”
    “Sir, you’re representing Tom Wilson.”
    He blinked owlishly. “Yes? And so?”
    She blew out a breath of frustration. “I would be consorting with the enemy, don’t you see.”
    “The enemy?” He fell back a step and laughed. “I bet if you asked Mrs. Nation herself, she’d disagree with that assessment. I’m not your enemy. I’m your willing slave, Miss Rose.” He swayed closer, eyes all atwinkle. “And I’m ready to do your bidding. Shall I send a few yards of that green silk to your home, Regina Rose?”
    “Certainly not.” She released a breathy laugh and retreated from him. “Mr. Dane, I think you’re—”
    “Call me Theo and go to the cotillion with me. It’ll be a night to remember.”
    “No, I can’t.” She held up one hand to ward off his advance. “And not just because it’s you asking. I don’t have time for parties and dances anymore.”
    “Make time.”
    “No, Mr. Dane.”
    “Theo.”
    “No, Mr. Dane.”
    He tipped his head to study her high color and shallow breathing, then he bowed at the waist. “I know when I’m beaten, Miss Rose.”
    The sadness in his eyes disturbed her. “Good day, Mr. Dane. Th-thank you for asking. I’m flattered.”
    “And I’m crestfallen.” One corner of his mouth twitched, and she knew he was only half serious.
    With a quick smile, she whirled from him and wound her way out of the store, forgetting that she had a shopping list to fill.
    Watching her go, Theo called himself mule-headed for imagining he could melt her resistance to him. He examined the bolt of silk and saw her draped in it. Well, the cotillion was a few weeks away. Maybe he’d find a way to convince her….The sound of a braying mule blared in his mind and he scoffed at himself. When it came to Miss Rose, he just couldn’t admit he was licked.
    He was about to leave when he spotted the book he’d seen her place on top of a bolt of fabric. He picked it up and grinned. It’s not a lacy, monogrammed handkerchief, he thought, but it would do. He turned it to read the gold letters on the spine—
Living Thrifty: Managing Your Money
. Theo glanced in the direction she’d gone. Living thrifty? He remembered the pinch of worry between her eyes during the hearing, and today her smile hadn’t been completely free, but somehow encumbered. The lady took her responsibilities seriously, he thought, then wondered again what had happened in her life to push her in this direction.
    “May I assist you, Mr. Dane?” the store owner asked, rousing him from his reverie.
    “No, Mr. Mason, I…” Theo’s voice dwindled as he eyed the green water-spotted silk. Would she accept it? He frowned, knowing she wouldn’t. Not from him. And why in the world was he so eager to buy it? a sarcastic voice within him asked. He hardly knew the girl! He shook his head, glad his sensibilities had returned. “I’ll take a couple of your best cigars, Mr. Mason, and a box of matches.”
    “They’re up front, Mr. Dane. I’ll let you select your cigars from the box that just arrived fresh yesterday. Nothing like a good cigar, huh, Mr. Dane?”
    “Nothing …” Theo glanced at the emerald silk as he passed by it. “Except, of course, a good woman. Or a bad one.” His wicked wink illicited a belly laugh from the portly store owner.
    Sitting in the parlor, her knitting in her lap, Regina dozed. Remembrances floated through hermind: of her mother, Lilah; her father, Will; the house they lived in together, and the house she, her mother, and her half brother, Jack, had lived in after her father left.
    She