Lauren's Designs Read Free Page A

softly, helping Nella to her feet.
    “Here or the pub on this deck,” the woman answered her with a friendly smile. “We’ll look after your mannequin as if she were a doll.”
    “We’ve got a business meeting after dinner,” explained Lauren. “Dani will need to know the stage, dressing rooms—all sorts of details.”
    “You’ll be back before we’ve finished dinner,” Mrs. Strange assured her. “Not to worry.”
    Lauren got Nella comfortably settled in bed with a cold cloth on her forehead and then sent for a stewardess and requested some Dramamine. The Englishwoman came back in a remarkably short time with some tablets and a glass of water. “Doctor says give her these and she’ll be right as rain tomorrow.”
    “Thank you very much,” Lauren replied with real gratitude.
    Nella accepted everything docilely. Then she sobbed, “I just know I’m going to be sick. I shouldn’t have come.”
    Within ten minutes, however, she was sleeping peacefully. Lauren hurried back to the dining room. Dani and the dance troupe were still enjoying their dinner, which was superb and served with style. Lauren sat down at the table with relief. In response to their kind queries, she explained that Nella was a bit of a hypochondriac.
    “She’s a nitwit,” Dani announced coldly. “Just because Mr. Masen told her all those stories about storms at sea, she’s sure that we’ll all drown or something. Seasick . It’s as calm as an oyster.”
    The men chuckled. Dinner proceeded without any further problems, and Lauren enjoyed both the food and the service very much. The company of the dance troupe could, she felt, have been pleasant, had it not been for the unhappiness she sensed in them in spite of their attempts to be cheerful.
    Finally she turned to Violet Strange. “Is something wrong? Can I help you in anyway?”
    Violet gave her a wry look. “Is it that plain, then? We were trying to keep a stiff upper lip.”
    There was a little pause as the waiter served their desserts. Dani had ordered a fruit-and-cream concoction, but Lauren hadn’t the heart to object. There had been enough trauma at the table already. When they were eating again, Violet smiled at Lauren. “We expected to be rejoicing at this point. Our tour of your country was most successful. Then yesterday our promoter disappeared with all the receipts from the trip. All he left us was our return tickets. So we’re going home broke.”
    “I’m terribly sorry,” breathed Lauren. “What a rotten trick.”
    Violet shrugged. “It’s happened before to dancers and it will again, I’ve no doubt. But we were good. We deserved our moment of celebration on the ship.”
    It was time for Lauren and Dani to go to the Royal Court Lounge for their briefing, yet she really hated to leave Violet and the rest of the troupe. “Perhaps we might meet later, at the pub?” Lauren proposed. A vague idea was drifting around in her head. She wanted to think it through clearly before she made a move. So, with smiles exchanged, the dinner party broke up. Lauren was leading Dani out of the dining room when they ran into a stocky man in full evening dress.
    “Herbert! What are you doing here?” Lauren demanded.
    “Surprise!” Herbert smirked. “I decided you needed me to get you through this cruise.”
    “You are the last person I need, you—you traitor,” snapped Lauren. “Thanks to you, Nella has gone to bed convinced she’s seasick, and we’ve got a show to put on. Just stay away from her, and from me, or I’ll—” She stopped for want of a dire-enough threat.
    Herbert laughed. “Well, if she can’t do the show, you’ll make out just about as well as if she could. You can take her place, can’t you? You hadn’t a hope in hell of winning against the big guns they’ve got on the program, anyway. Why don’t we all just relax and enjoy the trip?”
    Lauren could not remember ever being as angry as she was at that moment. Not only had he ruined Nella’s