The Admiral's Penniless Bride Read Free Page B

myself.’
    ‘Only if you want to.’
    ‘I do, actually. I do not wish you to think I am usually at loose ends. Ordinarily, I am employed.’
    Bright thought of the wives of his captains and other admirals—women who stayed safely at home, tended their families and worried about their men at sea. He thought about the loose women who frequented the docks and serviced the seamen. He had never met a woman who was honestly employed. ‘Say on, Mrs Paul.’
    ‘Since my husband…died, I have been a lady’s companion,’ she said, waiting to continue until the waiter was out of earshot. ‘As you can tell, I am from Scotland.’
    ‘No!’ Bright teased, grateful she was no longer inclined to tears. She gave him such a glance then that he did laugh.
    ‘I have been a companion to the elderly, but they tend to die.’ Her eyes crinkled in amusement. ‘Oh! That is not my fault, let me assure you.’
    He chuckled. ‘I didn’t think you were a murderer of old dears, Mrs Paul.’
    ‘I am not,’ she said amicably. ‘I had been six weeks without a position, sir, when I found one here in Plymouth.’
    ‘Where were you living?’
    ‘In Bath. Old dears, as you call them, like to drink the water in the Pump Room.’ She made a face, which was eloquent enough for him. She sobered quickly. ‘I finally received a position and just enough money to take the mail coach.’
    She stopped talking and he could tell her fear was returning. All he could do was joke with her, even though he wanted to take her hand and give it a squeeze. ‘Let me guess: they were sobersides who didn’t see the fun in your charming accent.’
    She shook her head. ‘Mrs Cole died the day before I arrived.’ She hesitated.
    ‘What did you do?’ he asked quietly.
    ‘I asked for the fare back to Bath, but she wouldn’t hear of it.’ Mrs Paul’s face hardened. ‘She had her butler shoo me off the front steps.’
    And I am nervous about two silly sisters? Bright asked himself. ‘Is there something for you in Bath?’
    She was silent a long moment. ‘There isn’t anything anywhere, Admiral Bright,’ she admitted finally. ‘I’ve beensitting here trying to work up the nerve to ask the proprietor if he needs kitchen help.’
    They were both silent.
    Bright was not an impulsive man. He doubted he had ever drawn an impulsive breath, but he drew one now. He looked at Mrs Paul, wondering what she thought of him. He knew little about her except that she was Scottish, and from the sound of her, a Lowland Scot. She was past the first bloom of youth and a widow. She had been dealt an impossible hand. And not once have you simpered about the weather or Almack’s , he thought. You also have not turned this into a Cheltenham tragedy.
    He pulled out his timepiece. The Mouse was now nearly three hours late. He drew the deepest breath of his life, even greater than the one right before he sidled his frigate between the Egyptian shore and the French fleet in the Battle of the Nile.
    ‘Mrs Paul, I have an idea. Tell me what you think.’

Chapter Two
    ‘Y ou want to marry me ?’
    To Mrs Paul’s immense credit, she listened without leaping to her feet and slapping him or falling into a dead faint.
    She thinks I am certifiable , Bright thought, trying to divine what was going on in her mind as he blathered on. He was reminding himself of his least favourite frigate captain, who spoke faster and faster as the lie grew longer and longer. Dash it, this is no lie , he thought.
    ‘You see before you a desperate man, Mrs Paul,’ he said, wincing inside at how feeble that sounded. ‘I need a wife on fearsomely short notice.’ He winced again; that sounded worse.
    He had to give her credit; she recovered quickly. He could also see that she had no intention of taking him seriously. Her smile, small though it was, let him know precisely how she felt about his little scheme. How can I convince her? he asked himself in exasperation. I doubt I can.
    ‘Mrs Paul, I hope you