A Different Sort of Perfect Read Online Free PDF

captain." She didn't really need to
ask; his innate elegance and air of authority made him a match for Topaze . But the awkward silence was stretching and she
needed to say something, no matter how inane.
    His eyebrows rose in the middle of his forehead,
above his nose, and slanted down near his temples, exaggerating
their gull-wing break above those pale eyes. But he didn't
introduce himself. "What gave me away? The epaulettes?"
    That was twice he'd said something faintly ridiculous
and wholly sarcastic, catching her off guard and flustering her
thoughts. He still hadn't given her his name. And their mutual
stare, intense on his side to an astonishing degree, had lasted too
long for propriety. Aunt Helen's training and Harmony's teasing
censure demanded she turn a demure gaze to the deck. But the velvet
night beyond the stern windows drew her, and she clasped her hands
rather than flatten a palm to the spotless glass.
    "Captain, I need your help."
    His chin drooped. "Who are you and what are you doing
aboard my ship?"
    His ship. She'd been right. "Under the
circumstances, I suppose I must introduce myself. Lady Clara
Huckabee, of Plymouth." She curtsied.
    He bowed in return, his movements automatic, as if
his body went through the socially necessary motions without his
mind's engagement. But some improper imp possessed him and he still
hadn't broken his stare. Perhaps he was transfixed by her beauty.
It happened all the time in the novels Diana read.
    "Wait, you came aboard in the furniture? In the
hanging chair?"
    "Yes, and I apologize for the deception, Captain…?"
She'd thrown out sufficient hints prior to this.
    "Oh. Yes. Fleming. Alexander Fleming."
    No, he seemed befuddled rather than entranced, and
after sitting cramped inside the hanging chair all day, she must
look a disheveled fright. He wasn't transfixed, but more likely
wondering what on earth she was doing there.
    "You must be wondering what on earth I'm doing
here."
    His gull-winged eyebrows swooped up again. "I'm
wondering when you'll get around to explaining it."
    Dratted man. If she didn't need his help… but she
did.
    "I desperately need your help." He opened his mouth
but she rushed on before he could make fun of her again. "I'm
searching for the man I love."
    "And he's aboard my ship." It wasn't a question, with
the rising note at the end, but a flat statement of disbelief.
    Dratted unromantic man. "No, he's aboard a French
ship. He's a French captain and we met during the peace—"
    Captain Fleming straightened suddenly and a loud thunk startled her into breaking off. He winced, his hand
started to rise then fell back by his side, and he withdrew into
himself by an inch, so that his blond curls again brushed the
rafters.
    "Oh, dear." That had to hurt. "Are you all
right?"
    "Sterling," he snapped, "I thank you. Lady Clara,
this is not a private yacht. I cannot break off my assignment—"
Silence fell. His jaw continued working and his lips formed words.
But a magic spell had stolen his ability to project sounds, and
only the rushing of water and creaking of timbers whispered through
the cabin. The intensity of his stare had not diminished.
    "Are you making fun of me again? It's very rude to
make fun of a lady, you know."
    His mouth and eyes closed. He certainly wasn't
transfixed now, if he ever had been. The expression on his pinched
face reminded her of Uncle David, mustering the final reserves of
his patience. "Perhaps if you didn't make it quite so inviting." He
raised a hand, stopping her retort before she began. "Lady Clara, I
must return to sailing my ship and I must consider what you've told
me."
    Well, that was a good thing. "You aren't sending me
back to Plymouth?"
    "Without the man you love? Heaven forbid." Captain
Fleming turned to the sailor who'd found her, standing in the
cabin's deepest shadows with a perfectly blank expression on his
face. "Hennessy, I must ask you to see to Lady Clara's needs. She's
to be given my sleeping cabin and