A Most Peculiar Circumstance Read Online Free PDF Page A

ceiling.
    Thank you, Lord .

 3 
    M iss Arabella Beckett was opinionated, bossy, and not at all what Theodore had expected when he’d agreed to fetch her home.
    Her brother Zayne was a likable sort, but Miss Beckett was one of those odd ladies who wanted to turn the world upside down and take over roles that gentlemen had held forever.
    She was not his cup of tea in the least, but she was a member of the fairer sex, and as such he was honor-bound to assist her.
    It didn’t sit well with him that she’d been sorely mistreated. Granted, he now knew firsthand she was exasperating, but someone—Sheriff Dawson it seemed—had divested Miss Beckett of her hair.
    That simply was never done.
    The good sheriff had also tossed her into a gloomy cell without allowing her the benefit of a good washing, and besides being forced to wallow in her own filth, Miss Beckett had most likely been terrified as she’d waited to learn her fate.
    He paused when he reached the top of the steps. Funny, she hadn’t seemed terrified. Although he had detected a slighttrembling in her voice when she’d talked about almost being forced into a life of prostitution. His attitude toward her had softened in that moment, until she’d rallied a mere second later and proclaimed the disturbing idea that she was now determined to assist women down on their luck.
    Proper ladies were supposed to leave nasty business like that to gentlemen.
    They were also expected to be charming, not hoydens who were all too annoying and who, for some unfathomable reason, seemed to believe they were entitled to equal rights.
    He’d always been of the belief that ladies should appreciate their delicate status and the fact that they were not required to provide a living or train for a profession. No, all they were truly required to do was produce children and ease a gentleman’s life.
    Why any lady would balk at that was beyond him. It was also beyond him why a lady wouldn’t prefer to act docile and sweet and look to a man for guidance.
    He highly doubted Miss Beckett looked to a man for anything, let alone guidance. It was clear she was quite lovely—at least the bit of her he’d managed to see beneath the grime—but she was obviously strong-willed, and she seemed more intelligent than most gentlemen he knew.
    It gave a man pause.
    It should have been an easy matter to retrieve Miss Beckett and escort her back to New York. Unfortunately, the lady appeared to possess a restless spirit, which her mother, Mrs. Gloria Beckett, had conveniently neglected to mention when she’d convinced him to go after her daughter. He’d spent weeks traveling from city to city, always one step behind the elusive Miss Beckett. He was about to give up in Kansas, but a lucky circumstance had him making the acquaintance of Mrs. Ellen Wallaby. After that woman forced him to listen to a rambling lecture on her dismal views of men in general,she finally informed him that Miss Beckett was on her way to Chicago to attend a rally.
    He’d immediately boarded a train for Chicago, but once there, discovered the rally over and Miss Beckett gone. It was only due to the fact that Miss Beckett was a beautiful woman, when she wasn’t covered in pig slop, that he’d been able to learn she’d traveled to Gilman. Most people he’d spoken with had taken note of her presence, each and every one of them more than willing to describe her in minute detail. It seemed her strikingly dramatic face, large blue eyes, delicately arched brows, and rosy soft lips were obviously difficult to forget. More than one person had waxed on about her honey-blond hair, and now some of that hair had apparently gone missing from her head.
    She didn’t seem overly distressed about that.
    It was disconcerting, this lack of expected feminine dramatics.
    His sister would have dissolved into a fit of the vapors if her hair suddenly went flying off her head.
    A shout of laughter pulled him abruptly back to reality. His feet set to