An Unlikely Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

the
Colonel Phillips
’s quivering deck.
    Grant Winston.
A vision of him walking toward her out of the darkness slipped into her mind. It was strange how safe she had felt with him beside her. And how reluctant she was to see him go when they’d been separated onto their different paths after disembarking. Would she ever see him again? She frowned and fingered the cord on her purse. That was highly unlikely. There were so many people attending the assembly it would be impossible to—
The assembly.
She jerked her thoughts back to the speaker.
    â€œâ€”in addition to the Bible readings.” Dr. Austin glanced down at the paper he held. “Today’s topic for the late afternoon featured lecture will be moral ideas. Tomorrow, it will be on drawing caricatures. And the day following will feature the first of the lectures on temperance.”
    There was an audible intake of breath among those listening, a general stirring as people glanced at one another. She caught her breath at the reaction, looked down at her lap.
Two more days to prepare.
    â€œAnd, of course, every day there will be nature walks in the woods and promenades along the shore, boats for rowing and all manner of entertainments—music, steamer rides, fireworks...”
    Steamer rides?
Not for her. Unless... She closed her eyes, pictured Grant Winston standing beside her at the rail of a steamer with sunshine warm on their faces and a soft breeze riffling their hair. A smile touched her lips. He had sun streaks in his hair, the way her father did before he moved them into town. Was Grant a farmer? Or perhaps a logger? Or—
    She started at movement beside her and opened her eyes. People were standing. She hastened to her feet, stepped out into the aisle and joined the flow of people exiting the tent. She had missed the rules for speakers Dr. Austin had spoken of! How could she—
    â€œMarissa!”
    She stopped and turned at the soft call. Her tent mate was hurrying up the aisle toward her. She released a soft sigh and waited for Clarice to catch up to her. Clarice would have notes.
    â€œWell, that was interesting! What a crowd!” Clarice paused, motioned her into the line of people in the aisle and headed for the tent opening. “Are you ready to eat something, Marissa? I wasn’t able to get a seat at a table earlier and I’m starving!”
    Marissa smiled and dipped her head to a man who stepped aside to let them precede him through the tent’s entrance. “I am a bit hungry.” No doubt because she had two more days before she spoke. She paused, looked around. People were entering the woods in all different directions. “Which way do we go for the ‘hotel’?”
    â€œUp.” Clarice laughed and stepped into the trees.
    * * *
    Grant strode along the dock, showed his admittance pass to the gatekeeper and hurried across the flat shore area, his empty stomach rumbling. Discussing the grape samples with his father had taken longer than he expected. Not that it surprised him. His father was set against his coming to this assembly. How could the man still be so against science when he had proven to him with the concords that experimentation worked?
    He frowned down at the line map on the back of his pass, tucked it in his pocket and started up a wooded path at a fast pace taking his frustration out on the hillside. He was a grown man with his own ideas, but the doctor had warned against any heated confrontations because of his father’s ill health. One fit of anger could overstress his weak heart. It made his obstinance doubly hard to deal with. If it hadn’t been for his father’s crippling accident,
he
would be a scientist by now, not a vineyard manager trying to cope with old-fashioned ideas.
    He halted. People were clustered at a crossing of paths ahead. He glanced at the sign nailed to a long building made of rough boards. The Hotel. This was the dining hall? Hopefully,