Jodi Thomas Read Online Free PDF Page B

he’d come to the wrong place.
    “I have a friend in Boston who posts me now and then. I’ve been in Galveston for almost a year now, so when I heard about my brother’s death and that his widow would be returning to Texas, I began to check the logs of each passenger list coming. My place of business is very near where the ships dock. I knew there would be a good chance you’d be passing through this harbor, and I wanted to be here to offer you my shoulder. My brother might have tried to forget I existed, but I make a point to do my duty.”
    Sage wasn’t sure she wanted any part of the man before her. Something in his manner told her he wasn’t quite the respectable businessman in town, and he didn’t look strong enough to be able to work for a living. He fit more into the down-on-his-luck-gambler category or worse, one of the men who posed as investors and sold free land to immigrants.
    She decided to play along. If he was mourning Barret, she owed him a bit of comfort. “Would you like some tea, Mr. Lander? I asked for some to be sent up when I arrived.”
    He smiled. “Oh, call me Shelley, dear. We are family, you know.”
    She could almost see him settling in like a hen on a full nest.
    He leaned back, relaxing. “I’d love some tea.”
    Bonnie banged her way through the door with a jug of milk and a half loaf of bread about the time a maid arrived with the tea tray. The tall nurse took a look around the room as if she thought she might be in the wrong place. When her gaze rested on Sage, the doctor shook her head slightly.
    Shelley didn’t fool the nurse for longer than a blink. “You look like Dr. Lander,” she said. “So I’m guessing you’re a relative.”
    Sage shifted her gaze back and forth from the milk to the bedroom door, hoping Bonnie would take the hint.
    Shelley stood and bowed. “I’m Barret’s brother, and you are right, I’ve come to pay my respects to his widow. And you, madam, must be my poor brother’s widow’s traveling companion.”
    “No, sir. I’m her nurse.”
    Shelley dropped back on the couch with a look of horror. He grabbed Sage’s hand. “Oh, you poor, poor child; you’re ill.”
    Sage frowned. There it was again, the poor child label. “No.” She pulled her hand away. “I’m a doctor, like your brother, and Miss Pierce is my nurse. She works for me.”
    Shelley looked like he might argue but instead wisely kept his mouth closed for once.
    Bonnie sidestepped toward the bedroom as the maid set up the tea. “Well,” she said a bit too loudly, “you two enjoy your tea and visit. I’ll just take my snack”—she lifted the jug and bread—“into the bedroom.”
    Shelley watched her go, huffed twice, and returned to his seat. “Odd creature,” he said as he began pouring tea with hands that didn’t look like they’d been washed in a week.
    The place is thick with them, Sage thought.
    As she watched the man eat all the finger sandwiches, she fought the urge to ask him how he made a living. As far as she knew, Barret’s people were educated but relatively poor. As a doctor, her husband had worked more days for free than for payment. He would have had little money to send to a worthless brother. The gentleman bred in Shelley was tarnished as well as his manners.
    Sage leaned back on a pillow and waited to see if he’d prove himself a fool.
    Shelley liked to talk, even if he didn’t have much to say. He rattled on about the history of Galveston as if he were a native Texan. Finally, with all the tea gone, he decided it was time for him to leave.
    “I know that you’ll be needing someone to advise you, and I want to offer my services. You’re very young, and women have no mind for business, so if you’ll allow me, I’ll be your guide through the stormy seas to come.”
    “Thank you,” Sage said, not bothering to tell him that she’d been handling her own affairs since she turned eighteen and began to share equally in the profits of the