Lady Afraid Read Online Free PDF Page B

board and looked down at the design in the works there. It was a long-keeled schooner with a deep forefoot; it was unlike Vameric in all respects, this one; here was a boat for a man who wanted adventure in far places.
    Most indicated the design on the board. “You’ve a touch for the sea, Mrs. Lineyack.”
    “You think so?”
    “They’ve been saying for years that there’s not much more to be done that will make a vessel sweeter in the water. But you’re showing them. You’ve a hand for rigs too.”
    He had spoken with his back to her and now he turned, then he added, “You’re a down-Easter, aren’t you?”
    She admitted, “I was born in Portland, Maine.”
    “I thought so. I could tell it from the soul your drawing pen puts into a vessel.”
    For the first time since he had entered, Sarah brought herself into focus on his presence.
    “Really?”
    “You’re fantastically good, you know,” he said seriously. “You’ve got something in here”—he thumbed his wide chest—“that rings the bell. I don’t suppose that’s a very clear description, but anyway it’s a feeling that I’ve never thought more than one or two contemporary designers have.”
    “You might really mean,” Sarah suggested, “that only a few others design boats that fit your own notions.”
    He snorted. “No! You watch. Your Vameric is going to bewitch them all.” He grinned at her and added, “Everybody will talk about the beautiful lady architect with the magic touch.”
    She was not displeased, but she did not smile. She said, “I have been around sail all my life. They probably won’t know that.”
    “True. That’s the lot of genius.” He removed a package from under his arm and turned it in his hands, looking at it intently. “You know, I remember you quite well. You were in several cruising races that I was also in, weren’t you?”
    “Yes.”
    “I knew I remembered you. I knew it yesterday.”
    “I danced with you in Havana,” she said.
    He looked at her sheepishly and did not get out of his embarrassment too adeptly by saying, “It must have been after the races each time I met you, when the cup that cheers always seems to flow too freely.” He was not satisfied with that explanation himself, and he moved his great shoulders vaguely and was more uncomfortable.
    “I’ve brought you a present,” he said abruptly.
    He brought the package to her desk. His long fingers, adept with lines, unthreaded the cord that bound it.
    About to undo the paper wrapping, he glanced up. His eyes glinted mischievously; a smile ran along his lips for a moment.
    “Not every woman would be pleased with such a gift,” he said. “But I thought you would be.”
    “What is it?” she asked wonderingly.
    “Shoes.”
    He flipped open the paper and showed her. They weren’t just shoes. They were rope-soled for wear on a boat, the only kind that were really good on the spray-wet deck of a sailing craft. Sarah realized that they were a type made only on one of the Bahama Islands; furthermore, that Most must have hunted the stores for them.
    “How nice!” she exclaimed.
    “Like ’em?”
    “Oh yes.”
    Most pocketed his hands and stood straight, more than six feet of him and all of it pleased. His delight must have transcended his natural reticence, because he at once blurted out what he must have come here to say.
    “Would you have dinner with me tonight?”
    Sarah lifted her eyes quickly. “I’m afraid I can’t. And I’m sorry.”
    The boyishness died on his face; his smile went.
    “Shouldn’t I have brought you a present?” he asked. He laid a finger against his jaw and moved it slowly in a circle. “Did I make a mistake? Maybe I did. It never occurred to me.”
    Picking up the boat shoes that were his present, Sarah let the act of placing them in the drawer of her desk cover an unsureness. The man could have, she was beginning to understand, a measurable effect on her. For example, she was now confused; she actually