Fortune Is a Woman - Elizabeth Adler [123]
She told herself for the hundredth time it was just a shipboard flirtation on his part, and that, anyway, nothing could ever come of it. She could only pretend to be the widowed Mrs. Harrison for the length of this voyage and then it was back to reality. A reality Edward Stratton would not like. She thought longingly how too easy it would be just to let him take charge of her life, to be looked after by him. Then she told herself that Lai Tsin had made her strong and yet here she was acting like a weak, silly woman all over again, ready to give it all up simply because she was in love.
The ship’s bell struck four and she sighed. Sleepless hours stretched in front of her because the problem she had was unsolvable. Meanwhile she was aware that everyone on board was talking about them. She felt their eyes on them at dinner, she felt them follow her when they walked together on deck and she knew she could not afford to be the object of scandal a second time in her life. There was no answer to her problems. She decided there were only a few days left of the voyage and she would be more discreet. In future, she would keep her distance from Edward Stratton.
The night before the ship docked in Hong Kong the captain gave a gala farewell reception and dinner. For a week Francie had barely left her cabin except to go for an occasional stroll when she was sure Edward would be otherwise occupied. She had taken all her meals in her room and had passed the time with her nose buried in a volume of Dickens borrowed from the ship’s library, reading and rereading each paragraph endlessly because her mind simply wasn’t on David Copperfield. Edward had sent a dozen messages and she had finally written back that she was tired and was resting in preparation for her arrival in Hong Kong.
But she couldn’t refuse Captain Laird’s special request for her to sit at his table, and she wore her most beautiful dress. The cream chiffon felt like gossamer against her silk-stockinged legs, and the gold lace tunic with its wide, low neckline and long, tight sleeves reached to her knees, so the skirt swirled prettily as she walked. She wore no jewelry, just a fresh cream rose pinned at her shoulder and another in her hair. She squared her shoulders as she walked down the corridor, determined to stay cool and composed as she said good-bye to Edward.
The saloon was festive with red, white, and blue buntings strung from pillar to pillar and stewards in white mess jackets serving champagne.
“Mrs. Harrison,” the captain’s voice boomed across the room and people turned to stare at her. “Glad to see you back. Feeling better, I hope?”
He kissed her hand gallantly and she smiled, quickly searching the room for Edward, but he wasn’t there. She sipped champagne and made polite small talk with the French diplomat who was staying on for the remainder of the voyage to Shanghai. “But tonight is the real farewell,” he said, “when our most charming businesswoman departs our ship. I fear without your lovely presence we might sink beneath a wave of boredom.”
Francie laughed. He was charming and nice and she felt sure he flirted with every pretty woman who came his way. But still Edward wasn’t there.
Half an hour later, when they went in for dinner and he still hadn’t arrived, she thought half-angrily that she needn’t have bothered dressing up for him, then suddenly she heard him apologizing for his lateness, and he was there, next to her.
“Francesca,” he said in a low voice, “I’ve been so worried about you.”
“There’s really no need,” she said coolly, turning away to speak to the captain.
She thought the dinner would never end as gala course followed gala course, and immediately after it was finished she said a quick good night, and with barely a glance at Edward hurried back to her stateroom. She paced the floor thinking of him, and then, unable to bear her thoughts or her own company any longer, she went out on deck.
All the storms had been left behind as they sailed into the South China Sea and the