An Agent For Wilhelmina (The Pinkerton Matchmaker Book 2) Page 6

  Besides, he was very appealing to look upon. Plus he snuggled against her so very well at night. If they didn’t stay married, she would miss sleeping beside him. There were also the tingles and yearnings she’d never experienced before.

  Mina cleared her throat hoping it would still the tingles. “Should we go and find the dressmakers and see if there are readymade gowns that would work for me?”

  The look on Reece’s face made her laugh. It was a cross between disgust and fear. She could tell he wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea. Well, too bad. She needed gowns and they needed to be seen together around town. That was the plan they’d come up with as they rode the train.

  Mina stood. “Come on. You know we have to do this. I’ll try to make it as painless as possible. Maybe the first shop we go to will have everything I’ll need for a few functions. When I need more, hopefully, I’ll have made some friends and we ladies can go by ourselves and you can go do your man things. Besides, you brought this on by not discussing the case with me before we left Denver. This is your penance.”

  Laughter erased the scowl, replacing it with a smile. “Okay, I’ll suffer through without being in a foul disposition. Go get your hat and gloves. I’m not waiting for you to primp and fuss.” Reece stood and picked up the hat and gloves he’d laid on a table as he sat down.

  “I’ll be right back,” Mina said as she skipped from the room.

  Leaning back in his chair and stretching his legs out in front of him, Reece waited for Mina to model yet another gown. They’d found a dressmaker who had several outfits nearly complete. They would need to be fitted but could be ready within a couple of days.

  He was bored. His fingers were tired from flipping the coin around them. He’d dropped it several times. Maybe he should have brought a book or something else to do, though he didn’t know what. He hadn’t packed any. Maybe he could slip out and get a newspaper.

  He knew Mina was doing the best she could with all the changing and pinning needed for the gowns they decided to purchase. They’d chosen several dinner dresses. Mina thought the gowns she’d brought would do well enough for walking, receiving, and at least one dinner. She’d told him they were several of her best dresses, fine for more informal events, but not for formal dinners or receptions. Nor would any be appropriate for the theater. That was what she was trying on now.

  Hearing voices approaching from the dressing rooms, Reece sat up straighter. He didn’t want to be seen slouching.

  When Mina appeared in the evening gown he dropped his silver dollar again. Every nerve in his body reacted. She was a vision. The bodice and skirt were of turquoise satin. An overskirt of white lace allowed the color of the satin to peek through. The lace crowned her shoulders edging the neckline which was just low enough to hint at what lay beneath. Short sleeves of the lace had flounces of the satin. Three more rows of flounces extended up beneath the overskirt and around the back. The overskirt draped behind by wide ribbons drawing it back by a bow.

  “Isn’t she lovely, sir? This color brings her skin a glow unmatched by many.” The dressmaker fluttered around and finally stood back allowing Reece to take in the woman who was his wife. He casually crossed his legs and swallowed. She was his and he was glad of it.

  Realization hit him. He wanted to keep her. Wanted to make the marriage one not only in name, but also in fact. If he could manage it, Reece would persuade her to stay married to him after they solved this case.

  He swallowed, then cleared his throat hoping his voice didn’t crack when he spoke. Standing to give him more time to recover, Reece approached Mina, took her hand, bringing it to his lips. “You are indeed a lovely vision. No one will watch the play. They will spend the evening looking at you.”

  Mina’s cheeks pinkened at his compliment. He noticed her hand was trembling in his. The smile he was giving her stretched wide.

  Kissing the back of her hand again, Reece nodded to the dressmaker. “This is perfect for my wife. I commend your talent. I never thought we would find the perfect gown to make our debut in San Francisco. Thank you.” He bowed slightly adding to his heartfelt compliment.

  “Thank you, sir. It is with joy that I find the perfect lady to wear this gown.” Turning her attention back to Mina, she said, “Come, we’ll get the fitting done and you can leave the rest to me and my seamstresses. We’ll have this all ready for you by Friday.”

  Reece watched them disappear back into the dressing room. Not realizing he was standing, still looking at a closed door. He stayed there for several moments remembering how beautiful she looked.

  Finally, he shook his head to clear his thoughts. He fished in his vest pocket for his silver dollar, then looked around remembering he’d dropped it.

  How was he going to make her want to stay married to him? Reece wondered as he picked up the coin. It began its path between his fingers without consciously being aware of it.

  That he was physically attracted to Mina wasn’t a surprise. That had begun when he’d seen her walking toward him when her name as his bride was called. It hadn’t lessened in the days that followed. He was a man after all. Sleeping next her each night was difficult as he hid his craving to do more than sleep. It was especially difficult when she plastered herself against him.

  It occurred to him that he now had two cases. One to catch a possible insurance fraud scheme. The other to catch his wife so she wouldn’t leave him when the case they’d been assigned was completed.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “RIGHT THIS WAY, madame, sir. The others of your party are already seated.” The maître de led them through one of the hotel’s restaurants. Near a window, two men were seated, talking between themselves. As Reece and Mina approached, they stood.

  “I hope we didn’t keep you waiting. Please forgive us.” Reece shook hands with Chief Crowley. “Please let me introduce my wife, Mrs. Wilhelmina Galway. Mina, Chief Patrick Crowley.”

  Mina greeted him and allowed the rest of the introductions to be made. They were soon seated, perusing their menus. She leaned to Reece and murmured her choices. Once the orders were placed and the waiter left, the conversation turned to vague discussion of why Reece and Mina were in San Francisco.

  “I took the liberty of enlightening Mr. Ramsey of your purpose here. He believes he can be of assistance to you.” Crowley began.

  “Yes, the Chief and I have talked about this theft several times over the past few weeks. There are circumstances that make the suspicions valid. I’ll help in any way I can.” Mr. Ramsey nodded to them.

  “What we need at the moment is introduction into the Dodrill’s social circle. We were hoping you and your wife could help us with that.” Reece stirred the coffee Mina had poured for each of the men from a silver service on a cart beside the table. She made a cup of tea for herself.

  “We can definitely give you introductions. My wife loves sponsoring lovely young women in town. It’s a shame you are married, Mrs. Galway. If you weren’t, she’d have you to the altar in short order.”

  Laughter met his comment with Mina fighting a blush. She kept quiet listening and observing the others in the room.

  Mr. Ramsey appeared to be in his late forties. Somewhat shorter and stockier than Reece, he seemed to be a serious man, yet he had laugh lines around his eyes.

  Chief Crowley was dark haired with a waxed mustache he obviously took great pride in. He was lean but muscular. There was an air of no nonsense about him. Mina saw that he also surveyed the room on a regular basis. A habit of a policeman, she supposed, the same as a Pinkerton detective.

  As they ate, a prickling went up Mina’s back. Somewhere close there was danger. Trying not to be obvious, she studied each tables’ occupants within her view. The sensation heightened telling her whatever was going to occur would happen soon.

  There was a young couple at a table close by. They were absorbed in each other, far more than was generally considered acceptable. It was they who whatever was going to happen to would focus on.

  An older man stormed into the restaurant, stopping just inside the door. He was surveying the room, an angry expression on his face. He was the one who was putting the couple in danger.

  “Excuse me for a moment, please, gentlemen.” Mina didn’t wait for a response. She stood and moved toward the couple. The man had spotted them and was racing across the room. Mina stopped and fussed with her skirts. The man ran straight into her, knocking her to the ground.

  Reece jumped up and reached the man in two steps. “Hold on there, mister.” He grabbed the man’s arm, keeping him from moving on, intent as he was in getting to the young couple. The girl was distraught, held tightly in the young man’s arms as they stood beside their table. “What are you doing barreling through here, paying no mind to who you ram into?”

  Chief Crowley took the man’s other arm. “Tend to your wife, Galway. I’ll deal with him.”

  Reece knelt beside Mina, worried she might have hurt herself in the fall.

  “I’m fine, Reece. Don’t be concerned. I didn’t fall hard.”

  Reece certainly hoped so. If she was injured, he was going to do some fighting practice on the man. He helped Mina to her feet and back to her chair. He knelt beside her, gently running his hands up her arms, searching for any sort of harm.

  “I’m Kenneth Miller. And that’s my daughter, Amelia.” He pointed to the young woman. “That man has ruined her. Kept her out two nights now. Her mother is distraught.”

  “No, Father. That’s not true. We were married two days ago.” Amelia clung harder to her groom who stood tall beside her.

  “What? You can’t do that,” Miller hollered.

  “Yes, she can and did. She’s of age and can make her own decisions. She’s now Mrs. Michael Downey.” He stuck his chin out e
mphasizing his words.

  Chief Crowley took control of the scene, moving the furious father, as well as the young couple, from the center of the dining room, leaving Mina, Reece, and Mr. Ramsey to finish their meal and discussion.

  “Are you certain you are all right, Mrs. Galway?” Mr. Ramsey inquired.

  “Yes, no harm done. Reece, please sit down. You are hovering.” Mina brushed his shouldering in a shooing motion.

  As he returned to his seat, Reece noticed her rubbing her thigh. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, yes. Please, let’s finish our desserts and complete our plans for the theater.” Mina glanced back at where she’d fallen. Reece looked too and saw a set of handcuffs lying on the floor. He shot her a glance. Where had those come from?

  “Oh,” Mina said. “I must have dropped my handkerchief. Would you please get it for me, Reece?” She pointed to the floor where he now saw the white square covering most of the cuffs.

  “Of course, my dear.” Reece gathered both items, slipping the cuffs into his pocket while handing her the cloth.

  “Mr. Ramsey.” Mina took control of the conversation. “You mentioned your wife enjoys shopping for clothing. Do you think she would enjoy accompanying me to some fittings I’ll be having this week? Poor Reece was so very patient yesterday, but I know he’d rather be elsewhere than go with me again.”

  “I’m sure she would, Mrs. Galway. She does love shopping. She might take you around to more shops and dressmakers than you want.”

  “I’ll go to the lobby for pen and paper and write a note you can take to her. You men just talk amongst yourselves. It won’t take me but a few minutes.”

  Reece watched her leave the room. How did she seem to avert troublesome situations? He reviewed their time together. The food fight. The boys colliding with them at the station. Tripping the robber on the train. In Sacramento, Mina had leaned down, catching a toddler running past, stopping her from entering the street just before a wagon thundered by. He hadn’t seen the child coming as she came flying out a door just as Mina leaned down. It was almost as if she knew ahead of time that something was going to happen.

  The door clicked shut behind Reece as they entered their suite. They’d left Mr. Ramsey and Chief Crowley in the lobby, the latter having ‘calmed’ Mr. Miller by threatening to arrest him for disorderly conduct. The new Mr. and Mrs. Downey agreed to meet with her parents to attempt to reconcile them to her new position.

  “May I have my handcuffs back, please?” Mina removed her gloves and set them on a side table. She peeked at him from the corner of her eye.

  “You always carry handcuffs with you?” Reece smiled as he approached, digging the cuffs from his pocket.

  “Nearly always. They could have come in handy today, although I’m sure Chief Crowley had his own.” Mina headed into the bedroom.

  Reece followed. “Where were they? In a pocket I can’t see?”

  “No, not a pocket. Actually, they are loosely stitched onto my bustle. The wire holds them well, but they can easily be removed and picked up quickly if needed.” She was grinning at him. “The stitches must have broken when I fell.”

  “Ingenious.” Reece thought for a moment. “You carry your Derringer in a pocket, handcuffs stitched to your bustle. Is there anything else on your person I should know about?” He walked toward her, grinning, holding his hands out as if he was going to grab and search her.

  Mina backed away, grinning back at him. “Should know? No. Could know? Yes.” Her legs bumped into the bed. She fell back. “Ouch.”

  “What?” Reece stopped his advance.

  “Falling back in a bustle isn’t the most comfortable thing to do.” Mina rolled onto her side, pulling at her skirts. The back seemed to collapse and she lay on her back again, smiling up at him.

  “You women and your unwieldy undergarments.” Reece sat beside her, then flopped back so he could easily see into her eyes as she turned her head toward him.

  “Yet, you men like how they look.”

  He sighed, “Yes, we do, as awkward as they are.” He laid a hand on her stomach. “You are sure you’re all right from your fall?”

  She chuckled. “I may have a bruise from the handcuffs, a very funny looking bruise, since I fell on them. Other than that, I’m fine. I didn’t fall very hard.”

  Reece looked at her. “You seem to attract and avoid trouble. How do you do that?”

  Mina studied him for a long moment. “Just lucky I guess.”

  There was something more. Something she wasn’t telling him. Maybe she didn’t trust him enough. Yet. He’d build that trust and patiently wait for her to tell him. He hoped he’d do it patiently. It wasn’t his strong suit.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  MINA ALLOWED REECE to help her into the carriage. She was wearing the turquoise and lace gown. The warm feeling from his compliments hadn’t dimmed as they left their suite and descended the stairs.

  Mrs. Violet Ramsey, who’d insisted she be called Vi, smiled and made room for Mina beside her on the seat. “You do look lovely, my dear. Even more so with the wreath of roses in your hair. Whoever styled it for you did so quite well.”

  “Thank you. It was one of the ladies’ maids. She’s very talented.”

  The men were now seated across from them. Mr. Ramsey knocked on the ceiling with his cane and the carriage jerked into motion.

  “Stafford explained why you are here in San Francisco. I think many of us thought that theft was a bit too convenient. Mrs. Dodrill, though she seemed very discomposed when the news came out, seemed to recover more quickly than any of us anticipated.

  “Before the theft, she was concerned about something, we could never figure out what. Then the theft, and she retired to her chambers for over a week. When she began socializing again, it was as if nothing had happened, and she had no worries at all. It made me wonder.”

  “You’ll keep this to yourself, won’t you Mrs. Ramsey?” Reece inquired.

  “Of course, Mr. Galway. If there is fraud surrounding this theft, I want it exposed as much as you do.”

  “Let’s set that aside and have a lovely evening at the theater. We can accomplish much by simply enjoying the play, seeing our friends, and introducing this fine young couple.” The carriage pulled to a stop as Mr. Ramsey spoke. “Ah, here we are. Allow me to help you down, my dear.”

  Maguire’s Opera House was fifteen years old and appointed with all the modern conveniences. Gaslights lit the lobby as well as each box, and the stage was illuminated well. The boxes were draped in deep blue velvet, the seats covered in the same with gold velvet piping. A brass railing ran around the balcony secured at the separations of the boxes.

  Mina and Violet sat in the first seats with Reece and Stafford behind their wives. Mina studied the playbill until Violet began pointing out friends and other influential people until the lights dimmed, signaling the play commencing.

  Reece laid a hand on Mina’s shoulder, his finger stroking the side of her throat. It sent shivers up and down her spine and set those butterflies in her stomach into a frenzy. It made her want to tilt her head onto his hand. She didn’t, but she wanted to.

  When the curtain closed at the end of the first act, Mina looked back at her husband. He gazed down at her, holding her eyes with his.

  The sounds in the theater broke them from their stupor. People were yelling and pointing. When Mina looked, she gasped, and struggled to her feet.

  “Oh no.” Her hands flew to her mouth, pressing against it.

  “What, Mina?” Reece stepped down to stand beside her.

  A tall man with a ferocious expression was stomping along the brass railing. His black evening coat was open revealing a gold vest.

  “How is he balancing so well on that round rail?” Stafford asked.

  As the man approached, Mina grasped Reece’s arm. She felt faint. Never in a million years had she thought he’d be in San Francisco.