Adams, Eve - Patience is Their Virtue [Brides of Bachelor Bay 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (4 page)

Patience turned away from the ever-growing crowd and drew in breath after breath. With a quick glance down at her hands, she spotted the dirt beneath her nails. She’d scrubbed for what seemed like hours until her hands almost bled, and still she couldn’t get them clean.

What kind of wife would she make? She couldn’t even clean up for a simple dance. Defeated, she swallowed hard until the lump hovering right at her throat fell back into the pit of her stomach.

She’d wait until the first song. When the dance floor came alive with men leading the women, all with joyous smiles on their faces, she’d slip out the door before anyone noticed her.

“Adam, darling!” Constance’s shrill voice grated on Patience’s nerves as the annoying woman cried out with mock delight. Could Constance Kendall be any more of an act?

At least Patience would get to meet the illustrious Adam Steele. She swung around to catch a glimpse.

And froze.

Every muscle in her frame stiffened, every joint locked in place. It was him, the man from outside the garden. Patience shook her head in disbelief. He couldn’t be one in the same. From what she understood, Adam Steele was a ruthless cad of a man who paid no mind to anyone but himself.

He looked up, and their gazes collided. Everything around them faded to a blur. Those dark eyes that had haunted her dreams this past week stared back at her, swallowing her whole, leaving her gasping in her shock.

“I’m thrilled you came to call.” Constance went on, completely oblivious of the air thickening between Adam and Patience. “I was just saying—”

“I’m sure you were,” Adam cut her off as he passed her by, not once pulling his gaze from Patience. By the time he reached her, she felt faint, like she’d been the one chopping up the distance between them instead of remaining frozen in place.

“I was hoping to find you here.”

“Mr. Steele,” she greeted in polite detachment. What she wouldn’t give for a fan to cool herself down. It had to be well over one hundred degrees in the room.

The first of the songs started up, and the dance floor filled with enthusiastic dancers. Adam turned and stood next to her, facing the dance floor, and folded his hands behind him.

“Lively tune,” he said as he tapped his foot.

“Indeed.” She stopped tapping hers.

“Is John Johnson here tonight?”

She looked at him and narrowed her gaze when she spotted his grin. Seeing no need to keep up the lie since he clearly never believed it in the first place, she came clean. “There is no John Johnson.”

He gave her a sideways glance. “Are there any other suitors, make-believe or otherwise?”

“Not at this time.”

“Then I take it your dance card is free?”

“Yes, but I don’t see—”

He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor, twirling her in perfect time with the music. He held her scandalously close to him and paid no mind to the way everyone else in the room kept stealing glances at them.

“You look beautiful tonight, Miss Weber.”

Patience swelled with pride. “Please, call me Patience. Or Patti.”

With a grin and a twirl, he nodded. “Only if you call me Adam.”

“I couldn’t.”

“Why not?” His wicked hands roamed to the small of her back and even threatened to travel further south.

“You’re the mayor.”

“And, as your mayor, I’m asking you to call me Adam.”

“Why are you pursuing me, Mr. Steele? Constance clearly favors you. She is—”

“Not the one I want,” he finished and twirled her again. When they settled into step, he continued. “I have a confession.”

“And that is?”

He moved closer and Patience didn’t know whether to push him away or pull him closer. His breath tickled her neck and ear as he spoke, washing generous chills across her skin.

“That day we met wasn’t the first time I’d seen you.”

No!
She’d been so careful. Where did she make her mistake? “Oh?”

“I’ve been watching you tend to the garden for some time.”

She stilled. “For how long?”

“Since you pulled the first weed.”

That should have unsettled her, knowing this man had been spying on her for nearly a full month. Instead, she felt flattered and warm all over. “I don’t know how to reply to that.”

The music came to an end, and she stepped out of his arms. They held each other in their gazes until the next song started. He held out his hand, but she shook her head. With a shrug, he led her off the dance floor and over to two vacant chairs.

After they sat, he turned to her. “Tell me something. How is it that I’ve never seen you around town with the other brides? Believe me, I’ve looked.”

“Why were you looking for me?” she asked in return and to avoid answering his question.

“I wanted to see what you looked like in something other than the rags you wear while tending to your garden. I can see now that you clean up very nicely.” His roguish gaze raked over her body and left her panting.

She jumped to her feet, offended at his words, almost as much as she was unsettled by her reaction to them. “You rounder.”

Adam stood and put his hands up. “What did I say?”

If they weren’t in a public setting, she’d teach him a thing or two on how to treat a lady. Growing up the youngest of six children—all boys except for her—she knew how to defend herself against the likes of this man. Her brothers had taught her well.

“Is there a problem?” Logan Gallagher appeared between them, his ever-watchful gaze bouncing between Adam and Patience.

Oh, no. Not one of the Gallaghers. She’d done so well at avoiding them. “Uh, nothing, Mr. Gallagher.”

Logan lifted his brow. “Nonsense. You are clearly upset, which doesn't surprise me, considering your present company.”

Adam audibly growled. “Care to elaborate, Gallagher?”

“No, I do not.” Logan grinned and added, “Mayor.”

Interesting. The two men didn’t appear to care much for each other, Patience noted. She decided to play on that. Maybe having Logan Gallagher upset enough with Adam Steele would pull his attention from her.

“This man just said the most awful thing to me.”

Surprise flashed in Adam’s dark eyes and hardened his expression. “Like hell.”

“Watch your language around the ladies, Mr. Steele.” Logan crossed his arms in front of him.

“I paid you a compliment, Miss Weber.”

She lifted her chin in defiance, refusing to back down or accept his words as true. “You insulted my appearance.”

“Quite the opposite,” he retorted. “I told you that you cleaned up nicely.”

“Implying that any other day my appearance is unacceptable.”

“If you have issues with your appearance on any other day, that’s your problem, not mine. I was just trying to be nice.”

“Nice?” She stared back at him incredulously. “If this is you being nice, you aren’t very good at it. In fact, I find it rather offensive.”

He snarled as he glared at her. “You have no idea what offensive is, lady.”

“Enough,” Logan stated and turned to Adam. “Perhaps you’d like to dance with Constance. She clearly favors you.”

Casting Logan a thundering look that burned with anger, Adam shook his head and clenched his teeth until his jaw turned white. “I don’t want Constance. That woman follows me around like a bitch in heat.”

Heat slapped Patience’s cheeks at his loose tongue. Logan bit back a smirk and shook his head to clear his amusement from his expression.

“Language, Mr. Steele.”

Adam turned to her, softening his expression as his gaze roamed over her body. She took a breath to protest, but then stopped when her nipples spiked beneath the fabric of her dress and gave her away. If he noticed, he didn’t make it apparent.

“Please accept my apologies, Miss Weber. It seems you draw out both the best and worst in me.”

“It seems,” she agreed.

“Perhaps another dance will put me back on my best behavior.”

That charming smile weakened her defenses. The wicked gleam in his eye both scared and intrigued her.

“I’m afraid I must pass. All of this turmoil has given me a headache. I need to lie down.”

Disappointment shadowed his eyes, and he pulled his lips into a frown. “Until next time, then.” He walked away, not bothering to so much as glance Constance Kendall’s way. He nodded at Hattie and disappeared out the front doors.

Constance whipped her attention to Patience and narrowed her eyes into a glare.

“Looks like you have an admirer,” Logan said, pulling her attention back to him.

That’s what she was afraid of. Having the mayor pursuing her would be too public. Having Logan Gallagher standing next to her, talking to her for the first time since her arrival in Port Steele, proved that.

“What did you say your name was again?” Logan prodded.

She thought about lying, but considering where that got her the last time she lied, she didn’t bother. “Patience Weber, sir.”

“And you are one of the brides?”

She gulped and lied right to his face. “Yes, sir.”

“I don’t recall seeing you at the welcome dinner, or at any of the other dances.”

“There were so many women, Mr. Gallagher. I’m sure you’ve simply overlooked me.”

He turned to her and lost all expression. “I’ve made it a point to at least learn all the names, if not the faces, of the brides my brothers and I have paid to make passage to Port Steele. I don’t recall a Patience Weber on the ship’s manifest. Did you sign a contract?”

Oh, no.
She couldn’t breathe and eyed the front doors, planning her escape. “Why else would I be here?”

“Good question and one I haven’t quite figured out.”

He clearly didn’t have the contracts with him, so Patience used that to her advantage. “I assure you, Mr. Gallagher. When you get to your office and search through the contracts, you will find mine along with the others.”

Logan set his jaw. “That would be seemingly difficult since the contracts are still in Boston.” He eyed her carefully. “What was the name of the scribe you met to sign your contract?”

She remembered the women talk about the man and could describe him perfectly, all the way down the stains on his teeth and patch over his eye. “Mr. Rupple. Frightening little man if you ask me. I refused to be alone with the man.”

“There were others in the room with you and him, you say?”

“Several.”

Logan nodded. “It would be difficult for the man to distinguish you from the other woman, then.”

“Quite difficult.”

“Miss Weber, I have a very perceptive wife, and I’m not all that naïve. If I ask Lizzie, she’ll know off the top of her head whether you are one of the brides who came over on the ship with the rest.”