Beloved Counterfeit (15 page)

Ruby’s sharp intake of breath drew Micah’s attention and stopped the Dumont fellow cold. “I had no idea she was. . .” She shook her head. “That is, Viola never told me she planned to leave.”

“Vivi was not expecting me,” Dumont said. “I must confess I have come to appreciate some of the beauty she told me I would find here.”

Remy Dumont’s smile might have been called charming, and had he not been aiming it at the woman Micah intended to marry, it might also have been appreciated. Instead, he felt something welling up inside that was completely foreign.

It had started when Micah had seen the pair walking toward the docks. Viola’s brother had the audacity to reach over and touch Ruby’s shoulder. Perhaps he merely swiped at the bloodthirsty mosquitoes that infested the cove upon occasion. Or maybe he’d only seemed to touch her.

Then he did it again, and this time Ruby stopped short and turned to face him. Her bonnet hid her face, but Micah could see the midwife’s brother clearly. Their conversation went on for no more than a minute, but the damage was done.

Right there in broad daylight with half of the fishermen and wreckers in Fairweather Key and all of the customers in the mercantile within watching distance, the two had practically tested the bounds of propriety. Or at least Micah imagined they might have.

He had been struck by jealousy.

His plan to stay away from the boardinghouse wasn’t working out as he expected. Or was it? While Dumont watched Ruby, she most definitely had turned her attention elsewhere.

To him.

“Beauty?” Micah smiled under her gaze. “Indeed, beauty abounds here.” He added a wink then grinned when Ruby made a face at him. “But back to the militia. Every able-bodied man on the island is expected to do his part. Long as you’re here, I’ll expect you to join us.”

Dumont met his stare and, for a second, seemed to be intending to respond with some measure of enthusiasm. Finally, he nodded and turned his attention to Ruby. “Might I walk you back to the boardinghouse?”

“Are you staying there, sir?” His tone was sharp, and Micah knew it, but the image of Ruby and this man abiding under the same roof warranted nothing less.

“He’s not,” Ruby hastened to say even as she sidestepped his glance.

“I am burdening my sister with my presence,” Dumont said with what was surely youthful sarcasm, “though I count on a short stay.”

“So you mentioned,” Micah said. “Perhaps I might inquire as to when the next vessel sails.” He paused, as much to let his words soak in as to tame his grin. “It would certainly be no trouble.”

“Yes, well, you’re a good man, Mr. Tate, but I warrant when the time comes, I’ll manage to find my own way.”

“A pity,” Micah said under his breath.

“So, Miss O’Shea,” the midwife’s brother said. “Might we continue our walk? You mentioned something about going visiting, and I’m keen on meeting more of the nice people of Fairweather Key.” Dumont linked arms with her then looked over Ruby’s head to glare at Micah. “If you’ll excuse us, then.”

She appeared to consider the question just a bit longer than Micah liked. “Thank you, but I’ve a bit of business to discuss with Mr. Tate,” she said as she shrugged from his grasp.

“As you wish,” he said before taking his leave.

“The militia, Dumont. I expect you on the courthouse steps three days hence at dawn.” When the fellow continued walking without any response, Micah gave in to his temper. “Ignoring the call to duty will not keep you from serving, Mr. Dumont.”

Again he ignored the statement. Micah’s blood boiled. How dare the fool show such insolence?

“Excuse me,” he said, “but I’m of a mind to teach that man the manners he’s sorely lacking.”

“Leave him alone,” Ruby said. “I’m sure when the time comes he’ll do what he should.”

Micah’s mistake was looking away from Dumont and focusing his attention on Ruby. One look, and all irritation evaporated.

“I’m not sure I agree with you,” he said, “though I hope you’re right. Just so you understand, he could be thrown in jail for refusing to serve.”

Something in her expression surprised him. “Really?” was all she said, but Micah got the impression that the idea of Remy Dumont behind bars did not distress her as much as he expected it would.

“So,” he said as he searched for another topic. “What’s in there?”

“This?” She let out a soft, “Oh,” and then thrust the basket in his direction. “It’s for you. That is, I made it special.” Ruby shook her head as a charming red color climbed into her cheeks. “It’s lunch. Unless you’ve eaten, and in that case, I suppose it’s dinner.”

Micah lifted the cloth to see a feast hidden beneath. “Is that pie?”

“It is,” she said. “I hope you like it.” Ruby paused, seemingly uncertain as to what she should do next.

“Will you join me?”

“No, I couldn’t really.” She cast a glance over her shoulder and appeared to be trying to determine in what direction the Dumont fellow had gone.

Micah spied the man taking his time as he strolled back up Main Street. Likely he would keep watch to see just when Ruby would follow his path.

It would never do to allow her to leave now. Yet she appeared poised to do just that.

Before she could run away, Micah pointed to the as-yet-unnamed vessel. “Come on aboard and sit with me while I eat.” Lest she argue the point, he gestured to the basket. “I’ll make short work of this, and then you can bring it back to the boardinghouse.”

Was it his imagination, or did she seem disappointed?

* * *

Ruby tried to hide the glance she made toward town, but as she turned back to look at Micah, she knew she’d failed. For lack of anything else to say, Ruby shrugged. “I suppose I am a bit hungry.”

She wasn’t in the least, but staying with Micah was the much better alternative to walking home and risking another encounter with Remy Dumont. To be sure he had no idea of the turmoil of her thoughts, Ruby offered a smile.

Micah gestured to a smart-looking vessel then began walking toward it, leaving Ruby to figure he intended her to follow. She did and in short order found herself facing a plate of the same food she’d dished up to the boarders what seemed like no time ago. While Micah said grace over the meal, Ruby snuck a covert glance at the wrecker.

Her impression on the beach had changed some, though her thoughts on his appearance had not. Unlike Remy Dumont, whose rakish charm made for most of his attractiveness, Micah Tate was solidly handsome and solidly nice.

It was a combination she rarely saw in the men with whom she came in contact. Men who might, at any moment, show themselves on the horizon. She checked to be sure none were approaching then ducked her head once more.

Like the preacher he was rumored to become, Micah Tate made full use of the moment to pray about everything from the food to the sunshine and beyond. At least it seemed so.

Though she tried to listen to his words, she was more taken with the way the breeze blew across the back of her neck and chased a pair of gulls past the mainmast. While Micah offered a blessing for the hands that made the food, Ruby let out a long breath, only then realizing she’d not once been aboard a vessel and felt such a sense of peace.

Even when she and Opal had finally fled the madness that was Papa’s world, there had been nothing like this.

“Amen,” Micah said, “and next time it’d help if you kept your eyes closed and your mind on the praying.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said as she sat back and watched him tackle the food with the gusto of a man who’d not eaten in days.

“Admit it,” he finally said between bites of chicken. “You’re considering my proposal.”

He caught her off guard, yet she couldn’t have formed a response she’d be willing to say even if she’d had time to think on it. She decided to change the subject. “Why haven’t you been taking your meals at the boardinghouse?”

Micah chewed maddeningly slowly, and then, as he swallowed, his grin bloomed. “So you’ve noticed.”

“Of course I’ve noticed,” she said. “The food goes twice as far.” When he gave her a look that seemed to ask if she was jesting, Ruby felt obliged to continue. “And of course Tess misses you terribly.”

Again he merely stared.

Ruby shifted positions and tried not to flinch under his stare. “So I wondered if you were perhaps planning another trip up the hill tomorrow or if I should stop setting a place for you.”

“Who is the Dumont fellow to you?”

The sudden change of topic took her by surprise. “I hardly know the man,” she said with a truth that belied the conflicting emotions she’d felt on Main Street. “Now about tomorrow’s meal, will you be with us?”

“I’ll come back when you ask me to, Ruby,” he said as he rose and dumped the chicken bones into the water.

Of all the infuriating nerve. “I just did.” She took a deep breath and attempted a tone with less of a bite to it. “Well, of course you’re welcome to come back. Mrs. Campbell made provisions for you, and I’ll not go against her wishes.” She shook her head. “I can’t imagine why you’d think you weren’t welcome.”

Micah seemed to consider her statement, though he gave no indication he might respond. Finally, he lifted the basket. “Why did you bring me this?”

Caught. What could she say?

“Have you come to accept my proposal?”

“What?” She exhaled. “I, that is. . .”

“I see.” He set the basket at her feet and stepped inside the cabin. “I thought you’d have come to your good senses by now,” he said.

“It’s not about good sense.” From where she sat, Ruby could see Micah moving about but could not tell what he was doing. “For I’ve enough of that for the both of us.”

“Is that so?” he called from the depths of the vessel. “I warrant not, for you’re in quite a situation, Ruby O’Shea.”

“I’ve handled situations before, Micah Tate, and though I will grant you that you’re partly to blame for it, likely I’d have been found out eventually. So,” she said as lightly as she could, “I absolve you of your obligation to marry me.”

“You absolve me?” His laughter rolled toward her. “It’s not your absolution I seek. Though perhaps I should be concerned that you see me only as your protector and not as someone who might bring you the occasional smile.”

That was an odd statement coming from the serious wrecker. What sort of man cared whether he brought a smile to the face of his wife? Surely none whom Ruby had met, except perhaps for the Carters—father and son. They, she’d decided early on in her stay on the key, were the exception and not the rule.

The mail clipper slid past on the tide, a bell calling out its arrival. She glanced across at the deck and returned the wave of whoever stood at the helm. The vessel’s wake jostled the boat, causing her to grip the wood to keep from falling. Still, Micah remained inside.

“I should go,” she called.

No response. She crept closer. All activity inside had ceased. Perhaps there was some sort of exit that took him below. Leaning forward, she saw only a dim interior with a shaft of light where the sunshine spilled through the door.

“Micah, I—”

Someone grabbed her from behind and whirled her around. Micah. Were she able, she might have swatted him.

“You frightened me, Micah Tate,” she managed to say, though her heart still pounded in her throat.

Immediately he released her. “I’m sorry, I. . .” He stepped away. “I thought to surprise you, make you smile actually, by going around the other side and. . . Dumb of me.”

“You thought to surprise me?” At the thought of the serious Micah Tate planning any kind of surprise, Ruby began to giggle. The more she thought of it, the funnier the idea became, until her giggle became full-blown laughter.

Poor Micah obviously didn’t have any idea what to think. “It’s my turn to apologize,” she said. “I just didn’t think of you as someone who would do anything silly.”

“I told you I would.” His grin fell. “I see.”

“Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that.” She searched for the words to bring back his grin. “What I meant was, you’re the solid kind. The kind a woman can depend on to take care of her.” She paused, noting his frown lines were no longer so deep. “You said so yourself, so I just assumed you’d find silliness something you’d prefer not to engage in. Me, however, I think it’s just fine. Why, when the girls are—”

“Ruby?”

She took a breath. “What?”

“I asked you a question you never answered.” His gaze swept her face as he crossed both arms over his chest. “Why did you bring the food?”

“I told you. I thought maybe—”

His eyes seemed to plead with her. “The real reason.”

“When are you coming back to the boardinghouse?” Not the answer wanted, but a question in need of a response all the same.

He leaned closer, and for a moment, Ruby thought he might kiss her. “Do you miss me?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then I’m going to have to answer your question in the same way. I don’t know.”

Her temper flared. Was there a man on this planet who didn’t have the ability to irritate her? It seemed not.

Surely no such man was aboard this vessel. “Micah,” she said slowly, “I have just been kind enough to bring you food, though you’ve questioned my motives. Now you have the audacity to ask me if I miss you?”

Micah’s grin returned. “Thank you, Miss O’Shea. You’ve just answered my question.”

Irritation rose a notch as she reached for the basket. “I’ve not done any such thing.”

“Yes, you did,” he said as he leaned back against the cabin wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “And I must say I’m very glad to know you miss me enough to be sensitive to the topic, though I must insist you cease your carrying on with Remy Dumont. Perhaps you didn’t realize this, but it appeared you two were much too close for decent folks.”

“I, well, oh!” Ruby turned on her heels and stormed across the deck. Only her years of experience aboard ship kept her on her feet.

“One more question,” he called, even though she seemed to ignore him. “I’ll be seeing Rev. Carter tomorrow. Shall I go ahead and book the church, or would you prefer to go with me and help choose the date?”

Ruby stalled and forced herself not to turn and look at him. “You wouldn’t dare,” she said through clenched jaw.