Lone Pine Bride (The Brides of Lone Pine #1)(18)

“Do you play the piano?” he asked.

She screwed her face. “No. Why would I do that?”

Rachel did and he was looking forward to hearing her play on the one he had managed to acquire second hand. It had pushed his finances to the limit but he was very proud of it.

“Because....” He paused. “Because....” He chuckled.

“Because what?”

“I just thought it was the thing genteel ladies do.”

She screwed her nose again. “I am not genteel. My mother did her best to make me a society lady but I never will be one. Is that the type of woman you’re expecting?”

“Yes.”

“So what....?”

She paused. Is her name, she was going to say, but suddenly she felt as if she didn’t want to know. Why, she couldn’t define, and it was nice not having to try to be someone you weren’t because you felt comfortable being yourself.

“Do you think genteel involves?” she finished.

He looked at her thoughtfully. What did it involve, except that he knew from Rachel’s letters that was what she was? “Breeding. A liking of fine things. Maybe intelligent. A gentle touch.”

“How do you touch a pan gently when you’re trying to lift it?” she asked and he chuckled again.

“I’m not sure. Maybe graceful would be better than gentle.”

“We could practise that when we get to your house. What else does genteel involve? Draping yourself gracefully round the furniture? Not having a hair out of place?”

“Something like that,” he smiled.

“I think I’ll avoid being genteel. It sounds a bit exhausting. What’s the male equivalent of genteel?”

“I think it covers men and women,” Seth said.

“Show me how a genteel man walks.”

Seth looked at her thoughtfully. “He doesn’t swagger,” he said.

“He definitely doesn’t. I think he probably carries a cane or an umbrella.”

“Would he have a bowler hat?”

“Definitely a bowler hat.”

“Not a cowboy hat then?”

“Definitely not that. Show me how he would walk.”

Hannah stopped in her tracks and stood with her arms folded. Seth grinned and ran a few steps ahead of her. He stopped, turned and minced towards her. She dissolved into giggles, the relief of being able to relax wonderful.

“Now you be a lady,” he said, drawing parallel to her.

“That takes a bit of thought. I’ll have to do what my mother does.” She stood looking a him thoughtfully. “A lady. Well, first I would need very high heels. Then I would need an ivory dress. I bought one for my wedding. At home I have a lot of dresses but I didn’t bring most of them with me. I didn’t want to look too pretentious.”

“I’m sure Seth will like the dress,” Seth said, thinking of the one he had bought for Rachel.

“I won’t discuss clothes with him,” Hannah said.

“Why not?”

“You don’t tell your intended those sort of things. Do you want to see me being a lady or not?”

“I want to see you being a lady,” he said.

She walked away, turned and lifted herself a bit onto her toes. “High heels,” she said.

He grinned. “Very convincing.”

“Now the walk.” But she already walked with an easy grace, he had found, and he preferred her own walk to the one she did now though even that did not detract from her beauty and gracefulness, nor did the fact that she had smudges on her face and dress.

“It’s good,” he said. “But you are certainly a lady and that has nothing to do with the way you walk or even with you coming from a wealthy family. What do they think of you coming out west?”

“They don’t know,” Hannah said.

“When are you going to tell them?”

“After I’ve married. They think I’m staying with friends.”

“Won’t they ask your friends?”

“The friends are fictitious. I don’t have many lady friends.”

“What about men?”

“The kind of men who are interested in me are not the kind I want. Many of them are married. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to leave.”

Seth frowned. “No man has a right to force his attentions on a lady. You are an extremely beautiful woman but they still don’t have a right.”

She bent her head and began to walk away from him, for some reason which she could not quite define blushing. He walked after her to catch up with her.

“Do you have a family?” she asked.

“A mother. She lives quite a long way away in Los Angeles. My father died a few years ago and she has recently remarried. She’s very happy.”

“Has she come to be at your wedding?”

“I didn’t tell her either. I’m glad now I didn’t because I wouldn’t want her to be here at the moment. It’s a good thing your family didn’t come either. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I wouldn’t wish it on you or the other ladies but we can do nothing about such things.”

“No, we can’t.”

“What do you like doing?” he asked.

“Maybe I should tell you what I don’t like doing,” she replied. “That is, if you promise not to tell Seth.”