Jace began walking in the opposite direction, Nellie’s arm held securely in his.
“Mr. Montgomery,” Nellie began, “you really can’t say things like that.”
“Say things like what?”
“That I…I am beautiful, and that you are my young man. You will give people the wrong impression about us.”
It never crossed Jace’s mind that Nellie didn’t know she was beautiful. It was his experience that beautiful women often complained about their lack of looks, and he knew that when they did, it was because they wanted compliments. He wasn’t ready to yet give extravagant compliments to Nellie. He wanted his hands to be on her body when he told her how beautiful she was. “What would be the right impression about us?”
“That you work for my father, and that, as his hostess, I feel I should…” Should what, she thought. She’d never gone walking with any of her father’s other employees.
“Should introduce me to the citizenry of Chandler,” he finished for her. “Which is why I think we should go to Miss Emily’s shop.” Abruptly, he stopped and looked down at her. His face was quite serious, as he’d just had an awful thought. “You don’t dislike me, do you, Nellie? Maybe you’d rather not be seen with me. Maybe I’m not—well—appealing to you.”
Nellie could only look up at him; she was capable of saying nothing. Dislike him? Unappealing? He was the most handsome man she’d ever seen in her life. He was kind, thoughtful, warm, funny, and charming. “I like you,” she whispered.
“Good.” He tucked her arm in his more securely and started walking again. “Now, tell me about this town.”
Nellie tried to relax somewhat, but it was difficult. She didn’t understand him because he was different from any man she’d ever met. Most men looked her up and down then ignored her. A few men had shown some interest in her, but it was usually for her cooking and her housekeeping skills. Four years ago a widower with five children had asked her father for Nellie’s hand in marriage. Nellie would have married him—she would love to have children—but Charles and Terel had been so upset that Nellie had turned the man down. Her father and Terel had said the man only wanted to use her to take care of his children, that he didn’t really care for Nellie and she should wait for the “right” man to come along. Nellie hadn’t been foolish enough to believe the man loved her, and she had kn
own that, at twenty-four, she didn’t have too many chances for marriage left, but she had given in to her father and Terel and refused the man’s proposal.
Afterward, she had eaten so much that she’d gained twenty pounds. Her father didn’t say a word about her weight gain, but Nellie often felt his eyes on her. She seemed to disappoint him in every way possible. She was a burden to him, an unmarried daughter, and even when she had found a man to marry he was quite unsuitable.
One day Terel brought home the news that the man who had asked Nellie to marry him had married someone else and bought the big old Farnon house on the river. Terel softened the news with a gift of a four-pound box of chocolate fudge—all of which Nellie ate in an afternoon.
“And what is that building?” Jace asked.
They were walking down Lead Avenue toward downtown Chandler, and she began to point out shops and businesses to him. They went past the Denver Hotel, Farrell’s Hardware, Mr. Bagly’s tailor shop, and Freyer Drags, then took a left on Third Street and kept walking.
After a while Nellie began to get over her nervousness, for Jace was easy company. He seemed to be interested in everything, wanting to know how old buildings were, who owned what, what was for sale.
“You sound as if you might be considering living here permanently.”
“I might,” he said, looking down at her in a way that made Nellie turn away.
On Coal, in front of Sayles Art Rooms, Johnny Bowen and Bob Jenkins saw Nellie and came running.
“Is Terel with you?”
“Is she at home?”
“Could I see her later?”
“What are you serving for dinner?” Bob asked, laughing.
Nellie felt herself coming back to earth. For the last hour, basking in the glow of Jace’s warm eyes, she’d forgotten all about her beautiful young sister. “She’s—” Nellie began.
“If you will excuse us,” Jace said sternly, looking down his nose at the young men, “Nellie and I have a previous engagement.”
The young men were so astonished they couldn’t speak for a moment. “You that new guy working for Terel’s father?”
“For Mr. Grayson, yes,” Jace said pointedly.
Bob grinned. “Oh, I see, the boss’s daughter. Nellie—”
Jace dropped Nellie’s arm and stepped toward the young men. Jace was older, larger, and much more self-confident. “I doubt, sir,” he said, “if you have the intelligence to see anything. Now, I advise you to scurry along, and do not again mistake Miss Grayson for her sister’s social secretary.”
The men looked from Jace to Nellie and back again. Johnny, in the back, looked at Nellie as though seeing her for the first time in his life. He looked at her, not as Terel’s fat older sister who quietly served tea and cakes and long, glorious dinners, but as a woman. He’d never noticed what a pretty face she had. And although she was too big for his taste, she did have a nice shape.