Free Liz Ireland by Trouble in Paradise Page B

you to break your toe and have coffee in your sheets.”
    It would certainly make more sense to simply assuageher guilt for Roy’s troubles with a present rather than trying to wait on him, which wasn’t helping him or helping her maintain her ladylike facade. But if she gave him a small gift, perhaps she would appear gracious and they could let the whole matter drop. And she might be able to stop dreaming of being locked in a linen closet with Roy.
    What could she get him, she wondered? What would she find in Paradise to offer him?
    He seemed to be wondering the same thing. That glint was back in his eyes again. “I haven’t received a surprise present since I was a boy.”
    She smiled, and this time managed to stay a safe distance away from him as she headed for the door. “Then I’ll have to make sure it’s an especially nice surprise, won’t I?”

Chapter Five
    I ke dropped Ellie off at the mercantile in Paradise without a word of warning as to the attention she might receive. Now as she browsed through the store, curious gazes tracked her movements as closely as a cat tracking the movements of a mouse.
    Apparently her arrival at the McMillan house had become widely known and raised as much speculation as she had feared. Having so many eyes focused on her made her apprehensive. In New York, strangers were the rule, not the exception. She hadn’t really deliberated on the steps required to insert herself into a smaller community; the steady stares made her realize, however, suddenly and with force, that her dreams of plopping herself into the middle of Paradise without any fuss were, like all her dreams, overly fanciful.
    She sauntered along the displays as casually as she could, concentrating on the wares before her. Staring at the vast assortment of goods, however, just made her come to the depressing realization that even the simplest trinket was beyond her means. What kind of surprise could she buy Roy? In playing the part of a grand lady, she’d forgotten she still had a pauper’spocketbook. She had so little money, and what little she had she couldn’t afford to waste.
    She needed to find a direction; a job. But where in this town would she find a place for herself? As she and Ike had driven through town, she had seen no establishment that might need workers, except for the hotel, and the prospect of working there made her heart sag with dread. In her heart of hearts she had hoped to finally escape domestic servitude, but it appeared that she was even going to descend a rung on the ladder. All the years she’d worked in private homes, she’d heard derisive whispers from other servants about women who worked in hotels. According to some, it was akin to working in a brothel.
    But if a position as a hotel maid was all that was open to her here, she would simply have to harden her resolve and set to it. A glare from a young blond woman behind the notions counter speeded Ellie’s exit from the store, and she hurried down the sidewalk, her head bent into the cold wind, in the direction of the hotel.
    Her heart felt as heavy as a solid chunk of iron. A maid. That would be a surprise for Roy—a surprise to all of them. How was she going to explain this sudden change in her circumstances? Even after the hint of her distressed financial circumstances she’d given Roy, the descent from fine lady to chambermaid was going to be a little difficult for her to explain without revealing that she had been a liar from the moment she first put pen to paper to correspond with Parker.
    Oh, why hadn’t she simply confessed her situation when she stepped off the train? Everything would have been so much simpler!
    By eastern standards, the Paradise Hotel was no Waldorf-Astoria, but Ellie was impressed as shelooked up at the two-story Italianate structure. Its red brick stood out from the rest of the town, which was mostly composed of wood buildings. She crossed the threshold anxiously, and found herself staring around an