Free Harper's Bride by Alexis Harrington Page B

looked Melissa up
and down, although not unkindly. "Are you going to introduce me to
this lady, Dylan?"
    Melissa shifted Jenny in her arms, feeling
awkward, and waited to see what he would say.
    He straightened. "Oh, uh, this is Melissa
Lo—Harper. Melissa, this is Belinda Mulrooney. She's got her finger
in just about every successful business venture in Dawson."
    "Flatterer," Belinda said, then echoed, "Did
you say Melissa Harper?" She glanced at Jenny.
    "Well, it's a long—" Melissa began.
    "Melissa is my . . . wife."
    Belinda considered them both with a
perceptive look, then glanced at Melissa's left hand. She didn't
have a wedding ring—Coy had sold it long ago, and Dylan hadn't
given her one. Surprised by Dylan's comment, Melissa waited for her
to say something about the baby, or their obviously hasty marriage,
but she only smiled.
    "Congratulations, Dylan, I hadn't heard. How
very nice to meet you Mrs. Harper. I've known Dylan, here, for a
couple of years. He was one of the first people I met when I came
up."
    "Oh," Melissa replied faintly.
    "You two must come by when I open my hotel.
It should be ready in another couple of weeks. I'm calling it the
Fairview, and it'll be the grandest place in Dawson." She began
listing the hotel's attributes, ticking them off on her fingers.
"I'll have twenty-two rooms with electric lights and steam heat.
There'll be an orchestra in the lobby, and bone china and sterling
in the dining room." She reached up to readjust her black straw hat
in the stiff breeze that blew under the cloudy sky. "I've got brass
beds and crystal chandeliers coming in over White Pass, so I'm
leaving for Skagway tomorrow to oversee the whole thing."
    "Are you going alone?" Melissa asked. It
seemed like a fearsome thing for a woman to do. Skagway was a raw,
wild place, far more so than Dawson.
    Belinda waved her hand dismissively.
"Absolutely. I have to make sure the packers I hired don't break
those chandeliers, or cheat me."
    She bade them good-bye then, and bustled down
the street like a whirlwind through the crowd toward the site of
the Fairview to harass her construction workers.
    Dylan chuckled again and shook his head as he
watched her go. "She's a real piece of work, that Belinda."
    He took her arm as they walked toward the
store for soap. Melissa had to admit that she liked the feel of his
hand under her elbow.
    "Thank you for, well, for not embarrassing me
in front of her." She looked up at him, at the way his streaked
hair caught in the wind and blew back behind his shoulders. Had she
noticed the curve of his full mouth before?
    "Oh, you mean I didn't belch or scratch where
I shouldn't?" He grinned, showing her dimples and white, straight
teeth.
    The joke was so completely unexpected,
Melissa burst into laughter. The Dylan Harper she knew didn't make
jokes. Or so she had thought.
    "No, that's not what I meant. You didn't have
to tell her that I'm your wife."
    "What else could I have said?" His smile
faded. Releasing her arm, he shoved his hands into his front
pockets, as if suddenly self-conscious. "I don't think she believed
it, anyway."
    "Maybe not," Melissa said softly, almost
wishing he still held her elbow. But his deed counted for more than
his credibility. When he had told her that she could use his name,
she never once expected that he would go out of his way to
introduce her as his wife.
    Perhaps, just perhaps, Rafe Dubois had told
her the truth when he said that Dylan Harper was a gentleman.
    *~*~*
    "You want to work? Our agreement was that you
would work here for me. What more do you think you can do when you
have a baby to watch?" Dylan asked when they went back
upstairs.
    She had broached the subject of her working
with trepidation. If he'd planned on her looking after only his own
wants, he might forbid her from doing anything else, and be angry
besides But after meeting Belinda Mulrooney, Melissa had given more
and more thought to making some money of her own.
    Dylan stood at the