Page 29 of The Midnight Secret

He was standing by one of the other desks and she saw, to her surprise, that the few ladies who had been in here when she’d arrived had since left. She wondered when, exactly; she hadn’t heard them go, too lost in her own thoughts. ‘Have you come to write some letters too?’

‘Oh, no, no. I’m not much of a one for writing. My hand can never quite keep up with my head.’

Little could. He talked in a garrulous manner and laughed far too loudly.

Flora smiled but passed no comment; polite conversation with this man was the very last thing she needed, and she didn’t want to encourage him to stay.

‘Not a problem for you, I understand,’ he continued, undeterred by her silence. ‘My wife tells me you’re a prolific writer. She says you’re in here whenever she passes.’

‘I do enjoy the solitude,’ she said pointedly.

His fingers drummed lightly on the desk. ‘You do not enjoy cruise life?’

‘No, I do.’

‘Really? You don’t swim, play cards. You never dance...’

She wasn’t going to tell him she hadn’t the skill for the first two diversions, nor the heart for the latter. How could she enjoy herself when her baby son was out there, somewhere, without her? It was all she could do to eat, sleep,breathe, until he was back in her arms. She was living at a subsistence level, but it was none of this man’s business. ‘Oh dear,’ she sighed instead. ‘You make me sound very dour.’

‘Forgive me, that was not my intention.’ He drew a little closer, taking a seat at the nearby desk as he pulled out his cigarettes. He offered her one, which she declined. ‘No, I suppose what I’m saying is, I sense in you...a sadness.’

She swallowed. ‘Not at all. I’m deliriously happy, in fact – but thank you for your concern.’

Tucker lit the cigarette and smiled, his elbow on the desk, smoke curling into his moustache. ‘Come, we are friends, are we not? A month spent in close quarters forces us to see one another as we really are, beyond just the social niceties. There’s a melancholy to you, dear Flora – may I call you Flora?’

She stared at him. He already had.

‘I sense something is gravely wrong in your world. I see the worry in your husband’s eyes when he looks at you; Isee how you scarcely leave your room except to eat; and when you do leave, you come here to sit alone.’

Is that why he had come here – to find her? ‘I never knew I attracted such scrutiny.’

He gave a guffaw. ‘Dear lady, are you quite serious? Queen Mary herself attracts less. It’s not for nothing they call you The Enigma, you know.’

She frowned. ‘Who does?’

‘All the women. It’s difficult to tell if they love or loathe you.’

Flora swallowed. ‘You’re making this up, Mr Tucker. I sincerely doubt they have any opinion on me whatsoever.’

He arched an eyebrow. ‘Flora, you are beautiful yet reclusive. They want to look upon you and learn your secrets; they want to befriend you, but you deny them on every count. You hardly leave your room, and when you do, you won’t leave your husband’s side.’

She looked away. ‘You exaggerate.’

‘There’s a palpable current of excitement whenever you enter the room,’ he continued, undeterred by her refutations. ‘Did you know every night, the women – my own wife included – do their hair and choose their gowns in the hope of outshining you? And yet they cannot.’ He smiled. ‘I think the very worst of it is that not only do you not notice, you do not even seem to care. You wear the same two dresses on rotation.’

She looked at him, picking up a pointedness to the comment. ‘Only because we decided to come on a whim,’ she murmured. ‘There was no time to pack.’

He was regarding her closely. She sensed he was enjoying this privilege of staring upon her face with no one to disturb them. ‘No valet, either.’

‘As I said, we were rushing.’ It was a glaring anomaly compared to the rest of the first-class passengers, who had come laden with trunks and staff. ‘Besides, I never knew we were being judged, or that...that it was some kind of fashion parade.’

He laughed out loud at that. ‘It’s a cruise, my dear – of course it’s a fashion parade! What else is there to do? Well...’ His eyes flashed in her direction suddenly. ‘Besidesthat.’

Flora startled, hardly able to believe he had said such a thing to her. She felt the mood shift in the room, his motives becoming clearer now. She had sensed his interest in her from the start, but she had never for a moment thought he would be so foolish as to attempt to act on it.

‘Excuse me,’ she said curtly, rising sharply. He shot to his feet too as she went to move past him, but it put him in her path, blocking the door, and she felt a sudden, visceral fear that he was going to trap here in here. She shoved him hard, so that he fell back against one of the desks.

‘Mrs Callaghan!’ he stammered.

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