A Perfect Forever (Leap of Love Series, Book 1) (10 page)

He had to figure out a way to tell her he had fallen for her. There was just no way he could tell her that his admiration had been from afar. It would sound too strange, and he did not want her to think he was anything short of a gentleman.

After meeting recently, Ben was not sure what Amelia thought of him. Of course he was the Pinkerton detective who brought Jonathan Montgomery Smith to her front door. He was not expecting her to roll out the red carpet in that case. Ben was not totally sure about Jonathan's motives or if his story could be verified as the truth. There did not seem to be any other people who could second his mother's story and William Smith, the only other person who could verify it, was deceased. Jonathan and Amelia did show a bit of resemblance, but there were no pictures of William Smith to compare, and the resemblance between the potential siblings could have been a coincidence.

What if Jonathan simply read the newspaper and decided for himself to make this story up to weasel his way into this woman's life? Smith was a pretty common last name, and Jonathan could have been related to a whole other clan of Smiths. Ben knew that there was nothing else that he could do about the situation. His work was done. He was just staying a bit longer to make sure that Jonathan left town and that Amelia would be safe. Being here was not a problem, because the more time he could spend in close proximity to Amelia the better.

He could always be direct and ask her out to dinner. He did feel a bit of guilt about bringing Jonathan into her life. Telling her that would be telling her the truth. But he could not apologize for doing his job, and that was something he hoped she understood. Dinner and a stroll would be wonderful, but he had to calm his nerves and think of the proper way to approach a woman like Amelia Smith.

Flowers would be necessary, and he would have to make sure to win her trust and let her know that spending time with her had nothing to do with the job he was on. First things first. He would go and pick some flowers for her and come over to her school to leave them there for her with a note asking her to have dinner with him. Hopefully, things would go well from there.

*

Ben could not think of the last time that he called on a lady. He had had many women in his bed, but he had not called on a lady for courting since Alexandra. She had been the apple of his eye, but things had not worked out between them. She had moved to New York with her family, who also made it very clear that Ben was from the Abbott clan and was not good enough for their daughter.

So he spent the next few years of his life masking the hurt by using the
machismo
persona that his brothers had built for the Abbott clan. It was easy to hide behind. Everyone knew them as fighters, drunks and womanizers. No one took him seriously as someone to court, and he could have the luxury of not worrying about getting his heart stomped on.

Ben had not felt any butterflies in his stomach since Alexandra. No other woman had moved him until he laid eyes on Amelia. And what he felt for her had nothing to do with her money. She was kind and gentle, but still the kind of woman who could hold her own against any man. That was a complete turn on.

He put on his best shirt and cleanest pants, just in case he crossed paths with Amelia. Remembering a garden close to the hotel, he stopped and picked some wild lilies. He gathered them, and tied the stem with a white silk ribbon from the general store. He also purchased a small stationery card and wrote a note to Amelia, asking her to join him at the tea room later that day for lunch.

As he approached Ms. Amelia's Finishing School for Girls, his heart began racing and anxiety rose from the pit of his stomach. Gently laying the flowers on the doorstep, Ben stepped away to leave.

"Mr. Abbott. To what do I owe the honor of this visit?"

The front door swung open, and Ben's heart almost dropped out of his chest. He was not expecting Amelia to be there, and he certainly was not expecting to have to ask Amelia in person to spend the day with him.

"Ms. Smith." Ben took off his hat and bowed his head in a greeting. "I wanted to bring you these flowers and this note. I was not anticipating you being available."

"What does the note say?" Amelia's eyes traveled from the note to looking Ben directly in the eye.

Ben was intrigued by the challenge she presented, but anxiety took over. His mouth went dry and he could not remember what he had written in the note.

"Uh…" he began to stutter.

A smirk came across Amelia's face as she waited. Suddenly Ben remembered, and he blurted the words out.

"I wanted to invite you to the tea room for lunch today."

"Really?"

Ben detected the flirtatiousness in her voice.

"Yes. I would love nothing more than the opportunity to spend the afternoon with you, Ms. Smith."

She waited for a brief moment, teasing him.

"That sounds nice. What time shall we meet?"

Ben thought quickly on his toes. "If you have a little time now, I would love to go for a walk first. Then we can stop to eat at the tea room."

After the words came out, the anxiety began to subside. He felt like he could speak and be a bit more calm and confident.

"I think I'll grab my things."

She disappeared inside of the school and emerged holding her parasol.

"Are you ready, Mr. Abbott?"

He took her arm in his, and they began their stroll.

*

Conversation was easy. Ben loved her laugh. It was like she tried to show some kind of restraint, but could not maintain control. She would begin giggling at something he said, and then it would turn into an all-out laugh.

Ben continued to try and make her laugh. He noticed their stroll slowed down as if they each did not want it to end.

The day was beautiful. Brilliant sunshine and people walking to and fro enjoying the crisp air.

"Thank you for joining me today, Ms. Smith."

Amelia twirled her parasol. "Call me Amelia. And you are welcome."

She batted her eyes, and he could see that she was blushing.

"I have to say, I was extremely nervous. It was a long shot to ask you to have lunch with me."

"Why would you say that, Mr. Abbott?"

"Since we are on a first name basis, call me Ben."

She nodded. "Okay, Ben. Why would you think that asking me to lunch would be such a long shot?"

"You are, well…" he paused trying to find the right words.

"Ben, I am well aware of my status and well aware of my financial situation."

"I know that. And so I thought that you would never be interested in talking to me, outside of work."

"Hmm. Are we working together on something that I am not aware of?"

Ben stopped and looked at her. "No. Not at all. But considering the link between us, I was not sure if you would be willing to speak with me, let alone spend any time with me."

"Life is always full of surprises, Ben. I've learned that much. It looks like we have arrived at the tea room."

Ben looked up and saw they were standing in front of the tea room. He opened the door for her, and as soon as she let down her parasol, she walked inside.

They took a seat at a small table in the back of the room. They dined on tea and cakes and small sandwiches. Dining conversation was reduced to small talk and after they ate, Amelia opened up and made a suggestion.

"Can I take you to my favorite place?"

Ben was surprised. "I would love that if you did."

"Let's go."

Ben had no idea where Amelia would lead them. He did not want to ruin it by asking her where they were going. So he played along.

When they ended up at the pier, he was joyous, but tried not to let it show. Instead, he let her speak first.

"As a child, I loved coming to the pier and watching the ships sail. It made me feel like I had the freedom to do anything. I felt like I could go anywhere and do anything because those ships freely sailed the open seas. That meant that there was other life out there. I wanted to explore. I knew that there was more to life than living in Boston. And there was definitely more to life than living under my parents' rule and being a pampered socialite.

"When they sent me to boarding school in Switzerland, I just knew they did not love me anymore," Amelia chuckled to herself. "I just knew it was their way of shipping me off so that they could be more absorbed in their own lives. Now, I'm not so sure that is what they were doing. Now, I am thinking that it was their gift to me. They were allowing me to see some of that world that I craved so much.

"So when I came home and found out that they were deceased, I was – well, I felt so many things. I was hurt and lost and unable to understand why things had happened the way that they did. Instead of pitying myself and my situation, I took the opportunity to come out here to San Francisco and start over. But now I have this one thing looming over my head."

"What would that be?" Ben asked curiously.

Amelia stared at him as if she was trying to size him up. There was a long pause before she spoke again.

"My father left a provision in his will that I must marry within a year after his death."

"Well, that sure is a lot to handle. While grieving, you also have to marry."

Amelia nodded.

"So when is the big date for you and your fiancé? What is his name?"

Amelia looked at him knowingly. "Let's not pretend that you have not done all of your research on me. You know that his name is Alfred Sharp and that he is an accountant for the grocer."

"I'm afraid you have that right. I did know that."

"Thank you. Alfred and I have decided to forgo a relationship."

Ben raised his bushy eyebrow. "Are you telling me the truth?"

"I am afraid that I am. We recently ended our courtship."

Ben let out a sigh of relief.

"What is that for?" Amelia questioned, with a tinge of irritation in her voice.

"It's not what you think."

"Ben, you have no idea what I’m thinking at this moment."

"Enlighten me."

"You first. What was that sigh all about?"

Ben had a split second to figure out how he would explain to Amelia. He realized the only way to tell the truth was to tell it.

"As a Pinkerton, I have some access to finding out about people's past lives. It appears that your fiancé, or should I say former fiancé, has been run out of a few cities for stealing money and tampering with the books at his former places of employment. As an accountant, he has access to numbers and information and he took that access for granted. Fortunately for him, he has not had any warrants out for him. The employers just wanted him gone. Each of those situations could have ended differently."

Ben almost regretted revealing the information to Amelia. Her complexion went pale.

"Are you all right, Amelia?"

She stared straight ahead. "I thank you for that information, Ben." She spoke in a slow, even tone.

Ben did not know what he should say, so he just sat quietly.

"It is nice to have some confirmation on the thoughts in your head."

Her reply was simple enough.

"So what is going to happen now?"

Amelia picked up a pebble and skipped it across the water.

"You skip pretty well for a girl," Ben joked.

"Really now?" Amelia giggled, and handed Ben a smooth pebble. "Your turn. You can tell a lot about a man by the way he skips his pebbles."

Ben, never one to shy away from a challenge, skipped the rock.

"Impressive," Amelia replied.

She grabbed his hand, beckoning for him to come with her. He was taken aback by her forward nature. Women were not normally this forward. The only women that Ben had heard were this forward were women of the night.

But that certainly was not the answer to Amelia's behavior. She was everything that he wanted in a woman, but this was all happening way too fast. And it was certainly unexpected.

"Can I tell you something?"

Amelia nodded. "Certainly."

"I love coming to the pier. As a child, I spent all of my time down at the pier in Charleston, watching the ships go by for hours. My older brother used to have to come and fetch me because I had not come home for dinner. I wanted to be a seaman when I grew up, but I guess life had other plans."

"Mr. Abbott, do you find it interesting that we have so much in common?"

"I do."

"I have never met anyone that I've had so much in common with."

They stopped walking and turned to each other.

"And I've never met anyone that I have been so attracted to."

Ben pulled her chin up so she was looking him in the eyes.

"I want to kiss you right now, Amelia."

He had to resist the urge to aggressively pull her to him and inhale her being. Ben knew that the key with Amelia was being gentle.

His lips brushed hers lightly. When she did not move, his kiss became more powerful. In moments, it was as if a fire was beginning to smolder. Ben's tongue danced on Amelia's and her lips felt velvety smooth. She tasted like sweetness and felt perfect in his arms.

They were both breathless.

"What just happened?" Amelia looked to be in a haze.

"
We
just happened. Right here, Amelia. And I think you know it."

She closed her eyes, as if she was trying to savor the moment.

"How crazy would it be if I told you that I think I am in love with you, Amelia?"

She squeezed his hand, and he saw her cheeks burning pink. "I would believe you because I feel the same way."

Ben's heart swelled. It was the first time in his love life that things were on track. And he would do anything to make sure things stayed that way.

*

Amelia was beautiful. Naturally beautiful. She was all that he wanted and more. They spent their days strolling along the pier, eating salt water taffy, and laughing with one another. It had only been a few weeks since they started spending time together, but it felt like a perfect forever.

When Ben got his next assignment, his heart sank. He had not been ready to leave San Francisco. He definitely did not want to leave Amelia.