Read Online Coming Up Roses by Alice Duncan - Free Book Online Page B

every
inch of it.”
    Surprised, Rose shot him another look. “You
are?”
    “ I am.” He nodded once, as if that
settled the matter.
    “ Um . . . Why?”
    He looked disgustingly self-satisfied, sort
of the way Rose imagined a man who’d just discovered a new
continent might look. “Because I’ve decided exactly how I want
these articles to run. The first one is going to be an
introduction. The series of articles is going to be a metaphor, you
see. At the moment, you’re becoming acquainted with the Columbian
Exposition, even as the Columbian Exposition is being introduced to
humanity. The first article will be an introduction to you.” His
glance was eager, as if H.L. really wanted Rose to understand his
intentions so she’d cooperate with him in achieving them.
    She’d have liked to, maybe, if she knew what
he was talking about. She thought it over for a moment. Nope. In
order to understand, she’d have to know what a metaphor was, and
she didn’t. She’d sooner shoot herself than ask H.L. May, so she
wouldn’t get an answer until she talked to
    Annie, and that would be far too late to do
her any good right now. “Um . . . Is that so?” Her often-present
feeling of inferiority reared its ugly head and sneered at her.
    “ That’s so,” H.L. said complacently.
“As the fair is presented to you,
    so you will be presented to the reading public. Do you see
now?”
    No. She didn’t see at all. Deciding it would
be better for her own
    self-esteem to shuffle a little, she said, “I
guess I understand that part. Sort of.”
    H.L. heaved a sigh, but when Rose inspected
his face minutely to see if the sigh might have held disdain or
exasperation, she discerned not a trace of either. Actually, the
newspaperman appeared quite happy and pleased with himself. “It’s
simple, really. You’re a young woman who was thrown into a life of
glamour and showmanship at an age when most young women are only
getting ready to leave the schoolroom.”
    Glamour? For that matter, schoolroom? Rose
couldn’t recall having had anything to do with either of those
things thus far in her life. There had been an Indian school not
far from Deadwood, but Rose wouldn’t have been eligible to attend
it even if she’d been able to take time away from feeding her
family to do so. “Um, the Wild West isn’t actually very glamorous,
Mr. May.” She pondered the Wild West as she chewed and swallowed
another handful of popcorn. “Maybe it is to the audience,” she
conceded.
    “ Right. But that’s just it. People see
only the finished product. I want them to see it all from the
inside.”
    Rose was so horrified, she stopped walking.
H.L. May and Little Elk, who were digging in their paper sacks for
the remains of their popcorn, didn’t notice she no longer
accompanied them until they’d walked about five paces. Then H.L.
turned around, a question in his gorgeous eyes.
    “ What? What’s wrong?”
    “ I don’t want anybody to see me from
the inside, Mr. May.” Blast, her voice was shaking. “I—I value my
privacy.” That was not exactly a lie. The truth of the matter was
that Rose’s life was so mind-numbingly boring and dull that she’d
suffer agonies of mortification if the public, who overtly adored
her during her act in the Wild West, learned about it.
    Rose was sure his smile was meant to reassure
her. “Of course, you do. I’m not planning to invade your privacy,
Miss Gilhooley. But the public really craves to know more about its
icons. And you’re rapidly becoming an icon of American womanhood
and accomplishment.”
    “ I am?” This was news to her. It might
even be flattering, if Rose weren’t so appalled by the notion of a
whole bunch of perfect strangers learning her deepest, darkest
secrets.
    H.L.’s eyes opened wide in amazement. “What
do you mean, ‘I am?’ You’re one of the biggest female stars of our
day! Figuratively speaking, that is to say.” He grinned one of his
stunning grins. “You’re