A Beautiful Alien

A shipboard cannon wrapped in white canvas looks to Christine Dallas like a child on all fours beneath a tablecloth—a joke she struggles to explain to her silent husband. Nearby, artist Albert Noel sees the sadness in her golden eyes.

On a cold voyage home from Europe, the newly married Christine sits beside a husband who answers her with silence. Albert Noel, a conventional lawyer with an artist’s eye, is captivated by her beauty—and by the loneliness that seems to shadow it. Christine has lively thoughts and longs to share them, but her halting English and her husband’s indifference leave her with little company, even at his side. Noel begins to wonder what lies behind the quiet couple’s polished appearance, and whether he can ever reach the woman he hopes to paint. What will he discover when the voyage brings them closer?

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