“You look lovely, my dear,” Xavier told her, a smile plastered on his face. “I daresay, I have never seen a more radiant bride in all my days.”

“Is that a fact?” Emmeline asked sweetly. “I do hope this is a day to recall for years to come.”

“I am certain it will be the talk of Luton for many moons,” Xavier said, patting her arm and meeting her gaze in the mirror. “I will see to Mother and return to see you into the lobby. The guests are gathered to see you in your bridal glory.”

“And my fiancé?” she asked. Xavier’s smile faltered.

“He is there too.”

“Brilliant.”

Xavier paused to study her face carefully, concern touching his brow and causing it to crease gently.

“I must confess, Emmy, I am rather surprised at this about face you have done regarding this marriage.”

“There is no point in fighting the inevitable, is there?” Emmeline replied mysteriously but her brother did not seem to hear the underlying message in her words.

“I did mean what I said to you,” he told her earnestly. “I will always protect you. You must know that.”

“I know you are a good brother,” she conceded. “But you must not worry about me, Xavy. I am confident in my future for the first time in a long while.”

He gave her a lopsided grin.

“You remain my cockeyed optimist,” he told her, placing a delicate kiss upon her cheek. “I will return to see you to the staircase. Father must be antsy by now. You know how he loathes to wait.”

He is not the only one, Emmeline thought grimly. She turned back toward the glass, examining her lace gown of blue. Her brother had not been fibbing; she looked radiant in the frilly, full garment.

Carefully, she adjusted the veil over her face and stepped out of the bedchambers and into the sitting room. She had asked that she not be escorted by a horde of ladies or abigails for the event and her mother, in a drunken stupor, had agreed.

There was a knock at the door and Emmeline’s eyes shifted toward the clock.

Impeccable timing, she thought happily.

“You may enter.”

Her father stepped across the threshold and in the hall, she saw Joshua standing with his eyes cast downward.

“Are you quite ready, darling? The guests are growing restless.”

“I am,” she replied, looping her arm through his as they stepped out of her suite.

A rush of heat tinged her cheeks and a burst of anxiety filled her gut.

Dear God in Heaven, please ensure see us all through this. Amen.

They made their way to the top landing and Emmeline gasped at the sight of the guests below. She had seen fewer at royal weddings and guilt surged through her.

Emmeline’s amber irises rested on her betrothed near the entranceway but Walter barely looked up to her as he shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

In a strange way, Emmeline knew she was doing him a favor, despite the way it was being done.

“Come along,” Charlton muttered. Emmeline had not realized she had paused and she accepted her father’s gentle tug as they descended the stairs.

As she neared the bottom, she found her breaths escaping in more raggedly and for a terrifying moment, she was certain she would faint dead away.

You will not swoon. You will hold your head high and finish this as we have planned for a month.

In her mind’s eye, the past weeks slid by in a series of images. She could see the grateful look in Christiana’s eyes when Emmeline had given her enough money to leave for Cambridge and start anew with Honor. She recalled the regret on Elias’ face when he boarded the coach to return to Peterborough.

In her ears, she could hear the echo of his promises to her and her heart quickened.

“Emmy,” her father muttered and again, she saw she had drifted off elsewhere, nearly tripping over the clergy who had been sent by the church to marry them.

“Forgiveness, Father,” she said to the priest who nodded curtly.

She shifted her body toward Walter Greene who grunted inappropriately and she waited for him to lift her veil which he did not do until Xavier whispered for him to do so.

With clumsy fingers, he moved the heavy lace cover from her face but he still would not meet her eyes.

“Shall we begin?” the priest asked.

Emmeline said nothing but as she stared at Walter Greene, she was filled with a peculiar feeling of both pity and contempt for the man with whom she had been matched.

“Let us get this over with,” he snapped and inexplicably, Emmeline found his words amusing.

“My sentiments precisely,” she informed him. He looked at her in surprise and Emmeline did not need to look at her father to feel the look of disapproval radiating from him.

“Before we commence,” Emmeline said. “I have something I would like to say.”

There was a murmur of confusion in the crowd.

“Emmeline,” Charlton hissed. “This is highly unusual.”

“I agree, Father. Everything about this is unusual. For example, how is it you have come to be so indebted to Mr. Greene?”

The mutterings grew louder and this time she did look to her father, his shock almost palpable.

“Emmeline!”

“Yes, Father?”

“How dare you?”

“I dare because I believe I am deserve to know why I have been auctioned off to this man who, as all of Luton knows, is nothing more than a bookmaker. You have gotten indebted to a ruffian and I am your way out of it, am I not?”

The crowd was intrigued and awed by Emmeline’s questions but Charlton was incensed. He grabbed his daughter by the arm and yanked her toward his office.

“Pardon us, Father,” he hissed. “We will return in one moment’s time.”

As she had expected, Emmeline was shoved unceremoniously inside the office and she waited for Charlton to unleash his fury upon her.

“What is the meaning of this?” he choked. “You wish to humiliate me before the entire town?”

“Not you, Father but Mr. Greene,” Emmeline replied evenly. “Not that I am telling them anything they do not know about him. It is hardly a secret that you have aligned yourself with a criminal, Father.”

“Do you not realize how your behavior affects the hotel?” Charlton hissed, his breaths short and wheezy.

“And what of bringing a bookmaker into the hotel as an owner?” Emmeline countered. “How does that look for the hotel? We cater to royalty, Father, noblemen and aristocrats. What were you thinking?”

Charlton’s face was nearly opaque.

“I do not have a choice,” he whispered. “If I do not pay him what is owed, I have no idea what he will do.”

“Father,” Emmeline told him gently. “He has no interest in marrying me. He only wishes to take a stake in this hotel. We will find another way to get him the money but I assure you, if you allow him to get a stake in our legacy, it will be the beginning of the end for the Balfours.”

“You speak as though you have another idea in mind,” Charlton said bitterly. “We have not the money to repay our debts, not in full and that is what he demands.”

“I will pay your debts for you, Father but I will need to marry another to do so and you will need to give him the same offer you gave Mr. Greene. Thirty percent of the hotel.”

“Why would I agree to sell to a stranger?” Charlton demanded, aghast. “For all I know, he will be just as unfair a business partner!”

It did not escape Emmeline’s notice that he did not much care who she married provided his precious hotel was secure.

It should not hurt but it does.

“He is a good man, a fair man and a man who will sell his own family’s business to pay off your debts.”

Charlton gaped at her.

“You cannot be serious. Who is he?”

“Does it matter, Father? We know who he is not—Walter Greene.”

Father and daughter stared at one another for a long, silent moment but it was Charlton who looked away first, shaking his head in defeat.

“If I had known you would drive such a hard deal, Emmy, I would have made you my heir and not Xavier.”

He was jesting, of course but it was the first time in her life that Emmeline had ever felt an iota of respect from her father.

“Is it a deal, then, Father?”

“I suppose it is…however, someone must tell Mr. Greene.”

Emmeline beamed happily and nodded.

“That would be my pleasure to arrange,” she told him earnestly.

“He will not take it well, Emmeline,” Charlton warned her.

“He will when I tell him that Christiana and his child are still very much alive, Father.”

She did not permit him a response as she glided out of the office toward the front of the lobby where she had left Walter Greene.

The guests began to disperse, some lingering about as if they longed to hear a snatch of last-minute gossip before returning to their respective households but as they filtered away, a coach and six appeared.

Emmeline’s heart skipped wildly and she ran down the front steps to greet the gleaming black carriage.

The coachman barely had time to open the door before Elias spilled out, blinking against the blinding winter sun to look at her.

“You came!” she breathed happily, studying him from barely a pace away.

“Did you have any doubt?” he asked and she shook her blonde mane vehemently.

“I have no doubts about you whatsoever.”

Oblivious to the stares of the remaining guests, Emmeline threw herself into Elias’ arms and embraced him tightly. He held fast to her and they remained pressed against one another for a long moment, not caring who gaped at the display.

“You are unscathed,” he murmured. “I was concerned it would not go as planned and I would come here to find you a married woman.”

“Ah,” she tittered. “It sounds as though it is you who was plagued with doubts.”

Elias stepped back and peered into her face, shaking his head.

“I have never been surer of anything than I am you,” he promised her. “From the moment I first saw you, I felt grounded, confident.”

“Come inside,” she urged, linking her arm through his. “I will show you your office.”

Elias chuckled.

“How did your father handle the news?”

“Better than I expected,” she replied honestly. “Confidentially, I believe he was relieved that he was given an escape.”

“And Mr. Greene?”

“After I explained the situation to him, he disappeared quite abruptly. Joshua told me he left word to have his items transported to London.”

Elias stopped walking and peered at her.

“Do you believe that Mr. Wesley and Christa are safe?” he asked quietly and Emmeline was touched by his concern.

“I have been in touch with Honor and he assures me they are doing well. He is consumed with regret although I am sure that is small consolation to you after all you have endured.”

“I do not wish for him to be woeful for what has happened,” Elias replied quickly. “I only wish to put the past behind us and for us all to start anew.”

“Hear hear,” Emmeline agreed, patting his arm gently. “You are a good man, Elias. I am glad I will be your wife.”

“My first and only wife,” he chimed and they laughed, moving inside the hotel lobby.

“Elias!” Joshua cried when his eyes fell on the older man. “You have returned!”

“Indeed,” Elias replied and Joshua blushed, lowering his eyes.

“Forgive me. Mr. Compton.”

“I think it is fair to call us friends, Josh,” Elias told him quietly. “You may always call me Elias when we are alone.”

“I-I will try not to confuse the issue,” Joshua muttered, looking nervously at Emmeline.

“If you call him Elias, you best call me Emmeline too,” she insisted, a slight exasperation to her tone. “I will be appalled if you do not. I did throw you in the mud more times than Elias.”

Joshua giggled and nodded.

“I will try, Miss—uh, Emmeline.” He looked about as though he expected God to strike him down for such a blunder and shuffled away, his ears pink.

“There will be a lot of changes upcoming,” Elias commented. “I do hope everyone will conform.”

“They will,” Emmeline assured him. “The Balfour Hotel has been here a long while and we did not survive without change.”

Their eyes locked and they shared a private smile.

“I have never run a hotel before,” Elias confessed. “Will it be difficult?”

Emmeline laughed and tugged on his arm.

“It is not the hotel which should worry you,” she told him softly. “It is the Balfours themselves.”