“Where is this blasted waiter?” Xavier mumbled, pacing about the office. Emmeline wished he would sit. His moving about only fueled her apprehension beneath her father’s scathing stare.

“Sit down, Xavier,” Charlton snapped. “Your scotch will keep.”

Reluctantly, Xavier joined his father and sister at the desk and sank into the seat but not before ringing the service bell one last time.

“The staff in this hotel is growing lazy,” Xavier grumbled and Emmeline could not help but wonder if one of the new waiters was coming.

Perhaps Elias Compton.

Shamed that she was thinking about the handsome serving boy when her future hung in the balance, Emmeline dropped her head.

“What cause did you have for upsetting your mother this morning, Emmy?” Charlton demanded. “If you have a matter, you know better than to alarm your mother.”

“You were otherwise engaged,” Emmeline replied evenly. “I did come to you first.”

“Then you wait until I will see you. What did you hope to accomplish by complaining to your mother about your betrothal?”

“What betrothal?” Emmeline barked back. “I knew nothing of this! Forgive my shock to learn I would be blindsided at the ball tomorrow but how would you expect me to react, Father?”

“With the decorum of a Balfour as your breeding dictates!” Charlton snarled back. “Certainly not by upsetting your mother in her fragile condition.”

Emmeline chewed on her tongue to keep from asking when being a drunk was considered fragility.

“What is the issue, daughter? I have promised you to a man of good standing, one who will provide for you and this hotel as I see fit.”

“Walter Greene, Father? The man is hardly…”

Charlton’s eyes narrowed.

“Hardly what, Emmeline? He has been beneficial in ways that I do not need explain to you. You will do as you are told and I will not hear another word on the matter.”

Emmeline tried to hold the anger from her face but she knew it shone through with clarity.

Mother was right after all.

“I suppose the matter is settled then,” she replied stiffly, rising from her chair. “I imagine you have work to attend to.”

There was a gentle knock at the door and Joshua appeared.

“You rang, sir?”

“I rang, Josh but I believe our interview has concluded,” Xavier said quickly as Emmeline glided out of the office, blinking the indignation from her eyes.

Walter Greene. He may be wealthy but his reputation as a rogue and a scoundrel precedes him. I know nothing of the man on a personal level but the idea of marrying such a hideous, amoral man…

She shuddered but before she made her way to the stairwell, Joshua reached her side.

“Miss Balfour,” he murmured. “May I speak with you privately?”

Emmeline stifled a sigh and peered at him. She was in no mood to speak to anyone, but the pleading in his face made her pause.

“Of course,” she agreed, forcing a smile. “What is it?”

He nodded toward the corner of the lobby and they moved into a discrete area.

“Elias Compton has been let go of his position,” Joshua told her quietly. “Did you order this?”

Shame flooded his face and he looked away as if the words said aloud humiliated him.

“Of course,” he rushed on. “It is within your right and I dare not question your authority.”

Emmeline felt a pang of surprise.

“Certainly not!” she replied. “I had nothing to do with his termination. Where is he now?”

“He has been ordered from the hotel,” Joshua explained and a panic fluttered through her.

“By whom? Why?” she cried. The idea that she might not see him again troubled her a great deal more than she could comprehend.

I do not know him and yet…

“I…Miss, I asked him to wait in my chambers until we could speak privately. I only wished to ensure that you did not have him expelled from the hotel on my account.”

“Your chambers?” she repeated. “I will speak to him myself. Now.”

She gathered her skirts to turn and retreat, but spun back around, pausing as she stared at her father’s office.

Father fired Christiana Compton. I will speak to him first.

“Please, Miss Balfour,” Joshua called out in a loud whisper. “I know I have broken the rules but he seems genuinely concerned for his wife’s welfare.”

A wave of ice slid over Emmeline and she pivoted to look into Joshua’s face.

“His wife?” she echoed. “Christiana is his wife?”

A perplexed look crossed over Joshua’s face and he nodded slowly.

“Did I not mention that previously?”

“You did not.”

“Oh…well, yes…does that much matter?”

Emmeline regained her composure and shook her regal head quickly.

“Of course not,” she replied crisply. “I will tend to this matter at once, Josh. You need not mention this to another soul.”

“I will not,” Joshua agreed, breathing audibly in relief. “Thank you, Miss Balfour.”

Swallowing the lump growing in her windpipe, Emmeline walked slowly toward her father’s office where Xavier still remained with Charlton.

“…Greene, Father? Truly? She is worthy of no less than a duke,” Emmeline heard her brother growl. “You know as well as I do that Walter Greene has an unsavory reputation.”

“His reputation is the least of my concerns,” Charlton barked. “I will not have you question my decisions in this hotel. When I die, you may run the Balfour Hotel any way you deem fit. Until then—”

“By then it will be too late to save my sister from marriage to a despicable scoundrel!”

Emmeline waited, her heart hammering. She ignored Matthew who stared at her with disapproval as she listened.

“When you are manager of this hotel, Xavier, you will realize that there are many choices to be made, most of which are unpleasant. You and your sister have been fortunate enough to escape the dirt and grime involved with running such an operation but I cannot shield you forever.”

“What does that mean, Father?” Xavier snapped. “What has Walter Greene done for you that you owe him your best asset in appreciation?”

Emmeline’s heart thudded so loudly, she was shocked the men could not hear it.

“Leave it be, Xavier and mind your sister. If you suspect she is becoming unruly, I expect you to tell me at once.”

“I will not spy upon Emmeline.”

Xavier has always been my protector.

“You almost ruined everything by telling her of this engagement,” Charlton hissed. “If you wish to remain inherited, you will do precisely as you are told.”

Xavier scoffed and stormed from the office before Emmeline could make herself scarce. He paused to look at her with regret but moved away again without another word.

“Father?” Emmeline called after a moment. She did not want him to know she had been listening.

“What is it now?” Charlton grumbled.

“This matter is not pertaining to the engagement,” she assured him, re-entering the office.

“Do be quick about it, Emmy. I have other matters to attend today, ones which do not include placating your ego.”

Emmeline bristled but wisely said nothing to the rebuff.

“I was told that you terminated Mother’s abigail. Christiana Compton?”

Her father’s head jerked up from his pile of papers and his eyes narrowed into slits.

“What is the meaning of this now?” he growled. Emmeline blinked in surprise at his reaction.

“Did you relieve her for stealing?” Emmeline asked, noting the pained expression on her father’s face.

“I do not recall,” he retorted, shifting his gaze away but it was clear to Emmeline that he was being far less than truthful.

“Antoinette claims you did, Father.”

“Then she must be correct. Why have you to do with this matter?”

The brusque tone was laced with something harder.

Suspicion. He sounds rife with suspicion.

“Father, you do not intermingle with the affairs of the staff. Why did you terminate Christiana personally?”

Charlton grunted and raised his head again, casting Emmeline a stony look.

“Perhaps because she was your mother’s abigail. I genuinely do not recall the circumstances, Emmeline. Why are you asking about this? It was months past.”

“I would like to speak with Christiana,” Emmeline told him flatly. “Yet no one seems to know where she has gone.”

“Back home,” Charlton replied without hesitation and it gave Emmeline shivers of concern.

“How can you be sure?” she asked slowly.

“She wailed about it when she left here, sobbing that she would need to return to…wherever it was she was from.”

“Cambridge?” Emmeline asked softly.

“Yes! Yes, that is it. Good riddance, if you ask me. Why would you wish to communicate with riffraff like that? I forbid it. You will not contact that woman.”

Emmeline stared at him, her mind whirling.

He is lying to me but why? What has he to do with Christiana’s disappearance?

“Is there another matter?” Charlton demanded as he realized that his daughter remained.

“No,” she murmured. “That is all. Good day, Father.”

With her pulse racing, Emmeline rushed out of the office and made her way toward the staff quarters, her head low.

What became of Christiana Compton? What is Father hiding?

She stopped before Joshua’s chambers and rapped gently on the door. There was no response.

“Elias?” she whispered. “Are you in there?”

The door opened in a whoosh, startling her and Elias gaped at her with horrified aqua eyes.

“He told you I was here?” he demanded, shocked, but Emmeline shook her head and pushed her way inside, closing the door at her back before they could be noticed. It was midway through the daytime shift but there was still a chance they might be seen.

“It is not how you think,” Emmeline assured him. “Joshua only wishes to help you. He told me you were here, but your secret is safe.”

Elias eyed her warily and backed toward the bed, sitting on the edge, deep concern etched in his features.

“I mean no harm by being here,” he told her. “I will be on my way when I learn where Christiana may have gone.”

“You should not have been terminated. Was it Honor who released you?”

He nodded, his lovely bright eyes fixed on her face in such a way that it made her tingle with warmth.

“Why? For what cause?” she asked, remaining by the door. She knew how inappropriate it was for her to be in the closed room with a male servant. She could only imagine the chaos which would ensue if anyone were to see them sneaking about in such a fashion but in that moment, Emmeline did not care.

Being proper has earned me a louse of a fiancé and no respect. If I can reunite this man with his wife, perhaps I shan’t care about improprieties…

Again, small prickles of unhappiness stabbed at her heart.

He is already married, Emma.

“He learned that Christiana and I…that…” He seemed to have difficulty saying what Emmeline already knew.

“That you are married,” she sighed. “He should not have terminated you. I will have him reinstate your position at once.”

“I do not think that is wise, Miss Balfour,” he told her quietly. “I have the distinct impression that there is much more happening here than I am meant to know.”

He sighed and shook his head, staring down at the splintered floor beneath his feet.

“Did you know Christiana when she worked here?”

“Not well,” Emmeline confessed regretfully. “She was always pleasant.”

“She does not always have her wits about her, but I assure you, Miss Balfour, she is no thief.”

“May I ask…” Emmeline bit her lower lip, unsure if she was breaching discretion.

“You may ask me anything.”

Emmeline met Elias’ steadfast gaze with her own. The mere statement had a profound effect on her and she was once again surprised that a stranger could arouse such emotions in her as Elias had managed in mere hours.

What would it be like to spend weeks or months in his presence?

She forced herself not to indulge in such blasphemous thoughts. Elias was a married man and she was as good as engaged.

Not to mention the fact that we are classes apart.

Queer how those elements seemed unimportant in that moment.

“It is a peculiar arrangement you have with Christiana. Why did you not come to Luton with her for work?” Emmeline asked. “Clearly you would have been hired.”

A mirthless smile spread across his lips and a darkness shadowed Elias’ features.

“I am afraid that is a tale which is long and sordid,” he muttered. “One which I would not offend your ears to explain.”

“Did she abandon the martial home?” Emmeline asked before she could consider the crassness of her query, but to her surprise, Elias laughed.

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” he replied vaguely. “But ours is not your usual marriage.”

“I can see that,” Emmeline muttered. “Forgive my intrusive questions. I am merely hoping to help you better in your quest to find her. If she does not wish to be found…”

She trailed off, hoping he understood the implication of her words.

“I can see why you might think such a thing,” Elias sighed. “Yet I know Christiana. I am the only person whom she trusts implicitly. She would not vanish without sending word. You must trust me on this matter. Something untoward has happened to her, I am certain of it.”

Emmeline did not pretend to understand his faith in his words but she did believe him.

“I will help you find your wife, Elias,” she promised him quietly. “I do trust you.”

His eyes shone with gratitude and, if she was not mistaken, admiration.

“Thank you, Miss Balfour,” he breathed. “I assure you that I will not be here a moment longer than necessary.”

She offered him a stiff smile but her heart was heavy.

When he finds his wife, he will leave and I will remain here with Walter Greene. Which one of us is the poorer?