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“May I come in?” she asked.

He hesitated a moment but then held the door open wider so that she might join him. She glided into the room with her head held high, determined to maintain her dignity despite what she was about to say. She settled into one of the armchairs set in front of the unlit fire at the far end of his room and waited while he moved to join her in the chair opposite.

“How was your supper?” she asked.

“Dull,” he answered simply. “Mrs. Oscars got the mix wrong and there wasn’t much spark in the conversation. You were missed.”

She gave him a weak smile. “I am not sure I would have been able to save one of Mrs. Oscars’s parties.”

He huffed a laugh at that. “I left as soon as I was able to. I didn’t fancy listening to Miss Oscars warbling along while she played the piano. Why do mothers insist on displaying their daughters’ talents when the daughters have so little of it?”

“You know perfectly well that it’s meant to attract the attention of a marriageable man,” Adele said.

“It’s more likely to send them running for the hills. Your mother didn’t force you to do that, did she?”

“I sang.”

“I didn’t know that,” he said.

“That is because, as soon as I was able to, I stopped. I know where my talents lie, and they are not in opera.”

“Mrs. Barnes doesn’t make Miss Barnes stand up and perform for people,” he mused.

“Mrs. Barnes is no doubt confident her daughter will attract the attention of an eligible bachelor on her own merits,” she said.

“I suppose the girl is pretty enough not to need party tricks.”

Given the way Miss Barnes seemed to make eyes at her husband, she didn’t relish the idea of him thinking the young woman pretty, but he said it with such a dispassionate air that she shook her head and set her ridiculous worries aside.

“Did you have a good day at work?” she asked.

“It went well enough. There’s a great deal to juggle with the mountain lodge underway.”

“Then building is progressing as you wished?”

He sighed. “It is progressing, but not quickly enough for my taste. Although I’m not certain any man managing two hotels and the construction of a third one would ever be satisfied.”

“Is there something the matter?” she asked.

“The location continues to prove a challenge. The ground took longer to unfreeze in the spring than we expected, and there was a late storm at the end of May that closed off the roads and trails. When it melted, everything turned to mud. That meant a delay in the delivery of materials. It’s set us back.”

“Are you concerned?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t be very good at my line of work if I let something as simple as a construction delay derail me. We will catch up.”

“Guy, there is something you should know,” she said. “Someone came to the house today. A Mr. Earl.”

He almost managed to keep his surprise off his face, but she saw it in the brief tightening of his jaw.

“Earl? I don’t think I know an Earl,” he said.

“Are you certain? He was very adamant.”

He looked away. “Maybe the name does sound familiar. He’s probably one of the men who went in with the San Francisco consortium to invest in the mountain lodge. Anyway, he shouldn’t have come to the house if he’s feeling nervous.”

“Why would he be feeling nervous? Is it the delays you mentioned?”

“That and there is some speculation that the state of the stock exchange in New York City is shaky.”