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the room silently. Mary listened to his steps grow quieter as he walked away. She swallowed another bite, and another. It was a mechanical action, and one she needed to keep up appearances with.
    There was a knock at the door again.
    "Come in."
    The door opened and a man stepped through. Mary looked up and watched him. He was a big, strong man. She wondered what sort of job he might be here to do. With such broad shoulders, he looked like he was better suited to soldiering than he was to any genteel work.
    With the war on, she wondered at it until she saw the pin on his lapel. She'd seen it before. A silver circle set around the King's cipher. Around the edge was the text: "For King and Country. Services Rendered."
    He stepped through the door and looked up, seeming to take her measure in the same way that she had been taking his. And then, all of a sudden, he went stiff and turned immediately on his heel, facing the wall.
    "I'm sorry, Miss Geis. I didn't realize—"
    "How can I help you, Mr. Poole?"
    "I was hired by a representative of your father, to act as a steward?"
    "And so soon before his death?" Mary set her utensils down. "That seems suspicious, don't you think?"
    "I couldn't say, Ma'am. I only know that I was contacted a month prior, with the offer of work, by a solicitor named Roy Stump. He claimed to work for the Geis estate, who wished to retain the services of a steward for his estate."
    "My father is dead, sir, and whatever he's offered to pay you is not available."
    "Surely I can work until the title is resolved, and then I can petition the new Lord…or Lady Geis for wage."
    He was too young for a proper steward, Mary thought. He might have only just gotten out of university. What on earth would her father be thinking to hire such a person, even if he hired him through a representative?
    "I presume you have some proof of your claims?"
    Mr. Poole turned back to face her, keeping his eyes decidedly downcast. He reached into his coat pocket and produced a folded piece of paper, which he held at arm's length. Davis, who had been standing off to the side, took the paper and walked it over to her.
    She opened it and started to skim over the text. Indeed, she was vaguely aware of Mr. Stump. Her father had mentioned him before. Here was her father's signature, and the signature of a James Poole. It seemed as if everything was in order, and he was offering to work without pay until someone with authority could address things.
    He sounded positively desperate to work. She looked it over. A spy might be able to get such a piece of paper. The desperation was too obvious to ignore, as well. Whatever his intention was, she was certain that he would be playing into her enemies' hands somehow.
    But the saying goes, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. She had no friends that she could be certain of. So she set the letter down.
    "You know we won't be able to pay you, Mr. Poole."
    "Yes, ma'am. Until someone else comes, I will have to wait. I understand, but please don't send me away."
    "Very well." Mary took another bite, as if she had already moved on. The reality was that her mind was racing with possibilities. "Davis, see him to one of the guest bedrooms, will you? Our new steward has come all the way from London, and I'm sure he's very tired."

4
     
    James
     
    James sat back in the large chair that served for the desk in his new room. Rather, the room he was staying in. His bags were in a small stack in the corner. He'd need to move them over to the dressers before he could start working.
    He had known that there was a young woman here. The Baron's daughter. Somehow, he'd assumed that Miss Geis would be younger, or older, or somehow…less. He'd come in expecting to see an employer, and instead he'd seen a woman.
    And what a woman, indeed. She hadn't been wearing anything under that dress—that much had been obvious. What it said about her character spoke volumes, but it said less about her than it did about