Rebecca Hagan Lee (21 page)

“Smells delicious,” he said. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Oatmeal.” James and Elizabeth answered in unison.

“In the most unusual container of your choice,” Elizabeth added.

Will raised an eyebrow at that. “Oatmeal? What about all that food going to waste on the buffet?”

“We’re experimenting with a new breakfast policy,” James told him. “As of today, we eat what the Treasures eat. And they’re eating oatmeal.”

“All right,” Will agreed with a frown. “As long as it stops there.”

“What do you mean as long as it stops there?” James asked.

“Well, I assume this new breakfast policy is part of Elizabeth’s new regimen for the Treasures,” Will elaborated.

“That’s right,” Elizabeth answered.

“Well, just how far do you plan to go with your changes?” Will teased. “If I continue to join you for breakfast on a daily basis, may I make suggestions as to the menu occasionally or will it be written in stone? And shall I continue to wear a suit and tie or has a dressing gown and slippers become de rigueur?”

“
OF COURSE NOT
!” Elizabeth looked over at Will Keegan and burst out laughing at his outrageous teasing. She knew she should be mortified at the mere suggestion that she or James Craig had behaved improperly after the scandal she caused back home in Providence. But Providence was an entire continent away and Grandmother Sadler’s harsh actions seemed to have lost a good bit of their sting—especially after the scandal she had caused yesterday at Lo Peng’s. Not that she intended to scandalize the citizenry of Coryville by vandalizing businesses or terrorizing the Chinese merchants. Nothing of the sort. As far as Elizabeth was concerned, her brief days of impulsive, reckless behavior were over. She had learned her lesson. From now on, Elizabeth meant to be the very model of decorum. But even proper models of decorum needed, she had learned, a sense of humor—especially now that she was working with three demanding Treasures and a newborn baby. Will Keegan hadn’t meant any harm. He was James’s friend and there was nothing malicious about his teasing.

“As long as we understand each other,” Will replied. “I’m not one to turn down offers of breakfast.…”

James snorted.

“And I’ll even eat whatever mush you serve up to the Treasures,” Will continued. “As long as you allow a little variety now and then. But I draw the line at sitting down to eat breakfast in my birthday suit.”

“I should think you’d be accustomed to it by now,” Elizabeth retorted, blushing prettily at Will’s brashness.

“How so?” Will asked.

“After hearing you speak, I assumed you were originally from Hong Kong and that you had known Mr. Craig for a good many years,” she told him.

Will poured himself a cup of coffee from the silver coffee urn and sat down across the table from James. “That’s true,” he said. “I guess we’ve known each other about twelve or thirteen years now.” He looked over at James for confirmation.

James nodded at Will, then shrugged his shoulders in a gesture meant to convey the idea that he hadn’t the slightest idea where Elizabeth’s questions were leading.

“And your habit of sharing breakfast is a long-standing one?” she asked.

“I suppose so,” Will admitted warily.

“Then I should think you’d be accustomed to sitting down to breakfast in your nightclothes”—she paused for effect—“seeing as how it’s a long-standing tradition Mr. Craig’s mother adopted from the Chinese.”

Will pretended to be aghast. “Where did you hear such rubbish?”

Elizabeth cast a pointed look in James’s direction.

James set his coffee cup into its saucer and quickly covered his mouth with his hand to disguise his laugh.

“Hah!” Will exclaimed. “Nobody would dare sit down at Julia Cameron Craig’s table—at breakfast or any other time of the day—unless they were properly turned out, and the entire British population of Hong Kong knew it.”

“Uh-hem.” James cleared his throat, trying to interrupt before Will exposed him any further.

“Jamie, what were you thinking of to spin Elizabeth a yarn like that?”

“I suspect it was to put me at ease about my improper attire and my untidy appearance,” Elizabeth admitted, self-consciously pushing back a lock of hair that had escaped the confines of her braid and fallen across her forehead. “You see, I didn’t want to come downstairs for breakfast until I’d had time to dress properly.”

“Well, if that’s what’s worrying you,” Will tried to make amends for putting Elizabeth on the spot, “don’t fret about it. Jamie’s not dressed yet, either.”

“Oh, but he is.” Elizabeth told him. “He’s wearing his dressing gown over his suit.”

Will lifted the tablecloth and peered under the table. Sure enough, beneath his silk dressing gown, Jamie wore a pair of woolen suit trousers and socks and dress shoes polished to a high sheen.

“What are you doing here, Will?” James asked when Will straightened up in his chair and opened his mouth to speak.

“We have a meeting this morning, remember?” Will answered, taking James’s cue and wisely deciding to refrain from pursuing the topic of nightclothes and dressing gowns any further.

James set down the spoon he was using to feed Emerald and reached over and wiped the little girl’s face with his napkin. He glanced over at the clock on the dining room wall. “Our meeting is scheduled for nine sharp. What brings you by so early?”

“I came for breakfast,” Will told him. “And because I thought you might like the opportunity to go over the details we didn’t get to discuss yesterday.…” He threw James a sharp look.

“I had to leave for San Francisco early yesterday morning,” James explained. “There wasn’t enough time to let you know that I wouldn’t be in the office. Didn’t you get my message? I asked Mrs. G. to send word.”

“I got your message when I returned from the mining camps late yesterday morning, but the train had already left for the city,” Will said. “Otherwise, I might have joined
you. We could have gone over the fine points of these railroad contracts en route. How were things at the Montgomery Street office?”

“I didn’t go to the office,” James replied. “I had other more important business to attend to.” James picked up his coffee cup and downed the contents, then took his napkin off his lap and placed it on the table. The Treasures had finished eating. It was time to help Elizabeth get them upstairs to the nursery and get them cleaned up. And he needed to talk to her about her daily schedule and what he expected of her.

“More important than our negotiations with the Central Pacific?” Will raised his voice in exasperation. “What’s more important than that?”

James pushed back his chair back from the table and stood up. “The Treasures, Will. Three, no, four, innocent, defenseless little girls who rely on me for food and shelter and love and support.”

Will held up his hand. “That goes without saying, Jamie.”

“Maybe so, but I’m saying it. The needs of four little girls are more important to me than the Central Pacific Railroad rolling stock negotiations. And acquiring a governess to help me take care of those four little girls is more important to me than the Central Pacific negotiations.” James bent down and lifted Emerald from her high chair. “And if I ever allow myself to forget that my family comes before Craig Capital, I’ll sell it.” He stared across the table at Will. “So help me, God, I’ll sell it, Will. Lock, stock, and barrel, right down to the last brass paper clip. I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.” Balancing Emerald on one hip, he eased Ruby’s chair away from the table, helped her down, and took her hand. “Now, if Miss Sadler has finished her meal …”

Elizabeth nodded quickly, blotted her lips with her napkin, and rose to her feet.

Will politely stood as Elizabeth helped Garnet out of a high chair identical to Emerald’s and into her arms.

“If you’ll excuse us, we’ll take the girls upstairs,” James continued.

Will nodded.

“And I’ll need a few moments to go over Miss Sadler’s schedule and her responsibilities as governess before I can join you to discuss the Central Pacific deal,” James added. He glanced back up at the clock on the wall. “Twenty minutes at best.”

“Fine,” Will replied, rather coolly. “That will give me time to finish my breakfast.”

“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said as she and James started up the stairs leading to the second floor nursery.

“For what?” James asked.

“I’m sorry you missed that important meeting with Will yesterday.”

“As you so pointedly reminded me last night, that trip to San Francisco was of my making,” James told her as they reached the door of the nursery. “There’s no reason for you to apologize. If I hadn’t asked the police to track you down and pick you up for questioning, you would never have been arrested.”

“Maybe,” Elizabeth agreed with a shrug of her shoulders. “Or maybe not. I was so hurt and so angry about Owen’s—about my brother’s death,”—she paused for a moment and fought for control—“I think I may have been secretly spoiling for a fight.” She looked up at James. “Not that I regret what I did to Lo Peng’s establishment. Because I don’t.” She looked up at James, and lifted her chin a notch higher, until he could see the challenge glinting from the depths of her aquamarine-colored eyes. “But I’ve learned my lesson.”

The determined glint in her blue-green eyes and the thrust of her chin dared James to contradict her. That she thought it necessary to convince him that she was a lady worthy of the position of governess to his children made James want to tease her just a little. “Then you
are
ashamed of yourself for destroying Lo Peng’s establishment.”

“Ashamed?” She bristled like a wet cat. “Of course I’m not ashamed of my actions. Why, if I was still in San Francisco, and the circumstances were the same, I’d do the same thing today!”

James smiled down at her. “Please, not again today. One skirmish a day is all I can handle, and we’ve already been through the Oatmeal Wars.”

“You don’t have to worry.” She stiffened and became all prim and proper once again. “I don’t intend to cause any more scandals.”

Lord, but he wanted to kiss her! The thought popped into his brain and James realized that nothing he had ever thought was truer. She made her promise to him with so much fire and conviction in her voice and on her face that James had to stop himself from pulling her into his arms and following through with his inclination. Hadn’t she learned that oftentimes scandals weren’t controllable? That some scandals were caused by the overactive imaginations of bored gossips and like beauty, were found in the eyes of the beholders? “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Elizabeth.” His voice was deep and thick with emotion.

“But I do intend to keep it, Mr. Craig. I assure you I won’t be participating in any more scandals. Not in Coryville. Not while I’m in your employ and responsible for the lives and reputations of the Treasures.”

James cocked his head in Elizabeth’s direction and stared at her with a puzzled look on his face. “There’s plenty of time for that. It’s a bit early for you to concern yourself with their reputations, don’t you think?”

“Oh, no,” Elizabeth replied earnestly. “It’s never too early. A girl’s reputation is her most precious endowment.”

“Oh, come now,” James scoffed. “Surely a woman’s intellect and her accomplishments are much more important than her reputation.”

It was Elizabeth’s turn to scoff. “Men don’t marry women for their intellect.”

James smiled. “Men don’t necessarily marry women for their spotless reputations, either.”

“Maybe not,” Elizabeth agreed. “But a girl with a spotless reputation is much more likely to marry well than a girl with a ruined one. It’s the duty of girls from the best families to marry well.”

“I’d say it depends upon the girls,” James told her. “And the men doing the marrying.”

“It should be that way.” Elizabeth smiled a sad, far-off little smile that spoke of heartbreak and personal experience. “But all too often people don’t look beyond the surface of things. That’s why girls from good families must be beyond reproach. They must aspire to higher standards than girls from lesser families, and in your daughters’ cases, it will be so much harder for society to believe that it’s possible for the Treasures to attain them because they’re …”

“Chinese?” James queried, wondering if Elizabeth was going to balk at that again.

“Well, that, too.” She had the grace to blush. “But I was going to say ‘without their mother.’ ”

“I don’t understand,” James said. “It looks to me that if having Chinese blood flowing through their veins and imprinted upon their features is the problem, then being without their Chinese parent would be beneficial in society’s eyes.”

“Yes, but everyone knows girls of a certain breeding need their mothers’ guiding hands, and that no matter how loyal and dedicated the household employees, no matter how good the teacher or governess, hired help cannot teach girls the refinement and breeding society requires. That level of refinement can only come from the teachings of the mother.”

“Hogwash!” James exploded. “Who taught you that rubbish? Your mother?”

Elizabeth looked startled. “My grandmother.”

“And you believed her?”

“Of course I did,” Elizabeth said. “I had no reason not to. She was teaching me the lessons of life.”

“
Her
lessons of life, not yours. And what she taught you
was that you weren’t quite up to her impossible standards,” James muttered beneath his breath, angry at the injustice society heaped on innocent women and young girls, angry that women like Elizabeth’s grandmother not only believed in such garbage, but preached it. “And where was your mother while your grandmother was spouting that worthless tripe?”

“Upstairs hiding in her bedroom.” Elizabeth nearly bit her tongue, unable to believe that after all these years she’d admitted a truth to a virtual stranger that she hadn’t even admitted to herself. Her mother had avoided her responsibilities and her duties to her children and had kept herself hidden away in her bedroom for years to avoid Grandmother Sadler’s vicious tongue.

“Why didn’t your mother teach you about duty and refinement and the inferiority of household servants?”