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Christopher watched Amber slip from the room before the others had even split into groups. He didn’t follow after her right away. If he were a smarter man, he wouldn’t follow at all. There was nothing she could want that was worth taking this risk, but he just couldn’t help himself.

He was intrigued, and he just needed to know what she could possibly want. So he gave it a few minutes after she left then moved to follow after her, but as he moved to step away, he was intercepted by Felicity.

“Where are you off to, brother?” she asked.

“I was just going to step away to talk to someone for a moment. I won’t be long.”

“You were going to go talk to someone? Who? I thought you didn’t have any friends here.”

“I didn’t say I was going to talk to a friend. There is simply someone I wanted to speak with for a second.”

“Oh, did you? And who might I ask is it?”

“No one you need to worry about.”

“Is it the friend you were speaking with earlier before I interrupted you?”

“You didn’t interrupt anything. Now, if you excuse me.”

He maneuvered past her. As he went, he was stopped by several other people. Making various excuses, he made his way to the hall he’d seen Amber disappear down.

It took so long that he was further behind her than he would have liked, and all he could do was stare for a moment at the countless closed doors. Amber could reasonably have gone into any of them at this point.

For that matter, he’d kept her waiting long enough that it seemed entirely plausible that she had already made her way back to the others.

It seemed unlikely given how anxious she had been to speak with him, but it wasn’t impossible. Even if she hadn’t intended to leave, it was possible someone had come across her and brought her back to the others.

He could only hope if she had, she didn’t mention she was waiting to meet him.

With no other options, Christopher began the process of opening up various doors in the hope of finding the room Amber had tucked herself away in.

It only took four or five tries before he found it.

Opening the door to the lady of the house’s study, he found her standing there. Her back was to him, but he could see the way she tensed when the door opened. For a moment, he just stared at her, taking in the woman who had persuaded him here.

A kinder person might have called her beautiful. Her chestnut brown curls piled high on top of her head, the neckline of her gown just low enough for him to know the freckles on her cheeks continued down her shoulders, her gown accentuating her curvy figure.

But Christopher would not call himself a kind man, so he called her unadorned hair and simple black dress plain.

After a long pause she finally turned to look at him, face set in determination, but even then, she didn’t say a word. Instead, she simply stared at him long enough for Christopher to begin to grow impatient.

“You wanted to talk. I’m here, now talk,” he finally snapped, crossing his arms over his chest.

She chewed her lip but still said nothing.

He sighed. “I have left my sister alone at this party for this. Either tell me what this is about, or I am returning to the others.”

Another beat of silence.

“Right,” he turned to go. “I suppose that’s it then. I must say I wasn’t sure about coming, and I am a bit disappointed it ended up being little more than a waste of my time.”

“Wait!” she called.

He froze, hand outstretched reaching for the door.

She let out a deep breath. “I want to make a deal with you.”

Frowning, he turned to face her, crossing his arms once more. If he were a smart man, he would have turned and went back to his sister, suffered through the apparently necessary social interactions until she was ready to return home, and then forgotten all about this girl and her requests.