Cecily Hockensmith gave her name to the secretary in Niall’s reception room and waited to be announced, gazing with appreciation at the tasteful appointments and the original Bierstadt on the immaculate wall of the office.
Niall had not designed the place, of course. He knew better than to entrust such matters to his own abilities, when his talents lay in other directions. But his had been the money behind everything she saw here, and in the house on Fourteenth Street. He owned the very building in which she stood, and many more in Denver besides. For all its rustic beginnings, this city might make an acceptable home for a lady who had been a leading light of New York’s elite.
As long as that lady had the right husband, and all his considerable resources at her command. She had decided when she and her father had arrived, short on cash but long in ambition, that she would aim for the best. If she could not be comfortable in New York, she would be fabulously wealthy in Denver.
There was only one thing standing in her path.
She unrolled the poster halfway and looked in distaste at the words and pictures. Her feelings in this matter were quite genuine, insofar as the circus people were concerned, and Niall would be as grateful for her efforts on Athena’s behalf as he had been in the past. He was beginning to recognize that Athena needed something other than what he could provide. Something that might be found far away from Denver.
As long as Athena was the focus of Niall’s life, neither one of them could be happy. Nor could Cecily Ethelinda Hockensmith.
The bronze Dore clock on the marble mantelpiece chimed the hour. Cecily knew where most of Athena’s circle was at the moment—enjoying luncheon in the Windsor’s dining room as they did every Thursday. Athena never joined them, and Cecily had not yet been invited into the sanctum of Denver’s young female society.
That would come soon enough. Athena had welcomed her into her philanthropic sisterhood and to her home, but the unfortunate girl had less social influence than she believed. Cecily had eavesdropped on conversations not intended for her ears, or Athena’s. She suspected that those haughty young ladies, who professed to be Athena’s friends, needed only a nudge to look away from Miss Munroe and toward a more mature woman of greater sophistication.
“Miss Hockensmith? Mr. Munroe will see you now.”
She nodded at the respectful secretary and followed him into Niall’s office. It was not the first time she had been in the room, but it never failed to take her breath away. No similar office in New York was more impressive. Or more opulent.
She had learned that Niall did not keep such luxury for himself. He knew the value of impressing those who came to him seeking financial backing, or potential investors in his own enterprises. Money begat money. Niall Munroe had Midas’s touch and utter indifference to his own personal comfort.
He rose from behind his leather-topped mahogany desk and bowed slightly. “Miss Hockensmith. Charmed to see you.” He gestured to one of the matched chairs across from the desk and remained standing where he was. “How may I be of service?”
Cecily took her seat, suppressing a frown. After months of acquaintance, he was still formal with her. She might even say aloof, but that was insupportable. She could be patient. And most devoted to her cause.
“I hope I have not inconvenienced you, Mr. Munroe,” she said in her most melodious voice. “I would not have come if I hadn’t felt a certain urgency in my errand. Indeed, I… considered carefully before coming to see you.”
His gray gaze settled on her and slid past. “Please speak freely, Miss Hockensmith. I am happy to assist you in any way I can.”
He was obviously impatient with her. She got in the way of his business. She knew how to trouble those still waters and make him take notice. She knew how to take a small, unimportant thing and make it seem of great consequence.
“Thank you, Mr. Munroe. If you will allow me…” She rose, taking care that her skirts fell just right, and moved with conscious grace to his desk. “I will be as brief as possible. A few days ago, while we were visiting Athena at the circus—you may recall?”