Trifling Favors (Redcakes Book 7) by Heather Hiestand Page B

stranger.”
    “I’m no stranger, sir, but an employee of Mr. Redcake. Who are you, miss?”
    “Betsy Popham. And that is Simon Hellman.”
    The large man scowled. “Hellman, eh? That’s one of the name’s on this ’ere list.” He pulled a piece of paper from his coat. “You ain’t allowed on these ’ere premises.”
    “I need to collect Miss Popham.”
    “No,” said the man. His tone wasn’t precisely menacing, but his looming posture was. “I don’t know what your game is and I don’t care, but you ain’t employed by Redcake’s and you aren’t welcome here.”
    Hellman scowled. “Come now. Betsy? Kindly straighten this man out.”
    “Mr. Redcake knows about my mother,” Betsy said. “I don’t have any more secrets, so you can’t hurt me anymore. Go away.”
    The man ignored the conversation. “Look, miss, Mr. Redcake’s is employing me and others to see to safety ’ereabouts. I’d be happy to escort you to wherever you need to go.”
    “We need the bus,” Betsy said.
    “Come on, then. I’ll wait with you until it comes, and make sure this gentleman doesn’t enter it with you.”
    “Thank you.” Betsy waved in front of her. Violet took the steps down to the mews, blushing prettily as the security man offered his arm to assist. Betsy was right behind her, glaring at her tormenter.
    “Stay away from us, lest you find yourself visiting the police again. Don’t think I’m not pointing the finger at you,” she said.
    Hellman rolled his eyes. “Hysteria is so unattractive in a female, and so common. I’ll straighten things out with Lord Judah and your father. Never fear, my dear, we’ll be together one day.”
    Betsy forced herself to face forward, refusing to give Simon Hellman the satisfaction of her looking back. Nonetheless, her flesh crawled with each step she heard behind them. How close was he? The watchman might prevent him from getting on the bus, but he’d just be on the next one. She didn’t think he knew where she lived at the moment. They had moved since she had changed positions, and her father knew she didn’t care for his colleague. But for a man like that, her address would not be hard to find.
    The security guard tipped his hat at them when they boarded the bus. Simon Hellman was a dark stain a few feet away.
    Violet shivered as they found seats inside the bus. “I don’t like that man.”
    “Nor should you.”
    “Is he in love with you?”
    “I don’t think he’s capable of such an uplifting emotion. Obsessed, maybe. Out for what he can get from me, definitely.”
    “Does Redcake’s employ many men like him?”
    “None, I should hope, at least at our location. The flagship operation is much larger. We have very few men at Kensington.”
    “I confess I am disappointed at that,” Violet said, pushing out her lower lip and rubbing it against the upper. “I should be looking for a husband.”
    “You do know that your brother wants you at home waiting on him? He told Mr. Redcake as much.”
    Violet snorted, looking a bit like her mule-headed brother. “Then who is going to pay our bills?”
    “You don’t expect my father to?”
    “I think his arrangement was with my mother. Did you know he courted her?”
    Only the presence of others on the bus kept Betsy from standing and gasping. “You cannot be serious.”
    “I am,” Violet said. “But my mother said she was done with men, even one as gentle as Mr. Popham.”
    Betsy put her fingers to her temples. Oh, Papa. “I had no idea.”
    “I think your father wanted to care for my mother as a husband would for a wife, even when she rejected him.”
    “I suppose they had some kind of relationship,” Betsy said slowly as she digested the notion. “Saw each other regularly. He always brought the money.”
    “Yes, and she’d make him a cup of tea and always kept biscuits for him. I don’t think he liked them particularly, but we weren’t allowed near them.” Violet made a face.
    “It does explain