Billy drew himself tall, bursting with pride. ‘I’ll find out, Nance. I’ll put a word in. Well, what could be better? Two Nettletons in the same hotel! Nance,’ he announced, ‘you been a good friend to me. I’m at your service.’

Nancy beamed as Billy hurried on.

It was almost time for the day’s work to begin. If she were to dally a moment longer, Mrs Moffatt was sure to find out – and then, whether she was suddenly Miss Edgerton’s personal chambermaid or not, there were certain to be stern words. You’ve got to know your place, Nancy reminded herself.

But perhaps there was time for one more moment . . .

Nancy scurried down the hall that snaked around the ballroom, and tentatively opened up the door to the little dance studio behind. The music of the gramophone was quietly playing – while there, on the makeshift dance floor, Raymond de Guise and Hélène Marchmont turned a simple tango, limbering up for their rehearsal to come. For a time, Nancy watched them dance. Indeed, so silent was she, so respectful, that the song had come to an end before Raymond and Hélène had even noticed her at all.

When his eyes found her, Raymond’s face lit up. His almond eyes glimmered, his lips opened up in a smile still faintly crooked after the brawl of the Midnight Rooms three months before. Every last piece of him was beautiful to Nancy.

The gramophone was clicking into another song. Raymond moved as if to step out of the hold he was in with Hélène, but Nancy softly shook her head and mouthed the single word, ‘Later.’ Raymond understood. He returned to Hélène and, as the beat of the music increased, their gentle steps turned into something more strident, something faster and more demanding. Nancy watched as they crossed the room, turned, crossed it again, weaving their magical signatures across the studio floor. The music lifted Nancy up, filled her with as much joy as if she was out there in the ballroom on New Year’s night itself. And there was Raymond. Her Raymond. It was enough to simply stand here and watch him dance.

The year was only just beginning.

The End

Extract from Anton Du Beke’s next novel’

Return to the Buckingham Hotel in . . .

Anton Du Beke’s sweeping and romantic story continues: read an exclusive extract here

Prologue

8 December, 1937

The Grand Ballroom, the Buckingham Hotel

FIRST THERE COMES THE CONFUSION.

Moments later: the screams.

Welcome to the Grand Ballroom of the Buckingham Hotel, a place of music and magic, of magnificence and splendour. Strung high with decorations for the Christmas festivities, today it is banked in a dozen miniature Norwegian firs, all of them bedecked in crystals and lights – while, gathered around its chequered dance floor, gather the great and good of London town.