to greet him each morning. Sterling pulled on his boots and bolted from the wagon. The cook fire had already been started, and stew left from last night's meal simmered over a pot. Only Mora and Sarah were still seated around the fire.
"Best hurry up!" Sarah called. "There won't be much left once they all gather round!"
Sterling grabbed a plate and dished up his breakfast. Elise would be a while, since she wasn't yet dressed. He grabbed a plate for her and filled it as well. That brought a lift of Sarah's brow.
"I told her she wasn't going nowhere," she said, a grin stretching her mouth.
Mora tensed. "You should have made her go," the snake charmer complained. "It is not safe for her here."
"She's safe enough under my protection." Sterling cast Mora a warning glance. "And she'll only be with us as far as Liverpool. Then she will go about her life, and the rest of us will go about ours."
Sarah placed a hand against her head and closed her eyes. "I do not see her leaving in the future. I see a wedding, and children. I see - "
"Stop it, Sarah," Sterling commanded. The last thing he needed was visions of a life with Elise planted inside of his head. "I don't find your predictions amusing."
The fortune-teller opened her eyes and sighed. "I'd hoped she might help you find your sense of humor, but you're as surly as ever. Just like that great beast of yours, always growling and snapping at everyone."
He liked Sarah's comparison less than her predictions. Sterling took Elise's plate and headed back toward the wagon. An older man dressed in clothes befitting a gentleman suddenly stood in his path. The man kept glancing around, as if in search of someone or something.
"Can I help you?" Sterling asked.
The man's gaze swept him coldly. "I'm looking for a girl."
Sterling appraised the man as well, using the same cold tone with him: "You're looking in the wrong place. We don't offer the kind of sport you seek."
Removing his hat, the man brushed the dust away. "I'm looking for my niece, you idiot. The ungrateful chit has run away. I thought you might have seen her along the road somewhere. Maybe lying in a ditch with her throat slit."
One of the plates Sterling carried nearly slipped from his fingers. This man had to be Elise's uncle. Her change of heart last night made perfect sense now. She must have seen her uncle at the inn.
"I've seen no young women lying in a ditch," Sterling said. He didn't like the man. Elise's uncle, if this was the man, seemed more annoyed by the thought of finding her dead than concerned. "You must be worried if she's taken to the road. No telling what might happen to her."
The man sniffed, then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, pressing it to his nose. "God-awful animal stench," he muttered. "Makes my eyes itch and my nose drip. I'd leave her to her own sorry fate and gladly be rid of her nuisance, but her bridegroom has already paid a handsome price for her. I don't intend to give him his money back."
Sterling wanted to strangle the man. How could he act so unfeeling about a woman as sweet and gentle as Elise? "If she's taken to the road alone, you won't find her unspoiled," Sterling said, barely able to keep his voice civil. "Her bridegroom might not want her back."
The man waved a hand as if it were of no consequence. "Stoneham won't care. Just another reason to punish her. He likes to punish his wives."
Stoneham? It had been years since Sterling had rubbed elbows with London's social set, but he remembered hearing his mother speak of the man in hushed tones. It was rumored that Stoneham liked to torture his women. Sterling didn't recognize Elise's uncle, though, and obviously the man saw nothing in him but a vagabond.
"What is your niece's name, in case I stumble across her in the future? And where might I deliver her if I do find her? I assume you would be willing to pay for her return?"
The man wrinkled his nose and stuffed his handkerchief back into his pocket. "Collins," he provided, "Elise Collins, and all you need do is ask after Lord Robert Collins in London and someone will direct you to me. A small reward can be arranged."
Lord Collins. The name rang a distant bell. Sterling tried to recall anything he might have heard