“Ibelieve you,” Duncan said.
She’d known he would. “I don’t— I don’t know what to do. I have nowhere to go.”
“Well, then, it’s a fortunate thing for you that I know most everyone for miles around.”
He would help. Relief inched over her. “I likely shouldn’t allow you to be bothered with this.”
He held her hand between his two large ones. “How many times do I have to tell you, woman? I’m not one to be made to do something I’d rather not.”
“And you’d rather help me?”
He nodded firmly. “I’d very much rather.”
Sophia did not know why, but his eager assistance undid what little control she’d gained over her emotions. A tear dropped from the corner of her eye more quickly than she could wipe it away.
“Don’t cry, Sophia. You’re not alone in this. We’ll find a place for you to lay your head.”
She swiped at a second tear, hoping it would be the last. “I would happily live in a cave so long as I need not return to that house.”
“You need never go back there again. And further, you need not live in a cave.”
“A hole in the ground, then?” The attempt at humor might not have been expertly managed, but making the effort lifted her spirits a little.
“Or a mud bank,” he answered. “Whichever is handier.”
She took her first steady breath in thirty minutes.
“We’ve a fair distance to travel,” Duncan said. “We’d best get started.”
He kept her hand in his as he walked, urging her along with him toward the front of the stables once more.
“Am I permitted to know where we’re going?”
He nodded. “I’m taking you to stay with someone.”
“Someone you know?”
Another nod.
They stepped into the stable. Duncan pulled one of the stable hands aside. “Hitch my horse up to the cart. When Aiden returns with the new filly, tell him I’ve put him in charge for the remainder of the day.”
The stable hand gave a quick, deferential bow. “Are you going somewhere?”
“I’m takin’ Miss Pemberton to meet the queen.”
“You are acquainted with Queen Victoria?” Sophia asked, not believing it for a moment.
The stable hand answered before Duncan did. “Notthatqueen.”
“Do we have another?”
Duncan pulled a knapsack from a hook near the back. “Mary, Queen of Scots. Heard of that one?”
Sophia had come to adore Duncan’s sense of humor the past week or more. “I hadn’t realized Queen Mary was still wandering about. She must be quite ancient by now.”
He tossed her a smile over his shoulder. “Don’t let my mother hear you say that.”
“You refer to your mother as Queen Mary?”
