A little quavering moan escaped his half-sister's lips.

"Ailise, where is cousin Aggie?" he demanded.

She reached into her pelisse and pulled out a vellum envelope, then handed it to him, trembling all the while.

He swallowed back a curse and backed out of the vehicle into the light. He tore the letter open and swept his gaze over his mother's dramatic, curving script.

Aggie couldn't be spared. Ailise will have to do for a companion for Lady Blayne. Perhaps whilst she is in London, as the new Earl of Greythorn, you will give her a season and find her a nice, wealthy husband.

James crushed the paper in his fist.

"Bloody hell."

Ailise was sixteen years old. Not old enough to be anyone's companion. Not even old enough for a season, as far as he was concerned.

Then the full enormity of what his mother had done dawned on him.

Had she really sent a virgin all the way here from the Highlands, alone?

He ducked his head back into the carriage and stared at Ailise's pale, trembling face. "Are you well, Ailise?"

She rubbed her stomach. "I have been a little off my food since the journey b-began."

"Where is your maid?"

"She became ill, part-way here."

"Ill? How ill?" Since when did a maid desert her lady, especially a lady of Ailise's tender years?

"She ate some bad salmon. I-I didn't...I was already feeling unwell from the carriage."

James compressed his lips. "Why didn't you wait for her to recover?"

"Douglas told the driver that my arrival here mustn't be delayed, for any reason, or-or there would be grave consequences for him." Her mouth had begun to quiver so hard she clamped it shut.

"Where the devil is the baggage cart? Surely there are other servants?"

"Mama said I wouldn't need extra baggage. She said none of my clothes would be suitable for London fashions in any case. Douglas didn't want the expense."

His half-brother, Douglas Carr, the Earl of Fisher. A man of disgustingly cheeseparing habits except, of course, those that related to the gaming tables or expensive whores.

"Where did you stay at night?"

"Inns."

"By yourself?"

"The driver, he stayed right outside my door, just as Douglas instructed."

"How could your brother let you travel alone but for one servant?"

She rubbed her hands up and down the pale gray velvet of her pelisse. "Are you...very angry?" Her voice fell on the last words.

"Not at you, Ailise. Come." He offered her his hand.

She stared, eyes large, but didn't move.

Oh, damnation.

Was the girl truly all right?

He remembered his mother complaining about Ailise's shyness and how she seemed to get more timid as she grew. He frowned then left the carriage.

Catriona waited outside, the sunlight glittering on the green stones in her hair comb. In the stark light, they looked exactly like paste jewels.

He handed her the wadded letter.

Her brow furrowed, but she took it and smoothed out the paper, then read the note. Her forehead wrinkled even deeper.

"She's only sixteen. What the devil was my mother thinking?" he muttered, then waved his hand toward the carriage. "They have sent her alone."

Her mouth dropped open. "Not even a maid?"

"She said the woman became ill and had to be left behind part-way here."

He reached for Catriona's hand. "She's terrified. She won't leave the vehicle."

"Oh," Catriona said. She handed him the letter then hurried to the carriage. For long moments, he heard her speaking softly.

Eventually, Ailise emerged from the carriage, moving slowly and glancing all around as she did. James wondered what the devil had happened to make her so skittish.

Sunny tried to be patient whilst Ailise stood in the kitchen by the hipbath. The water had begun to steam far less as it cooled, and still the girl refused to remove her shift.

"Please, Ailise, you haven't many clothes with you. They must all be laundered before we begin our journey south," Sunny said with a smile.

In the mirror, the girl stared back at her with eyes that were unnervingly like James', except that, instead of his determination, Ailise's eyes were haunted. Fearful.

Intending to reassure her, Sunny reached and patted the girl's back.

Ailise flinched and jerked away.

Sunny froze.

Color rose in the girl's cheeks and she looked down, biting her lip.

"Wha..." Sunny swallowed, hard, the truth slowly dawning. "What happened?"

Ailise shook her head. "Do no' tell. Please do no' tell!"

"You didn't want to come here, did you?"

"Oh, no, I did not." She raised a stricken expression to Sunny. "I did no' want to leave Annabel."

"Annabel-is that your cousin?" Sunny asked. She had no idea how many half-cousins James had stashed away in the highlands.

"She is my cat. She is very old."

"I see."

"And I-I did no' want to leave Flora." She pressed her lips together and her throat worked rapidly. "She is the cook's granddaughter. Mama and Douglas say that I should no' be friendly with a servant. But she is my only friend in the whole wide world."

"Sometimes it does seem a servant is the only one to offer a sympathetic ear," Sunny said.

Ailise's expression warmed. "You understand."

"Yes. I understand." Sunny swallowed back a burning sensation in her throat. "But what happened?"

"I did no' want to leave. But Douglas said I must. He said I-I had to come in cousin Aggie's place and do my very best to pla-placate the two of you. To be a satisfactory companion. He said, if James were to become unhappy, he might stop sending money to Mama."

"Douglas persuaded you?" Sunny said gently.

Ailise nodded.

A terrible silence fell between them.

"May I keep my shift on?" Ailise said at length.

Sunny nodded again, unable to speak. She held out her arms, not really expecting the gesture to be accepted. But to her surprise, the girl flung herself into them.

Tears scalded Sunny's cheeks.

Almost a full month later, James stared out the window, watching the countryside roll by. The fresh air did little to ease the stench.

The sound of retching echoed in the carriage interior. He glanced away from the window to where Catriona sat, holding a china chamber pot under Ailise's head and patting the girl on the back whilst murmuring words of comfort.

Thank God for Catriona. He would have been all out to sea on how to handle the shy, anxious chit. And his half-sister did not trust him. He thought she tried to hide her dismay. But her eyes enlarged every time he came into the room, and, whilst she grew increasingly animated in Catriona's company, chattering like any girl should, she went immediately quiet and stammering whenever he was near.

All of which he supposed was normal for a girl with a brother like Douglas.

Catriona looked up and he saw her strained expression. Again he cursed his mother.

Catriona was in no condition to handle Ailise. She had just been recovering from her dependence on opiates. From the experiences she had gone through since Freddy's death.

"James." Catriona's voice was soft, but there was an edge to her words.

He tamped down his impatience. "Yes, I know, we must stop. I have already signaled for them to stop at the next inn." He nodded at his half-sister. "You were too preoccupied to notice."

He frowned.

It was unnerving to have a young girl with them. Ailise was prone to carriage sickness and fainting spells.

Devil take his mother!

"How much longer?" Catriona asked, the strain in her tone tearing at his conscience.

"Another half hour at most."

Damn, damn, damn.

There had been nothing but delays for the past month. The night Ailise had come to them and Catriona had told him the terrible truth, he had summoned the doctor from Brownwood. Their journey had been delayed for a week to allow Ailise to heal from her bruises. During that time, Catriona had gone through the pain of her courses, further delaying their travels.

Then, once on the road, rain had further slowed their progress. Today the rain had cleared. They had been making excellent time. And Ailise had been doing better. But then they had hit a rocky patch of road that lasted a half hour too long. The poor girl had valiantly fought the nausea, but the motion of the carriage had overcome her. From what he had seen of the girl over the past month, he knew that Ailise would not recover soon. She would need to eat a bland meal and sleep for several hours.

The thought of what he was putting her through at her tender age ate into his conscience.

Yes, he was used to driving boys her age to work until they were ready to drop, to climb the rigging in high winds and perform any other duty required of them at sea.

However, he certainly couldn't expect a gently bred girl to continue on in such a state.

Resigned to all the inconvenience, he crossed his arms over his chest and sat back.

How easily Catriona took to mothering the adolescent girl, facing each of the seemingly endless days with a bottomless well of sympathy and cheerful energy.

She reminded him of the girl she had once been, only now possessed of a calm maturity he had not expected from her.

She deserves a husband and children of her own.

The unbidden thought angered him.

I don't even know if she can have any children of her own.

Well, with any luck, her examination by his doctor in London would put an end to that question.

And if he says that she can have children, will you let her go?

He took an uneasy breath. She would make a man an excellent wife.

A man of lesser position in life, one could accept a wife with her peculiar failings. He should let her go. He should allow her to find a husband in London. The nagging guilt ate at him. But he couldn't bear the thought of letting her go.

He could not allow himself to ruin her. He would have to keep his hands off her.

At least until the next time they might steal away to the country.

Could Catriona be satisfied with such an arrangement?