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“I suggest you do everything in your power to ensure that you are. If I am forced to visit your bedchamber again, I will be bringing my whip with me.”
Leaving Elizabeth in no doubt that the earl meant to see her dead.
A warning to Elizabeth that no matter whether she felt well enough or not, she had to go through with the plan to leave here during the night.
Or risk the true danger of her father-in-law succeeding in killing her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sterling had no idea what had roused him from his fitful slumber.
A noise outside, perhaps?
Or one inside?
He could not be certain it was either when he could no longer hear anything other than the usual unnatural quiet of what, after a quick glance at his pocket watch, he knew to be the very early hours of the morning.
But something had woken him, and with the rest of the household asleep in their beds, whatever it was needed to be investigated sooner rather than later.
As his preference was to sleep without clothing Sterling paused long enough, once out of bed, to pull on a pair of pantaloons and a loose white shirt before lighting a candle and stepping out into the shadows of the hallway.
His footsteps echoed as he held a single lit candle aloft to light his way down the wide staircase to the cavernous entrance hall below.
“—are we to do now?”
“Wait till morning, I expect.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t know, do I? I’m just doing as I’m told, as should you.”
Sterling didn’t recognize any of the two female and single male voices he could hear whispering down the hallway from the direction of the kitchen. The voices all sounded young, and his housekeeper was an elderly lady. It could be two of the maids and a footman, he supposed, although he had thought the former lived in the village with their families and only came to the house to work during the day and early evening.
Whoever they were, he had no idea what they could possibly be doing in the kitchen in the middle of the night.
He was quite unprepared to stand in the doorway of that room and find a young man and not two, but three young ladies, none of whom he recognized as belonging to his household. All were seated about the table in the middle of the kitchen, illuminated only by the light of a single candle.
The youth had fair hair, one of the ladies had dark hair, the second a redhead. The third woman was slumped over the tabletop, a cascade of loose golden hair covering her features. Sterling realized there was also a small dark-haired boy present, possibly aged three or four, who appeared to be fast asleep on the lap of the red-haired woman.
Sterling might not be able to see the face of the woman slumped over the table, but as he had spent hours two nights ago admiring that particular shade of golden hair, he knew exactly who the third woman was.
Elizabeth.
“Oh my Lord,” the dark-haired young woman gasped, having glanced up to see him silhouetted in the doorway.
“Close,” Sterling drawled softly.
She rose to her feet. “I’m sorry for the intrusion, Your Grace.” Revealing she knew exactly who and what he was.
“How did you get in?” Sterling had every confidence that Rogers would have locked all the outer doors of the house before he retired to bed.
The brunette blushed. “Luckily, the back door was only locked, not bolted, and my older brother taught me how to pick locks. Just for fun, you understand,” she added hastily.
“That doesn’t explain why you chose to pickmylock.” He was now sure he had never seen any of these young people before.
“Lady Elizabeth obviously isn’t well enough to travel at the moment,” the brunette dismissed. “And we can’t go back there.” She shuddered.
“Not well enough to travel where?” he prompted sharply. He crossed the room to place his lit candle down on one of the wooden work surfaces.
