‘They’ll sell him dog’s piss and claim it’s a miracle.’ In one month, she had come to adore her adoptive father, but she also thought him incredibly naive at times. His first instinct was to believe what he was told whereas she and Grace knew that most people lied.
‘Help me protect him,’ Grace pressed.
It was laughable to think that Lucy could protect anyone. She hadn’t the fighting skills that Grace did. She had a slender build and couldn’t intimidate a fly. Her greatest asset in bargaining was that she appeared too timid to argue. She stated what she would pay and then cringed away when someone thought to bargain with her. They would meet her price—gently—or she would buy from someone else.
It was pretense—mostly. She had strength in her, but the fear was real.
‘We’ll stay together,’ Grace promised. ‘We’ll help Father.’
Lucy couldn’t argue against that. So she agreed—reluctantly. She stayed close to Grace and their father. She didn’t hide in the trees to watch the exciting bustle of the square. And she discovered that she could barter as easily in India as she had in China.
It was a good day.
But far from making her more relaxed, the success made her more suspicious. Thieves attacked when one was relaxed, when one’s arms were full of goods, when one smiled and thought that today was a perfect day.
So she was wary as they turned back for the ship. She watched everywhere at once until her body ached from the anxiety.
Then she sawhim.
An Englishman with a delicious laugh and the kind of broad-shouldered height to make him stand out in the crowd of stooped natives. In truth, he wasn’t head and shoulders taller than the rest. He just didn’t hunch over his purchases or curl protectively around a purse, so he stood tall. He had no weapons that she could see, and when a child snatched his purse, he laughed even as he caught the boy.
His companion possessed a thicker body and an angry growl. He was going to cuff the boy, but the tall one stopped him. She knew enough English now to hear their conversation.
‘Leave off, Graham. He’s just hungry.’
‘You cannot allow even one. We’ll be mobbed within a second.’
The tall one should listen to the growly one named Graham. Lucy could see street children creeping forwards, waiting to see what he would do with the squirming thief.
He bought the child a meat pie.
‘Cedric! What the bloody hell are you doing?’ his companion cried as the boy grabbed the food and dashed away. ‘That’s your last coin, you oaf.’
She liked the sound of his name.Cedric.
‘It is,’ Cedric admitted as he cheerfully waved the beggars back. ‘I’m done here. All let out.’ He turned his pockets inside out to prove it.
‘You’ll have to pay for your food on the ship,’ Graham moaned. ‘How are you going to eat for the next five months?’
Cedric shrugged. ‘I’ll figure something out.’
‘No, you won’t,’ the companion groused as he hunched his shoulders. ‘You’ll remind me of all the good times we had together in school and then call me a jolly good chum when I pay your way.’
‘What?’ he said with a charming twinkle in his eyes. ‘I hadn’t thought of that, but you are a jolly good—’
‘Oh, stuff it. It’ll be worth it to send your arse back home.’
‘Don’t be like that,’ Cedric said. ‘We’ve had a wondrous time together, haven’t we? I’ve learned a lot.’
‘You have. We have.’ Then he grabbed Cedric’s wrist and pulled him around. ‘Stay in India with me. We’ll find a job for you, I swear.’
‘I would if only to watch you sweat in this heat.’
Graham pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his face. ‘It’s beastly, simply beastly.’
‘But you know I can’t. Besides all the nonsense at home, I won’t browbeat a bunch of peasants all day. I’d much rather go drinking with them.’
His companion shook his head. ‘That’s your problem then. You’ll drink with anybody.’