If He's Daring by Hannah Howell Read Free Book Online

and it would only be right and honorable to help her get her child back.”
    “That was well said. A palpable hit.”
    “Thank you.”
    “What other reason could there be?”
    “I think her son may have some Wherlocke blood.”
    Orion frowned and looked toward the little redhead pacing the ground over near the carriage. “I see none in her.”
    “I could not say where it might come from, but I think he has a gift like Lady Pen has. He can see spirits.” Giles nodded when his father looked at him in surprise.
    “She told you that?” Orion wondered if he was in danger of being taken in by a pretty face, a woman who knew all about the Wherlockes and thought to use some false connection to get to one of the family for her own gain.
    “Nay, not exactly. She was ranting about how she would never catch that Morris fellow now and worrying out loud about what he might do to her boy. Said the man never spent much time with little Alwyn and might not be kind when her son played his little game of talking to people no one else could see.”
    “Children do that from time to time. It does not mean they talk to spirits. Just a make-believe friend. I believe it is common among children who have few playmates.”
    “Nay. This is more than that, and not all of the ones he talks to are children, playmates, or friends he makes up in his head. He also has hair like mine.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “I am fair sure I saw him. That blue-and-gold carriage went by and I saw a little boy peering out of the window. It was a real quick look but he had black hair. That is the carriage we are after.”
    Orion softly cursed. His son was the third person to mention that the boy had black hair, something the child had certainly not gotten from his mother. Yet, if her son truly was speaking to the dead, and at such a young age, then his connection to the Wherlockes or the Vaughns was not in doubt. If the boy had a gift, it was definitely the mark of one of his kin; far more of a mark than his black hair. It was now not just a need to help a woman rescue her child that would motivate Orion to assist her, but the need to save one of his own.
    He looked at his newfound son and inwardly grimaced. Here was yet another one who was showing early signs of a strong gift. Most of his family showed hints of the gift they had been born with while still in their childhood, but it did not usually grow strong until puberty; although just lately there appeared to be a lot more children revealing a strong gift early in life. Giles revealed a true skill at knowing how people felt, what was in their hearts and minds. He might need to go to Elderwood, the family seat, and train with Aunt Dob, as Modred, the Duke of Elderwood and the head of their whole family, was. God help the boy, he thought, if he was to be cursed with Modred’s gift. It would be difficult for him to find peace anywhere. His future could well be to live as reclusive a life as poor Modred did.
    Shaking aside his growing concern for his son, Orion thought about the woman who was trying to retrieve her own child. Inheritance battles were far too common and very messy. It also usually ended badly for the one who held what others in the family wanted or thought should be rightfully theirs. This time the heir was a small boy, one who could well carry Wherlocke or Vaughn blood, and every instinct he had told him to join her in getting the child safely home. He suspected he would have decided to do so anyway for it was a crime he could not, in all good conscience, ignore, but the possible connection to his family only increased his desire to help her.
    “She fears the man might hurt the boy?” The easiest way to get one’s hands on an inheritance was to kill the true heir, he thought, and he knew it happened more often than people knew.
    “She does, but I cannot see any gain in that for him. Not yet.”
    “Perhaps not, but there will be at some time during the next few years if he can gain