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

he was the one considered the villain in the tale.
    “It certainly is. You, I do not know, and I believe I neglected to properly introduce myself when I arrived. I am Sir Orion Wherlocke, the father of this boy you ran off with.”
    “I truly did not know he was in the carriage.” She frowned at Giles. “And he made no sound, did not cry out at all.”
    “I was curious about what you were about,” said Giles when both adults looked at him. “Knew you were no threat to me.”
    “How could you be so certain of that?”
    “I know things.”
    Catryn wanted to ask what he meant by that but decided it was not what was important now. Her son had been with Morris for hours. She could only imagine how scared her little boy was. The only thing she needed to think about was how quickly she could get to him.
    “I really must be going,” she said and began to stand up.
    “Sit,” ordered Sir Orion.
    She sat and then scowled at him, blaming him for her immediate obedience. Catryn knew that if she did not leave soon she would be accepting his offer of help. She did not wish to weaken and do so. The problem she faced was hers; it concerned her family, and her son. She should deal with it herself, and she knew this man was about to skillfully show her all the reasons she could not do so.
    “There is very little daylight left,” she protested. “If you are concerned about your carriage . . .”
    “Your father will compensate me,” he finished for her. “I am not offering to help you because I am bored or have nothing else to do. I am offering because someone has stolen your child, because the theft has to do with a man wanting everything that child holds a rightful claim to. Those are crimes I cannot ignore. My family is very firm on the need to protect children—primarily our own, but I believe any one of my family would be ready and eager to assist you. As Giles said, it is only honorable and right to do so.”
    There was such a wry tone to his last words that Catryn had to smile. “And you always do as your son says?”
    “Not at all. If I did, we would have an elephant in the back garden.”
    “Oh dear.” She glanced at a grinning Giles and then laughed.
    “Quite. No, in this he is utterly correct. A man has stolen your child, a man who covets all that belongs to the boy, and we both know how dangerous that is.” He nodded when she paled. “There is no proof that he means the boy harm, but even if he does not, he could gain guardianship of the boy and bleed your son’s inheritance dry.”
    “He might try, but there are strict rules and . . .” Her words faded away when he and his son shook their heads.
    “Rules can be circumvented. My cousin Penelope, now the Viscountess of Radmoor, nearly lost every penny of her inheritance through the machinations of her stepfather and then her stepsiblings. Her half brothers did, too. If this Morris gains control, and he may be able to do so now that he actually holds the child, he will steal all he can. Do not doubt that.”
    She could not. It had been a worry from the first moment Morris had taken them to court. She knew that if Morris gained complete control of Alwyn, he would leave the boy with nothing. What should have been a blessing, a tidy inheritance so that Alwyn did not have to worry about his future, had become a curse.
    “No, I do not doubt that,” she admitted softly.
    “If Giles and I leave you to carry on by yourself, I foresee only disaster. Even if you caught up with Morris and could deal with him on your own, I sincerely doubt Morris is alone. Then there are all the other reasons women do not travel unattended by a male, family or servant. The least that could happen to you is that you would have my carriage taken from you and be left on foot.”
    “I have a pistol.”
    “Which means, if you know how to use it with any accuracy, you could take down one man. After that you must depend upon your own strength to fight off the others, and there would be