Chapter Three
Catryn stared at the tall man striding toward her as she leapt to her feet and moved to put herself between the man and the boy in case this man was a threat. The way Giles moved to her side and grinned told her that this man was his father, or at least someone he knew, but her unease did not fade much. Her first clear thought was that no man had the right to look so handsome, especially when he also looked so furious. His clothing marked him as gentry as clearly as his fine horse did. At some point during his pursuit of her, his midnight-black hair had come undone and flowed back from his finely carved face in thick waves as he moved rapidly over the grass. Straight dark brows met in a vee over his perfect angle of a nose and, as he got near enough for her to see, his eyes were revealed to be a very stormy blue.
“I believe you have something of mine,” he said and placed a hand on Giles’s shoulder. Then he glanced at his horses and carriage. “Two somethings.”
Those statements deserved a reply, but it took Catryn a moment to think of one. The man’s voice was deep and a little rough. It stirred her in a way that made her heart beat faster. She wanted to think about why it did that, and how a man’s voice could affect her so, but quickly shook aside her fascination and curiosity. Now was a bad time to succumb to some odd feminine fluttering over a very handsome man.
“Yes, I do, and I can explain that,” she said and watched one of his brows cock upward. “I borrowed your carriage but had no idea at all that the boy was inside. I would never have taken the carriage if I had.” A little voice in her head whispered that that was probably a lie, that she would just have made sure the boy got out before taking the carriage.
“So if you had known that my young son was within the carriage, you never would have stolen it.”
His tone left her in no doubt that he thoroughly disbelieved her claim. “Exactly.” She frowned and fought down the guilt she was feeling over her actions, for that guilt could weaken her defense. “And I did not steal it. I borrowed it.”
“Taking a man’s possessions without asking his permission is theft.”
“Only if one does not intend to return those possessions, and I left you my mare in trade.”
Orion realized his anger was rapidly waning. The woman stood there arguing earnestly with him, yet there was a hint of fear to be read in her wide, sea-green eyes. Her beauty had caught his eye from the moment he saw her, but he had refused to allow it to dim his righteous anger. The somewhat ridiculous defense she was making was doing just that, however, and his appreciation of her beauty was rising to the fore again. He had to struggle to cling to at least some scrap of his rapidly fading suspicions about her.
She might, if she stood up very straight, reach his collarbone so that he could rest his chin upon the thick curls of her dark red hair. Short and slim though she was, he could see the womanly curves shaping her travel-stained gown. Considering the aids a woman could employ beneath her clothes to add to her shape, he knew he could be misjudging the true curve of her hips, but there was little doubt that she possessed a magnificent bosom, the curve of her breasts full and smooth above the neck of her soft gray gown. Being a man who unabashedly favored a magnificent bosom, Orion had to force himself to keep his gaze on the woman’s face.
There he saw a sweet innocence beneath the beauty, which made him quell the fleeting thoughts of seducing her. Orion divided women into two groups—those he could seduce if he chose to, the ones who knew how to play lovers’ games, and those he would never try to seduce because they could not separate their hearts from the pleasures two bodies could share. This woman might be a thief, but instinct told him she was one of the latter sort. That was the type of woman a confirmed bachelor avoided at all costs, and he was a very confirmed bachelor. And that, he thought, was a damned shame.
“You believed a maimed horse was an even trade for a team of horses, a carriage, and my son?”
“Sorley was not maimed. She will heal with a little care,” Catryn said.
“And she did not know I was in the carriage,” Giles said and shrugged when Orion frowned at him. “If you could have seen her face when I appeared, you would know the truth of that. Near scared her out of her skin when I stepped out and showed meself.”
“It still does not exonerate her from the charge of theft,” said Orion.
“She had a good reason for doing that. Someone kidnapped her son and she is chasing him. She could not do that on a lame horse, could she, and there was your carriage all set and ready to be driven off. I am thinking you need to stop leaving it there so ill-guarded and ready to go.”
“Are you now?”
“Well, it does get borrowed a lot.”
“Which is why I hired Cody, but she pulled a pistol on him when she stole my carriage.”
“She just needed to stop him from stopping her from borrowing it.”
Orion decided he would not get into an argument with a boy over the distinction between borrowing and stealing, especially a boy who had done quite a bit of both in his meager eight years of life. “Who are you?” he asked her, wondering if she would give him the same name she had given Cody.
“Lady Catryn Gryffin de Warrenne,” she replied. “I told your man to speak to my father, Lord Lewys Gryffin at Gryffin House. He is the Baron of Gryffin on the Wold. He would willingly compensate you.”
“I doubt he could compensate me for the plans I had made for the evening, the ones I was forced to cancel to chase you down.” He smiled faintly when, after a brief moment of frowning, she blushed, revealing that she had understood his implication. “Who took your son?”
“His uncle, Sir Morris de Warrenne. The man has been fighting us over the inheritance left to Alwyn by my late husband and just lost yet another fight to gain control over my son, the de Warrenne lands, and the money. He did not take it well, but I never expected him to do this. By custom, I suspect he should have been named Alwyn’s guardian, but my husband never trusted his brother Morris, so he named my father Alwyn’s guardian in his will. My husband may not have been the best husband, and actually he was a terrible husband, but he was careful to do all that was needed to make sure Alwyn got all his birth gave him the right to. He knew Morris would never do that, or honor his wishes.”
“Do you fear for your son’s life?”
Catryn opened her mouth to reply with a resounding no, but the words would not come. It was something that had worried her briefly, but she had pushed that concern aside and then talked herself out of it, if only for the sake of her sanity. She could not do so this time. The thought of how Morris might react to Alwyn’s childish game of speaking to his unseen friends had obviously brewed in her mind long enough to be a deep concern now. There was also the simple fact that Morris could gain a great deal of wealth in land and money if Alwyn was gone. The panic such thoughts stirred in her heart was difficult to subdue.
“I believe I do, although I have never had such a fear before,” she replied, tasting the truth of her own words. She could not thank this far-too-handsome man for putting that worry in her mind, either.
“The man never took the boy from you before, either, did he? Or try to. Perhaps this latest defeat in the courts has made him see that he can never win his case there and must now take a more drastic action.”
“I need to talk to my father,” Giles said as he grabbed Orion by the hand and started tugging him away from Catryn. “We will be but a moment.”
“I still have questions for the lady, Giles,” Orion said. “Can this not wait?”
“Nay, it cannot wait.”
It was not easy, but Catryn stood where she was as Sir Orion and young Giles walked away from her. For a moment she glanced between the boy and his father and the horse the man had ridden up on. The gelding was strong and made for speed. It could help her catch Morris and get Alwyn back.
She shook her head, crossed her arms over her chest, and silently cursed. The horse had been used as hard as the team pulling the carriage had been. It ne
eded to rest as much as the other beasts did. Her heart urged her to grab the horse and race after her son, but common sense told her that she would not get far. All she would accomplish was to run that horse into a state of dangerous exhaustion and end up stranded on the road as night fell, still without her son. Yet she could not be certain this man would allow her to use either the carriage or the horse once the animals were rested. It was an untenable situation and she had a strong urge to scream.
As she waited for the boy to finish speaking with his father, Catryn struggled to recall anything she could about the man. He had not done her the courtesy of introducing himself, but Giles had told her all she needed to know. Sir Orion Wherlocke was not anyone she knew, however. She had heard some bits of gossip about the Wherlockes and their close relations, the Vaughns, but could recall very little of it and certainly nothing that inspired her to believe this man would help her.
It appeared that she was going to have to go to whatever authorities she could to try and get her son back. She had hoped to keep all this trouble private and settle it herself. The few people in authority she had dealt with since her husband had been attacked and died of stab wounds had not been very helpful or capable. Catryn suddenly had an urge to sit down and cry, for she could foresee weeks, even months, of waiting to get her son back.
“Look, you done made her all sad,” said Giles, frowning toward Catryn.
“She stole my carriage and you,” said Orion. “She disrupted my very carefully made plans for the day. And night. She held a gun on Cody.”
“Pfft.” Giles waved a hand in dismissal. “You can charm another skirt, and she would never have shot Cody.”
Although his son’s confidence in his skill at charming women was rather flattering, Orion was a little discomforted that the boy knew exactly what he had been planning to do tonight. “How can you be so certain that she would not have actually shot Cody?”
Giles shrugged. “I just am. I know these things. Always have. She is no danger to anyone. Not even the bastard who took her son. Well, unless the fool actually hurts the boy, and then I think she would show him a fury that would scare the biggest brute alive. Dockside rats would probably run from her.”
Orion did not have Giles’s apparent skill at knowing how people felt but believed his son was right about how the woman would react if her child was harmed. “This is not our business, not our trouble to deal with.”
“I think it is, and not just because the man took her son 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 control of all the boy holds. So, I suppose it behooves us to put a stop to this thievery.”
“Aye, since the one being stolen, and will be stolen from, is one of ours.”
“You do seem very sure of that.”
“I am.” Giles smiled and shrugged. “No use asking why, either.” He slapped his hand over his heart. “The knowledge rests here and that is enough for me.”
“Enough for me as well. Let us go and tell her of her great good fortune in gaining us as allies.” He smiled when Giles laughed and they both walked over to Lady Catryn.
Catryn watched the man and boy approach. They shared a look. No one who gazed upon the pair together for long could ever mistake just whose son Giles was. Although she found just a bit unsettling the way Giles too often seemed more adult than child, she had to admire the way Sir Orion treated the boy with respect, not like some errant child or one who had not yet faced all the hardships life had to offer. There was a sharp mind in that child’s head and it was good to see that his father respected that.
“I need to tend to my horse, have a little of that food you and Giles were enjoying, and then we shall be on our way,” Sir Orion said.
“I cannot return to London,” Catryn said, trying desperately to keep the panic out of her voice. “That would allow Morris to succeed in getting away with Alwyn. I need to stay close on his trail or I may never find him.”
“You will not be returning to London. Giles and I have decided that we shall lend you our assistance in retrieving your child.”
Catryn opened her mouth to thank the man kindly but refuse the offered help and found herself staring at his back as he walked away to tend to his ho
rse. She was not sure what to say anyway. The offer of help was extremely tempting. Caught up in chasing Morris, she had given little thought to the fact that she was a woman alone on the road. Any woman traveling alone faced a great many dangers. It was not a lack of ability to handle the matter of travel that had women dragging men with them everywhere they went, but a simple acknowledgement of the need for one to keep the many potential dangers at bay. Yet she did not know this man, and for all she knew, he could be one of those dangers.
She looked at Giles, who just smiled that cocky little grin he so often did. He had won her trust quickly, for there were no shadows in him. Giles did not hide behind a pretty face and practiced words; she wondered if he had the wit to know if his father did. A boy who had just found a family, been claimed by his father, might be blind to the man’s faults. Children did not wear masks but grown men did. Sir Orion had a very pretty mask, one that could easily beguile a woman, but there could be something ugly lurking behind it. Catryn wished she was better at seeing through such pretense. Her choice of husband had definitely revealed a weakness in that area.
“I am not certain it is wise for you and your father to assist me,” she said.
“You cannot be traveling alone,” Giles said in a tone that would have done a dictatorial father proud. “Women should never do that. I am no true protection, although I am very good at slipping away and hiding. My father can protect you as we look for your boy.”
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