If He's Dangerous

by Hannah Howell

  “He did not give you much information, did he?” said the duke. “I should have aimed for the pistol, but I thought shooting his wrist would be a better bet.”

  “It worked. Unfortunately, he bled to death,” said Argus. “But it is one less to worry about. And my thanks for protecting my children.”

  “Darius was the one the man grabbed,” said the duke. “Olwen warned us, so we got to him before the man could get the child on the horse. I have the chilling feeling that the man had been watching us come and go from here for a while, just hoping for some opportunity to get something to use against you. He must have thought God was on his side when young Darius decided to have a wander.

  “Now, if you will excuse me, I believe I shall go talk to my children about all manner of things concerning this incident, such as not coming to the rescue when the only place you can reach on your enemy is his knee.” He smiled faintly when the men laughed and then patted Darius and Olwen on the head. “I hope you now understand that the danger your father told you about is very real.” Both boys nodded and the duke turned to Stefan. “Well done, sir. And perhaps you will wander by soon and we can discuss how you could so easily know that man was dying.”

  After the duke was gone, Argus looked at the dead Jones one last time and then looked at Stefan. “I am sure you will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it was the duke’s shot that really killed him.”

  “Most likely, and did so faster,” Stefan replied and then quickly told Argus what had happened. “His children did not like him going into danger, I think. He is their lodestone.”

  “Poor man must have felt his heart stop.” Argus shook his head. “Now we just have to tote this corpse somewhere.”

  “I will fetch his horse,” Stefan said.

  By the time they returned to the gatehouse, Max was waiting. He and two men took possession of the body, telling him quite nicely that the duke, the magistrate of the area, would tend to the matter. Argus decided that having a duke around could be helpful and then went to find some brandy. He kept an arm around each son’s skinny shoulders as he walked, realizing how close he had come to losing one of them. It would be a long time before he forgot it. One glance at the faces of his family told him that his decision would not be argued.

  Cornick has to die.

  Chapter 15

  Lorelei frowned at the note the baker’s youngest child had given her. Despite her skill with herbs and salves, she was not often called upon to try and heal anyone. Once a doctor had arrived in the village, the healing skills of the lady of the manor had not been in much demand. The baker claimed the doctor was not to be found, however, and that his eldest son’s burns were very bad.

  On a normal day, she would collect what she needed and rush off to help, but this was not a normal day. Guards surrounded them as if they were under siege, which she supposed they were in a way, although she was not sure what Cornick and his one remaining henchman could do. However, though the attack on the children three days ago had ended with no one but Cornick’s man being hurt, her father had been unsettled by it all. He had had his children with him as well as Argus’s boys. Her father even saw Stefan as a child despite how that child had helped him fight the man and put a knife in Jones’s back. Now he wanted them all inside, under guard, until Cornick and his man were caught. Lorelei was a little surprised that her father was not outside marching around, his pistol in his hand. She had never seen him so angry.

  Yet, the baker was one of Sundunmoor’s people. She could not ignore the cry for help. For a moment she hesitated, thinking that she should do up her hair, for it was simply braided and hanging down her back, and then she shook her head. She had no time for vanity. Lorelei tucked the message in the hidden pocket of her gown and went to collect the supplies she needed to treat a bad burn. And she would take a very large, armed guard with her even though she felt certain she would be safe within the village.

  To her surprise it was Wynn who stepped up to be her guard. After she left the baker’s message and one of her own on her father’s desk, she found Wynn waiting by the door when she stepped outside. “I hope you do not mind walking,” she said as she started off to the village at a brisk pace.

  “Like it more than I do riding, m’lady,” he drawled.

  It was a beautiful day, warm but not too warm, and sunny. They had been blessed with an unusually fine span of weather although the farmers were starting to complain of lack of rain for the crops. Lorelei suspected she would have to bear a lecture from her father for leaving the house, perhaps even one from Argus when she met him tonight, but it was still good to be outside. She hoped the baker’s son was not too badly burned, for that was a very painful injury to suffer, one that could even scar or maim a person.

  Her thoughts drifted to Argus as they too often did. Although their affair continued, he made no declarations to her. Lorelei was increasingly afraid she was about to lose her gamble. She had none of the gifts Argus’s family did, but she was also certain this fight with Cornick was rapidly coming to an end. Yet, Argus still gave her no sign that he would stay with her or wanted her to stay with him. It hurt and that pain was increasingly hard to hide.

  She had done her best to try to ease the fears Olympia had said afflicted Argus. Lorelei had tried to show him how much she loved him. She had even whispered the words during their lovemaking, but he had never acknowledged them or responded in kind. Another hurt dealt, but she endured.

  It was harder to show him that she would never leave, would not walk away from him or any children they had. All she had been able to do was show him how she loved her family and how she accepted his sons. Her jealousy over their conception was gone, or nearly so. She still felt a pinch of it when she feared she would never have his children simply because he would not stay to father them. She endured that, too.

  “I am a fool,” she muttered.

  “Nay, m’lady,” said Wynn. “T’other one is though. Lord Starkly had a word with him t’other day but do not think he heeded any of it.”

  Good God, she thought, did everyone know what was going on between her and Argus? “Um, yes, well. Sometimes a person has to be hit over the head before he gives up a long-held, utterly wrongheaded opinion.”

  “True. I would not be surprised if one of the others soon tries just that.”

  It was embarrassing to know that even Wynn was fully aware of what was going on, but she could not fully stop a laugh from escaping. Maybe that was what she needed. From all Olympia had told her there were barely any Vaughns or Wherlockes who had not suffered from parents shackled into a miserable marriage or been deserted by the parent who was not a blood member of the clan. Such troubles left deep scars. If others who had suffered as Argus had talked to him and urged him to shake off his fears, it could help her cause. Right now she would take all the help she could get.

  “Ah, there is the baker’s shop,” she said and started toward the door.

  Wynn moved in front of her, stepping inside first and looking around before allowing her inside. Lorelei wondered just how dangerous Leopold’s work for the government was that he should have such well-trained guards. As she entered the shop she briefly wondered what had happened to the baker’s youngest son, but shook off the concern. Then a chill went down her back as she saw the baker’s pale face. He also looked very nervous. Lorelei feared the son’s burns could be very bad indeed.

  “No sign of the doctor yet, Master Baker?” she asked as she stepped up to him.

  “No. No sign of the man.”

  Master Baker’s gaze was darting here and there so much it was starting to make Lorelei nauseous. She had never seen the burly, good-natured man look so nervous and upset. It began to make her uneasy, but she shook that aside. His son was badly injured and the whole village knew that Master Baker was as fond and proud of his boys as any man could be.

  “Show me to your boy then, Master Baker, and I will see what I can do for him.”

  A strangled noise came from
the man’s throat at the same time that Lorelei heard something heavy hit the floor. She turned to see Wynn on his knees, a knife in his back. Lorelei moved to go to his aid as he slowly fell facedown on the floor, but a hand on her arm yanked her to a halt. She turned to look at her captor and her heart sank so sharply she was compelled to put a hand on her chest. A man she strongly suspected was Charles Cornick stood next to her, his grip on her arm tight to the point of being painful and a look of such smug satisfaction on his narrow face that her palms itched with her inclination to slap it off.

  “They have your son, Master Baker?” she asked and saw tears well in his eyes.

  “Both of them and me wife.”

  She patted his arm. “It will be all right.”

  “For him but not for you.”

  Lorelei ignored Cornick. “Papa understands the need to protect children.”

  “How sweet. Now, come with me.” Cornick yanked on her arm.

  She braced herself and fought against his pull. “I do not think so. You will use me as a weapon against Sir Argus.”

  “Let me change your mind. Look there and tell me no again.” He nodded in the direction of where Wynn had fallen.

  She looked and cursed aloud. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the baker’s shocked expression and shook her head. Did he expect her to be sweet, perhaps swoon gracefully? The sight before her was enough to make a vicar curse. A big, ugly, and none too clean man crouched by Wynn, the knife that had been in Wynn’s back now held to his throat.

  “Such bravery,” she sneered. “Using children and women to make my baker betray me and now threatening the life of a wounded and unconscious man.”

  “Damn you, your people done killed Jones,” said the man with the knife.

  “I do apologize, but when he tried to steal one of the children, we did not feel there was time for tea and talk.”

  “You best watch yourself, bitch.”

  “Or what? You will kill me? That has already been planned, has it not? And you expect me to help bring another into your trap? I will not do it.”

  “You do not have to do anything,” said Cornick. “All you need to do is be the bait.”

  She opened her mouth to scream and he had her gagged before she could draw breath. Lorelei tried to struggle free of his hold, but he got her hands tied behind her back and all she could do was fruitlessly kick at his legs. That earned her a slap across the face that nearly knocked her to the floor, all that kept her on her feet being Cornick’s grip on her.

  “Listen to me, woman,” he hissed into her ear. “I am a desperate man and it is not wise to push too hard at a desperate man. You do know what they say about cornered animals, do you not? Well, I am feeling very cornered now.”

  “Sir,” called the baker, his voice trembling with fear, “she be the duke’s daughter. He will be very angry if anything happens to her.”

  “He has a house full of bloody children,” Cornick snapped. “It will probably take him days to know one is missing.”

  “He will know and right soon, too. He knows all his children, all the others living there, too, and near everybody in the village and on his lands. And what he does not recall, his butler Max does. And he is going to be out for blood when he learns you took his lass.”

  Lorelei watched Cornick and his man exchange sneers and knew they did not believe a word of the baker’s warning. It was interesting to know how well the people knew their duke, she mused, and would have to try and remember to tell him. It would please her father. She refused to even consider the possibility that she would not get free of this man.

  “You,” Cornick said to the baker, “will wait one full hour before you tell that bastard Wherlocke that one of his men is here and hurt. One full hour and do not think we will not know if you do not do exactly as you are told. Punishment for disobedience will be taken out on that sweet wife of yours.”

  She subtly shook her head but was not sure if the poor baker knew what she was trying to tell him. He did not know that Cornick and the man Tucker were the only ones threatening him, that the minute they both fled on their mounts, the baker could do as he wished. Glancing at Wynn, she saw a faint flicker of his surprisingly long eyelashes and had a suspicion he was not as hurt as he wanted Cornick to believe.

  “Mayhap we should tie the fool up like we did his wife and brats,” said Tucker.

  “That may be a good idea,” agreed Cornick, “but be quick about it. People will start to get curious if he keeps the shop closed, but they can see him in here. Toss him down behind his own counter,” he added as Tucker roughly yanked the man around and tied him at the wrists and ankles.

  Lorelei winced when Tucker threw the baker on the ground and kicked him with an idle cruelty. He then gagged Master Baker, who was still protesting that he could not help Wynn or his family if he was tied up. It would certainly be enough to get them that hour they wanted, however, an hour to get far away from Argus and any pursuit. No one would wish to break into the shop, and there would be a long time spent talking about what to do and why the baker’s shop was closed. Cornick undoubtedly thought that would be good enough.

  As he dragged her out the back of the baker’s shop she prayed someone, anyone, would find the man. Since Tucker had said they had tied up the baker’s family as well, she prayed the baker’s wife had a lot of friends who wanted to come round for a gossip, friends who would know the woman should be home and would raise an alarm. She needed someone to know what was happening so that rescue could be planned, because she was certain that, even if he got whatever he wanted, she was going to die.

  “Where’s my father? I have to see my father,” demanded Olwen as he burst into the duke’s manor.

  Max grabbed the distraught boy by the shoulders just as Darius came running into the house behind Olwen. He could see that Darius was almost as frantic as his brother. Gripping that boy by the arm, Max held them there.

  “Take a deep breath and tell me why you need to see Sir Argus immediately,” said Max.

  “He has to go to the village,” said Olwen, gasping slightly as he struggled to calm down. “His lady is in trouble in the village.”

  “Lady Lorelei is here,” said Max.

  Olwen shook his head. “Nay, she is in the village and she is in trouble.”

  Argus hurried out of the parlor, where he and the others had been discussing what they could possibly do next to get Cornick. The man was having his men try to grab people in what appeared to be a completely unplanned way, and yet he kept disappearing. Even Bened had trouble following the trail of the man and his remaining accomplice. Now he could hear that something had upset Olwen and he feared there had been another attempt to kidnap one of his family. He could hear his family and the duke follow him, but Olwen held all his attention.

  “Olwen,” he said, and the moment Max released the boy he ran to Argus, coming up against him so fast and hard, Argus grunted. “What is it? What has upset you?”

  “Your lady is in the village and she is in trouble,” replied Olwen. “I saw it. We have to go and get her back.”

  Argus frowned. “Lady Lorelei had no plans to go to the village.”

  “Why are you not listening to me?” yelled Olwen. “She is in the village and she needs help. So does the man with the bread.”

  “The baker,” said Max as he stepped up to them.

  Argus had not even seen the man leave, but he had obviously gone somewhere and now held two small scraps of paper. He took them from the man’s hand and read them before handing them to the duke, a cold knot of fear settling in his stomach. The baker, who was undoubtedly Olwen’s bread man, had called Lorelei to the village claiming that his son was badly burned and the doctor could not be found.

  “I think we had better go and see if the boy has a right to be upset,” said the duke as he marched past Argus and headed out of the house.

  Ordering the boys to stay with Max, Argus hurried after the duke, who was already half the way to the stables, Iago, Le
opold, Stefan, and Bened hard at his heels. It took him a moment to notice that Wynn was not with their horses, having a comfortable chat with the stable hands as was his habit. “I think she took Wynn with her,” he said as he watched the hands rushing to saddle five horses. “So she will be well guarded.”

  “Then we will find her safe and she can be annoyed at us for racing around and interrupting her healing work.” The duke frowned. “The fact that the note said the doctor was not around troubles me. He is almost always around, for those outside the village most often go to him instead of having him ride out to them. There could be a troublesome birth he is attending, I suppose. Mabel Sears was due soon, but she never has trouble, not once with any of her eleven children.”

  Argus had no answer to that, so he just shrugged. It was a warning sign that all was not right, however. A moment later they were riding to the village. It could have been walked to, but he knew there might be a need to have horses. Better to have them right at hand than lose time by going back to get some.

  When they reined in in front of the baker’s, Argus knew there was trouble, that Olwen had not been confused by what he had seen. It was almost midday and the baker’s shop was locked up tight. There was a small crowd of people gathered at the shop trying to see into the windows. They parted quickly when the duke stepped up to them.

  Just as the duke began to ask if anyone had seen anything, a short, plump woman came running out from behind the shop. “I cannot rouse Millie,” she cried. “We was to go see the new cloth in the mercantile’s and she ain’t answering my rap at her door. Ain’t seen them lads of hers either and they are near always about.”