If He's Daring

by Hannah Howell

  “Hello, Mama,” said Alwyn, grinning at her. “I knew you would come. So did Papa.” He saw her glance at Giles and said, “He knows, Mama, and he understands.”

  Catryn sighed. “I suspect he does.”

  “Papa says Giles is one of us.”

  “Well, he is certainly a good man to have on your side.” She felt Giles sit up straighter beneath her arm. “Did Morris hurt you, sweetheart?”

  “He slapped me sometimes, but that is all. I did not like it and Papa wanted to gut him, but it is fine. I just wanted to come home, and waited for you to come and fetch me.”

  “I do not recall Henry being so, um, blunt in his manner of speaking,” she murmured.

  “Papa is not Henry.”

  “Of course he is. Your father was named Henry, Henry Joseph Louis de Warrenne, Baron of Cutler Broadhurst.”

  “No, my papa is called A-E-D-D-O-N. Aeddon. That is what he says. He says Henry was a bastard who deserved that knife in the belly.”

  Catryn did not know what to say. She was ready to accept that her son could speak to spirits, and unusually talkative, cursing ones as well, but that the spirit he spoke to would pretend to be his father was a shock. A look at Giles revealed that the boy was watching Alwyn with interest.

  “Whatever this Aeddon says, I would like you to not repeat the bad words, if you please,” she finally said and ignored Giles’s snort of laughter.

  Alwyn nodded and then they hit a particularly bad stretch of road and had to concentrate on bracing themselves. Catryn did wonder why Orion was racing away so fast and for so long, since he had crippled Morris’s carriage. Even if Morris hired a carriage or some horses, he had lost a lot of time. Then again, she thought as she propped her feet up against the other seat in an attempt to steady them all, Orion was undoubtedly more accustomed to solving such problems than she was. If he thought they needed to get as far away as possible as fast as possible, she would not argue, just hang on to herself and the boys so that they did not arrive at their destination covered in bruises.

  Orion eased up on the reins, allowing his team to slow to a less strenuous pace. He had run them hard, but they did not look too worn. After another mile, he found a good place to pull off the road and let the animals rest for just a little while. He was a little cautious about opening the door to the carriage, for he knew his passengers could not have had a pleasant ride.

  He peeked inside, met three sets of eyes, the blue eyes curious and amused and the sea-green eyes not so amused. Catryn had clearly protected both boys as best she could, for neither one looked as if he had gained any bruises. She looked beautifully tousled. He held out his hand to her.

  “We will have a short rest here before continuing on,” he said as he helped her down from the carriage and then turned to catch each boy as he jumped out.

  “We have lost Morris?” she asked as he began to gather some grass to wipe down his horses and she moved to help him.

  “We will find some water, Father,” said Giles as he grabbed a small bucket from the back of the carriage and, taking Alwyn by the hand, wandered off to find a source of water.

  “Yes, we have lost Morris,” Orion finally replied as they wiped down the horses. “I wanted to put as many miles as I could between him and us during the time it would take him to fix or hire a carriage, maybe even to hire a few horses. Even took a detour or two to throw him off our trail.”

  “And where are we going?” She tossed away the grass and looked around for Giles and Alwyn.

  “To my cousin’s. Radmoor. The seat of the Viscount of Radmoor. Penelope married the viscount and cares for a lot of the children her—and I quote her here—‘randy kinsmen’ keep breeding. And it might be best to tell you now that I have two other sons at Radmoor. Paul and Hector.”

  Before she could recover from her shock enough to question him, Alwyn and Giles returned with a bucket of water and helped Orion water the horses. Catryn watched her son with his new friend and Orion, and nearly smiled. Alwyn was at ease with both the boy and the man. In fact, the way Alwyn stared at Giles made her suspect her son considered his new friend the hero of the day. Considering all the work she and Orion had done to get him back, it was a little lowering, but she could be magnanimous. Giles had done a very good job as well.

  Catryn fetched the basket of food from the carriage, pleased to see that it had been packed firmly enough not to have suffered much from their rough ride. Grabbing a blanket, she spread it on the ground and began to set out all the food. It did not surprise her when Orion and the boys soon appeared. Nothing brought males out of the woodwork like the smell of food.

  “This Penelope,” she said as everyone helped themselves to some of the bread, cheese, and cold meat, “is someone you know very well?”

  “Oh yes,” said Orion. “She has been taking care of my sons Paul and Hector for several years now, ever since their mothers left them at the Warren.”

  “The Warren?” She frowned and felt a trickle of alarm as she wondered just where the other two boys had come from. “You were married once?”

  “No.” He grimaced, knowing he was about to tarnish his armor in a way. “Paul was born to a mistress I had for a while. Hector came from a truly senseless frolic about town when I first arrived in the city. Both women were supposed to have the care of the boys, for which I paid well, but they gave them up. At times, and I fear it is happening with greater frequency, children show what their gift is early. Paul’s mother did not like it. Paul is a bit like you, Catryn. He can sense danger, sense a threat as it approaches. He warned his mother or someone she knew just one too many times, and she did not want him near her any longer. Hector has, well, visions of what might happen and draws them out in some very skillful pictures. I gather he drew a fate for someone his mother knew and she could not be rid of him fast enough.”

  Catryn shook her head. “I do not understand that. I truly do not.” She looked at Alwyn, who was eating with a lack of delicacy she probably should have scolded him for but she was too happy to see him acting normally to care. “I appear to have a child who speaks to the dead, which means spirits must be wandering about near him, thus me, all the time,” she said quietly, leaning closer to Orion so that her son, busily chatting with Giles, did not overhear, “but I would never, never give him up. He is my child, my blood, my heart.”

  Unable to resist, Orion kissed her on the cheek and then grimaced when he heard one of the boys gasp. Glancing their way, he saw his little rogue of a son grinning like a fool while young Alwyn stared at him with wide eyes. He could not stop from wondering if that look of shock was because a man who was not her husband had kissed her, or because the boy had never even seen his father do that.

  “Your mother is a very good woman and said something that demanded a reward,” he told the boy, ignoring the way Catryn was blushing.

  Alwyn stared at him for a moment more and then smiled. Orion was stunned. When the boy smiled like that he could see so many of his family in that youthful face. Even if Catryn’s father had found no written proof of a connection between her family and his, Orion knew he was looking right at all the proof anyone else in his clan would ever need. The tie was there, and he would have to decide what to do about it, for Alwyn’s gift was so strong that the boy would need some training.

  “Yes, Mama is very good,” agreed Alwyn, and then he rushed over to fling himself into her arms and kiss her. “And I should reward you for coming and getting me so quickly.”

  “Oh, love, it was not as quickly as I would have wished,” she said.

  “Fast enough. Morris did not get me on that boat.”

  “Very true. Did he happen to say where he was thinking of taking you?”

  “Prussia. Can Giles and me run about some? I have not had a run-about for days. It was all sit, be quiet, stand there, and do not move a step.”

  “If Giles does not mind—and it is Giles and I, dear.”

  “You want to run about, too?”

  She cou
ld see by the way his eyes almost danced with laughter that he had not misunderstood at all. “Go on. Silly fellow. Run about but stay in sight, please. I need to be able to see where you are. I was frightened when you were taken and it will be a while before I can be at ease when I cannot see you.”

  Alwyn patted her on the cheek. “There was no need to be frightened. Papa was with me the whole way. I was scared at first, but he made me brave again.” He ran off and Giles joined him in dashing round amongst the trees.

  “So it is your husband haunting him then,” said Orion.

  “No, it is some fellow named A-E-D-D-O-N. Aeddon. That is exactly how Alwyn said it. I have no idea why he calls him Papa. I am certain I have never even met a man with that name. It might be something as simple as the fact that my husband was such a poor father that Alwyn has dubbed this spirit as his sire instead. Although that does not explain why a man whose name I have never heard should be haunting my son.”

  Orion was very glad that Catryn was watching her son and not looking at him, for he suspected he had gone pale. Aeddon was not a common name, but he had heard it before. Aeddon Vaughn, a rogue who was not much trusted even by his own family yet had also been dubbed a likeable fellow. Likeable but not one to be left alone with the family silver, a cousin had once told Orion. Last he had heard, the man had been found in the Thames with his throat cut about four or so years back, which had surprised no one in the family who had known him, although he had been grieved for by some. He had not heard if anyone had found out who did it, although he knew the family would do their best to try and discover the truth.

  For one brief moment he struggled with anger and jealousy. If Aeddon was truly Alwyn’s father, that meant Catryn was not quite the innocent she appeared. It was a ridiculous thought. How would Aeddon have ever met Catryn, let alone left her with a child in her belly?

  This was something he was going to have to look into. He would have to be very careful about it as well, for the only one he could really find out much from was a boy of five. If it truly was Aeddon Vaughn haunting the boy, then that was where he needed to go to find out the full truth. Aeddon was speaking through the boy and he would get the truth out of the rogue at his first opportunity.

  “It is beginning to alarm me that you do not have an answer for that puzzle,” Catryn murmured even as she smiled at the way Giles chased a laughing Alwyn through the trees, roaring like some huge beast.

  “Perhaps the spirit was near your home when he died or near someplace you went to,” Orion said. “I could look into the matter if you like. There cannot be many people named Aeddon. Might even ask Alwyn, if the ghost has said anything about who he might be or where he met his fate. Whoever it is, he was a man who did not temper his speech much.”

  Catryn was surprised that she could laugh about such a thing as a foul-mouthed spirit that had attached itself to her child, but she did. “No, it is a spirit with the speech of a dockworker. And ask Alwyn if you like. He would probably enjoy talking about his spirit, as I fear we mostly shush him when he tries.”

  “Penelope is the one to talk to. She grew up speaking with the dead. She will understand and may even have some ideas for how you can help him learn how to hide his gift when needed or explain why it is that he has to.”

  “That is going to be the hardest thing to do. I do not wish him to think he is so different that he is somehow, well, wrong, yet he has to come to understand that this is something he simply cannot share with the world.” She grimaced. “And I wish to do it in a better way than my mother did with me and my foretelling the presence of danger.”

  “It is something my family has been dealing with for generations, so trust Penelope to have a few answers for you.”

  “I will consider it. So, are your other sons going to be at Radmoor?”

  It shocked him but Orion could actually feel the tickle of heat from a faint blush on his cheeks. “They are. They have been with Penelope so long, since each was very small, that she is their mother in both mind and heart. My sons also see the rest of the boys as their brothers. Juno is their sister. They all have families and a few have joined their fathers, as mine have joined me, but they always go back to Penelope and the rest, and do so regularly. As I said, it appears Paul has some foresight, as you do, and Hector has even more.”

  “Has Giles met them?”

  “Yes, and Paul and Giles deal together well. Hector is being a little slow to accept another brother, but there is no true animosity there. One thing Penelope’s boys do is welcome more children. They welcomed a lot when they lived at the Warren, including little Juno.”

  “Why would they not have welcomed Juno if she was left behind as they were?”

  “She is a girl. All of the rest are boys. One can never tell at that age how they will feel about a little girl entering their boys’ world. But they did not care, and even saw to it that she had her own room. Penelope said that when the mother brought Juno to the Warren, the boys put themselves between her and the child and even told her to leave. They proclaimed that Juno belonged to them now.” He frowned when he noticed how her eyes shone with moisture. “That makes you wish to cry?” he asked as he put an arm around her shoulders and held her close.

  “It is touching, that is all.” She felt his mouth press against her hair and wondered how such a kiss could stir her blood as fast as it was doing. “I am pleased they have all made themselves a family. Odd as that family may be, it sounds a very strong one,” she said as she slowly pulled away from him.

  “And no more kissing me in front of the boys,” she whispered.

  He quickly kissed her on her cheek. “I am not sure I can promise that.”

  She was not sure she could promise not to welcome such kisses either. Catryn shook aside the thought. She and her son were together now, and she was not sure what her next step would be. A treacherous voice in her mind told her that she should step right into Sir Orion’s arms and finally discover what a man could give her that would have her smiling in sweet memory like so many other women did. Catryn was not sure how long she would be able to shut up that insidious little whisper of temptation.

  “Best call the boys,” said Orion as he began to pack up what few scraps of food were left. “We cannot linger long. I do not see how Morris would be able to follow us, but nothing has been going as I thought it would, or should, since this little adventure began. I want to get to Radmoor as quickly as we can.”

  Catryn called the boys, pleased when they responded quickly, and then slipped off into the wood to relieve herself. She hated the need to see to her private business outside, but there was no choice in the matter. Worse, she was going to have to tell the boys to do the same and she knew they would think it a lot of fun. Hearing the faint trickle of water, she moved toward it and found a small brook running through the wood. She decided the males could just wait a little longer because she was going to wash some of the travel dust off herself before they moved on to Radmoor.

  Orion frowned when Catryn did not return quickly. He was just about to go and search for her when Giles looked at him, cocked his head in the direction Catryn had gone, and raised one brow. Seeing a good chance to have a few private words with Alwyn, Orion nodded and signaled his son to go and see what the woman was doing. The moment Giles slipped away, Orion looked at Alwyn.

  “The spirit you speak to is named Aeddon?” he asked the boy, and waited until Alwyn stopped staring after Giles and turned to face him.

  “A.E.D.D.O.N. Aeddon. Aeddon Vaughn. He is my papa,” replied Alwyn.

  “And he tells you that he is your father?”

  Alwyn nodded and glanced toward the woods. “Will Mama and Giles come back?”

  “Oh yes. They did not work so hard to find you just to walk away now.”

  “That is what Papa said. He knew when I was scared and he would tell me to be calm, that my mother was on her way. He knew about you, too.”

  “Did he now? But I am curious about why he thinks he is your fa
ther.”

  “Because he is, although he said my mother might not know and he has to think on how to tell me the why of it. Says he does not know the right words yet, only ones a little boy should not say.” His eyes widened. “Oh, I was supposed to keep it a secret.”

  “Do not fear. I will not tell anyone. Do you know what happened to Aeddon?”

  “He got his throat cut and the bad men threw him in the river.”

  “What bad men?”

  “He will not tell me yet. Says it is a long tale and a bad one. He says he has not got the right way to say it when it has to come out of my mouth, but he is thinking on it.”

  Orion sighed and lightly stroked the boy’s hair. “I will wait then.” He saw Giles leading Catryn out of the woods. “Here they come. Into the carriage with you, lad.”

  Catryn hurried over and smiled guiltily. “Sorry, Orion. I heard some water and all I could think of was washing some of the travel dust off.”

  “Not to worry,” he said as he helped her into the carriage after Giles leapt inside. “I do not believe Morris is hot on our heels. I will, however, travel as fast as I can with out wearying the horses.” Just as he moved to shut the door, she put her hand on it.

  “Might I ride up with you?” she asked quietly and then glanced back at the two yawning boys. “I believe the boys might like to lie down on the seats since the ride should not be too rough.”

  Orion hesitated only a moment. “Have your pistol?”

  She patted the side of her skirt where the weapon was tucked into a hidden pocket. “Still with me.”

  “Come along then. There is little chance of you being seen on the route I will be taking.” He looked in at the boys. “Behave yourselves.”

  As soon as they were on their way, Orion glanced at Catryn and considered what he had learned from Alwyn. The spirit clinging to the boy was the one he had thought it was, and he had obviously died hard. Yet, there was little chance Catryn or her son would have been in the area where Aeddon died. That still left the puzzle about why Aeddon’s spirit had attached itself to the child and why they had such a strong connection that they could carry on whole conversations. From what his relatives with similar gifts had told him, that was very rare.