Free No Choice but Seduction by Johanna Lindsey

Wait!”
    Geordie covered his face with both arms. Anthony kicked him in the side. The arms fell away with a groan. He didn’t usually kick a man when he was down, but this pathetic worm didn’t deserve gentleman’s rules.
    Anthony bent to one knee to grab a fistful of red hair before he asked, “Where is she?”
    “I dinna know. I swear!”
    His fist slammed into Geordie’s face for the second time. “Wrong answer, Cameron.”
    “My nose!” Geordie screamed as he tried to stem the blood pouring from it. “Ye broke it again!”
    “Did you think you were walking away from here?” Anthony asked. His voice was calm, even when he added, “I’m going to need a shovel by the time I’m done with you.”
    “Ye can ask her! She’ll tell ye it wasna me!”
    “Ask who?”
    “Yer daughter—nae, dinna hit me again! It was m’wife who took her. She brought me down here tae visit her aunt, she said. Then she disappeared for the whole day and came back wi’ yer daughter. She’s oout of her mind and I tauld her sae. The lass knows I had nae part of this.”
    “Then where is she?”
    “I would ha’ brought her home tae ye this morn, but she escaped on her own! I’m no’ oout here looking for her, I’m looking for m’wife tae make sure she doesn’t find her again.”
    “And what gave your wife the idea to do this?”
    Geordie blanched again.

Chapter Nine

     
    I ’M EXPECTING MY NIECE AND HER SERVANTS. Have they arrived yet?” Boyd described Judith for the innkeeper, adding, “She’s a remarkably beautiful child. If you saw her, you’d never forget her.”
    This was only the second inn Boyd had come to, and he still had a lot of ground to cover.
    He’d already paid for a room just to get on the man’s good side. And he had a few more questions ready for the innkeeper as soon as the man responded negatively to his niece story. Boyd had suggested that Judith might have been walked through the front door of an inn, but he didn’t really think that would be the case.
    So he wasn’t expecting to hear, “Yes, sir, second door at the top of the stairs. Right next to yours.”
    After Boyd recovered from his surprise, he asked, “How many servants does she have with her this time?” He made it sound as if he was expecting an extravagant amount, but he was really hoping to find out how many people he was going to be up against when he rescued Judith.
    “Only two women came in with her, sir. If there were other servants, she didn’t require rooms for them.”
    Boyd gave the man a nod of thanks. Good fortune of this sort didn’t usually land in his lap. And now he had a decision to make. Wait the hour or so until Anthony got to town to tell him that he’d found where Judith was being kept, or get her out of there himself? He favored the latter and was halfway up the stairs when Jeremy hailed him.
    Boyd waited for the lad to reach him before he asked, “What are you doing here?”
    “Getting lucky. First inn I check and here you are.” And then Jeremy chuckled. “Actually, I recognized your horse out front.”
    “I thought we’d agreed you wouldn’t show your face around here because you resemble your uncle too much?”
    “Relax, Yank. It’s over—or mostly so. My cousin managed to get herself out of this mess on her own.” Jeremy explained what Geordie Cameron had confessed to. “So Uncle Tony is searching along the highway south of where we ran into Cameron. He sent me north to do the same.”
    “Is that why your voice sounds hoarse?”
    Jeremy nodded. “Considering how smart my cousin is, if she had no luck catching a ride with someone and is trekking it instead, she’s more’n likely ducking into the woods whenever she sees someone coming toward her on the road. But I got no response to my shouts, so she’s probably further south by now. Uncle Tony would like you to remain here for the day—just in case. He’ll send word.”
    Boyd frowned. “I’d say we’re in the middle of ‘just in