Free If He's Daring by Hannah Howell Page A

exactly how to tell Sir Orion that she thought Morris lusted after her. By the time the maid slipped in and removed the tub with the help of two other young women, Catryn still had no answer. Snuggling down beneath the covers, she decided it could wait. It was probably not important anyway. Morris had gone for her child, not for her, despite once asking her to marry him, and that was what they all had to concentrate on now.
     
     
    “She is hiding something,” Giles said as he crawled into the bed.
    Orion looked at the bed and inwardly sighed. He had been planning to spend the night sharing a bed not with his son but with a lush, eager woman. Being Lady Catryn’s gallant knight was costing him. He stripped to his drawers and climbed into the bed. Crossing his hands behind his head, he stared up at the ceiling and considered what Giles had said.
    “Yes, I believe she is. Something was there, behind her blithe words when she answered my question about how Morris treated her.”
    “Since she is a fair lass, I am thinking the man wanted under her skirts.”
    Orion looked at his son. The boy was frowning as if he would punch Sir Morris de Warrenne in the nose if the man were within reach. Something about Lady Catryn had captivated his son. The boy was on this journey for more reasons than curiosity and the need to help some child. It could be that Giles was experiencing his first infatuation, even if the boy would never recognize it as such.
    “True. Crudely spoken, but true,” said Orion.
    “How are you supposed to say it?”
    “That the man is intrigued by her, attracted to her, wants her for himself.”
    “Oh. Well, he is. Does. It embarrasses her, so that is why she did not say so. Is it important though?”
    “Oh yes. It is important. Morris may even have anticipated that she would chase him down if he took her son.”
    Orion had to admit to himself that he would also like to punch Sir Morris de Warrenne for that. That intrigued him, for he had never before cared who else lusted after a woman he was interested in or even bedding. If she succumbed to any other seduction than his, he simply walked away. He did not share, but not for any deep emotional reason. Since he did not partake of any other woman’s favors while he was involved with a lover, he had always expected the very same courtesy. Yet, the idea that Sir Morris may have eyed Lady Catryn with lust annoyed him. More than annoyed him. He wanted to blacken both of the man’s eyes.
    “So, he really does want everything his brother had, and taking the boy was part of a trap,” said Giles.
    “It could be, yet I begin to wonder if Sir Morris could actually plan anything as clever as that.”
    “Because he is like a spoiled child?”
    “Exactly. He sounds like a man who has never been through the fire, shall we say. Easy childhood, got all he wanted when he wanted it, maybe did not get something he thought he needed, like the attention of his father or some such thing, and has never fully matured into a man.”
    “Buys fancy, eye-stinging clothes and carriages and resents a little boy for getting what he had never earned anyway.”
    Orion nodded. “Exactly right. And eye-stinging was a very good way of describing his taste.”
    “Thank you.”
    Turning his head, he shared a grin with his son but quickly grew serious again. “If we are right, and I believe we are, we may need to keep a close watch on her and our backs. As she told us, when Sir Morris wants something, he wants it now and does not take well to being denied. He could feel that she is not falling into his grasp fast enough and turn back to grab her.”
    “Ha! Just let the bastard try.”
    Orion had to bite back a laugh. He was continuously astounded by the spirit in his son. Despite what had happened to the boy, he still cared, even enjoyed life to its fullest. He laughed easily and played much as any other child would. One could almost forget that the boy had grown up on the dark, deadly