“Chad,” she begged, wiggling in his arms. “Is that a child?”
He stopped then and swung her down, leaning her against the wall. It was warm to the touch, which was terribly frightening. Chad tried the knob as the little voice cried again. “Back away from the door!” Chad yelled.
In one swift kick, he knocked the door near clean off its hinges. Standing there was a little golden-haired boy looking frightened and forlorn. Cordelia watched as Chad scooped the boy up in one arm then came back to her, wrapping another large arm about her. “Can you walk?”
“I have to,” she answered, but just then, Daring came sprinting up the stairs.
“What the bloody hell?” he yelled but then grabbed the boy and turned back down the steps without another word.
“We have to warn the staff,” Cordelia yelled to him.
“They know and they’ve mostly scattered already as far as I can tell.” He pounded down the stairs. “Who am I carrying?”
“I’m Harry,” the little boy said.
Daring bounced the boy more securely in his arms as he hit the bottom step and made a break for the back door. The stableman were already racing past them with buckets of water in hand. Reaching the outdoors, Daring didn’t stop and neither did Chad as they made their way to a carriage parked in the alley. Daring opened the door and practically tossed Harry inside. Then he turned back to Chad. “You get them out of here, check them into the nearest inn. I’m going to help with the fire.”
“Are you certain?” Chad was already stuffing her into the carriage. She made it in on wobbly legs and then collapsed onto a seat. “The Tuttleberry Inn is just down the street. Meet me there.”
With a nod, Daring was off again, joining the bucket brigade.
Chad climbed in after her and snapped the door closed. “You’re safe now.”
Cordelia stared at the man who’d just staged her daring rescue. She wanted to throw herself in his arms and declare her undying love. But she held her tongue. “Thank you?”
He slid on the seat next to her and pulled her into his lap. “You’re welcome.”
She nibbled at her lip as she settled her face into the hollow of his neck. How to marry a man that she loved so deeply knowing he didn’t return her affection?
Chapter Seventeen
Malice held Cordelia in his lap, the little boy sat on the other bench huddled in a ball, tears streaming down his face.
“Harry,” he said softy. “Do you want to come sit with us?”
The boy launched off the bench, landing against Malice’s side with a decided thud. In response, Malice wrapped an arm about him. “You’re all right.”
The boy turned a teary face up to him. “Do I have to go back?”
The boy’s large blue eyes stared up at him, wide and full of fear. “Was that your home?” Had the Countess of Abernath kidnapped a child too?
The boy didn’t speak for a few seconds and Cordelia shifted in his lap to hold the boy’s hand. “It’s all right. You can tell us.”
“I’ve always lived with Lady Abernath.” The boy swallowed.
Well that didn’t explain very much. He hugged the child tighter. “We’ll figure all of this out. For now, you are safe with us.”
The carriage rumbled to a stop and Malice pulled out his two charges, hurrying them into the inn and securing a suite. Calling out a request for a breakfast tray, he ushered them upstairs and locked the door behind him.
Cordelia all but collapsed on a settee and the boy stood staring at her while hugging his chest.
She waved to him and, without hesitation, he hurried over. Opening her arms, he climbed into her embrace. “I had a teacher who was very kind to me,” he said and then burrowed his head against her arm. “She was pretty like you too.”
“A teacher?” she asked, closing her eyes but hugging him closer.
Malice’s heart squeezed to see them curled together. This boy reminded him of himself. If only someone like Cordelia had been there then. Wrapped him in her arms.
The boy nodded. “She left a little while ago. But she said she’d try to come back for me.” Harry tipped his head back. “The countess is very mean. Miss Pennyworth couldn’t stay but she wanted to.”