If He's Daring by Hannah Howell Page A

his hands and moved to stand in front of her, crossing his arms over his chest.
    “Morris sent five men after you,” he replied.
    “Five? After me?”
    Her heart sank as she realized that her fleeting thought that Morris may have taken Alwyn to get to her should not have been shrugged aside. Marrying her would put Morris in reach of all he coveted. The moment they were married, his chance of becoming Alwyn’s guardian would become a certainty. When he had turned to the courts after her resounding no to his proposal, she had foolishly believed that he had given up the idea of marrying her.
    “They were not after kidnapping me or Giles,” Orion said. “The two we caught sneaking into your bedchamber even had the good sense to confess that they were after you. The three we met outside were to kidnap you if the first two failed or, if their friends succeeded, to make certain I would not be able to set out after you immediately.”
    “They were here to hurt you and Giles?” Guilt washed over so strongly she felt ill with it.
    “Which means that Morris not only knows you are on his trail but that you are not alone.”
    “He has been watching for me,” she whispered, shocked by such foresight on Morris’s part.
    “It would appear he has, and there is no way we can be sure who is doing the watching and reporting, so we must go on with the knowledge that Morris is fully aware of the fact that you are chasing him.”
    “And just what were they supposed to do with me?” she asked.
    “Take you to Morris. Unfortunately, none of them knew where he was. The man had devised a rather clever and convoluted way for them to get word to him if they were successful in capturing you. A message left in a sheep shed on the Downs would be only the first step. I have men going to see if they can find it. Once they finished following whatever trail Morris set out for them, only then would Morris come to collect you and pay off his hired ruffians. Or send someone else to do so.”
    “He thinks he can use Alwyn to make me do what he wants.”
    “And what does he want aside from all your son’s holdings as his father’s heir?”
    Catryn inwardly cursed, knowing that she was cornered and could not hide the truth from Sir Orion any longer. It had been wrong to hold back anything when the man was so willing to help her. The fact that the truth embarrassed her, even made her worry she might sound vain, did not justify her actions. In truth, none of the reasons Morris had for wanting her were the sort worthy of stroking a woman’s vanity.
    “When Henry was barely cold in the ground, Morris suddenly decided that marrying me would be a good idea. He obviously believed it was the easiest way to get his hands on all that Henry’s will had denied him. It was after I said no that he started trying to get everything through the courts. Not only did I refuse him quite vigorously but I told him I was certain it was actually illegal for a man to marry his brother’s widow.”
    “Under ecclesiastical law, yes; it is illegal. But he could take you to Scotland or to some other country where they do not demand by law that you be wed in a church as they do here The only legal way to end such a marriage is if a close relative protests it, takes it before the courts.”
    It took only a moment for Catryn to understand the ramifications of that. “Then my father could be in danger, for he would protest very loudly and Morris knows it.”
    “Not until you are actually married to Morris. And I have come to believe that he is rather consumed by his plans of the moment. Those plans now appear to be getting his hands on your son, which he has done, and then you, which he just failed miserably at.” He frowned. “That could mean he is not willing to leave the country until he has both of you, which could definitely complicate matters.”
    “I believe matters are quite complicated enough now.”
    “For you, yes. I was speaking of myself.”
    It was an