Mistletoe and Mayhem - Cheryl Bolen Page 0,55

punching both in the nose.

Pip was dropped, and Hector did his best to cushion his fall and gather him up. He hefted the crying boy into his arms and held him tight as he backed away from the boy’s would-be assailants, one fist still raised. “Don’t you dare try anything against me. Who the hell are you to touch my son?”

Hector blinked even as the men advanced on him. Apparently Hector had decided to be Pip’s new papa, after all.

He slid Pip behind him and raised both fists, ready to defend his new family from all comers.

But he soon wasn’t alone in the hall. Alerted by the commotion, Parker was suddenly between Hector and Pip’s assailants. Parker grabbed one fellow by the throat and banged him into the paneled wall. “My employer asked you a question. Answer him.”

The fellow, a bit larger than Parker, struggled and fought. “We were only doing what we were paid to do!”

Hector picked Pip up into his arms, aware the poor boy had been frightened badly and was shaking like a leaf now. “By whom?”

“We were to take the boy. That’s all I know.”

But someone had hired them. And a servant below stairs must have let this pair in and showed them the way to the boy’s chamber. “Take him where?”

“Don’t know, but there’s a carriage waiting in the woods to take him the rest of the way.”

“The boy won’t be going anywhere.” Hector held out one hand, fingers clenched in a fist still. “Come near this boy again, and I’ll do worse than bloody your nose. Don’t ever let me see your face again!”

The second man, obviously believing Hector meant every word, started inching down the hall away from them all, clutching his nose.

Although Hector would prefer to question them further, they were just pawns, and the boy was his priority. “Let him go, Parker.”

Parker released the fellow he’d held by the throat and straightened up slowly. The men turned and fled for the servants’ staircase; they shoved at each other as they made their escape.

When they were gone, Parker turned back to Hector. “Is the boy all right, my lord?”

“I’ve no idea yet.” Hector turned on his heel and stalked to his chambers. Pip’s grip tightened on his neck as they entered the room, and Hector sat down with him. “It’s all right, my boy,” he whispered. “I won’t let them touch you again. Let me look at you, son. Are you hurt?”

“My arm,” Pip said, sobbing softly.

Parker came to kneel at Hector’s feet. “May I see your arm, lad?”

Pip’s grip on Hector eased, and he showed Parker his arm with obvious reluctance. Hector held his breath as his valet carefully inspected the child’s hand, wrist, and forearm. “I don’t think it serious, but perhaps it should be wrapped for the night just in case.”

Hector held Pip a bit tighter against him, seething with anger that perhaps the servants at The Vynes had conspired to take Pip away from him and Ruby. “Do it yourself. Do not involve The Vynes servants.”

Hector sat back, holding the boy snug against him. He felt protective of the boy now more than ever. Hector dropped his chin to the boy’s head. “I won’t let anyone take you away from your mama or me.”

Pip’s grip on his neck tightened. “Where is she?”

“Still at dinner.” He didn’t relish telling Ruby that The Vynes was not the haven she’d believed it to be. “I’ll fetch her.”

Pip grabbed him, shaking like a leaf. “No! Don’t leave me,” he cried.

“I’m not going anywhere yet,” Hector promised, even rocking the boy in his arms a little in the manner he’d noticed Ruby do on occasion. His heart swelled with tenderness for the boy, and with fear, too. What if he’d not come upstairs when he had? Pip might have been miles away before the abduction had been discovered.

Parker returned, his hands full of pristine white pressed linen cravats ripped in half. “It’s the best I can do.”

“A sacrifice for a worthy cause,” Hector promised, ruffling the boy’s hair and making him sit up for Parker.

Pip’s wrist was bound firmly. “He needs rest, my lord,” Parker suggested.

Pip just about strangled Hector out of fear of being separated.

“It’s all right, my boy. You can stay here and sleep in my bed tonight. Parker will be with you every moment. I will have to leave you to fetch your mother. Do you still want her?”

“Yes, but I want you, too,” Pip whispered, and his grip on