afraid. It was his duty as a father to protect him with all his heart and soul.
In this regard, Taffy was heaven sent. She played games with the boy, made him feel stronger and more confident. To let him out of confinement and allow him to roam about the house with Taffy would be the perfect restorative to his spirits. Not immediately, of course. But this would be done as soon as the danger had passed.
“We shall get on it at once, my lord,” Mick assured him.
The other runner, Watkins, was a more dour fellow and had a bit of an attitude. It was not something obvious, or anything Gavin could say specifically was wrong with the man. He simply did not trust this runner as he did Taffy, Mick, or Homer Barrow.
He went straight upstairs to his guest quarters. “Taffy, it’s me. Open the door.”
Her eyes rounded when she let him in and noticed the mud trickling down his jacket and clumped on his trousers. “What happened? You look like you fell into a bog.”
“The bounder took off on horseback. I had to leap out of the way to avoid being trampled.”
Rafe gasped.
Blast. He’d scared the boy, for they’d just been through a similar incident in York with that cart careening toward them. “I’m unharmed, lad. Just landed in a big puddle of mud,” he said with a grin and playful tapped a little mud on the boy’s nose and chin with his finger.
The boy giggled.
Taffy poured some water from the ewer into a basin and dampened one of the drying cloths. She made a game out of cleaning the boy’s face, then rinsed off the cloth and handed it to Gavin.
He wiped his hands on it and continued to relate what had happened. “Mr. Barrow and several of his runners rode off after him. Mick and Watkins stayed behind with me. They’re busy securing the house as we speak.”
He turned back to his son. “All is well, Rafe. How about the three of us go to the library once I’ve washed the mud off me and changed clothes? Would ye like that?”
The boy nodded enthusiastically.
“And,” he said, bending down and balancing on his haunches so that he was at eye level to his son, “I’ll order tea and ginger cakes to be brought there for us.”
Rafe turned to Taffy, his big eyes shining. “Did you hear that, Taffy? We’re to have ginger cakes. Your favorite.” He turned back to his father. “They’re Taffy’s favorite,” he repeated as though Gavin hadn’t heard him say this very thing only a moment ago.
“I know, lad.”
He removed his jacket and was about to drop it onto the floor when Taffy’s eyes widened. She caught the garment and hastened to retrieve a larger drying cloth. “Here, drop your clothes on the cloth. You don’t want to dirty the elegant carpet, do you?”
“It seems not. Heavens, what was I thinking?” He grinned and drew up the stool. “Step out, lass. I dinna want to offend yer delicate sensibilities when I drop my trousers.”
She blushed and hurried to stand just outside the door.
“Wait for me!” Rafe ran out after her.
He let the lad go, knowing he would be safe with Taffy.
Rafe had not properly shut the door on his way out, so Gavin could hear the boy’s joyful yelps as he and Taffy now raced up and down the hall. Taffy was cheering him on, encouraging him to expend some of his youthful exuberance.
Gavin smiled as he listened to them, his heart warming to his son’s laughter.
The boy was enamored of Taffy.
So was he. It felt good to be around her. Her presence was a balm to them. “I’m going to marry ye, lass,” he muttered, wiping the last of the mud off his skin.
Of course, they still had to deal with Gordon first. He would be back unless the Bow Street men captured him.
He would worry about that later.
For now, he and Rafe had a few hours to relax and he meant to take full advantage.
After drying himself off, he strode to the wardrobe, found a pair of clean trousers, and hastily donned them and his boots. Since he had yet to shave this morning, he decided to take another moment to attend to the task before putting on his shirt.
Rafe was still racing up and down the hall, Taffy laughing and sounding quite breathless as she tried to keep up with him.
He chuckled, thinking of the two of them racing up and down