Chapter 16
Sunny thought that his heart was going to explode before he reached Mantheria. He urged his horse to go faster and forgot to breathe as the man got on top of her.
“Faster!” he yelled and kicked the sides of his horse.
Mantheria had escaped her attacker’s clutches only to be caught a second time.
The villain held his sinister-looking knife over her body as if about to stab her.
Sunny didn’t have time to think. He wasn’t a cavalry officer with a bayonet at his disposal to stab the man as he rode by.
In fact, he had no weapon at all. He had only his clothes and his boots that she’d helped him pull on that morning.
Right before he reached the attacker, Sunny stuck out his boot, hitting the man square in the belly, and he toppled backward and away from Mantheria.
The force of the kick caused Sunny to fall off his horse and hard onto his back, knocking the wind out of him.
But he couldn’t wait for air; Mantheria was in mortal danger.
He got to his knees and then to his feet and stumbled on unsteady pegs toward the ruffian.
There was a sharp jab to his jaw and another to his left eye before Sunny remembered to protect himself.
At least the fellow didn’t still have his knife.
Sunny blocked the assailant’s next couple of blows and even managed to get a jab to the man’s nose that bled freely.
Mantheria screamed, and Sunny turned to look at her as another punch hit his neck and nearly knocked the wind out of him a second time.
Staggering back, he saw that Mantheria had picked up the assailant’s knife.
She was no longer unprotected if he did not win this fight.
Sunny barreled into the man, and they both fell to the mud, with Sunny on top.
He got to his knees and punched the assailant’s face with both fists until the man was knocked out cold and Sunny’s knuckles were raw and bloody.
Gingerly, Sunny got to his feet and walked toward Mantheria, favoring one leg over the other—the one that had not kicked the assailant.
One of his eyes was already swollen and hard to see through.
It would probably turn black. But neither hurt as much as the pain in his neck.
“Are you all right?” Mantheria asked.
Every part of his body ached, but Sunny would never tell her that. “I’m fine. I’m only sorry that I didn’t arrive sooner, sweetheart.”
She ran into his arms and nearly knocked the wind out of him for a third time. He heard the thud of the knife falling to the ground when she wrapped both of her arms tightly around his waist. With a feeling of elation strengthening him, Sunny thought that he could get used to this sort of pain.
“I was so very scared,” Mantheria said, sniffing. “Oh, Sunny, if you hadn’t come when you did, I—”
She didn’t finish her sentence but rather cried into his coat. He rested his sore chin against her curls. “I’ll always come, darling.”
Mantheria nodded against his chest.
Sunny’s sore neck and sorer head couldn’t think of the right words. So he merely patted her back and kept repeating, “There, there.”
After a few blissful minutes, Mantheria leaned back to look him in the eye.
Her arms were still around his waist, just where he wanted them to be.
“That horrible man had Andrew tied up in the abandoned barn. I can’t imagine what he might have done to my son if I hadn’t arrived any sooner.
I was able to untie Andrew and told him to take my horse.
He went toward Bristol Road, so I suppose that we should start walking in that direction.
I told him to go home—it’s at least fifteen miles from here. Do you think he made it?”
“I am certain that he made it to Chewton Mendip,” Sunny said, keeping an arm around her shoulders and guiding her back to the road. He wished that his horse had not run off, but there was nothing that he could do now but walk.
They had nearly reached the road when Sunny saw a group of riders coming fast in their direction. He felt Mantheria tense beside him, but he was certain that Andrew had sent rescuers for them. The boy was smart.
Mantheria breathed heavily and leaned against him as the horse riders not only stopped to meet them but surrounded them in a circle.
His lips twitched, pulling at his sore eye.
He recognized every one of them: Wick was on his black stallion, Matthew was on a showy chestnut, Becca rode her beautiful gray, beside her was the annoyingly handsome Earl of Norwich, who didn’t have a speck of dirt on his riding coat or boots, then the Duke and Duchess of Hampford, with Andrew between them.
Gasping, Mantheria broke from Sunny and ran to her son.
Sunny recognized that Andrew was still atop Mantheria’s hack.
She touched his closest leg and let out a sob, which he assumed was one of relief.
“I was so worried about you, Andrew. You must promise to never leave on an adventure without me again.”
Tears ran down Andrew’s dirty cheeks as he slid down the side of the horse and into his mother’s arms. “I won’t, Mama. I promise.”
Mantheria cried freely and nodded at her son, holding him close to her.
The duke and duchess dismounted and encircled them both in a tight embrace.
It was a tender scene that highlighted how much the Hampfords loved their children.
Sunny was both touched and a bit envious.
His mother would never have attempted to come to his rescue, nor would she have embraced him so lovingly.
What his father would have done, Sunny would never know, since the late duke had been fonder of the bottle than of his own family.
Wick dismounted and hugged Sunny almost as tightly as Mantheria had. “Thank you for helping my sister. You truly are the best man I know.”
“But you look terrible,” Matthew said from behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that his best friend’s little brother was smirking from on top of his horse.
“You have perfect timing as usual, Matthew,” Sunny said, shaking his head. “You always turn up after the fight.”
“If I turned up before it, I might have had to participate myself instead of letting you and Wick fight all of my battles for me.”
It hurt to smile, but Sunny couldn’t help it. Wick didn’t help either when he clapped him on the shoulder. Sunny groaned. It seemed as if there were bruises all over his body. But he didn’t mind. For once, he’d been exactly where Mantheria needed him to be.
* * *
“My dear Selina, I think you need to let them go,” Mantheria’s father said lovingly. “I think you are suffocating both our eldest daughter and grandson.”
Mantheria’s mother didn’t listen to her father. Instead, she hugged them even tighter before releasing her hold. “I was so worried for you two and a little hurt that I, too, was not invited on the adventure.”
Andrew scrunched up his nose. “But you’re a grandmother.”
“Can’t grandmothers go on adventures?” Mama said, her eyebrows raised and her mouth prim, but her eyes danced with mischief. “I’ve been on one for the last two days. Once we got your mother’s express from Bath, we mounted our horses to find you, and what a merry chase you have led us.”
Mantheria saw her son’s cheeks redden. “Sorry, Grandmother. It is no excuse, but I didn’t want to be in our black and sad London house any longer.
I thought about going and seeing the Roman ruins at Bath, but then this man and his wife tried to kidnap me.
I didn’t know how to get back to London, so I tried to go home to Avalon Palace.
And I nearly made it home safely, until a man came out of the woods and took my coat with the last of my two silver buttons.
Maybe if I didn’t try to fight him for the coat, he wouldn’t have grabbed me and tied me up, and Mama wouldn’t have had to shoot him. ”
A hush fell over the group, and Mantheria felt every eye upon her.
Her father was the first to speak. He leaned forward, his eyes bright. “Was it a good, solid shot?”
“Theophilus!” her mother said in a sharp voice.
Mantheria shook her head. “I only winged him.”
Papa grinned at her and patted her on the shoulder like he would have one of her brothers. “I couldn’t be prouder, my dear. Think of what a mess it would be if you’d killed him. Norwich here might have had to get his fancy boots muddy helping dig the grave.”
She glanced at her soon-to-be brother-in-law, expecting to see him white-faced or chagrined. The tassels on his Hessians were certainly ostentatious. Instead, Norwich smiled benignly back at the group. “Hampford’s right. My boots are works of art. It would have been a travesty to destroy them.”
Becca was the first to laugh, but soon, they all joined in. Mantheria managed to chuckle, too, despite having experienced the most terrifying day of her life. Her little sister then added, “And Matthew’s hands have never seen a day of physical work.”
Her brother grinned. “A hit, Becca.”
Mantheria covered her mouth with her hand as she remembered what day it was. “Becca, your engagement ball is only a couple of days away. What are you doing here?”
Her younger sister shrugged one shoulder. “I suppose it is, but you could hardly have expected us to stay idly home when Andrew was missing.”
Mantheria’s hand slid down to her throat. Her pulse was strong there. “But Mama has put so much work into the party, and I know that she wanted to make it so special for you. I hope that I haven’t ruined it for you, like I have ruined everything else.”
“Nonsense, dearest,” Mama said with a wry smile. “My secretary has done the bulk of the work, and Becca will arrive back in London in time to be the belle of the ball.”
She felt a hand on her shoulder and saw that Becca had dismounted. “What is a ball compared to a grand adventure? Right, Andrew?”
Her son’s face was rather red, but he nodded eagerly.
Mantheria choked on her words. “But-but I had wanted to make up for my poor behavior at the ball, and instead, I may have ruined another special night for you.”
Becca put her arms around Mantheria and whispered in her ear, “I have forgiven you, and I think it is time for you to forgive yourself.”
All Mantheria could do was nod and sniff.
“This is turning mawkish,” Matthew complained in a droll voice.
“And I’m hungry. Climb up behind me, Mantheria, and let’s ride to Avalon Palace, where you can order one of your many servants to bring me delicious food.
Sunny can ride with Andrew, unless Wick cannot be parted from his friend any longer. ”
If Wick could have reached Matthew, Mantheria was certain that another bout of fisticuffs would have broken out. Exhaling, Mantheria held up her arm, and Matthew swung her up behind him like they’d done as youths. Part of her was surprised that she could still perform the trick.
Andrew’s mouth hung open. “Mama, that was incredible!”
Sunny picked her son up without any difficulty and set him back on the horse in the sidesaddle, then swung up behind him. They looked good together—the two men in her life.
Turning her head to face the opposite direction, she held tighter to Matthew. Mantheria reminded herself that Sunny was not a man in her life and that he would soon marry another young woman, and she would be even more alone.
* * *
It was not precisely comfortable sitting directly on the back of a horse, particularly with a sidesaddle that had a small boy on it.
Still, Sunny was just so relieved that they had found Andrew—whole and mostly undamaged from his adventures.
Perhaps one day, the young man would realize how dangerous and precarious his choices had been.
Or the great price his mother had almost paid.
But it would not be today. Andrew did not know the world well enough to be afraid of it yet.
They rode as a group through the village of Chewton Mendip and did not stop even for a drink. Someday, Sunny swore that he would bring Mantheria back there, just so they could say they had once eaten luncheon in Chewton Mendip.
After a couple of miles, Andrew began to sag a little in the saddle. His eyes flickered as if he were tired. The last thing they needed was for the boy to fall off the horse. Sunny needed to keep him awake. “Do you know the story of Telemachus?”
The boy shook his head, but he perked up a little in the saddle. “Who is he?”
“I know that you have heard some of the stories about Odysseus—or his Roman name, Ulysses from Matthew. When Odysseus finally reached his home of Ithaca, his clothes were in tatters, and he looked like a beggar. Still, his old servant recognized him and eventually his son, Telemachus. Together, they devised a plan to save Queen Penelope from her pushy suitors, who ate their food and were trying to force her to marry again rather than wait longer for her missing husband.”
“Like all of the gentlemen that sent Mama flowers after Papa died.”
“The very same.” Perhaps this was a bit of a stretch on the classical story, but Sunny didn’t want any of those suitors to come near Mantheria.
“Together, they came up with a plan, and Odysseus stayed disguised as a beggar. They returned to his house in Ithaca, where Queen Penelope had given her suitors an impossible task: to shoot an arrow through the loops of twelve axes. Odysseus does it, and then the other suitors attack him. The great hero, with the help of Telemachus and his old servant, stabbed all of the troublesome suitors.”
Andrew sighed. “I don’t think Mama would be happy if I stabbed her suitors with my wooden sword.”
“I think you’re right,” Sunny said. “But do you not want your mother to marry again someday?”
He shrugged his narrow shoulders. “I suppose a gentleman could marry her—but only after he shot an arrow through the loopholes of twelve axes.”
Sunny laughed. “An impossible task.”
“No, a difficult one. If one of the suitors had really cared for Queen Penelope, they would have practiced archery until they could have made that shot.”
His reply was unique and unexpected enough to make Sunny think.
After a few minutes in silence, Andrew’s eyelids started to flutter again. Sunny needed to keep the boy awake until they arrived at his home. “I don’t claim to be as skilled as the great Odysseus, but I am rather good at archery. Would you like me to teach you to shoot with a bow and arrow?”
Andrew’s eyes widened, and the boy sat up in the saddle. “Yes, please.”
It was a small promise, but Sunny felt himself sitting a little taller as well. He looked forward to spending time with Andrew, to teach him all the things that a father should.