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“I cannot believe his lordship’s generosity.

” Flaherty had been on hand to help move furniture into each one of the cottages the earl had had built and furnished for the married men in the duke’s guard stationed at Lippincott Manor.

But he had not thought to marry so soon, if at all, and therefore did not expect such a grand gift.

Nor did he imagine that Mary Kate would have felt as he had while she twisted him up in knots and ran circles around him.

She smiled and chatted with him, the same as she did every other person she came into contact with, but he was the man she loved.

Sometime during the first few days of their marriage, he realized it was not just men that she bestowed with her sunshine smiles, but women and children, too.

No matter their station in life, she generously treated them with the warmth he’d come to understand was an intrinsic part of the wife he had come to cherish.

“He would never give a gift to the rest of us and slight ye, Flaherty.” He grunted, and Dermott chuckled. “Ye haven’t gotten used to the fact that yer heart and yer guts are tied up in knots wondering when yer shift will be over and how soon ye can talk yer sweet wife into—”

“Ye’ll want to stop there,” Flaherty warned, “else I’d be obliged to club ye in the mouth for saying such things about me wife.”

Dermott grinned. “Mary Kate made a beautiful bride. Ye’re a lucky man, Seamus.”

“And well I know it, but…” He paused. “I thought I would have had the time to question the farrier and his accomplice before they were carted off to the constable’s gaol.”

“Ye were otherwise occupied at the time. Trust that he was questioned at length by both the viscount and the earl.”

His cousin meant well, but Flaherty needed to look in Mary Kate’s abductor’s face and watch while the arrogant expression faded to fear while Flaherty described in detail how he was going to break every one of the man’s fingers before hobbling him.

What he really wanted to do was either skin the man or geld him, but he didn’t think the duke would be forgiving him for either of those two minor crimes.

After all, the man had thought to take what the lass— his wife —was not willing to give the bloody, buggering bastard!

“Ye’d best calm down, Flaherty, else ye’ll be scaring Lady Aurelia and the little master with yer frowns.”

He immediately ran a hand through his hair and tamped down his anger.

“Ye’re right. Thanks for the warning.” Flaherty nodded and strode off to man his post on the rooftop, where he’d scan the perimeter of the huge park that ended at the tree line.

It was impossible to see into the deep, thickly wooded area that surrounded the earl’s property, protecting it from prying eyes.

Flaherty had an hour to go before the shift change, where he would take over the patrol that led into the village and back.

The quiet unnerved him—usually there was birdsong, and a deer or two that wandered onto the open meadow that stretched to the trees.

Alerted that something was off, he walked along the front of the building, studying the area surrounding the earl’s home.

Was something amiss? Was trouble headed their way?

He’d just finished his scan of the perimeter when a man on horseback galloped up the long drive. His rifle was trained on the man. When the rider drew closer, Flaherty recognized him as one of the stable hands that worked at the inn in the village and let out a short, sharp whistle.

“Dismount and state yer business.”

“She’s gone!” the younger man said as he did as Flaherty bade. The look of desperation in his eyes had Flaherty’s blood turning cold.

“Who’s gone?” Sean called out, approaching from the south side of the building.

“Ainsley?” Dermott shook his head. “Are ye mad thundering up to the earl’s home like that? Her ladyship and the little master are out in the gardens—ye nearly scared the life out of them.”

Flaherty lowered his rifle and descended the ladder. “Where are they?”

Dermott frowned. “I sent them inside. Finch took them into the kitchen—plenty of sharp weapons within reach there.”

“Who’s missing?” Flaherty asked.

Ainsley’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down before he could speak. “Your wife, Flaherty.”

The world stood still for a heartbeat, while a buzzing sounded in Flaherty’s brain. Then it began to move again as he understood that his wife was missing. “How do ye know, and why isn’t it one of Chattsworth’s men or one of me cousins to deliver the news?”

“The innkeeper told me to ride straight here and give you the news.”

Something was off. Flaherty saw Ainsley’s look of fear shift to calculation.

But he blinked, and the stable hand was back to looking fearful again.

Did the lad worry that Flaherty would take his anger out on the messenger?

Well, he had been known to do so a time or two, but that was before.

He was a married man now and had a wife to think of before reacting.

“Get it said,” Sean ordered the stable hand.

“Your wife stopped for tea at the inn with the vicar’s wife. She was apparently summoned to the kitchen and never came back.”

Flaherty knew the man was lying. “Why in the bloody hell would me wife be in the village when she’s needed at Chattsworth Manor?” He glanced at Sean and then Dermott. With a slight nod, he advanced on Ainsley.

“She was with the vicar’s wife—”

Keeping the emotions rioting inside of him contained, Flaherty stated, “The vicar’s wife is visiting with her sister in London and won’t be back for a sennight.”

Ainsley backed up a step and bumped into Sean.

He turned around and slammed into Dermott.

When he spun back, Flaherty grabbed him by the shoulder and squeezed until Ainsley cried out, realizing he was surrounded by the men of the duke’s guard.

“Ye’ll tell me the truth, or so help me, I’ll gut ye where ye stand and feed yer gizzards to the crows! ”

The stable hand’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t have a knife on me.”

Flaherty grabbed hold of the man’s abdomen and dug his fingers deep. “I don’t need one.”

“Wasn’t that a sight to behold that time Flaherty faced one of the lads from Kerry who’d been bent on terrorizing the young Macy twins?” Sean said.

“Aye,” Dermott agreed. “Left the lad doubled over, bruised and groaning, later swearing that Flaherty had a hold of his innards and tried to rip them out through his belly!”

Flaherty was tired of waiting while his cousins baited Ainsley. He let go of the man’s stomach and grabbed hold of his throat, lifting him a foot in the air. “Tell me now!”

“Hulkner is riding out to Chattsworth Manor right now to lure her away.”

“What in the bloody hell for?”

Ainsley gasped, and Sean ordered Flaherty, “Let him go, Seamus.”

He did so reluctantly. “Where is she?”

“I don’t—”

“The next words better be a location, or they’ll be yer last words on this earth.”

Sean grabbed hold of the stable hand and shook him until the man answered, “The abandoned barn on Squire Dean’s land.”

Flaherty was halfway to the stables when the earl rode toward him on his stallion. Lippincott dismounted and handed the reins to him. “Go! I’ll send someone to Chattsworth Manor to verify that Mary Kate is missing.”

Ainsley urged Flaherty, “If you ride hard, you should catch Parks before he leaves.”

“Leaves? Where in the bloody hell is he planning to take my wife?”

“The Borderlands.”

Flaherty rode like the devil was nipping at his heels. Fear in his heart that he wouldn’t reach the abandoned barn in time nearly took hold before his calm warrior’s control slipped into place with a click. “Hang on, lass. I’m coming for ye!”

Leaning low, he whispered in the stallion’s ear of their urgent mission with the promise of sweet hay, carrots, and a cup of oats as a reward.

The burst of speed from the animal soothed the worst of Flaherty’s fears.

Questions hammered in his brain as he rode toward the village, then through it toward Squire Dean’s estate on the other side.

But he had to ignore them, or else the worry that he would not reach his wife in time would eat him alive!

*

“Mrs. Flaherty! Mrs. Flaherty! Your husband had an accident. He’s asking for you!”

Mary Kate ran from the kitchen garden toward the stables and the man riding toward her.

She thought she recognized him as one of the men working at the inn, but in her panic and worry that Seamus was hurt badly, she let it go.

Her husband needed her, and she would move Heaven and earth to get to him.

“Where is he?”

“On the other side of the village! You have to come quickly.”

“Take me to him!” Without waiting to tell anyone where she was going or why, Mary Kate reached for the man’s hand and let him pull her up onto the horse behind him. “What happened?”

The man grunted and kicked the horse into a gallop.

It was either hold on or fall off. She wrapped her arms around the man, praying that Seamus was not injured severely.

Please, Lord, let him be all right.