Page 23 of The Duke’s Sharpshooter (The Duke’s Guard #14)

“W ould you like me to read a story to you, Maddy, now that everyone else is napping?”

The little girl shook her head. “My tummy aches.”

“Oh, you poor thing.” Francis opened her arms, and Maddy went willingly into them. Holding her close, Francis rubbed Maddy’s back until the tension in her little body eased. “Sometimes it isn’t actually our belly that troubles us. It’s our hearts.”

The little girl lifted her head. “Our hearts?”

“It’s true. Sometimes my tummy hurts too. Know why?”

The little girl shook her head. “Why?”

“When I was growing up, my stomach used to hurt whenever I tried to remember my father. I never got to meet him. I only had the stories my mum told me about him. I wish I had a picture of him, but I don’t.

I realized it wasn’t my tummy that hurt, it was my heart, and that’s when Mum told me her stomach hurt too. ”

“But it was really her heart?” Maddy asked.

“That’s right. It was because she missed my father too.

He was a blacksmith. Three months before I was born, one of the horses he was shooing heard a loud sound and was scared…

and kicked my father in the head. Mum said she cried and cried from the moment she received the news until the day I was born. ”

“Then what happened?”

“She said I had my papa’s eyes and his smile, and she knew he would always be with her. All she had to do was look at me and remember how much she loved him, and how much he loved her. How much he would have loved me, too.”

Maddy curled into a tight ball, and Francis pulled her closer to her heart. “It’s all right to cry. Don’t hold the hurt so tight in your heart.”

“Mum only cries at night. It’s not night yet.”

Worried for the little one, Francis suggested, “If you close your eyes, it’ll be dark like nighttime. I’ll hold you close and you can cry. You’ll be safe with me.”

Tears spilled from Maddy’s emerald-bright eyes as she whispered, “That’s what Just Flaherty told me, too.”

The floodgates opened, and the little girl cried her heart out.

Francis held her close, crooning to her, urging her to let go of her sorrow.

When Maddy finally stopped crying, Francis handed her a handkerchief to wipe her eyes and blow her nose.

“Now then, it’s almost time for the duke’s men to change shifts. ”

Maddy’s lip trembled, and Francis felt the sorrow pouring off the child in waves. The poor little one was obviously heartbroken having witnessed her hero proposing to her mum…and her mum not accepting.

Tears welled up in the little girl’s eyes. “I want Just Flaherty.”

Francis made the decision to interfere. It would be worth a stern talking to if it lightened the heavy load Maddy was carrying. “Gwendolyn should be arriving shortly to relieve me. We can find Flaherty then. Would you like that?”

Maddy threw her arms around Francis’s neck. “I love you, Francis.”

“Oh, my sweet girl. I love you too.”

*

Constance looked up from the tray of teacakes she was icing and studied the woman hesitating in the doorway. “Come in, Temperance. You look as if you rested. How do you feel?”

“Fine. Where’s Maddy?”

Constance wiped her hands on the linen cloth, tucked it in her apron pocket, then smoothed her hands over the apron. “She and Francis went outside a few moments ago.”

“It’s too dark to be looking for faeries, isn’t it?”

The older woman laughed. “Maddy wanted to look for someone a bit bigger than a faerie.”

Temperance felt her heart twist in her breast. “Flaherty?”

“Please do not be upset with Francis. She said Maddy was crying buckets earlier, and the only thing she wanted was to see her favorite guard.”

Temperance wasn’t upset by the fact that her daughter was enamored with Flaherty. Heaven help her, he had turned her world upside down and inside out when he kissed her before promising to find Maddy and bring her back. And he had kept his promise.

Her heart tumbled in her breast when she saw Flaherty holding her fatherless little girl. It was there in his eyes—he cared a great deal more for Maddy than Temperance had realized. But what had she done to repay him? Not a thing.

The unasked question needled at her—would he willingly step into the role of father?

Would he truly want to help her raise Maddy?

Most days were a challenge because her daughter could be headstrong and independent, even for a four-year-old.

How long before the novelty wore off and Flaherty had had enough and washed his hands of them?

“Whatever you are thinking, get it out of your head!”

Flabbergasted, Temperance waited a moment before responding, “You may not approve of me, Constance, but I am entitled to think whatever I like.”

Constance folded her arms beneath her breasts and frowned. “You certainly are. However, when it’s regarding Flaherty and his obvious affection for your daughter, I cannot let you think he would stop caring for her.”

It should not have been a surprise that the cook had read her mind, but it was—Temperance had often been told that her expressions mirrored her unspoken thoughts. She struggled to hide her emotions. “I do not know Flaherty well.”

“I do,” Constance countered. “And I know that that man is head over heels in love with Maddy. I am willing to wager that Maddy had him wrapped around her little finger the first time she smiled at him.”

Temperance had suspected the same, but was not ready to admit it.

There was more here that concerned her, namely whether Flaherty was proposing a marriage in name only, so he could protect her daughter and her.

He had not said as much, and she had been so startled by his proposal that she had not asked.

Ever since Temperance was young, she would freeze, unable to speak, when shocked by someone’s words or actions.

She had been trying to come to terms with that failing, and it had been working, somewhat…

until she’d met Flaherty. He got past all of her defenses.

“Not one of the men in the duke’s guard would ever abuse a woman or child,” Constance informed her.

“They rescue them.” The cook slowly smiled.

“The ones who have suffered the most seem to be the ones that grab hold of the men’s hearts.

Their need to protect and defend seems to be synonymous with love and nurture in the minds of those valiant men. ”

Temperance had sensed that Flaherty loved Maddy.

Her daughter was easy to love…but Temperance was not.

She had been carrying her insecurities with her since she packed the battered leather bag with what little she had left after having to leave the rented home she and her husband had been living in.

A part of her had hoped it wasn’t just wishful thinking on her part that Flaherty could possibly fall in love her.

Was she ready to open her heart? A heart that no longer felt whole. How much of it was left to share?

“Never underestimate the amount of love one can hold in one’s heart, Temperance,” Constance said, interrupting her thoughts.

Temperance sighed. “I wish I were more adept at hiding my emotions.”

“From the way you look at Flaherty every time he walks into the room, it is obvious you have deep feelings for the man.”

“But I shouldn’t,” Temperance whispered.

“Nonsense. You are a bright and beautiful woman who is trying hard to make the best of things for your daughter’s sake.

But it sounds as if you have been faced with insurmountable struggles for the last few years.

Would your husband want you to toil until you drop from exhaustion, unable to take care of Maddy? ”

Temperance sighed. “Every time I try to imagine where the three of us would be if the accident did not happen, I can’t see beyond the worry I faced every time he descended into that mine.”

“Life is not for the faint of heart, Temperance,” Constance replied.

“I suspect you have been striving too hard for too long. You have insisted that you do not need anyone’s help, when I believe that you do.

There are too many unscrupulous people in this world that would try to take advantage of you and Maddy.

A strong man by your side would see that you are protected and cared for.

Open your heart and your mind to the possibility of allowing someone else into your life, and Maddy’s.

You may be surprised that you do have room in your heart for an honest, compassionate bare-knuckle champion like Flaherty. ”

Temperance couldn’t believe Constance had added that. “Bare-knuckle?”

“As a matter of fact, all of the men in the duke’s guard at one time or another held the title of champion back in Ireland.”

“If they are of a similar age, how is that possible?”

“Different counties, different villages, and just enough of an age difference that the younger brothers took the titles from their older brothers.”

“So you’re telling me that the duke’s private guard are a well-oiled fighting machine.”

“That we are, Temperance,” Garahan said, walking into the kitchen. “Flaherty wanted me to tell ye he’s got Maddy with him.”

“Thank you, Garahan.” From the look on the man’s face, Temperance sensed there was more she needed to know. “And just where are they?”

“On the rooftop watching and waiting for the gargoyle statues to come to life.”

“The roof?” Temperance dashed out of the kitchen and raced down the hallway to the rear door. Good Lord! Her little girl could not possibly be that high off the ground as dusk darkened to twilight. She opened the back door and bolted around the building to where she’d seen the ladder to the roof.

“Flaherty! Bring Maddy down here this instant!” A deep rumble sounded in reply, but she could not quite make out what he’d said. “Did you hear me?”

“Aye.”

“I mean it! Bring Maddy down right now !”

“Not yet, Mum. Please?”

“Maddy darling, it’s getting darker by the minute and it’s not safe up there.”

“Just Flaherty is holding me.”