Secrets for Seducing a Royal Bodyguard by Vanessa Kelly

terrified she and Mamma might have been injured in the abduction.” She glanced up at Aden. “My mother could do nothing but scream, but Lady Thornbury fought back. I have the distinct impression she even broke somebody’s nose.”
    Aden could well believe it since his mother had an iron will. The only person she’d never stood up to had been his bastard of a stepfather.
    “No need to worry about her ladyship,” Wilkinson said cheerfully, looking over his shoulder. “Lady Thornbury is as tough a nut as a body could ever be.”
    Aden smiled as Vivien stared up at Dominic’s genial giant. Wilkinson was always a sight at the best of times—well over six feet tall and broad as a barn, with an old scar down the left side of his face, and a heavy, bristle-covered jaw. The man looked like something out of a nightmare, but had an incurable soft spot for children, puppies, or any innocent thing that stumbled into harm’s way.
    He was also the deadliest of assassins, one who could kill a man with his bare hands in ten different ways and not blink an eyelash.
    “Ah, I’m glad to hear that, um . . .” Lady Vivien stuttered.
    “Wilkinson, my lady,” he said.
    Wilkinson led them past the kitchen, occupied at this early hour only by Peter, the scullery boy. Even Peter could handle a pistol, and like all the servants he possessed one key attribute—fanatical loyalty to Dominic.
    When they reached the steps leading up to the main house, Wilkinson stepped aside to let them pass. After starting Lady Vivien up, Aden turned around. “I don’t think anyone saw us. But make another check and have Peter stay on alert,” he said quietly.
    The big man nodded and slipped back down the passage.
    Aden took the stairs two a time, catching up with Lady Vivien as she hesitated at the top.
    “This way,” he said, taking her hand.
    They crossed the short entrance hall to a closed door. Aden tapped once and ushered her into Dominic’s study. He placed his back against the door, standing guard, as she rushed across the room and threw herself into his mother’s arms.
    Not that Aden really had to stand guard. Not here in Dominic’s inner sanctum. But it gave him a task and allowed him to maintain a safe distance from his mother.
    “I’m so happy to see you safe,” Vivien choked out as the older woman held her in a fierce embrace.
    They clung together. His mother stroked Vivien’s pale hair, holding her close with obvious affection. As much as he tried, Aden couldn’t squash a flash of resentment. He couldn’t remember the last time his mother had hugged him like that, or shown much concern. And yet, with Vivien, she did it easily.
    Then again, Vivien wasn’t the bastard child whose very existence had blighted the famous Lady Thornbury’s life, particularly since that child was the result of an affair with the Prince of Wales, now England’s Regent. Aden’s mother had subsequently spent years trying to erase the damage caused by her reckless indiscretion, which seemed to include keeping her ill-gotten son at a polite distance in an attempt to regain her cuckolded husband’s trust. The logical man in Aden couldn’t blame her, but the boy inside the man obviously still did.
    As for his relationship with his natural father, Aden had made a point of keeping the Prince Regent at a coolly polite distance for years, so he supposed he took after his mother, in that respect. But it was the only way the Thornbury household—his stepfather and half siblings included—had been able to maintain a united front against the scandal that had once rocked the family at its very foundations.
    While the two women hugged, talking to each other in low, emotion-laden voices, Dominic unfolded his lanky frame from behind his desk and strolled over to greet Aden. One of Dominic’s rare smiles lit up his usually impassive façade as he extended his hand.
    “Well done, Aden,” he said. “Lady Vivien seems to be in remarkably good shape, all things