A Prince for Aunt Hetty Read Online Free

enjoyed the sound of that. He'd had his pick of houses, but this one had sparked his imagination. The gardens had been particularly stunning in the light of the late summertime. Even now the dreary winter landscape had its charms.
    The most charming thing about the house, though, was the hedge maze directly in front. He'd loved it on first sight, though it did seem a very silly thing for a grown man to enjoy. But no one was here to judge him. He was finally at a point in his life when he could make all of his own choices. Such freedom was a heady thing.
    Taking a deep breath of the brisk air, Rupert set out toward the woods beyond his garden. It was a familiar walk, one that he liked especially when he needed a little measure of inspiration. At this time of the year the trees were bare and nearly black in the pale light of the winter afternoon. Their spindly branches stretched into ragged and irregular nets over his head. He must remember how they looked.
    As he walked, Rupert let all the strain of his few days in London leak slowly out of him. He listened to the snapping of twigs underneath his feet and smelled the damp ground. They'd had no snow as of yet, but he could feel it gathering in the air.
    He was wondering how the snow would change the landscape when something caught his eye. He bent to examine it. A woman's glove! Finely tailored. More fine than belonged in the country. Who could it belong to? And why was it here in the woods?
    As Rupert grasped the small thing between his fingers, he was startled by a loud shriek somewhere nearby. His heart pounded in fright, and he braced himself to fight. When no one appeared, he began shoving through the forest, pushing low-hanging branches out of the way and stumbling over concealed roots. A shriek rang out again. He considered finding a weapon, something to threaten an attacker, but he didn't want to slow his pace.
    He took a few more steps and burst into a clearing.
    Then froze.
    He blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of what he saw. When his breathing slowed and his mind cleared of fear, Rupert nearly laughed out loud.
    Children.
    It was children playing. Not someone in trouble, but the neighbor children shrieking and laughing as they played a rousing game of Blind Man's Buff.
    They were running around merrily, shrieking and happily taunting the woman trying to tag them.
    She was laughing just as much as the children were. The scene sent an unexpected dagger of regret slicing through him. His life had been mostly work from the time he was very young. He had achieved success, but it had been at the expense of running through the woods laughing with such freedom as he now saw before him.
    “Aunt Hetty!” One of the girls yelled. “Look!”
    The game came to an abrupt halt. Rupert stepped further into the clearing just as the woman, knowing something was wrong by the way the girl had yelled, whipped off the blindfold and spun around to see what was causing the alarm.
    Rupert was met with a set of piercing blue eyes that first narrowed on him and then relaxed. Rupert relaxed too as he recognized the woman as the one he had rescued from a walk in the mud a few days before.
    “Mr. Henderson.”
    He bowed his head in acknowledgment. “Miss Masters.”
    “You live in the castle!” declared the youngest boy. Rupert couldn't remember his name.
    “The castle?” Rupert's eyebrows knit in confusion. He didn't live in a castle anymore. How could the little boy know? Where had he heard that? He was sure no one here knew anything about him.
    Miss Masters laughed. “They call Armstrong house 'the castle' because of the hedge maze out in the front. They think it is some kind of fairy tale.”
    Rupert looked at the children, who were all paying close attention to the grown-ups. Rupert leaned down to the littlest one, who had been carefully inching toward him as they spoke. “Would you like to come visit the castle sometime?” The little boy's eyes went wide. He looked back to