The Heiress

by Lynsay Sands

  "Shouldn't I?" Suzette asked on a sigh. It hadn't exactly been proper behavior as the letter had pointed out.

  "Well, if you should, then so should I," Lady Woodrow announced. "Because Daniel's father and I anticipated our vows as well, and also on our way to Gretna Green."

  "Really?" Suzette asked with surprise. Lady Woodrow seemed so . . . well . . . so much a lady. It was hard to imagine her in the throes of passion.

  "I was young once too, you know," she said with a grin. "And Daniel's father was the most wonderful man--charming, handsome, smart, funny. We were so much in love." She sighed sadly, and then glanced to Suzette. "Daniel is much like him, and if the two of you have only half the happiness his father and I shared, you will be very lucky indeed. But I think you will do better than that."

  "I will try to make him happy," Suzette assured her quietly.

  "I know you will, and he will do the same," she said with certainty, and then added, "He loves you, you know. I knew that within moments of his telling me he was marrying you. I have never seen him speak of anyone as he did you."

  Suzette swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. That was the most wonderful thing she'd ever heard.

  "And I think you love him too," she added.

  "I do," she admitted on a whisper.

  "So you will marry him even though he isn't poor?" Lady Woodrow asked with amusement.

  Suzette scowled and then chuckled and shook her head. "Yes. Of course."

  "Good." She patted her hand and stood. "I shall go see about getting you food. Now that your head is not hurting, you are probably hungry."

  "Thank you," Suzette said and smiled faintly as she watched her go.

  Once the door closed behind the woman, Suzette lay back in the bed with a little sigh, contemplating the possibility that Daniel might love her. It had been lovely and reassuring to hear from his mother, but would be even nicer coming from Daniel's lips.

  Suzette smiled wryly at the turn her life had taken. She had started out thinking she couldn't possibly find love in the short time she had, so would have to settle for a husband who needed her dower enough that she could set the rules of their relationship and protect herself from an abusive marriage like Christiana had with Dicky. Instead, she'd found a man who didn't need her dower and who might actually love her. And who she definitely loved. On top of that she was gaining a mother-in-law whom she already liked a good deal, and thought she might come to have great affection for rather quickly. Lady Woodrow was definitely living up to her son's compliments and descriptions. She was a woman Suzette thought she might look up to. Certainly, she admired how she'd handled the men earlier. The woman was masterful and there was a lot she could learn from her.

  Suzette wasn't sure how she'd got so lucky, but was grateful she had.

  "There. You look perfect," Lady Woodrow pronounced, standing back to survey her handiwork.

  Suzette beamed under the woman's approving expression and peered at herself in the mirror Daniel's mother had brought in. She wore her finest gown, a short-sleeved, empire-style dress that was so pale a pink as to be mistaken for white. On top of it she wore a sleeveless red pelisse with gold trim. Her maid, Georgina, had helped her to bathe and dress, but Lady Woodrow had then shooed the woman away and taken over helping with her hair. With it still wet from the bath, she'd worked carefully around the head wound in the hair above Suzette's ear, and arranged her long tresses in an array of pin curls on top of her head. The effect was quite lovely.

  "You are beautiful," Lady Woodrow announced. "You and Daniel are going to give me beautiful grandbabies."

  Blushing now, Suzette laughed, and turned to hug her. "Thank you, my lady."

  "You are most welcome," Lady Woodrow assured her, hugging her back, but then complained, " 'My lady' sounds so stiff. You may call me Catherine if you wish, or--" She paused briefly and bit her lip, and then admitted, "I hope someday you will feel comfortable enough to call me Mother, but I would not pressure you to do so."

  "Thank you. I should be pleased to call you Mother," Suzette whispered, moved by the offer. And it was true. She and Lady Woodrow had sat talking for hours the night before, after she'd returned with a meal for Suzette, only stopping when the men returned with the not unexpected news that Danvers could not be found. They had retired then, but had woken to continue their chatter as they dressed and went down to breakfast with the others and even during the carriage ride for the last leg of the journey to Gretna Green. It had taken three hours, but that time had passed in a trice for Suzette as she and Lady Woodrow chatted about books they'd read and things they liked to do, while her father and Daniel looked on smiling indulgently. Well, her father had smiled indulgently, Daniel had smiled, but his had been with a combination of indulgence and relief, and she knew it had been important to him that she and his mother like each other. Fortunately, they did. At least, she certainly liked and respected Lady Woodrow.

  "Well." Daniel's mother gave her a slightly watery smile, and turned toward the door. "I shall go tell your father you are ready so he can come collect you."

  Suzette watched her slip from the room and then peered down at herself with a little sigh of pleasure. The gown she was wearing was really more appropriate for a ball than a marriage in the courtyard of an inn presided over by a blacksmith, but Suzette didn't care. She wanted to look nice for her wedding. And she looked as nice as she ever had in her life, as good as she could, she thought, and hoped Daniel thought so too.

  She smiled to herself at the thought of Daniel, and then her smile faded a bit and she released a little sigh. While Suzette had spoken a lot to Lady Woodrow since being rescued and brought to the inn, she and Daniel had never got to have that talk he'd mentioned. The men had been weary on returning from their search. They had apparently scoured the area on both sides of the inn, traveling as far as the overturned carriage on the one side and then just as far in the other direction, searching both the road and the woods for Danvers.

  All of them had been both tired and disappointed not to have found the man, but Daniel was still recovering from a wound and had looked exhausted and pale, and Suzette had agreed when Lady Woodrow had insisted he find his bed and talk to Suzette in the morning. However, there hadn't been much chance to talk this morning either. Suzette had slept late, probably a result of the tincture Lady Woodrow had given her before they retired, and had rushed to dress and get below, arriving just as everyone sat down to break their fast. Once finished with their meal, everyone had been eager to get on with their journey and get this business done before something else could go wrong, so there hadn't been any chance to talk then either. And the moment they'd arrived in Gretna Green, Daniel had sent Suzette and the other women to ready themselves while he went to speak to the blacksmith.

  Now it was time to get married and they hadn't had their talk. Suzette wasn't sure what he'd wished to discuss with her. He had already told her that he hadn't written the letter, which she'd pretty much figured out by then anyway. She thought perhaps he was going to tell her that he wasn't poor and in need of her dower, but she already knew that too.

  In truth, Suzette was hoping he'd wanted to declare his feelings for her. Her father and his mother had both said that Daniel loved her. It would be nice to hear it from him though. But then she hadn't told him she loved him yet either, Suzette realized, and then glanced to the door when a soft knock sounded.

  Crossing the room, she pulled the door open and smiled when she saw her father in the hall. He wore knee breeches and a frock coat and looked all ready to attend a ball. He also had his cane again and she supposed that Daniel and the men had collected it from the overturned carriage for him while searching for Jeremy Danvers.

  "You look nice, Father," she complimented.

  "And you've never looked so beautiful, Suzie," he said solemnly, and then added, "Your mother is probably weeping in heaven with pride and happiness for you."

  "Oh." She waved a hand before her suddenly watery eyes and grimaced
at him. "Don't say things like that, Papa. You will have me weeping at my own wedding."

  "Sorry, child." He kissed her gently on the cheek and then urged her back into the room so he could enter.

  "What are you doing?" she asked with surprise.

  "I wish to speak to you before we go below," he said solemnly, pushing the door closed and urging her across the room to sit on the side of the bed. He settled himself next to her, took her hands in his and eyed her solemnly. "I just want to be sure you are positive this is what you wish to do."

  Suzette frowned. "Was it not you who was trying to convince me to rethink marrying Jeremy and staying at the inn to wait for Daniel?"

  "Yes," he agreed.

  "And now you're trying to talk me out of marrying Daniel?" she asked with bemusement.

  "No, no," he said at once, squeezing her hands. "No, Suzie, I'm not trying to talk you out of it at all. It is obvious to me that you two love each other and I think he is perfect for you."

  "Well then what--?" She fell silent when he patted her hand.

  Smiling wryly now, he shook his head. "I am not doing this right. It is just that you and Daniel have had such an unusual courtship. Well, really, you haven't had a courtship at all, and I just want you to be sure. I don't want you to feel you have to marry him because of anything that's transpired . . . and I want you to know that if you wish to take more time to get to know him now that there is no need or rush to marry, I will support you in that."

  Suzette relaxed and leaned forward to hug him, whispering, "Thank you, Father. That means a great deal." Sitting back she added, "But I don't need more time. I want to marry Daniel."

  "Well, good." He smiled, and then gave a little sigh and said, "I suppose it shall just be Lisa and I from now on then . . . and she will be off marrying her own husband soon enough too." He shook his head. "It seems like just yesterday when you were all my little girls running around playing."

  "We will always be your little girls, Papa." Suzette squeezed his hand. "You are always welcome to come visit Daniel and me at Woodrow. And now that you've sold the townhouse you will have to stay with Christiana and Richard when you go to town. You will see us. You are still our father and a part of our lives."

  "Of course I will," he agreed, managing a smile that seemed weak at first, but then became more sincere as he said, "And you will all give me lovely grandbabies to spoil and watch drive you as mad as you all drove your mother and I."

  A surprised laugh slipped from Suzette and she shook her head. "Both you and Lady Woodrow are on about grandbabies and we have not even married yet."

  "Hmm." Her father stood and offered his arm. When Suzette stood as well and took it, he urged her toward the door saying, "Lady Woodrow seems a fine woman."

  "Yes, she does," Suzette agreed with a smile as he led her out of the room. "I like her already."

  "Well, it's mutual. She told me so herself." He paused to pull the door closed, and then urged her along the landing toward the stairs, asking, "Are you nerv--?"

  When his question stopped mid-word and his steps faltered, bringing them to a halt, Suzette glanced to her father curiously and then followed his gaze to what had caught his attention. A man had just come out of one of the rooms further along the landing. He was a good distance away, even so, Suzette could see that he wore the coarse clothes of the working class and a short single-breasted jacket that was popular with stablemen. Assuming he worked in the stables here, Suzette was just wondering what on earth he was doing in a guest's bedchambers when he turned toward them and she saw his face. She was just registering that it was Jeremy Danvers when he spotted them and pulled his pistol from inside his jacket.

  "I thought you said she was ready?" Daniel asked, glancing fretfully toward the inn. His mother had come down several minutes ago and sent Lord Madison up to collect Suzette. The group had then immediately moved out into the courtyard to wait . . . and wait.

  "She was," Lady Woodrow murmured, glancing toward the inn as well. Sighing, she shrugged helplessly, and suggested, "Perhaps they are having a father/daughter talk."

  "Hmm." Daniel tapped his fingers against his thigh, counting out the seconds as he waited, but his gaze was now trained on the inn door as he willed it to open. They should have been here by now and he was getting a bad feeling.

  "You don't think she's had second thoughts because you aren't poor, do you?" Richard asked with a frown.

  "I haven't told her that yet," Daniel said at once.

  "Oh." Richard hesitated and then admitted, "I did."

  "What?" Daniel turned on him with dismay and his friend grimaced apologetically.

  "It was after she got that letter. I thought--"

  Daniel didn't wait to hear what he'd thought. He was already headed back into the inn, his mind in an uproar. Leave it to him to fall in love with probably the only female in all of England who would refuse to marry him because he had wealth, he thought with disgust as he stomped inside.

  Honestly, he did always seem to choose the hardest route to everything. So, of course, he would find himself in love with the most difficult woman he could probably find. But if Suzette thought she was going to back out of this wedding, she had another think coming, he told himself grimly as he mounted the stairs to the bedchambers. They had already consummated this marriage. She may be carrying his child even now. And he loved her, dammit! That had to count for something, he assured himself as he started along the landing. She was going to marry him if he had to--

  Daniel stopped abruptly as he heard Suzette's voice coming from the door he was passing. It wasn't her door, but the door to the room he'd shared with her father and Robert last night. Frowning, he moved closer and pressed an ear to the wooden panel to listen. If she and her father were having a father/daughter talk, he would just slip back outside and force himself to wait patiently. If not though, and she was arguing with her father over marrying him, Daniel would--

  That thought died as a male spoke next. He didn't recognize the voice, but it was not Lord Madison, and since all the other males in their party were below, that left only one person he could think of. Jeremy Danvers. Daniel supposed that he should have known the man wasn't smart enough to stay in hiding.

  Jaw clenching, he grasped the door handle and turned it as slowly and carefully as he could, then eased the door open enough to stick his head in and peer about. Daniel saw Lord Madison and Suzette first. Lord Madison was looking worried and grim, but Suzette just looked angry as she glared at the man holding a pistol on them and said with disgust, "You are an idiot if you think your stupid plan to marry me for my dower will work now. Even if you did force me to marry you, everyone knows what you are up to and it wouldn't stand."

  "I have no intention of marrying a sharp-tongued little guttersnipe like you," the man he suspected was Danvers growled.

  "Then what do you want?" Suzette asked sharply. "Why force us in here?"

  "Because I need money, of course," he said dryly. "Thanks to you, I am going to have to go on the run now, and--"

  "Oh, do not try to lay the blame for the mess you have made of your life at my door, my lord," Suzette interrupted, scowling at him. "You are the lackwit who knocked Father out rather than just let us out of the carriage, and you are the one who chose to shoot your own driver, and then tied us up. You probably shot Daniel too, didn't you?"

  Daniel was looking at Suzette and didn't hear Danvers say anything, but he must have done something in deed or expression to suggest that was the case, because Suzette snorted with derision. "Fortunately, you made a mess of that as well and he still lives. And that fact is the only reason I will make this offer: if you leave now, Father and I won't say a word about this business today. Just go. We won't send the men after you."

  "I am not going without what I came for," Danvers snapped. "I need money to buy passage to the Continent and to live off of and I know your father has the proceeds from the sale of his townhouse here somewhere." His gaze shifted to Lord Madison. "Y
ou said as much that first day when you found us by the waterfall. You said you had it at the inn and would fetch it at once. Instead, we left for Gretna Green. I thought you surely had it in the bag you packed and brought with you."

  "I didn't trust you so I didn't take it with me," Madison said, and Daniel noticed he seemed pleased to be able to say so.

  "I figured that out on my own," Danvers said bitterly. "I walked all the way to the inn only to see Woodrow and a woman riding out. I realized the entire party was probably there, so turned back. But, of course, he got to the two of you first," he ground out. "After he and the old woman headed back to the inn with the two of you, I decided my best bet was to find the proceeds from the sale of the townhouse and flee for the Continent, so I walked all the way back to the overturned carriage, but it wasn't in your bag."

  "I left it in the chest in Robert's care," Madison said calmly.

  "Then you can just get it now and give it to me if you and your daughter want to walk out of this room alive."

  Daniel narrowed his eyes. He was unarmed and had been waiting to see what the plan was before deciding what to do. If the man was going to try to escape with Suzette, he would have slid to the next room along the landing, hid inside and leapt out to jump the man as they passed. However, that didn't appear to be the plan, and whether Danvers got the money or not, Daniel didn't believe he planned to let Lord Madison and Suzette leave this room, alive or otherwise. There was too much venom and fury in the man's voice. He hated Suzette and her father and blamed them for the failure of his plan and the situation he found himself in. He had also killed once already, that they knew of, and had tried to kill both him and Suzette on top of that, shooting him and choking her. Daniel suspected the man would shoot Lord Madison the moment he produced the money and then finish what he'd started last night and choke Suzette to death.

  Judging by the expressions on Cedrick Madison's and Suzette's faces, they believed the same thing. Still, Madison nodded once and then turned away.

  "What are you doing?" Danvers snapped, taking a step after him.

  Daniel took that opportunity to slip into the room and ease the door closed. He then started to slide to the left, trying to get behind Danvers and out of his peripheral vision as Lord Madison calmly said, "I am getting the money for you. It is what you want, isn't it?"