Richard glanced around at his comment and opened his mouth as if to respond, but no words came out. He just stood there frozen for a heartbeat, and then in the next second grabbed Daniel by the arm and sent them both crashing to the side. It was so unexpected, Daniel didn't even have a chance to try to break his fall; he was just suddenly slamming into the ground amid a cacophony of screams and shouts as the people around them scrambled to get out of the way.
It was only when he heard the loud thunder of horses' hooves and the trundle of a carriage's wheels as they raced past that Daniel understood that Richard had been trying to get them out of the way of an oncoming vehicle. A faint breeze as the carriage passed told him how close they had come to being trampled and Daniel lay still and closed his eyes as he waited for his heart to stop racing.
"Are you all right, my lord?" someone asked the Radnor driver, Daniel thought, but didn't move until Richard said his name with concern. Releasing his breath on a groan then, Daniel pushed himself to a sitting position, muttering, "Yes. Thanks to you."
"It was a yellow bounder, my lord," the Radnor driver announced grimly and glared in the direction the post chaise had gone. "Probably rented. The postillion didn't even try to steer clear of ye. In fact, it looked almost like he was aiming for the two of ye."
Hearing Richard grunt a response, Daniel got to his feet and quickly brushed down his clothes even as Richard rose to do the same. Daniel finished and glanced to Richard as he straightened, frowning as he noted the line of blood trailing from the other man's forehead.
"You're bleeding," Daniel said with concern. "You must have knocked your head as we fell."
Richard raised a hand to his forehead, grimaced when he felt the scrape there, and then wiped the blood away with a sigh. When he then started toward the carriage, Daniel followed.
"Father has been punishing himself for what happened and my having to marry Dicky?"
Suzette blinked at Christiana's question, a little confused as to where it had come from. They had spent the morning having quite useless and unhelpful interviews with the staff in the hopes of learning something that might help determine who the blackmailer was and who had poisoned George. The task had been a complete waste of time so far and after the last interview with one of the upstairs maids, Suzette and Christiana had come down to the office and somehow got on the topic of the men, and then Lisa and the books she read.
Christiana had been scandalized that Suzette had read the banned book about the prostitute, Fanny, but had been positively horrified at the news that the book was actually young Lisa's and that she had read the book as well. Exasperated, Suzette had pointed out that Lisa was nearly twenty, no longer a child and should already have been settled with a husband and having children. Suzette really had no clue how that had led to Christiana's question about their father punishing himself.
"Yes," she said finally, her mouth tightening with anger at just the thought of the man whose gambling had both landed Christiana in her miserable marriage with Dicky and was now forcing Suzette to marry as well. That anger showed in her voice as she snapped, "And so he should. I was actually feeling sorry for him, but then he went and did it again."
"That may not be true," Christiana said quietly. "He may not have gambled at all."
"What?" Suzette glanced at her sharply.
"Richard said there are rumors that Dicky had befriended a certain owner of a gaming hell reputed to drug its patrons and fleece them," Christiana said quietly. "He suspects it's possible that is what happened to Father."
The air slid out of Suzette's lungs in one sharp whoosh at these words and her mind was suddenly filled with memories of the morning she and Lisa had arrived in London. Biting her lip she said, "When we found him at the townhouse, Father kept saying he was sorry, and he didn't know how it had happened, that his memories were a jumble and he didn't even recall how he'd ended up at the gaming hell, just waking up there both times to learn he'd gambled us into ruin."
Christiana breathed out a little sigh and said, "He probably didn't gamble at all."
"Oh God." Suzette dropped weakly back in her chair. "I was so cruel to him the morning we arrived in London. I said some awful things."
"It is understandable under the circumstances," Christiana assured her. "How were you to know Dicky may have drugged him to bring about his downfall?"
"Damn Dicky!" Suzette sat upright again, anger sizzling up her spine. "If he weren't already dead, I think I'd kill him myself."
"Hmm." Christiana was silent for a moment, but then said, "Although, if it weren't for Dicky and what he'd got up to, I wouldn't now be married to Richard and you might never have met and proposed to Daniel."
"That's true," Suzette realized with dismay. She probably never would have met Daniel without Dicky's actions bringing it about. Or perhaps she would have, but only in passing, never exchanging more than polite greetings and having no idea the passion that could burn between them. The idea was rather startling, almost scary really. She couldn't imagine never having experienced his kisses and caresses or anticipating everything else she was looking forward to in the future. Well, mostly looking forward to, Suzette supposed. She was still worried about the pain and blood. While Daniel had assured her it wasn't like that, he also had never bedded a virgin, so what did he know? On the other hand, Christiana had been a virgin until very recently with Richard. Eyeing her speculatively, she asked, "So you are content with Richard?"
"I think we might have a good marriage," Christiana answered carefully.
Suzette snorted at the prim words. "Oh, give over. A good marriage? I've heard the moaning and groaning coming from your room, both the night Dicky died and last night as well. Oh Richard, oh . . . oh . . . yes . . . ooooooh." She rolled her eyes. "Then you scream like you're fit to die."
"You could hear us?" Christiana asked with horror.
"I'm sure the whole house can hear you," she said dryly. "He roars like a lion, and you squeal like a stuck pig." Suzette paused and then added, "Which I suppose is an apt description from what I read in Fanny's book." When Christiana didn't comment, she asked, "Did it hurt very much the first time he stuck his maypole in your tender parts?"
"His maypole?" Christiana gasped, her eyes gone wide.
"That's what Fanny called it. Well, one of the things," she added with a shrug and then repeated, "Did it hurt?"
Christiana groaned and covered her suddenly flushed face. She also didn't answer.
"Well?" Suzette asked persistently. Good Lord, what were big sisters for if not to help at times like this?
"A little perhaps," Christiana admitted finally. Her hands dropped from her face and she stiffened her spine as if headed to her own execution.
Suzette ignored that and said, "Hmm, Fanny fainted from the pain . . . And there was a great deal of blood, which suggests pain as well."
"Anyway, what happens in the bedroom is only a portion of marriage, Suzette," Christiana pointed out. "I must deal with him out of the bedroom as well and begin to think I may be able to."
Suzette recognized an effort to change the topic when she saw one, but let Christiana get away with it. She always had been the most squeamish of the three of them. Eyeing her sister, she said quietly, "He seems to treat you much more kindly than Dicky did. And he upheld the marriage to prevent us all from being cast into scandal." When Christiana nodded, Suzette admitted, "I thought at first that he avoided scandal as well, but Lisa is right, men do not suffer scandal like we women do and he probably did uphold it for your sake, which is really very chivalrous. Much more chivalrous than Daniel's marrying me for money."
When Christiana frowned, Suzette realized how bitter her words sounded and glanced away with a frown of her own. She was a little bitter about it, which was just silly when that was exactly what she'd been looking for, a man in straits dire enough that he would be willing to marry her for her dower and agree to leave her control of part of it, as well as allow her to lead her own life if she chose. Why d
id Daniel's agreeing to do just that suddenly bother her?
"Are you having second thoughts about marrying Daniel?" Christiana asked quietly.
Suzette swallowed and considered the question. Second thoughts? No. She wanted to marry him. She had come to like him and enjoy his company and . . . she just wished he really wanted to marry her in return.
"Perhaps Richard would be willing to cover Father's gambling debts. If we even need to cover them. If we prove he was drugged and didn't gamble at all--"
"Nay, 'tis fine. I doubt it would be that easy to prove and we have enough on our plate at the moment," Suzette said, the words tumbling quickly from her lips. Forcing a smile, she steered them firmly away from the uncomfortable subject and said, "Speaking of which, we should really get back to our task. Who have we not yet talked to?"
Chapter Nine
Do you know that fellow?"
Daniel leaned toward the carriage window to peer out at the man Richard was indicating. An older gentleman was pacing back and forth on the path in front of Richard's townhouse. He was well dressed, with gray hair, and had a hat and cane, but his noble appearance was belied by the fact that he appeared to be talking to himself as he paced.
"He looks vaguely familiar," Daniel said slowly, noting the man's facial features, but unable to place the fellow. "He seems a little troubled about something."