"You don't need to explain," he assured her as he reached his horse. Daniel then paused and admitted, "I was angry at first that you would believe I would break it off so coldly in a letter, but when I read what he'd written about the stables--" He shook his head. "Of course you would believe it was me. We thought we were alone."
She nodded, but didn't comment. Suzette really didn't want to discuss the fact that Danvers had been watching them in the stables. She just didn't want to think about it. Between that and the cruel comments in the letter, Danvers had managed to tarnish the experience for her somewhat.
Daniel kissed her on the top of her head, careful to avoid her injury, and then asked, "Can you stand for a moment while I mount?"
"Yes," she murmured.
"Hold on to the horse," he instructed as he set her down.
Suzette leaned against the beast and watched as he mounted. He then helped her climb on to the animal's back as well.
"Just relax," Daniel suggested as he settled her before him. "You are safe and we will have you back at the inn and comfortable in no time."
Suzette nestled against his chest, trying to keep her head still to stave off the worst of the pain as he urged his mount to a canter.
The ride back to the inn probably didn't take long, though it seemed interminable to Suzette. All the jostling about had her head aching so badly she felt sure that if she'd had anything in her stomach she probably would have tossed it up by the time they arrived at the inn. Fortunately, they hadn't eaten since first setting out with Danvers, and that was long gone.
As they broke out of the woods and entered the courtyard Robert and Richard came rushing from the stables.
"Did you get him?" Daniel asked, drawing his horse to a halt.
"Danvers?" Richard asked with surprise, moving to take Lady Woodrow's mount by the bit as she reined in beside them with Lord Madison in the saddle behind her. "No. Was he not with Suzette and Lord Madison?"
Daniel shook his head. "He left them tied in the woods and was supposed to be headed here in search of a hack to carry them on to Gretna Green."
"We've seen no sign of him," Robert assured him, moving up to take the bit of his horse.
Daniel scowled, but then said, "Here, take Suzette."
He passed her down like a child and Robert released the horse and caught her to his chest at once. He then frowned as he looked her over and noted her head wound. "What happened to your head, Suzie? Did Danvers do this?"
"No, I hit it on a rock," she said wearily.
"It's my fault," her father said with disgust as he dismounted. He turned to help Lady Woodrow down, explaining, "I meant to knock Danvers off her, but they both went down and there was a boulder behind her. A damned big one too. I should have taken a look about before I rammed the man."
"What was Danvers doing 'on' her?" Daniel asked, taking her from Robert.
Suzette glanced to him with surprise. He sounded strange, his voice cold, angry and afraid all at once.
"He was choking her," her father answered in oddly reassuring tones and Suzette couldn't help noticing that all the men were suddenly relaxing a bit as if this answer were more acceptable than whatever they'd been thinking. That's when she realized they had all immediately assumed the man had been trying to ravish her.
Still, Richard asked, "Why the devil would he try to choke you? He couldn't marry a corpse."
"He took offense to something I said," Suzette answered primly.
"Or perhaps several somethings," her father muttered.
Much to Suzette's relief, Daniel didn't ask what she'd said and turned toward the inn with her. Heading for the door, he said, "I'll see her settled in a room and then come back. Danvers should have been here by now. We will have to search the woods."
Unsure whether they were staying or not, they hadn't rented rooms at the inn and had to tend that now. Even so, they were soon upstairs in a room and Daniel was setting her on a bed.
"We need to speak when I get back," Daniel said quietly, pressing a kiss to her nose before straightening. "But I need to go search for Danvers now."
"You need to remove your coat and shirt and let me look at your back," his mother countered, leading Christiana, Lisa and Cedrick Madison into the room. Christiana and Lisa carried water and cloths and bandages, while her father just looked bewildered as to why he was there.
"My back is fine," Daniel said grimly, turning toward his mother.
"What is wrong with your back?" Suzette asked with a frown.
"He was shot. That is why he didn't return to the inn as expected," Lady Woodrow announced.
"Shot?" Suzette gasped, looking Daniel over more carefully. She couldn't see his wound through his clothes, but he did look a little pale, not so much she would have guessed he'd been wounded though. The fact that he'd been shot explained why he hadn't returned as expected, however, and Suzette immediately wondered if Danvers had done it. He had shot his driver in the back after all. Apparently, the man didn't like to face the people he tried to kill. Well, except her: they'd been face to face when he'd tried to choke her.
"You are not leaving this room until I see your back, Daniel," Lady Woodrow said grimly. "You have been riding about and lifting Suzette up and down and I am sure it has probably reopened. Now strip."
When Daniel scowled and looked as if he were debating ignoring the order, she threatened, "I will send for Richard and Robert and have them hold you down while I tend it if I must."
"Oh very well," he snapped and began to shrug quickly out of his jacket.
Satisfied, Lady Woodrow then turned to Suzette's father. "What about you, my lord?"
Cedrick Madison stood a little straighter. "Me?"
"Did you sustain any injuries that need tending?"
"Oh no, I'm fine," he assured her quickly, sidling toward the door.
"Then why did I notice dried blood in your hair when you dismounted out front?" Lady Woodrow asked pointedly. "And why are you limping?"
"Oh, I just . . . the leg is an old injury. As for the head, well, I took a blow earlier," he admitted reluctan
tly, and quickly added, "But that was hours ago and I'm sure it's fine. I'll just--"
"Sit down and I shall take a look at it after I tend Daniel and Suzette," Lady Catherine ordered firmly.
Cedrick Madison sighed, his shoulders slumping, and then moved to sit in one of the chairs by the fire.
Suzette, Christiana and Lisa had been watching this all rather wide-eyed, but as Lady Woodrow moved to a now topless Daniel they all glanced at each other and suddenly burst out in grins. They had grown up pretty much without a mother, and really, Lady Catherine Woodrow was a revelation of sorts.
Chapter Seventeen
Suzette opened her eyes to a warm fire-lit room and glanced sleepily around, wondering where she was.
"Oh, you're awake."
The comment drew her gaze to a chair by the fireplace and the woman getting up from it. Daniel's mother. Lady Woodrow had tended Daniel's back and let him leave, with a firm admonishment to be careful, as he'd headed out to help Richard and Robert search the area for Danvers. She'd then tended Suzette's head wound, cleaning it but deciding it didn't need stitching, before giving her something absolutely vile to drink and telling her to sleep. Suzette had obediently lain down and closed her eyes as Lady Woodrow had moved on to tend to her father. She'd been sure she wouldn't sleep though. Her head had been pounding horribly. However, she had drifted off in the end, though she wasn't sure for how long.
"How are you feeling?" Lady Woodrow asked, pausing beside the bed and bending to press the back of her hand to Suzette's forehead. "You don't have a fever. Does your head hurt?"
Suzette shook her head slowly. "No. Thank you."
"Good." She nodded with satisfaction.
"Did they find Jeremy?" Suzette asked, glancing toward the door.
"You haven't been asleep very long. They are still looking," Lady Woodrow said and then grimaced. "I suspect they won't find him though. He must have spotted us at the inn and judging from that letter he sent supposedly from Daniel, he seems smart enough to go to ground like a fox in the hunt. I'm sure it's not the last we'll see of him though."
"The letter? You read it?" Suzette asked weakly, her stomach turning over when the woman nodded.
Lady Woodrow considered her expression, and then settled on the side of the bed and took one of her hands in her own. "That letter was meant to make you feel shame, but you shouldn't."