The Heiress - Lynsay Sands [103]
Swallowing, she gave a small nod.
“That’s my brave girl.” Her father patted her hand and started to turn to Danvers. “Stop the—”
Suzette had been staring at her hands, but when his words died abruptly and Lord Madison suddenly slumped against her, she glanced to him with alarm.
“Father?” Suzette caught him as he started to slide toward the floor of the carriage and then glanced to Danvers to see that he was holding her father’s cane by the bottom so that the iron handle could be used as a club, which he had obviously used on her father. At her glance, Jeremy smiled coldly and shrugged, allowing it to slip through his fingers until he was grasping the handle. He set it on the bench seat beside him now and drew a pistol.
“We will not be stopping,” he said solemnly. “And you are marrying me.”
“Not bloody likely,” Suzette snapped at once, easing her father to rest in the corner of the carriage seat so that he slumped against the wall.
“You should have said something like, ‘Over my dead body,’ ” Jeremy said idly. “Then I could have replied, ‘No, over his dead body.’ Because I will kill your father if you don’t.”
Suzette stared at him, wondering where all that gentle charm had come from and where it had gone. It was like facing an entirely different man. Was it so easy to pull the wool over her eyes? Apparently so, she thought unhappily and opened her mouth; but before she could speak, Jeremy forestalled her by saying, “Please don’t say anything as droll as, “You can’t do this.” He grimaced and pointed out, “I already have. Now use his cravat and tie him up,” he ordered coldly. “Tightly, mind. I should hate for him to get loose and get himself shot before the wedding.”
Daniel raised his eyebrows in question as Richard hurried back across the inn yard toward the carriage. Rather than waste the time involved in everyone getting out at each stop, one person did it. Richard and Robert had been taking turns at it to save Daniel from aggravating his injury.
“No sign of them?” he asked as Richard neared.
Radnor shook his head, his expression grim, and Daniel glanced to the carriage stopped behind their own in time to see his mother withdraw her head from the open door and close it. She had heard Richard’s answer too and was now no doubt telling Lisa and Christiana the news.
After the first hour, their party had been stopping at each inn so that they could check to see if Danvers’s carriage had perhaps been there and might be still. They had expected him to stop for meals or to allow everyone to stretch their legs and relieve themselves. Even if he had decided to drive straight through, the man would have to stop eventually, if only to change horses. However, it appeared he hadn’t stopped so far.
“I begin to suspect he isn’t going to stop at all and we are wasting time stopping at each inn we pass,” Daniel admitted grimly as Richard climbed into the carriage.
“Hmm,” Robert muttered with disgust. “If he shot you and wrote the letter Suzette received, then he’ll no doubt be eager to get her to Gretna Green and get the deed done before anything can interfere.”
Daniel sank back on the bench seat to peer at Robert and Richard across from him, then said, “Maybe we should stop checking each inn. We are wasting a lot of time, and even if they do stop and we pass them, it can only be to our benefit to arrive at Gretna before them. We could lie in wait then.”
He waited for both men to nod their agreement before giving these instructions to his driver.
Suzette breathed out a little sigh of relief as she saw her father’s eyes flutter. He had been unconscious for so long, she had begun to fret that Danvers had hit him so hard he might never wake again. But he was coming around . . . and now she could carry out the plan she’d come up with while waiting for him to regain consciousness.
Danvers had put his gun away the moment she’d finished tying up her father. Suzette supposed he didn’t feel threatened by her enough to bother keeping it