The Heiress - Lynsay Sands [120]
“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.”
“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