The Heiress - Lynsay Sands [40]
“Christiana is a special woman and our situation is not a common one.”
“Well, Suzette is just as special and our situation is not common either,” he shot back, and then frowned as he realized what he’d said. Unfortunately, he couldn’t dispute it. Suzette was special. Aside from the fact that he’d never encountered anyone who inspired quite the same depth of passion in him that she did, he found her unbelievably fascinating. Her tendency to just say what she felt was something not done by the majority of the ton, and after a childhood and early manhood spent living a lie to hide his family’s poverty, Daniel found that blunt honesty refreshing. He also found her charming and amusing and spirited and . . .
Sighing, he explained, “She proposed to me at the ball, and then when she found me in her room, thought I had come to say yes to her proposal. Rather than explain my real purpose in being there I let her believe it because I couldn’t come up with an alternate explanation for my presence. I am still trying to come up with one. But I am also considering her proposal seriously in the meantime.”
“Why the devil would she propose to you? She wants a husband in need of money who will agree to her terms,” Richard pointed out.
Daniel grimaced. “Yes, well, I may have misled her as to my financial status.”
Richard raised his eyebrows. “Why?”
“Because when she asked me about my income and such I assumed she was just another fortune-seeking debutante and lied. You can imagine my surprise when rather than scaring her off, my saying I had no money prompted a proposal.” He shook his head and thought wryly that he had rather been hoisted with his own petard. But in his defense, it wasn’t uncommon for fortune-seeking mamas and their daughters to chase him. In fact, the idea that Suzette had no interest in his hard-earned wealth made a nice change.
“So rather than just tell her that you have money—”
“I have no intention of telling her that, and you’d best not either,” Daniel said grimly. “And don’t even think about offering to pay off the father’s gambling debts. I shall attend those myself whether I marry her or not.”
Richard raised an eyebrow. “Why should I not offer to pay them off? It would remove the pressure the women are under.”
Daniel felt his mouth tighten. “Suzette is not enthralled with the idea of marrying after all she’s learned about Christiana’s experiences this last year. She may very well bury herself in the countryside and eschew marriage altogether should she learn it isn’t a necessity, and I can hardly get to know her better if she is at Madison Manor and I am at Woodrow.”
“Ah,” Richard murmured, and then cleared his throat and said, “Fine, I shall refrain from offering to pay . . . for now.”
Daniel nearly slumped with relief. “Thank you.”
Richard waved his gratitude away and changed the subject. “The good news is that since I’ve decided to uphold the marriage to Christiana, we can simply dispose of you know who. I was considering our options on the way here—”
Daniel shook his head and interrupted. “That might not be the best idea.”
Richard paused and raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“I think perhaps it would be best not to dispose of him at all yet. At least not until we sort out this business of who killed him.”
“Why?” Richard asked with apparent surprise, and then reasoned, “It is not as if he can be a witness in his own murder.”
“No, but we cannot prove murder without a body,” Daniel pointed out. “Whoever poisoned him will soon think they failed, if they don’t already. They will try again.”
Richard appeared upset at this suggestion, and said grimly, “Then I shall have to be careful about what I eat and drink. But I see no need to keep you know who around until we catch his killer. We can charge whoever it is with attempted murder when they try to kill me.”
Daniel was silent for a moment. He was worried. They had enough problems without having to watch out for another murder attempt on Richard. He had been lucky in escaping the plans George had set out