The Heiress - Lynsay Sands [56]
Daniel couldn’t help thinking that Christiana might have been able to help more with the matter. Now that she knew everything, she seemed the best prospect for being able to tell them who he had chummed around with this last year and so on. However, she hadn’t been there to question.
Daniel had been relieved to arrive at Radnor as evening fell. It had been a short-lived relief. They’d disembarked to find the women all aflutter. It seemed during the second half of the journey Lisa had recalled a letter a street urchin had given her that morning to pass on to “The Earl.” It had happened during all the fuss and bother of loading the carriages, and she’d unfortunately forgotten the letter until they were almost to Radnor, where they planned to leave George in the family vault. Christiana, suspecting it was for George and not Richard, had immediately opened the letter to find it actually was for Richard. Someone knew George was dead and suspected Richard had killed him to reclaim his name and title. The individual was demanding a rather large sum of money to keep their silence. Now, they not only had to find out who had murdered George, but also had to contend with a blackmailer. Things just seemed to be spiraling out of control.
The one good thing about the letter was that it had forced Christiana to explain all to her sisters and they would no longer be hampered by the need to hide facts or the presence of the dead body from Lisa and Suzette. However, that was somewhat tempered for Daniel by Suzette’s annoyance with him. She was upset that he hadn’t told her about it himself at some point. She felt sure husbands and wives shouldn’t keep secrets like that from each other. Daniel hadn’t pointed out that they weren’t yet married, but had simply said it wasn’t his secret to tell. Suzette hadn’t seemed much mollified by the answer.
The discovery of the letter meant that the trip to Gretna Green had to be put off so that they could return to town at once to deal with the blackmailer. However, they had taken the time to set the chest holding George in the family vault first, and then had been held up when they were discovered by the Radnor minister. If not for the man’s catching them in the vault, all three carriages would now be on the way back to town. However, that discovery had led to explanations and then the minister offering to marry Richard and Christiana at once. After all, the man had pointed out, the banns had been read and the license procured a year earlier. The only reason the marriage was invalid was because Richard hadn’t attended the ceremony and signed the wedding register himself. Were the minister to marry them, and did Richard and Christiana sign the register before witnesses, the marriage would be legal and unbreakable. So they’d had the ceremony and then Richard had suggested the women go above stairs and refresh themselves while a quick wedding feast was prepared. They would dine with the minister and then return to town, he’d said as he sent the women off.
However, the moment the sisters were safely upstairs, Richard had taken the minister aside for a word and then begun hustling Daniel and Langley out of the house. He had decided they could travel faster without the women and would prefer to leave them safely here at Radnor rather than drag them back to town. The men could handle the blackmailer and then afterward return to collect the women and continue on to Gretna Green so that Daniel and Suzette could marry.
Daniel had not been pleased. He knew Suzette would be furious, but he was also rather annoyed himself. There was no way to get to know her better if they weren’t even together. However, Richard had insisted on it. He’d argued that it was safer and he didn’t wish the women involved with dealing with the blackmailer. He’d also pointed out that it was ridiculous to drag the maids and chests and all three carriages back to town when they would just be returning in a day or two to continue on to Gretna Green. Whether he liked it or not,