The Heiress - Lynsay Sands [68]
Daniel was a bit startled by this unexpected turn of events, but not much alarmed for two reasons. First of all, they were standing on the street in plain view of anyone passing and no sane person would pull the trigger there. Of course, the fellow had been talking to himself, so perhaps he wasn’t all that sane. But Daniel also wasn’t that worried because the man was obviously a member of the nobility and he’d mentioned the girls who could only be the Madison sisters. Daniel was beginning to suspect he knew who the man was and why he’d looked familiar. And if he was right, he was pretty sure that the likelihood of being shot wasn’t very high. Well, at least not on purpose, Daniel corrected himself wryly, as he noted the way the man’s hand was trembling.
Richard turned back, and then paused as he took in the situation.
“Ha! Not so clever now are you, Dicky?” the armed man asked grimly. “Now give me my daughters. All of them. I’m not leaving a one of them here for you to abuse any longer.”
“Your daughters?” Daniel asked with interest, his suspicions proven correct. The man was Cedrick Madison, Suzette’s father. He looked familiar because he shared some of the same facial features as his lovely daughter, though they were much softer on her.
“Lord Madison?” Richard asked, sounding more amazed. Obviously, he didn’t see the resemblance.
Madison appeared more interested in Richard than anything else, though he kept the gun pressed into Daniel’s side as he sneered, “Save your games, my lord. You have managed to fool me one too many times already. I know you have mistreated my Chrissy. Robert told me everything after the Landons’ ball the other night. He said the girls told him that you’ve treated her terribly and I’ve sorted it all out from there. You never loved my gel, it was all an act to get your hands on her dower, and now you’ve somehow swindled me again hoping to force my Suzette into the same position. Well I won’t have it, and I am not leaving my Chrissy in your hands either, marriage or no marriage. I’ll have it annulled. I’ll take it to the King himself if I have to. Now fetch me all three girls before I lose my patience.”
“Father?”
All three men glanced to the woman hurrying up the path toward them: Lisa Madison with Robert Langley on her heels.
“Father, what are you doing pointing that pistol at Suzette’s fiancé? Put that away before you hurt someone.”
“Nay,” Lord Madison said firmly, grabbing her arm with his free hand and urging her to the side to keep her out of harm’s way as he dug the pistol more firmly into Daniel’s stomach. “I’ll not let Suzette marry this blackguard. No doubt he’s a friend of that devil’s there, which means he’ll be as bad as Dicky. Now, be a good girl and fetch your sisters, girl. We are leaving here and going back to Madison. I’ve sold the townhouse to pay the debts. There is no need for Suzette to marry anyone.”
“You sold your townhouse?” Daniel asked with the first real alarm he’d felt since the man had whipped out his pistol.
“Aye.” Lord Madison’s smile was just plain mean as he glanced from Daniel to Richard. “The two of you didn’t think I’d do that, did you? But I’d sell the estate itself before I let you rope another one of my girls into a miserable marriage.” He stood a little straighter and added, “And I will see Chrissy out of her marriage as well.”
“Oh Father,” Lisa said with a sigh. “That wasn’t necessary at all. Daniel agreed to let Suzette keep half her dower to pay off the debt and use the rest as she wished. He is not the devil Dicky was.”
“And actually, Richard here is not the villain you think he is either,” Langley added as he urged Lisa away to take her place at Madison’s side. He then bent his head close and began to murmur. Daniel heard enough to know he was explaining the situation to the man and simply waited for him to finish. It took a bit of time, but eventually Madison lowered his gun