The Heiress - Lynsay Sands [70]
Daniel grimaced and hoped none of the staff had been in the hallway during the conversation that had just taken place. With the door open for the entire duration they would have heard every word of what had just transpired.
Suzette had been glancing over the group, but her eyes widened as she spotted her father. She started forward at once, asking, “Father, what are you doing here?”
“He came to rescue us,” Lisa told her with a smile. “He even held Richard and Daniel at gunpoint until Robert and I explained the new situation to him.”
“Oh, how sweet.” Suzette paused before her father and hugged him, which seemed to leave the man a little startled. Apparently, he hadn’t expected a warm greeting from her, and Daniel understood why when she said, “I am sorry I was so angry when we arrived in London, Father. You didn’t deserve it.” She pulled back and added, “Chrissy says the men think Dicky drugged you and just made you think you’d gambled the money away. It was all a trick to try to get our dowers.”
Lord Madison glanced to Richard who nodded and said, “There are rumors that I, or Dicky really, has become quite chummy with the owner of a gaming hell famous for the trick.”
“I had begun to suspect as much,” Lord Madison admitted, sagging with relief. “I have no recollection of gambling at all, and what recollections I do have of the gaming hell are quite fuzzy flashes of being led through it, people talking and laughing, being told to sign something . . .” He grimaced and shook his head. “I have never cared for gambling and don’t even know how to play the games of chance in those places. Yet there was the marker with my signature on it.”
Suzette patted his back and hugged him again.
“Well, now that that is all straightened out, why do we not sit down and hear what everyone has learned?” Daniel suggested, eager to change the subject and move it away from anything to do with the markers and Suzette’s need for marriage. He slipped to her side so that she now stood between him and her father. While he resisted the urge to take her arm possessively, Daniel wanted to. He wanted to be prepared to whisk her quickly away if Lord Madison should suddenly change his mind and blurt out that he’d sold his townhouse and could now pay the debt. The worry was enough to leave him tense and anxious and he wasn’t happy to realize that he would probably remain in this state until he had Suzette wedded and bedded so that their marriage was final and irrevocable, which he couldn’t do until they had this blackmail business of Richard’s resolved. Fortunately, Richard was as eager to solve the matter as he.
“Yes, let’s move into the parlor,” his friend suggested, and then as everyone started to gravitate that way, asked, “Where is Christiana?”
“Oh.” Suzette suddenly glanced along the hall with a frown. “I was just going in search of her. She was going to have Haversham fetch Freddy to us to interview, but has taken an awfully long time so I thought I’d best check on her.”
“George’s valet, Freddy?” Richard asked, apparently recognizing the name.
“Yes, George’s valet,” Suzette confirmed. “We realized that he might not have been fooled by the switch George made and if he somehow saw you the last day or two may realize you are not George. If so, he could be the blackmailer.”
“Of course,” Richard growled.
Daniel was just thinking they had probably sorted out at least one of their problems when the Radnor butler suddenly came hurrying out of the kitchens.
“Haversham, have you seen my wife?” Richard asked abruptly. “She apparently went looking for you to have you send Freddy to her.”
“Actually, my lord, I was just coming to seek you out about that,” the man said unhappily. “It appears Lady Radnor was unable to find me and went in search of your valet herself and has now found herself