The Heiress - Lynsay Sands [84]
“So he never really wanted or needed me,” Suzette said miserably.
“He was just trifling with her,” Christiana sounded furious, and moved to the bed. Dropping to sit on the side of it, she hugged Suzette tightly.
“I don’t believe that,” Richard said grimly. “Daniel is an honorable man. I wouldn’t be friends with him if I thought otherwise. There must be some explanation.”
“What?” Christiana asked grimly.
“I don’t know,” he admitted with frustration, and then held out his hand. “Let me see the letter.”
“No!” Suzette crumpled it in her hand and held it close to her chest. There was no way she was going to let him read about what she’d done in the stables. It had seemed the most beautiful experience in the world at the time, but now seemed cheap and dirty somehow. She’d thrown up her skirts as lightly as a milkmaid and Daniel now loathed her for it. She was ashamed and didn’t want everyone to know about her shame.
Richard and Christiana were silent for a moment, and then Richard asked to speak with his wife alone. When Christiana stood and moved to the door with him, the two began to whisper, but Suzette merely curled up in a fetal position on the bed and hugged the letter to her chest. She should burn it, or tear it up, but she just didn’t have the energy.
Suzette heard the chamber door open and close and lay staring at the wall. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been lying like that, empty and numb, when the door opened and closed again. She didn’t open her eyes, but simply listened to the soft pad of slippered feet on the hard boards. Someone settled on the side of the bed and began to rub her back soothingly. She didn’t know it was Christiana until she whispered, “All will be well, Suzie. Richard and Robert are going to go after Daniel and see what’s what.”
Suzette stiffened. Richard and Robert would find out that Daniel had a disgust of her because of her loose behavior. All would know her shame. The thought made her turn sharply to Christiana. “You have to stop them.”
Christiana raised her eyebrows. “Why?”
“Because,” she hissed, sitting up. “You just have to. I don’t want them talking to him.”
“Why?” Christiana repeated insistently.
Suzette cursed impatiently and scrambled off the bed to go after Richard herself. She ran downstairs as quickly as she could and then burst out of the inn in time to see Robert and Richard riding out. Her shoulders sagged miserably. By the time she got to the stables and saddled up a horse to follow, they would be long gone and Suzette had no idea where Woodrow was or how to get there so would never catch up to them.
“Suzette, isn’t it?”
She glanced around with disinterest, vaguely recognizing the man who paused beside her, but merely shook her head and turned to go back into the inn. Suzette heard him enter behind her and try to hail her again, but she simply ignored him and trudged back upstairs to her room.
When she slipped inside, Christiana was still there, seated on the side of the bed, reading a wrinkled piece of paper. For one moment, Suzette had no idea what it was, but then she recalled the crumpled letter and realized she’d left it behind. Closing the door, she leaned back against it wearily and waited.
Christiana lifted her head, her eyes filled with sorrow as she whispered, “Oh Suzie.”
Suzette bowed her head, unable to meet her gaze as shame slid over her.
Daniel awoke to pain. It felt as if his chest were being ripped apart, and for one moment he thought he’d fallen off his horse and some predator was feasting on his wounded flesh. But then he opened his eyes and found himself staring up at a silver-haired woman who still showed signs of the beauty she’d once been. Catharine, Lady