The Heiress - Lynsay Sands [98]
“Yes, Lord Danvers arrived and offered to marry her in exchange for Father’s markers and she accepted. How did you know?” Lisa asked with surprise.
Daniel was so stunned by this news that he almost didn’t catch his mother’s reply as she said, “Really, what else was the letter for but to ensure she thought there was no hope for her love for Daniel and would be willing to leave here promptly with another?”
“Damn, she’s smart,” Robert muttered to Daniel as he settled at the table next to him. “That hadn’t occurred to me.”
“Me neither,” Daniel said grimly, getting to his feet. So much for her being upstairs nursing her supposedly broken heart.
“Sit, Daniel,” Lady Woodrow said without even glancing around to see him on his feet.
The woman always had seemed to have eyes in the back of her head when it came to him, he thought grimly, and sat back down. He didn’t know why he’d got up anyway. Suzette didn’t love him. She’d cared so little she’d run off with the first man who offered for her. She hadn’t even waited a full bloody day. He really had just been the first handy bloke to suit her needs and, apparently, any man would do. It was damned lowering after what they’d shared in the stables. If Suzette thought she would experience that kind of pleasure with just any man, she had a sorry disappointment coming . . . and it served her right, he decided.
“How long ago did they leave?” Robert asked as Richard rejoined them.
Despite his suddenly glum mood, Daniel found himself waiting tensely for the response.
“No more than an hour ago,” Christiana murmured. “Father insisted on going with them and made them take the time to eat first. He also dallied as long as he could over packing though I’m sure he never unpacked here. I think he hoped you’d return with news before they left.”
“Bless him,” his mother said and then glanced to Richard in question, “How long until the food will be ready?”
“The innkeeper assured me it would be out right away. His wife has a stew on the hob and some left-over roast beef from last night. She’s going to bring the juice of the stew and a roast-beef dinner for him right away.”
“Good, good.” Lady Woodrow ushered Christiana and Lisa to the table, and then suggested, “Perhaps we should all eat then.”
When Richard hesitated and glanced uncertainly toward Daniel, Lady Woodrow waved her hand in a dismissing gesture and said, “Never mind him, he is sulking. His nose is out of joint because Suzette has run off to marry another. It’s for the best anyway. This way we need not fight to get him to keep his promise to eat and he does need to eat.”
“I am not sulking,” Daniel said through gritted teeth as Richard moved off to let the innkeeper know they would all be eating. “And stop talking about me like that. I am sitting right here.”
“I notice you don’t deny your nose is out of joint,” Lady Woodrow said easily as she settled on the bench next to him with Christiana and Lisa on her other side.
“My nose is not out of joint,” he said now, and then raised his chin and added, “She has done me a favor. If she cares so little for me that she would run off with the first man who came along, then she has saved me future heartache.”
“Oh but—” Lisa began, but was shushed by his mother.
“After he eats,” she said gently, and explained, “Daniel can be terribly bullheaded when he wishes. It is better he eats before he rushes off to rescue her.”
“Rescue who?” Daniel asked with a frown. “She went willingly, did she not?”
“I wonder why you cannot now even speak her name?” his mother said pensively, and then glanced around as Richard and the innkeeper and his wife approached, each carrying a platter. “Oh, here is the food. Wonderful.”
Daniel scowled but kept his tongue. He wasn’t saying her name because he didn’t wish to, and he had no intention of rushing off to rescue her, he thought, as he grimly worked his way through the broth