Daniel smiled faintly at the advice, but just as quickly frowned as he thought of the letter and how callous it must have seemed after what they’d done in the stable. “How upset was Suzette?”

Richard grimaced and it was Robert who said solemnly, “I didn’t talk to her, but I could hear her weeping from the hall. I have never heard such heart-wrenching sobs in my life. I would say your mother was right and Suzette loves you, for she truly seemed brokenhearted.”

Daniel scowled at the thought and then asked, “Do you think Mother is right and the shooting and letter are connected?”

“It does seem likely,” Richard said. “It would be an odd coincidence if it weren’t. After all, had you returned as planned, you would have simply told her the letter was a fake.”

“Yes, but if whoever shot me thought me dead, why bother with the letter?”

“Perhaps they were not sure they succeeded with a mortal wound,” Robert suggested.

“All right,” Daniel conceded. “But then what purpose does the letter serve except to make her think the wedding is off, and why bother with that?”

Both Richard and Robert appeared as blank faced as he felt. It just didn’t make sense, or at least he didn’t see the sense of it just then. But it gave him a bad feeling.

“Come, give me those clothes. I think the sooner we get back to the inn and straighten this out the better. There is something afoot here that we aren’t yet seeing.”

“I do not see what the rush is. Why can we not stop at an inn and rest and continue on in the morning?” Suzette’s father asked plaintively.

“My lord, we have barely been on the road more than an hour thanks to your delaying,” Jeremy answered with what Suzette considered amazing patience. Certainly, with more patience than she had at the moment, but then she was very annoyed with her father.

After insisting on accompanying them, Cedrick Madison had then dragged his feet as much as he could to delay the departure. He’d taken forever to pack when she suspected he hadn’t really unpacked at all. They’d only stayed the one night at the inn and had planned to continue on today once Daniel returned with his mother. Surely, her father wouldn’t have unpacked anything but a change of clothes. Yet he had been up in his room forever supposedly packing, and had come down only when Jeremy had finally gone upstairs and impatiently offered to help with the chore to speed things along.