Suzette leaned against the beast and watched as he mounted. He then helped her climb on to the animal’s back as well.

“Just relax,” Daniel suggested as he settled her before him. “You are safe and we will have you back at the inn and comfortable in no time.”

Suzette nestled against his chest, trying to keep her head still to stave off the worst of the pain as he urged his mount to a canter.

The ride back to the inn probably didn’t take long, though it seemed interminable to Suzette. All the jostling about had her head aching so badly she felt sure that if she’d had anything in her stomach she probably would have tossed it up by the time they arrived at the inn. Fortunately, they hadn’t eaten since first setting out with Danvers, and that was long gone.

As they broke out of the woods and entered the courtyard Robert and Richard came rushing from the stables.

“Did you get him?” Daniel asked, drawing his horse to a halt.

“Danvers?” Richard asked with surprise, moving to take Lady Woodrow’s mount by the bit as she reined in beside them with Lord Madison in the saddle behind her. “No. Was he not with Suzette and Lord Madison?”

Daniel shook his head. “He left them tied in the woods and was supposed to be headed here in search of a hack to carry them on to Gretna Green.”

“We’ve seen no sign of him,” Robert assured him, moving up to take the bit of his horse.

Daniel scowled, but then said, “Here, take Suzette.”

He passed her down like a child and Robert released the horse and caught her to his chest at once. He then frowned as he looked her over and noted her head wound. “What happened to your head, Suzie? Did Danvers do this?”

“No, I hit it on a rock,” she said wearily.

“It’s my fault,” her father said with disgust as he dismounted. He turned to help Lady Woodrow down, explaining, “I meant to knock Danvers off her, but they both went down and there was a boulder behind her. A damned big one too. I should have taken a look about before I rammed the man.”

“What was Danvers doing ‘on’ her?” Daniel asked, taking her from Robert.

Suzette glanced to him with surprise. He sounded strange, his voice cold, angry and afraid all at once.

“He was choking her,” her father answered in oddly reassuring tones and Suzette couldn’t help noticing that all the men were suddenly relaxing a bit as if this answer were more acceptable than whatever they’d been thinking. That’s when she realized they had all immediately assumed the man had been trying to ravish her.

Still, Richard asked, “Why the devil would he try to choke you? He couldn’t marry a corpse.”

“He took offense to something I said,” Suzette answered primly.