While her mother and the marquess said, “No.”
A seething silence fell around them all, and the countess looked as if she would faint. Cressida slipped her fingers between his, and he squeezed them in gentle reassurance. They were caught in a scandal unlike any in his family had ever faced, but Nicholas was assured of their full support and love.
Colin, entering the conservatory quickly summed up the situation and if there was a side to be on, he was on the side of his brother and Lady Cressida. His brother nodded at him, and Nicholas lifted his chin toward the small gathering.
Colin and Hermina took control of the situation and everyone except Lord Linfield were swept into carriages and driven to the house of Lady Cressida’s parents, leaving the house through a gate in the small garden. Cressida traveled with her parents while Nicholas traveled with Colin and Hermina.
“Do you plan to marry her?” Hermina asked.
“Yes, and I’ll not have Cressida marry that blackguard,” he replied.
“What happened?” Colin asked.
Nicholas explained the scene he had come upon in the conservatory to his brother. “Colin, that bounder tried to compromise Lady Cressida because she refused to marry a man who has got his mistress pregnant and will not do the right thing and marry her. When I reached the conservatory, he had torn Cressida’s dress and was forcing his kisses on her. He told her that soon she would be compromised, it was all arranged, and she still refused him. I could not see her married to that cad, so I made sure that it was me she was found with. After I gave him a fist to his guts. Didn’t have time to give him a real pasting.”
Nicholas smiled wryly. The old dragon would certainly be happy for this match, even it was born from scandal.
“That cretin!” Hermina gasped, her eyes flashing with anger. “To think Lord Linfield would go this far. Everyone knows of his mistress’s pregnancy. She is a lovely girl from a good family and that he would ruin her and not offer marriage makes him the worst sort of bounder!”
“I assume you are in love with Lady Cressida and want to marry her, and not just rescue her from an intolerable situation?” Colin asked.
“I do and very much so,” Nicholas replied.
“And does the lady feel the same?”
“I believe so; she said she loves me, and I very much hope so, because she is everything to me.” Nicholas smiled. “I am actually damned certain of her love and loyalty.”
“Very well, then we need to sort things out with Lord and Lady Dunmore and make everything all right. I think it might help if Lady Celdon was here too.”
Nicholas wondered how Cressida fared in the carriage with her parents. No doubt they were trying to convince her against the match. He smiled, confident it would be in vain. They arrived at the earl and countess’s home, and Lord Linfield followed in his own carriage and tried to enter, but Colin and Nicholas had already spoken to the butler, and some money exchanged hands so that he was refused entry. He did not go quietly, and Colin together with a burly footman threw him down the steps. That took the wind out of his sails, and he was helped back into his carriage by his own footman, with a bloody nose and with several scrapes and much bruised. He no longer looked much like one of the eliteton, with his raiment torn and bloodied.
While Cressida ran upstairs to change her gown, Lord Dunmore was calming down his wife, Cressida’s mother, with Hermina’s assistance. Paper and pen were located, and a note was promptly delivered to the dowager, who arrived as soon as it was possible. Colin explained what was happening to her, and shetuttedand then dealt with the situation like a major-general in charge of an army.
There were many heated words spoken in the conference that was held later that night. Most of them were spoken by Lady Cressida’s mother, whose dreams of a grand society wedding for her second daughter to a notable title were fading fast. Nicholas and Cressida stood firm; they wanted to marry each other and no other and would not be persuaded otherwise. Lady Celdon and Colin staunchly supported the match. Eventually, all was settled, and a slightly smaller wedding was agreed upon and would be swiftly arranged.
“Thank you, Lady Celdon; I appreciate your assistance with this matter of urgency,” Nicholas said to the old dragon, buzzing her cheek with a small kiss and making her blush.
“I’ll do what I can to prevent a scandal, but it is up to you and your brother to deal with Linfield, and I don’t want to know how you hush him up. I’m too old to be dealing with all these complications,” she said and then swept off in her carriage.
Half an hour later, Colin and Nicholas were at Lord Linfield’s door. The butler tried to exclude them, but Colin gently bundled the old man out of the way, and Nicholas shut the door with them on the inside.
“His lordship is not seeing anyone; he has been assailed by footpads and is injured,” the butler insisted.
“He was not assaulted by footpads; he was thrown out of a noble house for trying to compromise the daughter of the family. Now take us to your master, so we can deal with the matter properly,” Colin insisted.
“Who should I say is calling?” the butler diffidently asked.
“Lord Celdon and his brother Nicholas Fairbanks.”
Lord Linfield appeared horrified to see his visitors while he was trying to drown his sorrows and anger with a decanter of brandy. Colin eased the butler out of the room and shut the door behind him.
“Linfield, my brother wants to give you another demonstration of his pugilistic skills. But since gaining the title, I’ve been trying to do things in a more civilized way, so you have a choice. Either you go out of Town for at least a year and never mention Lady Cressida’s name again or…”
“Or?” choked out Lord Linfield.
“Or I will leave Nicholas with you, to deal out the rest of what he believes you deserve with a demonstration of the noble art upon your body. Now if you agree to stay silent and leave Town at dawn tomorrow, then I will take him with me…”
“You can’t do that…” Linfield began to bluster, but his words ran out as Nicholas started to remove his coat and began rolling up his sleeves.