Page 33 of The Lady Who Said No to the Duke

‘S he is here, thank God,’ Porchester said.

‘Name your seconds!’ Dudley pushed forward, a bristling game cock of a man.

Hal simply said, ‘Thea,’ and held out his hands.

She started towards him, then Linton pulled a pistol from his pocket and pointed it at the three of them. ‘Stop right there or I’ll shoot.’

The man was frightened. His finger on the trigger was far too tense for safety and the gun was wavering. The muzzle swung towards Thea and all three men stopped dead.

It wavered back towards them and Hal saw Thea fumbling under her skirts.

‘You fool, you haven’t even cocked it,’ she said in a voice of scorn, standing straight again with something in her hand.

The weapon dipped as Linton looked down at it and she struck with some kind of dagger, plunging it into his right forearm.

Linton screamed, dropped the pistol. By some miracle, it did not go off.

Hal left the others to secure Linton and the gun. Thea just stood staring at him, the weapon in her hand dripping blood.

‘Come, Lady Macbeth, give me that dagger,’ he said, hoping the teasing tone would cut through her shock.

She shook her head, dropped it on the table, and he saw it was just a long splinter of wood. ‘You came for me.’

‘I will always—’

‘Where is she? Where is my daughter?’

‘Papa?’

The Earl came barging into the room, sending Dudley, who had been standing by the door, staggering. ‘Thea!’ He stared around the room at the four men: Hal by Thea, Dudley steadying himself on the bedpost, Porchester kneeling beside Linton, who was sprawled on the floor moaning.

‘Who is the swine who took you?’

‘Randolph Linton,’ Thea said, gesturing towards the floor. ‘He lured me into the garden wing of the Dowager’s conservatory, overpowered me, bundled me into a carriage and drove me here. I was tied up and gagged but I have not been harmed in any other way,’ she added with some emphasis.

‘Sit down, Thea.’ Hal took her arm and steered her away from the man on the floor and towards a chair.

He nodded towards Dudley. ‘Sir, this is Mr Dudley, from Yorkshire, who has a matter of honour to satisfy with Linton. He joined us when we realised that Lady Thea was missing and together we followed him here.’

‘Here, take this chair, my lord.’ Dudley pushed one towards Lord Wiveton. ‘This has been a most anxious time for you. You are most timely in your arrival.’

‘Followed you,’ the older man snapped. ‘My coachman may recover one day. Says he’s never driven so hard for so long in all his life.’

He took a deep breath and glowered at them all equally. ‘Well, which of you is it to be? One of you has to marry her now.’

‘Papa!’

‘I am betrothed,’ Dudley stated hastily. ‘Not that I would not be… Not that my station in life…’ He fell silent.

Linton half lifted himself from the floor, muttered something about doing the right thing and Porchester trod on his hand. With a gasp, he subsided again.

‘I would be honoured,’ Porchester declared. ‘Lady Thea has my deepest respect and admiration.’

‘To the devil with that,’ Hal said.

Over Thea’s protest of, ‘But I am not ruined ! I do not need to marry anyone.’

‘I have been betrothed to Lady Thea for almost her entire life. We have, perhaps, not seen eye to eye on the subject of marriage recently, but under the circumstances I am certain she sees the necessity of accepting my hand.’

Lord Wiveton looked considerably happier.

‘Now, look here, Leamington,’ Porchester said. ‘If the lady does not wish to marry you, then that closes the matter.’

‘I do not want to marry any of you.’ Thea surged to her feet. ‘I do not need to marry anyone. How often do I have to repeat that nothing happened ?’

‘For which we must be truly grateful,’ Wiveton said.

‘You gentlemen have done us a great service. However, it appears that the Dowager thought all her guests had left, but this was not the case. When I arrived, she and my wife informed me of what had occurred while we were in the main conservatory. I expressed myself loudly in my agitation and two people emerged from one of the garden wings. They said they had been lost in admiration of the statuary and had not noticed the time.’

‘Who was it?’ Hal asked.

‘Lady Severns and a Mr Cosgrove. I understand that he is her…er…’

‘Frequent companion,’ Porchester said smoothly. ‘One doubts that any artistic appreciation was involved in their tryst. But the lady is the most notorious gossipmonger in town. I cannot imagine a worse person to have learned of this.’

‘Exactly my point,’ Wiveton said. ‘Fortunately I do not think that they heard all the details, but they will be aware that something is amiss involving my daughter and it is serious enough for my wife to have been in hyst— Er…in an emotional state and the Dowager to be deeply concerned.’

‘And it is now almost midnight,’ Hal said. ‘This is one of the better inns on this road. I would wager that several of us have been recognised. Have any staff been in this room and seen Lady Thea?’

‘A serving maid and a pot boy,’ she said flatly. Hal thought he could hear a hint of resignation in her tone.

Mr Dudley cleared his throat. ‘I will remove myself. My aim in seeking out this cur—’ he gestured contemptuously at Linton, who had crawled to the wall and was sitting there nursing his injured arm ‘—was the bring him to account for a slur on my family’s honour.

I feel he has been dealt with and, in any case, I can hardly call out an injured man.

I shall take a room here for the night and return to London in the morning. ’

He bowed to Thea then walked to the door. ‘You have my assurance of my utmost discretion, my lady. Your Grace, my lords. I will bid you good-night.’

‘Just what are we going to do with that?’ Porchester asked, pointing at Linton as the door closed. ‘My inclination is to drop him down the nearest well.’

‘The family have a Scottish estate, I believe,’ Hal said. ‘A nice, remote, wet, cold and windy estate. One that is a long way from anything at all entertaining for the likes of Randolph here. Linton, pay attention.’

He looked up, his expression wary.

‘You will take yourself off to that estate tomorrow morning. You will stay there for at least one year. I will have checks made to ensure you do stay there. If you do not, or if I hear that you have spoken of this matter, or have done anything to damage Lady Thea’s reputation, then I will have you dealt with. ’

There was a flicker of hope in the man’s eyes. Best to crush it now. ‘You forget who I am, Linton. If I want you pressganged into the Navy, believe me, I can have it done. You really would not enjoy life below decks in a man of war. Now get out.’

‘But I am wounded. This is my room…’

‘I do not care whether your arm is hanging off by a thread or both your legs are broken,’ Hal said with soft menace. ‘Get out. Now.’

Porchester hauled Linton to his feet, looked around the room, picked up a valise and pushed both it and the man out onto the landing.

‘Right,’ he said as he closed the door. ‘That has disposed of the onlookers. The question remains, Lady Thea, which of us will you marry?’

Thea stood up and smiled at the Earl, and Hal felt a pain in his breastbone that almost stopped his breath. She was going to accept Porchester.

* * *

There was a long crack in the wall that had not been there before. It must have happened when her rescuers had dealt with Linton’s hired bully.

Thea stared at it blankly. Was she really ruined? Must she marry?

Yes and yes , she realised.

It would have been all right, perhaps, if Lady Severns had not heard enough to put two and two together and probably make forty.

And if she had not been seen by the staff of a busy and popular coaching inn.

Or even if it had still been broad daylight and she had arrived in an open vehicle.

And there was Lady Helena Linton’s adder tongue to contend with as well.

She already held a grudge, and now Thea was the cause of her brother’s exile.

But all of that was the case. She could brazen it out, she supposed, but it would cause her mother anguish, her father already looked on the brink of a seizure and there were her brothers to consider.

The Earl of Porchester was an intelligent and interesting man.

She trusted him. He would make a good husband and father and, although she could place no confidence in his fidelity, she was certain he would never be unkind or neglectful.

And she would be safe with him: she did not love him, only liked him, so he could never break her heart.

On the other hand, Hal could snap it like an over-baked biscuit. He did not love her and she loved him.

Thea took a deep breath. There was really only one possible choice.

She smiled at Marcus Greyson. ‘My lord, honoured and appreciative as I am of your offer, I have a prior contract. One which I thought perhaps was broken, but which I feel I should now honour. I will marry the Duke, Papa.’

* * *

It was well past midnight now. Thea sat up in the bed she had feared she would have had to share with Randolph Linton and watched the flicker of the dying fire on the shadowed walls. On a mattress at the foot of the bed, the serving maid slept, snoring softly.

Papa had announced to the landlord that, thankfully, he had discovered where her daughter and her escort had arrived in error when they should have been at the Peahen in St Albans to meet him.

He had secured a room for himself, lavishly tipped a groom to ride through the night to deliver a note to Lady Wiveton and hired the maid to sleep in Thea’s chamber.

They would continue their journey in the morning, he had announced for the benefit of any inn servants who might be listening. Really, it was most incompetent of Cousin Randolph to have mistaken the inn like that.