Lord Davies lifted an eyebrow in query.
“I’ve asked Lady India to marry me,” Jonathan informed the older man. “And she has done me the very great honor of accepting.”
Lord Davies looked at Lady India and then back at Lord Barclay. “Isn’t this rather sudden?”
“Very sudden,” Jonathan replied. “But I’m told that falling in love sometimes happens this way.”
“Who told you?” Lord Davies demanded.
“Your son-in-law, Colin.”
Lord Davies coughed to cover his laughter. “Is this what you want, Lady India?”
“Very much,” she breathed. “For I seem to have fallen head over heels myself. And after spending the last five years confined to a . . .” She blushed. “Confined. I would very much like to begin my new life as Lord Barclay’s wife.”
“I feel the same way.”
“Thank heavens,” Lord Davies breathed. “For your grandfather’s prayers have been answered.”
The shops on Bond Street were doing a brisk business, and tongues were wagging with the news of Lord Barclay’s indiscretion by the time Jonathan left Lord Davies’s house and returned to his residence at Albany.
He and Lady India Burton had become the talk of the ton in the space of a couple of hours.
Jonathan had just finished his bath and was in the midst of donning fresh linens when two of the three original Free Fellows burst into his apartments uninvited.
“Where the devil have you been?” Colin McElreath, Viscount Grantham, demanded, barging into Jonathan’s dressing room and waving his valet away. “You were due back last evening.”
“Delivering your father-in-law’s parcel.” He turned from his shaving mirror and faced them.
“Good God, man! What happened to your neck?” Griffin, Duke of Avon, inquired, leaning closer to get a better look at the collection of cuts. “And where the devil is my horse?”
“Your horse lost a shoe. He’s at the stable in Pymley getting new ones,” Jonathan answered. “And as you can see, I had a spot of trouble at Plum Cottage. I suffered a few cuts, but I took care of the problem.”
Colin glanced at Griffin. “Then the rumors Gillian and Alyssa heard at the milliner’s this morning were rubbish.”
“That depends upon the rumors,” Jonathan replied.
“The rumors that you were kissing a lady in an open gig on Bond Street early this morning,” Colin replied.
“I heard the same rumor while riding on the Row this morning,” Griffin said. “And at White’s this morning, I heard you are engaged to be wed.”
“Those aren’t rumors,” Jonathan answered cheerfully, as he tied his cravat. “I was kissing a lady in an open gig on Bond Street early this morning. And I am engaged.”
“Have you lost your senses?” Colin demanded.
“No, my heart.”
“Your heart?” Griffin repeated. “May I ask to whom?”
“The parcel.”
“I beg your pardon?” Griffin didn’t think he’d heard him correctly.
“The parcel Lord Davies wanted delivered. The parcel Colin allowed me to collect in his place. The parcel who turned out to be Lady India Burton, the love of my life. I asked her to marry me this morning.”
“You proposed? After knowing her less than a day?” Colin was stunned. “Are you certain about this?”
“You only knew Gillian one day,” Jonathan retorted. “And Griffin only knew his duchess one day. Were you certain?”