Merely the Groom (Free Fellows League 2)

“On whom?” Jarrod asked.

“The young lady you were partnering on the dance floor,” Colin replied.

Jarrod smiled. “No,” he answered. “Sarah is relatively safe from the likes of that charlatan.”

“Sarah?” Colin had never heard Jarrod mention a Sarah, and Jarrod seemed to be well acquainted with this one.

“Sarah Eckersley,” Jarrod answered. “Her father is the rector of the church in the village of Helford Green near my childhood home. Although Helford Green comes with an adequate living, Sarah would be of little interest to our impostor, for she has no fortune, and her only family is her father and her maternal aunt.”

“Then Liana should be safe from the impostor as well,” Colin said. “For it’s no secret that we’ve no fortune of which to boast.”

“Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the young lady you were partnering,” Jarrod said.

Colin didn’t respond.

“I wasn’t the only one dancing,” Jarrod reminded him with a twinkle in his eye. “I see Lady Harralson persuaded you to rescue Miss Davies.”

“Rescue?” Colin was genuinely puzzled. “From whom?”

“From the passel of jackals who’ve surrounded her all evening and from the ignominy of being ignored by the other gentlemen present.” Jarrod glanced at Colin and then turned toward the dance floor. “With one notable exception—of course.”

Colin followed Jarrod’s gaze to where Miss

Davies was dancing with young Lord Courtland. “It appears I’m no longer an exception.”

“No,” Jarrod agreed with a knowing smile. “You seem to have broken the ice.”

“That’s what Lady Harralson hoped would happen when she asked me to partner Miss Davies.”

“Lady Harralson certainly chose the right champion.” Jarrod struggled to keep from grinning at the irony. “Let’s hope Lord Davies is more impressed by your valiant rescue of his daughter from social humiliation than he is by your supposed elopement with her to Gretna Green.”

“What?” Colin was astonished.

“Unless I miss my guess, you just danced with the daughter of the man who hired Bow Street to find you.”

“Great Caesar’s ghost!”

“And then some,” Jarrod laughed.

“Are you certain she’s the one?”

Jarrod shook his head. “Not entirely. The story is that Gillian Davies just returned from a month spent visiting relatives in the country, but the gossip is that she eloped to Gretna Green with a mysterious gentleman.”

Colin ran his hand through his hair and frowned. “And marriageable daughters don’t normally leave London at the beginning of the season in order to visit relatives in the country. No matter how devoted. Especially when their fathers have just been elevated to the rank of baron.” He looked at Jarrod. “What say we arrange a meeting with the baron tomorrow afternoon?”

Jarrod nodded. “For your protection and the protection of the League, it would be best if the request for a meeting comes from the War Office.”

“Will Colonel Grant’s staff agree to it?” Colin asked.

“The information you supply to us in your work as Colin Fox is invaluable,” Jarrod reminded him. “Colonel Grant’s staff is very much aware of that and wishes to get to the bottom of this mystery as badly as we do. I’ve no doubt they’ll approve of a meeting with the Bow Street investigator and the baron in order to find out what they know. The question is whether you want to meet with them or whether you prefer someone else to do it?”

“I’m the man whose movements his Bow Street runner is tracking,” Colin said. “You arrange the meeting. I’ll attend it.”

Jarrod raised an eyebrow. “We don’t know who the impostor is. We don’t actually have proof that an impostor exists. All we know is that someone eloped with a young woman using your alias. If that young woman turns out to be Gillian Davies, her father may hold you responsible, despite our best efforts to prove otherwise.”

“She may have eloped with someone using the same name, but Miss Davies knows she didn’t elope with me.”

“That may not matter to her father,” Jarrod warned. “Baron Davies is a man of considerable wealth and influence. If he’s determined to salvage his daughter’s damaged reputation, he may not care whether you were the man responsible for damaging it or not.”