Sussex bit. “Oh?”
Griff nodded.
“Who accompanied them?” Jarrod asked. “Linton? Carville? Nash? Or the Austrian archduke?” He glanced at Sussex.
“It was just the two of them,” Griff said. “With the dowager duchess acting as chaperone for Miranda.”
Sussex glared at Jarrod. “Why should Miranda’s escort matter to you?”
“I’ve a wager riding on it,” Jarrod retorted.
“You what?”
“I’ve a hefty wager riding on it,” Jarrod repeated.
“You wagered on who would be escorting Miranda to Grantham’s wedding?” Sussex was appalled.
Jarrod wore the same enigmatic smile Sussex had worn moments earlier. “No, Your Grace,” he replied. “I wagered on who would be escorting Lady St. Germaine down the aisle at St. Paul’s at the end of the season.”
“I’ll wager it won’t be Linton, Carville, Nash, or an Austrian archduke!” Sussex shot back.
Griff bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing outright. “I’ll take that wager,” he said. “Because I discovered at the wedding breakfast that Miranda has a much more determined admirer. One who announced that he intends to marry her.”
Sussex looked stunned.
Even Jarrod took pity on him. “Are you certain?”
Griff nodded. “I have it on excellent authority that this chap means to take Miranda to wife.” Just as soon as he grows up. But Griff saw no reason to mention that the admirer in question was Colin’s brother and only ten years of age.
Jarrod turned and began to pace in the opposite direction. “You don’t suppose Colin and his bride ran into trouble on the way to Shepherdston Hall, do you?”
“No,” Griff told him. “They got a late start. It took longer for them to distribute their gifts to the members of the wedding patty and to the staff than they anticipated.” Griff extended his arm to show off the pair of engraved gold cuff links Colin had given him for acting as his best man.
“Very nice,” Sussex said. “Dalrymple’s Jewelers?”
Griff nodded. “He purchased these for me and a lovely diamond and blue sapphire bracelet for Alyssa when he purchased his bride’s betrothal and wedding rings.”
Jarrod raised an eyebrow. “He purchased rings?”
“A flawless pink sapphire surrounded by diamonds and a gold band to match,” Griff told him.
“There were a number of extraordinary pieces connected to the Grantham viscountancy, if I recall,” Sussex said. “What happened to those?”
Griff took a deep breath. “What do you suppose?” Jarrod uttered a vile curse. “McElreath gambled them away.”
“And replaced them with paste while we were still at Knightsguild,” Griff added. “But Colin didn’t discover it until he went to his parents’ town house and asked his mother for the Grantham betrothal rings.”
“Bloody hell!” Sussex exploded, banging his fist on the table in a rare display of raw anger. “His father has stripped him of everything.”
Jarrod turned and looked at Sussex with new eyes. Sussex hadn’t attended the Knightsguild School for Gentleman with them. He hadn’t grown up with Colin or been a founding member of the Free Fellows League. Sussex had been an outsider until Colin and Jarrod challenged him to earn a place in the League. Sussex rose to the challenge, and when Griff returned from the Peninsula a hero, he had reluctantly allowed Sussex to join them. Sussex’s unexpected defense of Colin surprised him.
“What?” Sussex demanded when Jarrod continued to stare at him.
“I didn’t realize you cared,” Jarrod answered honestly.
“Why shouldn’t I care?” Sussex was stunned. “I’m a Free Fellow and a duke. I’ve wanted to be one of you since I learned the League existed. I waited years to gain entrée. Why shouldn’t I take exception to the fact that one of my brothers in arms and one of my peers has been stripped of his inheritance by the man charged with the duty of protecting it?” He looked at Jarrod. “Or is that concern reserved only for you
and Avon and Grantham because you’re original Free Fellows?”