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What is not clear is not French.
— Antoine de Rivarol, 1753-1801
"You sent for us?" Jarrod asked when he and Griffin joined Colin and Gillian. Colin nodded. "Are you done with dancing?"
"For now," Jarrod answered. "I promised Her Grace a dance and Sarah a waltz, but we are sitting these dances out on orders from Lady Dunbridge and Lord Rob."
Colin glanced down the way to a row of chairs set along the sidelines where those who chose not to dance could watch. Sarah and her aunt were sipping glasses of punch alongside Lord Rob and the Duchess of Avon. "I noticed that Lady Dunbridge and Lord Rob appear quite cozy together and that Miss Eckersley hasn't danced with anyone except you all evening," Colin said. "Are they protecting her reputation or yours?"
Jarrod's face and the tips of his ears reddened. "Probably both. And she hasn't danced with anyone except me because I don't dare let anyone else near her," he confided. "Unless it's someone I trust implicitly like you or Griff or Lord Mayhew."
"Why not?" Colin asked.
"Have you seen the dress she's wearing?"
"It's lovely," Gillian said with a smile.
"I beg your pardon, Lady Grantham," Jarrod said. "But it's damn — almost — indecent. I can't look down without…"
Gillian chuckled. "That's funny, Lord Shepherdston, because Colin says the same thing about mine."
Jarrod glanced at Gillian's evening gown and saw that except for the color and fancy embroidery on the skirts, it was an identical style as Sarah's. Right down to the low cut of the squared neckline. But he'd barely noticed it on Gillian. And it wasn't because Gillian's bosom was any less gorgeous than Sarah's or any less visible; it was because Gillian was Colin's wife.
"You're in trouble, my friend," Colin told him.
Jarrod shook his head. "It's just that it's Sarah. I've known her since she was five. We grew up together." He looked at Colin and Gillian. "Red-haired, knobby-kneed, freckle-faced, hoydenish Sarah, who hadn't a prayer of growing up to be a beauty or of having a real figure, and look at her." He nodded toward her and Sarah looked over and smiled. "Look at the way she's turned out."
"It's a good thing you aren't her guardian," Colin said. "Or you'd be fighting the fellows off with a stick."
"That's just it," Jarrod said. "She doesn't have a guardian to fight the fellows off with a stick. She doesn't have anyone to look out for her."
"Except you," Gillian said softly. "And the way that you're scowling, it's going to take someone very brave or very foolhardy to approach her." She smiled at Jarrod. "I'd say Miss Eckersley has quite a champion in you, Lord Shepherdston."
"That may be, but I'm not supposed to be her champion," Jarrod protested. "I'm supposed to help her find one."
"It looks as if you've accomplished your mission," Gillian told him.
"Killed two birds with one stone, so to speak." Griffin grinned.
"Speaking of which," Colin said. "Gillian needs a few moments of your time, Jarrod."
"Oh?" Jarrod turned to Colin's wife.
"I apologize for taking you away from your amusements, but I believe I may have the solution to the puzzle you presented to me," she said. "Unfortunately, it only came to me a short time ago when Colin and I were dancing."
"Can you tell us about it here?" Griffin asked. "Or will we need to see the puzzle?"
"You'll need to see it in order to confirm it, my lords, but I can tell you what I think and why I think it," Gillian said.
"She's already explained it to me," Colin said. "And I thought that you should hear it as soon as possible."
Griffin glanced around. "This is my sister-in-law's gathering and it should be fairly secure, but I'll wager there are a good many curious ears about. So much so that I suggest we separate."
"I agree," Colin said, as two couples he didn't know and who had appeared to be making their way to the dance floor stopped to chat with one another directly behind Shepherdston.
"I could drop by after the ball," Jarrod suggested. "If you don't mind."