Hardly a Husband (Free Fellows League 3)

"Where are you going?" Aunt Etta asked.

"I thought I'd take Precious for a walk so you could dress for your appointment at Lambeth Palace."

"You heard?" Aunt Etta asked with some trepidation.

"I heard," Sarah told her. "And I'm very happy for you." She glanced at Lord Mayhew. "For the both of you."

"Sarah," her aunt said, "we weren't trying to exclude you. We simply didn't want to wait any longer and we didn't feel we should announce our intentions to marry on the heels of your misunderstanding with Lord Shepherdston. And that's all it is, my dear, a misunderstanding." She patted Sarah's cheek. "You'll see."

"I know." Sarah blinked away her tears, refusing to be sad on Aunt Etta's wedding day. "I also understand that if you and Lord Mayhew desire a private ceremony, that's what you should have." She smiled up at her aunt. "I'll take Precious and — "

"Oh, no, my dear," Lord Mayhew pronounced. "This is a family celebration and you're going with us."

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Eight

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At every word a reputation dies.

— Alexander Pope, 1688

-1744

Jarrod took out his timepiece and looked at it. Lord Dunbridge was a half hour late. "He isn't coming."

"Doesn't look that way," Colin agreed. "Of course, I seriously doubt he's seen a sunrise in years."

Griff nodded. "At least not since he's become a follower of the Beau."

"Well… " Jarrod paused. "What's the etiquette here? Do we stay or go?"

"That's up to you," Colin said. "He challenged you. Now, he's failed to keep the appointment. You can do whatever you like."

Jarrod nodded. "I believe I'd like breakfast at White's."

"With the usual companions?" Griff asked.

Jarrod nodded. "We've got business to which to attend. Sussex is still missing and now we've got the greater worry of relaying the information Gillian gave us regarding the troop movements to Wellington and informing him of the assassination plot against him, because Gillian's deciphering has proven to be entirely accurate." And alarming. In breaking the code, she had uncovered not only the troop movements, but a plot to assassinate Wellington and a great many other prominent members of British society — including the Free Fellows.

"We need to discover how our names got on the list of targets," Colin reminded them.

"I don't think there's any mystery as to why our names are on the list," Griff said. "I'm a national hero and you and Jarrod are attached to the War Office. What we need to discover is whether whoever is behind the leak of this information knows about the League or has targeted us for other reasons. There were other names on the list that have nothing to do with the League. Lord Bathhurst, for instance. Lord Cheltenham and Lord Naughton."

"That's true," Colin said. "We don't know if there is a solid connection to the League, but we know there is a connection to the War Office."

"So there is a good chance the source of the information is someone connected to the government," Griff replied.

"A much better chance than it being one of us." Jarrod grinned.

"Now all we have to do is convince Wellington that the threat is real and convince the men at Whitehall that the deciphered messages are correct," Colin said. "They're going to want to know who deciphered the messages and we all know that the men at Whitehall will never believe the information contained in the messages if we tell them Gillian deciphered them."

Jarrod nodded. Convincing the men at Whitehall that the threat was real might prove to be most challenging — especially if he couldn't offer credible evidence to prove it. But Wellington was regarded as England's best hope for defeating Bonaparte and a threat against him had to be taken seriously — especially in light of Gillian's uncanny ability to decipher so accurately. The Free Fellows all knew that she had yet to be wrong. And Wellington's wasn't the only life at stake. There were others to consider.

"Let's find out what Barclay and Courtland discovered, and then I'll brief the men at Whitehall," Griff said.

Jarrod started to protest that that was his job, but Griff stopped him. "I know that's your forte, Jarrod, but I can use Knightsguild as an excuse. They know I've purchased it and plan to use it as a training college for the military. I'll tell them I intend to devote a section of it to the art of ciphering and deciphering. The government won't want to fund the education and training of cipherers once the war is won, but I intend to fund it privately so we will have a ready supply of cipherers when and if we ever need them. Let me make that argument to them at Whitehall today while you're at Lambeth Palace."