Lord Sebastian's Secret (The Duke's Sons #3)(91)

“What did you do to James?” Sebastian asked, half interested and half worried. He pushed his large glass of brandy aside.

“We had no chance at him,” Robert said. He sipped from his own drink. “He eloped,” he added with an evil grin.

Sebastian winced as all of them gazed at him. The mistake about his supposed elopement had been explained, several times, but that didn’t mean they’d let him forget it. Ever.

“More or less eloped,” Robert amended. “They were in Southampton, and the ship was there, and they wanted to be off over the sea.”

“James always wanted to be master of a ship,” said Alan. “And now he’s the owner as well.” He sipped. “This is quite good stuff.”

“And you’re to be a father,” Sebastian said. “The youngest of us first.”

Alan smiled like a man who had everything he could want.

“And Nathaniel… Well, Violet’s become a real stunner.”

Nathaniel grinned in quite a similar way.

“It seems marriage is treating the Gresham brothers well.” Sebastian fully expected to be as happy as his two brothers. Well, he already was. There was the small matter of Hilda becoming a member of his new household. That was worrisome. But they’d handle it. Georgina would, and he’d help. She was up to anything.

“Four of us,” said Robert. He raised his second large glass of brandy to Sebastian to show he was included in this number. “The odds are against the remainder.”

“Hey,” said Randolph.

“Well, they are. How many happy marriages do you know of, amongst our set?”

Randolph looked uneasy as he thought this over. “It’s not a case of odds,” he muttered. “It’s a matter of judgment and character.”

“Why do you care?” Nathaniel asked Robert. “Haven’t you always said you have no intention of contemplating matrimony until you’re forty or so?”

“That’s right,” said Sebastian. “How did you put it? When you’ve dwindled into a deadly dull country squire, as good as dead, then you’ll find some girl and marry.”

“Go boil your head,” replied Robert cordially.

This was odd, Sebastian thought. Of them all, Robert was usually the most lighthearted and carefree. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing is wrong with me.”

“Not unrequited love?” murmured Alan.

“Nothing of the kind!” Robert exploded. “Why would you even imagine something so ridiculous?”

“Ariel says…”

Robert cut him off with a savage gesture. “She’s your wife and very charming and lovely, but she doesn’t know everything!”

Awkwardness descended over the room, which didn’t happen often with the Gresham brothers. Sebastian examined Robert. Whatever could have happened to him?

“Ah, I nearly forgot,” said Nathaniel, taking the lead to smooth things over, as he so often did. He rose and went over to a vacant sofa, taking a cloth bag from behind it. “I brought this along. There was no time to send it.” He handed the bag to Sebastian.

“Wedding present?” Alan asked.

“Special commission,” answered Nathaniel.

Sebastian untied the drawstring and let the bag fall open. A wooden stringed instrument, something like a guitar, but not precisely, was revealed. “What the deuce?”

“Your lute,” Nathaniel said.

Robert and Alan gaped at him, and then at Sebastian, as he remembered, too late, his letter containing Randolph’s request. “Oh,” he said. “Right. The lute.”

Randolph leaned to one side as if to dissociate himself from the conversation. Then, realizing that he was quite close to a branch of lighted candles, he jerked back in the other direction.

Sebastian couldn’t hold back a laugh. He converted it quickly into a cough. “Lute,” he repeated. “Thanks very much.” He strummed the strings a bit for form’s sake. The result was dissonant.

“What the devil do you want with a lute?” Robert asked.

“Just a notion I had.” Sebastian strummed a bit more. He shouldn’t enjoy the chagrin on Randolph’s face, but he couldn’t help it.

“How did you even hear of such an instrument?” Alan said. He wasn’t quite as incredulous as Robert, but he looked deeply curious.

“The chansons de geste? The Song of Roland?” murmured Robert satirically.

Sebastian had no idea what these were, as his brother very well knew.

“You’ve never been musical,” commented Nathaniel.

“Oh, well, now that I’m to be married…”

“You intend to entertain your new wife with a lute?” Robert shook his head. “Even for you, that is an idiotic plan.”

Seeing Randolph cringe, Sebastian cheerfully agreed. There were times when being thought thickheaded could be helpful. He didn’t mind being his brother’s shield, dull as a block of wood. Especially now, when he knew it wasn’t true.

*

The wedding of Lord Sebastian Gresham to Lady Georgina Stane took place the following morning in the church near Stane Castle where the banns had been called. Nathaniel stood up with Sebastian, as the latter had with him. Emma and Hilda, demure in pink, supported their sister at the altar. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to describe Hilda as smug, Georgina thought.