Page 75 of The Duke Meets His Match

“Susan will appreciate that.” George paused as an errant thought struck him. “Why did you never tell me your sister spoke German?”

Jennings shrugged. “You never asked. She’s quite fluent, actually.”

“Yes,” George said with a touch of irony. “I know that now.” He then proceeded to relate the events of the previous afternoon.

“Leave it to Susan to be in the wrong place at the entirely right time,”Jennings said with a laugh. “As children, she always knew when my brothers and I had something devious planned. I don’t know how she managed it to this day. It always came with an ultimatum: allow her to join us in our escapades or she’d go directly to Papa.”

“So she joined you, naturally,” George said.

“Naturally,” Jennings replied with a shrug.

Henshaw returned at that moment, holding a small stack of letters. “Talbotsays to expect luncheon shortly,” he said as he seated himself. He quickly thumbedthrough the letters. “There isn’t anything that requires urgent attention, YourGrace,” Henshaw said. “Wait.” He pulled one letter out. “Although, it appears you have another piece of correspondence from the Prince Regent.”

“What can Prinny possibly wantnow,” George grumbled as he took theletter from Henshaw. He broke the seal and opened the letter, which was written in Prinny’s own flowery script. He read it and read it again and set it on his desk.

“Well?” Jennings asked. “Are you going to tell us what it says?”

George shook his head in disbelief. “I’m beginning to think I’ve been living in a Shakespearean comedy the past fortnight.” He chuckled to himself. “Look around you. Is Shakespeare’s ghost lurking somewhere about? Are there fairies hiding beneath the bookshelves or sorcerers weaving their spells from behind the window curtains?”

“What are you talking about?” Henshaw said. “Shakespeare?”

“The letter will make it much clearer,” George said. He picked up the letteragain and shook it out dramatically. “I will not bore you with the precise wording,but in summary, it would seem that His Royal Highness, the Prince Regent,cannot, after all, attend my nuptials this Monday, as he will be busy entertaining Prince Ernst of Schönberg-Nusse at his seaside pavilion in Brighton while the princesses remain here in London. He says they subsequently bonded—I would presume aided by several decanters of brandy—over their shared aggravation at their financial circumstances and their wives, and decided some distance from the females in their lives was the answer.” He laughed. “It is as though, to Prinny, the past two weeks simply vanished in a puff of smoke.”

“Sometimes, I cannot believe the country continues to function as well as it does with such a man as our ruler. But I have other questions at present. More specifically, does this change your plans? What do you intend to do?” Jennings asked.

“I intend to marry your sister,” George answered. “If anything good came from all of this, it is that I found my bride. That fact doesn’t change merely because of a foolish and fickle monarch.”

“I suppose all’s well that ends well, then,” Henshaw said thoughtfully.

George laughed again. “My good man, you have hit the nail squarely on the head,” George said. He rose and went to his side table to pour three small brandies, and then he handed one to each of them before he raised his glass. “Here’s to all’s well that ends well and much ado about nothing.” They each drank. “Now, enough of Shakespeare, Prinny, and German princesses,” George said. “Here’s to the prize I was fortunate to find through the machinations of others. To my love, Susan.”

“To Susan,” Jennings and Henshaw said, raising their glasses again.

The course of love never did run smooth, George couldn’t help but think as he set his glass down.

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