“I’m sorry to disturb you again, Your Grace,” Mr. Tidmore said. “But Mr. Hopscotch said he is here on official business for the Prince, and it’s most urgent he speak with you.”
Bray kept staring out the window and considered not responding to his butler. He really didn’t care what the Prince or his lackey wanted. But he knew if he didn’t see Mr. Hopscotch today, the man would return tomorrow or the next day, so he relented and said, “Show him in.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“And, Tidmore, if the man ever comes back to my door, don’t tell him I’m home.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Bray walked over to the fire, poked the embers, and added a piece of wood while he waited for the Prince’s man.
“Thank you for seeing me, Your Grace,” Mr. Hopscotch said after he walked in and bowed.
“Since you are on official business for the Prince, get to it and tell me what the Prince wants now.”
Mr. Hopscotch didn’t appear the least bit perturbed by Bray’s curt manner. “Of course, I understand you are a busy man. The Prince wants the same thing he wanted the last time I spoke to you. He wants to remind you that it’s been more than three weeks since you’ve last seen Miss Prim, and there have been no announcements of nuptials.”
Bray scowled menacingly at Mr. Hopscotch. He knew exactly how long it had been since he last saw Miss Prim, but how in the hell did the Prince know that?
“Are you following me?”
“Me? No, no, not me,” he denied quickly. “That is, of course, well, I can’t say how the Prince knew this. It’s not for me to question him about anything he does but to do what he asks of me. He doubts whether I made myself clear to you the last time we spoke. He wants you to marry Miss Prim as soon as possible.”
Bray put his drink down on the edge of his desk and walked closer to Mr. Hopscotch. “You made it clear. Now you can go.”
“But I’ve returned because you haven’t done anything about it. No notice, of nuptials, not even a visit to her house in the last several weeks.”
Once more, Bray scowled. “I thought I made it clear whom I marry is none of the Prince’s affair.”
Mr. Hopscotch cleared his throat. “Well, I must repeat it’s always important to the Prince whom dukes marry, Your Grace. Political and financial alliances are usually the best kind of marriages. The Prince wants you to know he understands there might be some other lady you prefer, and if so, by all means have her as your mistress, but marry Miss Prim.”
Bray stared the man down, wanting to grab his neckcloth and tell Hopscotch exactly what he thought about the Prince having him followed, but at the last second, he realized there was no use in terrorizing the messenger.
Instead Bray said, “And I repeat to you, the Prince has no say in whom I marry.”
“Very well,” Mr. Hopscotch said, and pulled on the tail of his coat. “The Prince had hoped to keep this bit of information from you for many reasons, but now he sees that is impossible. The Prince did not wager from his personal fortune but from England’s coffers.”
If this was supposed to shock Bray, it didn’t. Bray wasn’t one to pass judgment on a fellow gambler. He’d made some foolish wagers in his lifetime, too. Bray had lost his share of extravagant bets over the years. He’d been known to put up expensive horses and property as well as blunt, but he never played with anyone else’s money or property.
“Then let the dukes he wagered with and his subjects deal with him when he loses.”
Mr. Hopscotch sighed and folded his arms across his rotund chest. “This is not about the wager with the dukes. He is not concerned about that one. There is another wager that has nothing to do with them. The Prince was hoping this would never be told, but because time is of the essence, he has given me liberty to tell you why you must marry Miss Prim.”
“This conversation grows tiresome. I have no interest in the Prince’s gambling habits or debts.”
“It’s imperative that you listen to me, Your Grace.”
Bray bristled at the man’s high-handed tone, but he remained quiet.
“A few days after the Prince’s wager with the dukes, he had an especially grand evening of much food and wine with the Archduke of Austria. He says he doesn’t really remember how it happened, but by the time the dinner was over, he had wagered with the archduke that if you were not married by June one, he would hand over to Austria the Elgin Marbles.”
The hairs on the back of Bray’s neck rose and “Damnation,” whistled past his lips.
The Elgin Marbles had been a bone of contention between Greece and England for several years, not to mention causing many explosive private conversations between friends and brothers alike throughout England the past twenty years. There were the purest, who thought the marbles should never have been taken from Greece by Lord Elgin when he greedily looted and vandalized the Parthenon, and there were those who considered Lord Elgin a hero for rescuing the rapidly disintegrating stones from the clutches of the Ottoman Empire.
Bray gritted his teeth, impatient with the conversation. “The Prince is noted for bringing artifacts into England, not wagering them away. He even helped settle the dispute between Parliament and Greece. Why the hell would he have put up the marbles?”
“Obviously, the archduke caught him at a weak moment. Anyone could understand the archduke trying to get them for Austria. The stones would be a rare asset for the country to obtain. But because of this wager, England stands to gain some rather exquisite pieces to add to the phenomenal collection of treasures the Prince has brought to England. Once you and Miss Prim wed—and, of course, keep the marbles, too.”
