The Gift of Love (The Book of Love #8) - Meara Platt Page 0,51
cabinet ministers informing them the costliest ship we’ve built in this century just sank at the mouth of the North Sea.”
While the Lord Admiral returned to the Admiralty building, Ronan called on Joshua. “I need your help, Josh.”
Fortunately, his brother and Holly were still awake. They settled in Joshua’s study, and he quickly explained what had happened. “This is why I need you to muster your regiment as fast as possible.”
Holly turned ashen. “How dangerous is this mission?”
The two brothers exchanged glances. Ronan spoke up since he was the one most familiar with the situation. “I think Oxford was far more dangerous. Lord Liverpool would have heard from the Tilbury magistrates had this uprising been more than a group of angry fishermen pelting cabbage at a stranded battleship to vent their frustration.”
She clasped a hand to her throat. “I pray this is all it is.”
Ronan nodded. “I’ll watch over my big brother.”
He knew Holly had lost her first husband toward the end of the Napoleonic Wars when the ship carrying his regiment had been attacked and destroyed. Now newly wed to Joshua, she was not keen on losing him just yet. “Holly, will you do me the favor of letting Dahlia know what is happening. I was supposed to join her at Lord Fielding’s supper party, but there is no way we will be back in time. I expect we’ll be gone for three or four days at a minimum.”
She nodded. “I’ll tell her. Do you know if Wainscott has been invited?”
“I don’t, but it is likely he has been since the Fieldings are friendly with Lady Alexandra’s father. Will you alert Finn and Tynan? Let my brothers know the situation. I need them to protect Dahlia from that weasel if he decides to cause trouble.”
Holly nodded, but Ronan was not sure how much she was taking in. That Joshua was about to ride off to help him quell a local confrontation had her trembling and ashen.
“Holly, please. I’ll be mad with worry if Dahlia is left unguarded while he is anywhere close by.”
She nodded. “I will. Of course. I love my sister. I won’t let any harm come to her.”
Joshua rode off to his regimental headquarters while Ronan left to arrange for the barges and round up as much rope as he could gather. His hope was to tow the battleship out of the shallows and into deeper waters. This could be done if the river bed was soft enough. The vessel could be harmlessly pushed through silt and reeds.
Finding the rope proved to be a fairly simple task. One of their biggest suppliers of rigging for their battleships had a warehouse at the London docks.
It took Ronan another hour to summon the owner, one Lord Stonehurst. In turn, Lord Stonehurst sent word to his foreman for his workers to start loading the ropes onto the barges immediately. Once this was underway, Ronan rode to the Admiralty to gather whatever maps he could find that charted the Thames seabed around Tilbury.
Shortly before dawn, he watched the barges pull out of their slips at the London docks. He then rode in the graying light to Joshua’s headquarters to travel overland with his brother’s regiment while the supply-laden barges sailed to Tilbury.
He was exhausted.
But now was not the time to rest. He would catch a few winks while in the saddle. He glanced up at the sky, hoping for good weather. Getting that leviathan back into the North Sea would be a Herculean task. He had no wish to do it with snow and ice pelting down on them.
Having to work in icy waters was bad enough.
He couldn’t send divers down to assess the damage, for they wouldn’t survive more than five minutes in those frigid depths. Also, the Thames was murky. Very little light would filter down to the lower depths of the hull. The divers would be exploring in the dark.
No, he would simply have to rely on the maps and pray hard they were accurate.
“Ronan,” his brother said, grabbing his arm as he was about to slip off his mount. “Are you all right?”
“Fine, Josh.” But he wasn’t really, and his brother knew it. The political storm the navy would have to face over The Invictus stranding itself on the Thames was going to be bad. He was now in charge of this thorny operation. Being a mere captain, it was more than likely his name would be put forth as the one to blame if it failed.