The Gift of Love (The Book of Love #8) - Meara Platt Page 0,79
today.”
Tynan frowned. “What you are doing is barging ahead like a bull on a rampage. But there is someone important you’re trampling over. Did you think to discuss the wedding details with Dahlia?”
Ronan sighed. “She is agreeable to marrying me today.”
“Because you pushed her into it,” Joshua said. “What was she going to tell you while you were on the verge of convulsions?”
No, his Queen Pea loved him.
But he knew they had a point. He was rushing her, forcing her to give up her special day. “I’ll talk to her when she comes upstairs. What’s she doing now?”
“Having coffee with Belle and the others in the dining room. Miranda should be here shortly. This week has been bittersweet for her. She’s about to lose the last of her sons.”
Ronan pursed his lips. “It will be an adjustment for her to be alone in that big house. But we’ll all live close enough. Your wives have been good to her. I think she likes them better than she likes us.”
Tynan nodded. “She and Abby have grown very close. We’ll make it a point to stop by often to visit her. At least until she’s used to being on her own.”
“Holly and I will do the same,” Joshua said. “But I wonder if we ought to hire a companion for Miranda. There are lots of genteel women who would be suitable for the position.”
Finn chuckled. “Let’s get through Ronan’s wedding ceremony first, shall we? Don’t you dare raise the possibility to Miranda until afterward. She’ll eat you alive at the mere suggestion.”
At one o’clock, the Lord Admiral stopped by to see how he was doing. Joshua led him into Ronan’s bedchamber. Dahlia had been seated beside his bed, reading a collection of poems to him. She was in the middle of reading Ozymandias by the poet, Percy Shelley, but set her book aside and skittered out after hastily greeting the man.
The Lord Admiral watched her as she left. “I hear you are getting married.”
“That’s right. I want it to happen today, but there is a concerted campaign afoot to have my wishes overruled. The family believes I should at least be able to stand on my feet, not naked, and not smelling like fungus growing in a cave.”
“Well, knowing you are to be married should square things with Stoke, although your lovely betrothed set him straight already and saved our hides.” He settled in the chair Dahlia had vacated. “I won’t stay long. I just wanted you to know that if there is to be any political chicanery over this navy scandal, I will make certain I’m the one to take the fall.”
Ronan frowned. “Dahlia read me this morning’s newspaper account. The Examiner is skewering Viscount Hawley, Lord Liverpool, and you. It isn’t fair what they are saying about you. What choice did you have in giving him this commission? The blame falls on all the lords who pressured you into appointing him, and this includes Lord Liverpool. I like the man, but this was an enormous blunder on his part.”
“Hopefully, some good will come of it. The incident would have been disastrous had we been at war. Having just ended a long and brutal engagement against the French, and having lost so many good men of our own, the country has no patience for this continued privilege nonsense. I only hope Liverpool isn’t brought down along with Hawley. As for me,” he said, shaking his head and chuckling, “I am eager to be booted out. I’m a tired, old man. I would enjoy being able to live out the rest of my life in peace and quiet.”
“And leave men like Lord Peckham and Viscount Hawley in power in the navy? I would rather take the blame for this incident than ever see you gone. But is there anything to be done about Hawley?”
“Other than promoting him to some inconsequential position? Doubtful. Well, it’s done now. Peckham, the arse, was hoping to place blame on you to misdirect everyone’s anger, but it didn’t work. The newspapers are touting you as the hero in all of this. Indeed, you are. I think the members of the House of Lords would have to be delusional to try to pin the blame on you. Mind you, many of them are.”
“Too many of them are locked in the past and refuse to see the old ways disappearing.”
“Then they will be smacked in the face by this changing world.” The Lord Admiral patted his arm as he