“I would have liked to have seen her knee Rovington,” Liverpool responded wistfully.
“That was a good moment,” Gavin had to agree.
“So . . .” The prime minister leaned across his desk. “Is she all everyone claims?”
Gavin’s first response was anger. What did they claim her to be?
Of course, he knew. He’d thought the same . . . and the image of her trembling in the bed with fear the night before rose in his mind. The memory had haunted his dreams. Dogged his steps all morning.
He didn’t answer the prime minister. Throttling a head of state was bad form.
Instead, he did the ducal thing and changed the subject. “You wish to speak to me about the vote? I regret it did not go the way we anticipated.”
Liverpool sat up. “I’ve been led to understand Rovington had a hand in the matter. We needed the Act passed.”
“I shall see it is revisited.”
“Thank you, Your Grace. And about the military money bill in the Commons. Rovington is making noise especially with the members who do not support our policies. Does the fool have no fear?”
“Apparently not.”
“We need that bill to go forward. We have two battle fronts and we cannot fight without those monies.”
“Commons will pass the bill.”
“You put Rovington in power, Your Grace,” Liverpool said. “I expect you to do what you must to keep him in check. Did your brother give you my suggestion?”
“To put a hole in him?”
Liverpool did not answer. He knew there was no need.
Gavin spoke. “It was my mistake to recommend him for Chairman of the Committees. I sought to help a friend and earnestly believed he would do a good job for all of us. Apparently there were parts of his character I did not know.”
“There are no friends in politics, not when power is involved,” Liverpool answered.
How many times had his father said the same thing? He’d drilled it into Gavin. There is no place for friendship in your life. Not if you would be a great duke. Your power is predicated by the expectations of others.
And Gavin had allowed Rov to slip past his guard. He’d let friendship blind him to Rov’s faults. Now, betrayal was the price he paid. Just as his father had predicted.
He thought of Rov’s wife Jane and her worries about her husband’s mounting debts. The least Gavin could do was speak to her before everything came crashing down around her. Because it would. Her husband’s excesses would ruin her as well.
“I expect you to do what is right, Your Grace,” Liverpool continued. “These matters always resolve themselves when you are at hand.”
To wield the stick, Gavin could add silently. He understood exactly what the prime minister meant and for the first time in his life, he experienced a flash of resentment.
It was startling. He usually thrived on these challenges. They were a demonstration of his power. His father had groomed him to control such situations—and he never once questioned his purpose, until this moment.
As quickly as he could manage, Gavin took his leave and hustled himself out in the hall. Finding a window corner where he could take a private moment, he examined his reaction to Liverpool’s instructions.
Gavin knew his position in life. He facilitated the smooth order of his political party. He’d made an error of judgment with Rov. It happens.
But why did a part of him bristle at the prime minister’s assumption that Gavin must take care of the matter? Isn’t that what Gavin had always done?
Gavin wasn’t even certain what he was questioning except something inside of him was rebelling and he had no idea why.
It was almost as if he were mimicking the thoughts of the Widow Peregrine, a character in Sarah’s play that he had read yesterday—and that was a ludicrous suggestion. Her play was a flight of fancy. He was living real life.
Granted, while reading the play, he had understood how Peregrine would grow tired of always being the moral person, the upright one. He had enjoyed her mutiny against the powers-that-be in the imaginary parish of Lofton. He’d silently cheered when she’d given the gossips their comeuppance and had been pleased when the obvious hero of the piece, Jonathan Goodwell, had recognized Peregrine’s sterling qualities, admired her pluck, and had dropped to his knees in front of her and declared his undying love.
