St. Vincent - 24. Chapter 24

January 23, 1797

“It is hard to be in bed with you and talk,” Kerry said flirtatiously. Granger merely looked at him; he was too keyed up to think of anything other than what might be happening in London.

“Is everyone alright?” Granger asked, exposing his fears, his horror that something might have happened to Caroline or the children. He’d already had that nightmare once, when he’d found that Michel, the young French boy they’d adopted, had died.

“Everyone is fine,” Kerry said quickly. “It is the politics of London that bring me here, not the health of your family.”

“And how goes my father’s quest for his marquisate?”

“Not too well, a fact about which he is none too happy with your wife.” Kerry sighed. “When Chartley got back to England, he unleashed a firestorm.”

“He beat Iggy?”

Kerry chuckled. “By a good two weeks. Iggy is easily distracted when his own money is not on the line. His trip through Germany was, to all accounts, one constant drunken orgy.”

Granger smiled. “He sounds the same.”

“Indeed. And when he arrived in London, he was most surprised to find that Chartley had already arrived. I don’t think he thought for a moment that Chartley would be able to beat him, traveling by way of the seas.”

“It took some effort to get him there,” Granger said, still smiling.

“So I heard, and an encounter with some pirates. They really do not seem to like you George.”

“I took their ruby from them. They will hunt me to the ends of the earth,” Granger said fatalistically.

“I am hoping they do not succeed,” Kerry said affectionately, and leaned in to kiss Granger. Granger barely responded. He wanted to know what happened in London, and his libido had already been slackened by their encounter. “Caroline met with Chartley and received your letters, and went straight to your father with them. He didn’t react very well.”

“How did he not react well?”

“Caroline said she felt as if he was annoyed that you had gotten involved in the matter, and he was even more annoyed that she was involved in the matter. Her impression was that he was focused on advancing his peerage, and was not willing to brook any interference from family members over what he termed ‘a technicality’.”

“One hundred thousand pounds of Bertie’s money is a mere technicality?” Granger asked.

“He told Caroline that money wasn’t the issue, that it was about land and power, and that they were a family, and they had to fight for the primacy of the whole entity. It was as if the big prize was in front of him, and he didn’t want the details to snake it away from him.”

“I understand that,” Granger said dismissively. It was a central tenet of his own beliefs. “But that doesn’t mean that you do it dishonorably, by defrauding another member of the family.”

Kerry laughed. “If that were the case, there would not be many peerages in the realm.” They enjoyed the joke, and then he continued. “Caroline put that to him, but more delicately,” Kerry said with an impish grin. “She asked how he could explain the unfairness to Bertie, who would be without a sizeable piece of his considerable fortune. Your father explained that he would take care of Bertie. Caroline pointed out that he wouldn’t be able to, because that money would buy land that would then be linked to the title.”

“And what did he say to that?”

“He told her that he would take care of Bertie, and that it was an insult that she would suggest that he would not. Apparently that rankled him so much that he was unwilling to talk to her of the matter further. He told her that it did not involve you, and it did not involve her, and that you had both overstepped your bounds by getting involved. He forbade her to pursue the matter further.”

“And how did she react to that?” Granger asked nervously.

“Not very well. She told him that it was not his place to dictate what she could or could not do, and that she was acting on your directives. She told him that if some accommodation could not be found, she was prepared to see that the matter received a hearing in the House of Lords.”

“That probably really went over well,” Granger said, full of dread.

“He told her that the King would intervene before that happened, to which she replied that they would both see about that, and then she took her leave of him.”

“So all I have done is ignite a family feud,” Granger said morosely.

“One would have thought so, if the story had ended there. The Earl, your father, apparently began to feel the heat from Caroline’s considerable group of friends, or perhaps he began to listen to some of the arguments she had made. He summoned her to a family meeting. Chartley went as well, to represent Bertie. She had wanted Cavendish to go along as well, but he was in the country, so I went in his stead.” Granger sensed there was more to Cavendish’s absence than Chartley was letting on. Cavendish was Davina’s cousin, but he suspected there was something beyond that. He filed that away in his mind, making a mental note to probe Kerry about that later.

“That must have been an interesting meeting,” Granger said with trepidation.

“Indeed. I went thinking that the two key players there would be Chartley, since he controlled Bertie’s money, and your father. In fact, it was your wife and your sister-in-law who were the primary players. When we arrived at Bridgemont House, Lady Blankford was so enraged she was almost unable to be civil.” Granger had rarely heard Davina referred to as Lady Blankford, her title as Freddie’s wife, so that jarred his mind, but only for a second.

“Her grand scheme was unraveling,” Granger observed. “That must have perplexed her.”

“I’m not sure perplexed is the word. We walked into the drawing room and she stood there, as if one would have to hold her back, but Caroline launched into her directly. She called Davina a scheming bitch, and I had to restrain her to keep her from ripping Davina apart. That certainly steadied Davina a bit.”

“Caroline tried to hit her?”

“That appeared to be her intention,” Kerry said with a smile. “She accused Davina of engineering this whole thing to swindle Bertie out of all that money, money which they wouldn’t need if she weren’t squandering it at the tables.” Kerry got out of bed and walked over to the cabinet at the side of the room, and took a decanter out. Granger admired his handsome form, his tall, fit body covered with that sexy auburn hair. Kerry poured two glasses of wine and took them back to the bed, handing one to Granger, who was all but staring at Kerry’s cock, which flopped back and forth as he walked. “Freddie, your brother, jumped to his wife’s defense. He attempted to justify their actions, but Chartley intervened at that point and laid out the whole scenario, one you are familiar with since you sped him on his way home. Both your father and brother attempted to shoot holes in his rationale, but he proved them wrong with his unassailable logic.”

“What did my mother do?” Granger wondered.

“Funny you should ask. She had done and said nothing at first, and seemed firmly in your father’s corner, but as this whole tawdry deal came out, she looked more and more irritated. After Chartley had finished, there was a silence in the room for quite some time until she broke it. She told your father, brother, and sister-in-law that she found this whole affair to be dishonorable, and bourgeois. It was quite hilarious to see her scold them, telling them that they were acting disgracefully.”

Granger couldn’t remember his mother ever going against his father, at least not in front of the rest of them. “That must have surprised them all.”

“I had to bite my tongue lest I laugh out loud. Your father and brother looked like boys who had been scolded by their mother. Not Davina. She rolled out the same old arguments about aggrandizing the family, and about how they must all work together for the common good. That’s when Caroline dropped the bombshell.”

“The bombshell? There was more?”

“She pulled out a letter that Davina had written to a mole she had planted on your ship, and he is the primary reason that I came out to see you, to make sure he was removed.”

“You are referring to Mr. Ramsey?” Granger asked.

“You knew? You found out?”

“I’m not a naïve idiot,” Granger retorted, not a little annoyed that these people in London seemed to think that he was incapable of complex thoughts.

“Where is he?”

“He is dead. He was caught in a compromising position with another man, two men to be exact, and was arrested. He took his own life before he could be formally charged.”

Kerry eyed him carefully. “You set him up?”

“I merely gave him an opportunity to indulge his urges, and arranged for him to be caught,” Granger replied. He didn’t want to think about Ramsey, his death, or his own involvement in that whole affair. “So what did this letter say?”

“It was quite evil. She told Ramsey to redouble his efforts to seduce you. She said that having been so long at sea, and so far from home and female company, that your natural male urges would need an outlet. She promised him vast rewards for any evidence of a tryst, saying that that would give her the tool, the weapon she needed to neutralize you and your meddling wife. Caroline read the words with venom in her voice, and after she was done, there was complete silence in the room.”

“I shouldn’t wonder,” Granger said. He could well visualize the normally staid and calm environment of Bridgemont House being completely shaken by these revelations.

“Then Caroline looked squarely at your father and waved the letter at him. She demanded to know whether he was involved in this, or knew about it. That really made him furious, and he denied any knowledge, and I must say George, I am certain he was sincere. Then Caroline asked him how he was going to handle this, how he was going to handle this attack against you. She reminded him that you were off serving the King, putting your life in danger, and bringing honor to the family, while others stayed at home. She made that last comment as she glared at your brother, who looked by now as if he’d been castrated.”

“I’m not sure that Freddie deserves our disdain for not fighting. He would not have been allowed to go off even if he wanted to,” Granger said, his fussy sense of justice asserting itself.

“So you say. But she made a good point, that you were fighting, and Bertie had gone off to the Far East and made a fortune, and here were Freddie and Davina plotting to dishonor you and steal Bertie’s money. She asked your father if the junior branches of the family were discardable. She wondered if your parents felt they were doing their duty, by watching out for your interests and Bertie’s in your absence. She asked your sister-in-law how all that balanced with her assertions of family honor. In essence, she held a mirror up to them and demanded that they look into it. They did not appear to be pleased with what they saw. It really was quite spectacular. I haven’t seen anything quite like that. Caroline put on a better performance than any of those harlots on Drury Lane.”

Granger chuckled as he pictured his wife bearding his entire family. She really was terribly middle class, with her fussy sense of right and wrong, and her moral indignation must have been quite real and justified. That would have probably cut his father and brother off at the knees. “I’m sure that being put into that situation was maddening for Davina, but I doubt that the overall moral issues weighed too heavily on her mind,” Granger observed sadly.

“I don’t think that Davina has any morals to have issues with. She wasn’t really put off until Caroline hit her with the coup-de-gras.” Granger looked at him, a question on his face. “She read another letter from Davina, this one to her lover, a certain major in the Guards whom Caroline did not name. It was quite explicit, enough that your mother blushed and I felt my loins stirring, even though I am more attracted to my own sex. Caroline called her a whore, and asked your father how he could feel sure that with a woman like that, any heir she gave birth to would have Bridgemont blood in his veins.”

“How did Freddie react?” Granger asked, concerned about his older brother.

“I think he is ruled by her, and was more embarrassed by the revelation than upset that she was doing it.” Granger nodded sadly. “Your father said that instead of focusing on an advancement in the peerage, they should be focused on annulling Freddie’s marriage. That really created a ruckus.”

“This has certainly created some bad blood within the family,” Granger said ruefully.

“And I am not sure how it ended. Your father banished both Davina and Freddie to his estate at Bridgemont for the foreseeable future, and he was so adamant that the servants packed them up and had them on the road the next morning. While they were rumbling north on foul winter roads, I was at the War Department, getting my orders to come here. Romulus was in Portsmouth, so I caught the post chaise and boarded her the next day. Captain Hope sailed on the morning tide as soon as I arrived.”

“What will happen to Bertie’s money?” Granger asked.

“Caroline is going to help Chartley invest it, mostly in land, just as Bertie wanted. It won’t be bound up in the Bridgemont lands unless a way can be found to provide Bertie with some adequate assurances that it will remain the property of Bertie and his heirs.”

“Bertie has shown no inclination to have any heirs as of yet,” Granger said thoughtfully. He thought that being a father might be good for his middle brother, that it might help him to grow beyond his boyish preoccupations.

“You should hope that he does not. He has named you and your descendants as his heirs, assuming he does not have legitimate children.”

“That makes this fight on my part look awfully self-serving,” Granger said, frustrated. “I didn’t know he was going to do that.”

“I’m not sure anyone does. Chartley told me that in confidence, a confidence I am asking you to respect.”

Granger sighed. “I will hopefully never have to grapple with that eventuality.”

“Bertie has chosen to live his life in the uncertain environs of the tropics. That is often a death sentence for an Englishman,” Kerry observed fatalistically. “That he has lasted this long is truly miraculous.”

Granger didn’t want to think about Bertie’s mortality. “My grandfather has thrived in the Caribbean, so maybe it is in our blood. Or perhaps all the alcohol he drinks makes him immune to the ill humors of the tropics.”

“I rather think it’s the whores that help him remain healthy,” Kerry joked.

“This was a long and hazardous journey for you to make,” Granger said lovingly as he ran his hand across Kerry’s chest, changing the entire mood and tone of their conversation. He contrasted Kerry’s chest to Gatling’s, the chest of a man, and not a boy.

“The reward at the end was worth it,” Kerry said. Granger let his hand move down Kerry’s chest to his abdomen, slowly caressing him as he went lower and lower. His hand found its way to Kerry’s groin, and to his hardening member. “And the rewards keep coming.”

“And so will you,” Granger joked, as he rolled over on top of Kerry, straddling him so that Kerry’s cock was sliding between his still-lubricated ass cheeks. “Again,” Granger murmured into Kerry’s ear. “Again.”

Kerry moaned and thrust upward, while Granger reached behind himself and lined Kerry’s fat cock up with his hole. He forced himself to relax, preparing for the massive invasion, but this time it was easy, and all Granger felt was pleasure, wave after wave of pleasure, as they slowly but passionately made love.

“Thank you for coming out here,” Granger said when they were finished, and their breathing had returned to normal.

“I love you George. I’d do anything for you.” Granger looked at him questioningly. He knew that Kerry had feelings for him, but he didn’t see how those feelings could be love. To Granger, that was an advanced emotion, one that developed and hardened over time like the fine steel blade of a sword. He had only stopped hating Kerry recently, so those emotions for him were unfathomable. Kerry seemed to read his mind. “I wanted you even when you were young. There’s something about you, your cheerful personality, your charm and humor, coupled with your resolve and determination, which makes you the most attractive man on the planet.”

“I think you are exaggerating, but just a bit,” Granger joked, mostly to hide his embarrassment.

“And you are wrong. Having you hate me was an open wound, a huge painful wound. Once that was healed, I was able to really understand how much in love with you I am.” Granger sighed contentedly and snuggled up to Kerry’s warm, furry body. “I hope that does not bother you, or upset you.”

“No, it makes me feel quite good,” Granger said. He smiled up at Kerry and kissed him, then snuggled back into his warm body. Then Granger did something that he rarely got to do. He drifted off to sleep, a sleep that wasn’t marred by worries of winds and seas, or of enemy ships, or of uncharted rocks that would rip the bottom of his ship out.

January 24, 1797

Granger woke up and stretched out languorously on the bed. His movements woke Kerry up, and that led to another round of amazing sex. “Did you sleep well?” Kerry asked as they lay there afterward, mentally preparing for the day ahead.

“The captain of one of His Majesty’s ships at sea does not get much uninterrupted sleep, and last night was no exception,” Granger joked. They had slept soundly until one of them would wake up, then they would make love and almost immediately drift back to sleep again. “I am surprised that I am so well rested.”

“Perhaps you should stay here with me tonight as well,” Kerry said.

“Perhaps,” Granger said, even though he thought it would be unlikely. “Regardless of whose ship Nelson sails on, I am hoping you will sail with me.”

“I assumed that was a given,” Kerry said.

“So did I,” Granger said. “You said something about new officers. Enlighten me.”

“I’ve brought three young men with me,” Kerry said playfully. “Well, I’m not sure if they’re men. Boys are perhaps a better descriptor.”

“You’ve brought me more boys,” Granger said jovially. “And what am I to do with these boys?”

“Let me show you,” Kerry said, and kissed Granger passionately.

“So you brought me that kind of boys,” Granger joked as he pushed Kerry away.

“No, actually I brought you two midshipmen and a new clerk,” Kerry said seriously.

“And who saddled me with these men?”

“Well, the two midshipmen came to you courtesy of your wife. The first one is a lad named Llewellyn. He’s all of 14 years old.”

“Llewellyn? Isn’t that a Welsh name?”

“It is indeed,” Kerry said. “And the lad is quite a firebrand. He’s like a restless colt. I think Captain Hope was longing to tie him down and thrash him at times.”

“I’ll find a use for his energies,” Granger teased, getting a playful nudge from Kerry. “Why do I have a Welsh midshipman?”

“Caroline negotiated the purchase of part of an ironworks in Wales, and getting this lad out of the country and to sea was part of the deal.”

Granger tried not to let it bother him that positions on his ship were being handed out as sweeteners to business deals. “Let us hope we get a good return on that foundry. And who is the other midshipman?”

“Penhurst. He’s quiet and thoughtful, almost the exact opposite of the other lad. He’s a bit younger, having just turned 13, but much taller. You got him as a favor to Sir Evelyn Fellowes. The boy is his nephew.”

Granger thought of Fellowes and smiled. Sir Evelyn had been his first captain, and had done much to pave the way for Granger’s success. He was more than happy to do a favor for him. This was a much more typical and proper way to acquire a new officer: as a favor to a former mentor. “Perhaps I can liven him up a bit.”

“Perhaps,” Kerry said, “but I’m not optimistic.”

“And who is this third man?”

“Patton is his name. I think you’ll like him. He’s your new clerk.”

“And how did I acquire Mr. Patton?”

“The letters that Caroline got from Davina,” Kerry said, getting Granger’s attention. “Those letters came to her in care of Mr. Patton.”

“If he betrayed the person he worked for before, how can I trust him not to betray me?” Granger asked. Surely the man had no honor.

“That’s not fair to the young man, George,” Kerry chided. “His uncle manages your estate at Brentwood. His loyalties lie there, and with you and Caroline.”

“I see,” Granger said. “My sister-in-law should be more careful about whom she hires.”

“I suspect she will be in the future. In any event, it was judged safer to have him here, with you, than in England with a very powerful and angry enemy.”

“This will put me one midshipman over complement,” Granger pondered.

“I brought orders to transfer Mr. Villiers to the Southampton,” Kerry said.

“Is there some issue with him?” Granger asked, worried that Villiers might have been found to be part of these schemes.

“No, but Lady Jersey has been worried about her son, what with your propensity to get into battles. It seemed that with things as heated as they are, that you should have no potential spies in your midst, at least not spies with connections to powerful people in London.”

“And what if I don’t want to transfer Mr. Villiers?” Granger demanded petulantly. He found it particularly irritating that Caroline and Kerry were interfering in the staffing and operations of his ship.

“You can fume about orders, just like DeBurgh did,” Kerry joked, only it fell flat. He sighed and got serious. “Look George, no one is trying to meddle with your command, but under the circumstances, based on the events that have just transpired, doesn’t it make sense to take some precautions?”

“This is not the first time Caroline has engineered changes in my officers,” Granger said bitterly, trying not to let those bad feelings emerge, the feelings he’d felt when Caroline had had Calvert transferred.

“And just like last time, it’s for your own good. I saw Commander Calvert when he was in London.” Kerry had said that with a disdain, a severity that surprised Granger. It took him a few seconds to realize that it wasn’t disdain or severity that was driving Kerry’s emotions, it was jealousy.

“He is a good friend,” Granger said firmly.

“And a very handsome one,” Kerry said, attempting to get his jealousy under control.

“But not the most eligible bachelor in England,” Granger said as he leaned in to kiss Kerry. A knock at the door interrupted what would have been another round of lovemaking, which was just as well, since Granger wasn’t sure his body had quite recovered from the last time.

“Sorry to interrupt you, sir, but I assumed you’d want to be ready to meet the new men and prepare for the competition,” Winkler said cautiously.

“Thank you Winkler,” Granger said. He got out of bed and surrendered to Winkler’s ministrations as he dressed him, while Kerry went to find his own manservant to put himself to rights for the day. “How did Lefavre react to the competition?”

“Well, he was a might bit grumpy, sir, but that’s fair normal for him,” Winkler said, making Granger chuckle.

“This much is certainly true.”

“But I think, sir, that he’s excited about it. He’s already got his menu all planned out. He said that our stop in Roses is going to be the key to his victory.”

“And why is that?”

“He says he acquired some black truffles there to season the meat with, sir,” Winkler said. “Whatever those are.”

“Let us hope that Captain Hope has not found a similar store of spices in his travels,” Granger said jovially. Winkler smiled at him knowingly. His captain had been in a melancholy mood these past weeks, and Winkler was happy to see him back to his more pleasant self.

“I’ve got my money on Lefavre, sir,” Winkler said.

“So there’s gambling over this contest?” Granger asked. Englishmen would gamble over just about anything; it was almost a national pastime. Still, Granger was impressed at the speed at which this contest seemed to be known.

“Yes, sir,” Winkler said. “And the odds are on our side.” Granger hoped that was true of more than just the cooking contest.