Dream Lover by Virginia Henley

Author:Virginia Henley [Henley, Virginia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

He kissed the corners of her mouth. "I'll keep you safe. Will you come?"

She knew she would follow him to the ends of the earth. The corners of her

mouth turned up in a secret smile. "Persuade me."

Sean O'Toole's powers of persuasion were formidable, and not only with

women. Before the Half Moon docked in London, the Montague crew, to a man,

was secretly in his pay.

Emerald bade her brother a tearful good-bye. "Johnny, I'm worried to death

about you. How will you face Father? He will be far more livid over losing the

Swallow than losing me."

Johnny kissed her brow. "He never really expected O'Toole to give you back,

and as for the ship, he simply underestimated his enemy. It will be an expensive

lesson. Don't worry about me, Emerald. I haven't looked after the Montague finances

without feathering my own nest."

Suddenly Emerald felt better about her brother's situation. He had come a long

way from the boy who was terrorized by his father.

As it turned out, the timing of John's return proved most fortunate for him.

King George had dismissed the Earl of Sandwich from his high post of first lord of

the Admiralty because of the irrefutable charges leveled against him. John Montague

found his father at his wits' end.

"Thank God you're back. We're ruined! Thanks to the stupidity of my

brother, the lucrative doors of the Admiralty are bolted against us. He's been thrown

from office because he had too many enemies who worked for his downfall; and his

downfall is ours! The entire Montague family is in disgrace."

"That is simply not true, Father. It is your brother who is in disgrace, not you.

It is your brother who has been dismissed from high office by the king, not you. We

will certainly feel the repercussions financially, but it is your brother whom society

will censure, not you." John found that he enjoyed manipulating his father with

half-truths.

Jack Raymond tried to placate his father-in-law. "My father is the Earl of

Sandwich, with friends in high places. He'll land on his feet."

"The son of a bitch likely will! It will be me who suffers financial nun. Get you

from my sight. Any man who loses control over his wife doesn't deserve house

room!"

"Father, sit down before you have a stroke," John ordered. "The loss of

Admiralty business will give us more time and resources to invest in our own

merchant vessels. You don't need your brother, Sandwich, or his great friend, the

Duke of Bedford. The Montague Line will be your salvation. Shipping is a lucrative

business. I think we should expand." John decided not to mention the loss of the

Swallow, just yet. The old man would learn of it soon enough.

He masked the satisfaction he felt with a look of regret. "I'm afraid O'Toole

refuses to return Emma. Still, look on the bright side; think of all the money that

saves you."

Sean left Emerald in a suite at the Savoy Hotel while he went into the city to

attend to banking and business matters. When he returned that evening, he had a

surprise for her.

"But I hate London houses," she protested, "they are ugly and gloomy."

Silently she added, You won't like it either.

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