Page 61 of A Tenuous Betrothal
“Uncle, hello. I see you received my note,” Rhi said.
“This is not authorized. Who is in that mine? Everyone must desist at once.”
But no one moved.
“We are an hour or less from reaching a connecting tunnel. We’re here because we hope to rescue your workers, to save their lives.” She watched her uncle. Had he no heart at all? How could she leave her people, her father’s people, in her uncle’s hands? Her father could never have predicted such a thing to happen. He and her grandmother would want her to stay.
But her mother?
She knew her mother would want her to leave. Mother loved Wales as much as any of them, but she would want Rhi to be safe and happy. She reached a hand up to her chest. She’d made a habit of wearing the bit of ribbon around her neck, the ring nestled beneath her gown. Her mother had ties of some sort to Old-enburg. Rhi had no protection here and no hope of a comfortable life in Wales. But Oldenburg... The promise of security, the hope of a tie to her mother...
But she must stay in Wales if it meant saving lives. Every thought raced through her in the face of the man towering in front of her.
Uncle’s face was red, his breath coming faster. “We are losing hours of labor. Money is draining away as we speak,” he hissed. “You don’t know what you are doing.”
“I absolutely know what I am doing. I am placing their lives above every other consideration right now.”
The workers nearby made supportive noises and again stepped closer.
“Those are pretty words until you have a mine that cannot afford itself. Then what? What would you do if it closed? How many would die then?”
She faltered. How close were they to financial ruin?
Marc shook his head. “Money is not an excuse to put so many at risk.”
“Ah, the prince, come to save the day again. Well, Your Highness, perhaps you are unaware, but mining is dangerous. It always has been. My brother lost lives, and yet he kept mining.” He looked away. “And, if you’ll excuse me, I have some dangerous activity to stop. Would you have us lose every single life?”
He stepped away, but Rhi followed. “Stop right there!”
“Go away, Rhianna. This doesn’t concern you. You’ve done enough damage here already.”
“I said stop, Uncle.Youhave done enough damage already. You talk about profits. You talk about shutting down the mines. But if those are problems you face, it is because of your own ignorance and neglect. My father never would have used women as putters. He would not have opened those dangerous tunnels with little air. And he wouldn’t have had an explosion and collapse of the tunnel, putting his workforce at risk. You have been grossly negligent.”
Marc stepped up to her side, but his attention was on her uncle.
The man turned slowly, and the look in his eyes was full of venom, but another voice interrupted. “She’s right. She’s absolutely correct.”
A tall, burly man Rhi remembered seeing once or twice in Cresselly approached with Bartholomew and Sophie at his side. The duchess had a serious look on her face but a twinkle in her eye.
What was about to transpire?
“Baron.” Uncle crossed his arms. “What is this?”
The burly man nodded to her uncle. “Broderick.”
Bartholomew cleared his throat.
“Uncle, this is His Grace, the Duke of Sumter, and Her Grace, the Duchess of Sumter. This is my uncle, Mr. Broderick Davies.” It sat sourly on her tongue, using her father’s name for this man. But they shared it, after all.
The man her uncle had called Baron turned to her, and his stern face relaxed into a brief smile. “I don’t know if you’ll remember, but your father, God rest his soul, used to have port with me on the rainy evenings of fall.”
Rhi nodded slowly. “I do remember you, yes.”
“We are here, Mr. Davies”—the baron stepped closer and handed her uncle a paper—“to ask that you treat our citizens in Carmarthenshire with more respect.”
“You have no right to do that. What gives you the idea you can dictate to me anything about how I run these mines? What would Carmarthenshire be without the mines?”
“He doesn’t have a rightyet.” Bartholomew nodded to Rhi, and Sophie smiled. “But I commit to begin proceedings in the Houses of Lords and Commons to find ways and means to restrict, fine, and otherwise dictate whatever would be best for our citizens here in Britain. You can believe that if you don’t desist now, you will soon be made to desist and will be used as an example before the House of Lords of whatnotto do in a mine. You will be the reason more restrictions are put into place.” He straightened his jacket, taking a breath. “It’s high time, I believe, that some sort of reform happened all over Britain. And I’ve a mind to start it myself.”
