Harrison shrugged a little, his cravat rubbing lightly against his throat. “What of it? I’m hardy enough, and it is easy enough to spend more time at the mines. She’ll not want me present often, so the moments of true viciousness should be few and far between. I’m actually feeling rather hopeful at the moment.”

Granger muttered under his breath, shaking his head slowly.

It was no use trying to explain matters to him further. Granger was a man in a loving marriage without any specific requirements for his heritage, estate, or legacy, so he had been free to do as he liked. His financial needs had precipitated his marriage, it was true, but it had all evened out in the end, and he was apparently swimming in bliss.

There was no history of bliss in the Basset line, as far as Harrison could tell, and he had no anticipation of bliss in his future. No need of it, no concern about it. Satisfaction and comfort were what he wanted, and he was now quite certain he would get it. A wife of spirit would serve his children well if she wished to mother them in an active way. If she did not, then at least those aspects of her personality might lend themselves to energy and determination in their children. There were far more marriages made in England that were full of discontent and resentment than ones of joy and delirium, so being somewhere in the comfortable middle ground was an improvement from the status quo.

He would not make his wife miserable, and he could only pray she would feel the same about him. They didn’t have to make each other happy, but avoiding making the other unhappy was essential.

Surely that would not be so difficult.

The organ at the church struck up then, the familiar strains of “Largo from Xerxes” reverberating around the place, echoing faintly in the splendid architecture.

“Finally,” Harrison muttered, still smiling with amusement at his soon-to-be wife’s antics.

“The most common word uttered by every bridegroom in existence,” Granger replied, turning to glance at the bride, as was his right. He paused a moment, then spoke hastily. “Quick question, Basset.”

“Now?”

Granger nodded once. “I realize I defy tradition by being a married man as your groomsman, but I wonder if you might not be defying tradition more by actually marrying a queen.”

Harrison barely avoided jerking to look at him and somehow only managed to shift his eyes. “What?”

Granger clamped down on his lips hard, seemingly restraining laughter. “She is beautiful, there is no question. But she is arrayed like the Queen of Sheba, man. Your fortunes are undoubtedly lost on this gown alone. Whatever happened to wearing one’s best dress that might then be worn on other occasions? She might only be permitted at Court in such a gown.”