He didn’t spend much time inside the small room, preferred overseeing the various construction sites, talking with the foremen and workers, lending a hand when necessary, and learning all he could about every aspect of the business.
The more he knew, the more he would understand aboutthe right changes to make and how to innovate and become more efficient. He’d done that with the glass factory and had turned it from a dying business into one of the most profitable in St. Louis.
He’d do the same here too. But according to the ledger his accountant had sent over, he was starting to run low on the capital Liam had invested. They also didn’t have enough income yet from sales to cover the expenses. Some purchases had cost more than he’d anticipated, like the beams for the new shaft and the new storage sheds. His accountant had informed him the increase was because the price of lumber had gone up as a result of the fire.
If only the demand for bricks would rise too. But according to Liam’s report yesterday, the city council members had decided to leave St. Louis since cholera was worsening. Liam hadn’t been sure when the council would reconvene, which meant that for the time being, there was no ordinance in place requiring bricks for the rebuilding projects.
Of course, businesses were still buying bricks even without the ordinance, especially because they didn’t want a repeat of the fire anytime soon. But with more people exiting the city every day, some of the building contracts the brickyard had received had been canceled or put on hold.
Kiernan paused and closed the ledger. Even if they were facing some setbacks, he wasn’t losing heart, and he wasn’t giving up. The cholera wouldn’t last forever. In time, people would return to normal life. Sales would eventually increase.
However, since he was falling short on what he needed to pay his workers, he might have to ask Liam to invest more—which would make Liam the larger investor. Would it alsotechnically make him the owner? Kiernan wasn’t sure, and he didn’t want to find out.
His gut twisted at the prospect of having to sell his glass factory. The loss would be embarrassing, to say the least. Instead of proving he was a good businessman with good investment skills and an eye for the future, he’d end up saddling himself with a business that wasn’t going anywhere except downhill, dragging him along with it.
Was that all the more reason to get serious about the women he’d been visiting? Why, then, did the prospect of marrying one of them so he could gain a dowry feel more and more selfish?
Expelling another long sigh, he grabbed his hat from the chair where he’d tossed it earlier, situated it on his head, then stepped outside into the evening sunshine. He might as well head home. He wasn’t getting any work done. Besides, he hadn’t spent time with his family recently and was due to join them for a meal.
At some point tonight, he’d track down Alannah and find out what was wrong. If he’d done something to offend her, he wanted to know. Or if Mam was threatening her, he needed to know that too.
He locked up and made the rounds through the brickyard to let his foremen know he was going, including Torin at the kiln. Kiernan hadn’t talked with Torin about Alannah since the knife incident, but the air was tense between them, and just yesterday Torin mentioned the need to talk to him about Alannah.
Kiernan could admit he was avoiding the conversation because he had the feeling he would only make things worse,especially because Torin was too smart and would figure out he was spending time alone with Alannah.
As he mounted his horse and started down the road north toward Oakland, he couldn’t rein in the anticipation. The truth was, he’d begun to look forward to being with Alannah so much that he’d started to cut short his visits with the other women. He spent the previous evening with the seventh of the candidates, and all the while, he kept pulling his watch from his pocket, trying to decide how much longer he had to stay before leaving.
The young ladies had been perfect gentlewomen from among St. Louis’s best families. He couldn’t find fault with any of Bellamy’s choices. He had a final week to go, three more women to meet, and then he would have to decide who he wanted to marry.
But how could he, when he didn’t feel anything for any of them? When Alannah was the only woman on his mind?
He gripped his reins tighter and ducked under a branch, the forest growing thick around him with the flowering dogwoods hanging low and full.
The meetings with so many women were apparently causing quite the commotion among the St. Louis elite. Earlier, Liam had informed him with his usual laughter that the women were beginning to fight with each other, competing over who was the best candidate for becoming his bride.
The news had left Kiernan uneasy. He hadn’t meant for his methods to cause trouble or to stir up strife. What if he ended up not liking any of them? Then he would have put them through distress and conflict for no reason.
Yet, how could he not conjure attraction for even one ofthe women? Maybe he needed to be more invested in the visits instead of wishing he could return home and spend time with Alannah.
Perhaps the break from Alannah was for the best.
At a sudden gunshot in the air behind him, his stallion halted abruptly and almost reared up. Thankfully, Kiernan had quick reflexes, and he grabbed on to the reins more securely.
As he strained to remain in the saddle, the horse shied around, and Kiernan found himself facing three men, the one at the front pointing a gun directly at him.
Was he being robbed?
His hand slid instinctively toward his revolver.
“Halt right there, Mr. Shanahan.” The hardened square face with the thin scar above his lips belonged to none other than Shaw Farrell. Not much older than Kiernan’s twenty-two years of age, Shaw was thickly muscled with large hands. It was rumored Shaw could strangle a man with just one of those hands in less than a minute.
Clearly, he knew Kiernan’s identity. Had the fellow been waiting for him to pass by? Or had he been out in the area already? What if he’d been searching for Alannah?
Kiernan’s blood froze at the thought. He’d known there was that possibility. But what if that’s why Shaw had stopped him? Because he suspected the Shanahans were hiding her?
“Tell me what you want, Shaw.” Kiernan rested his hand on his revolver. Shaw wouldn’t get away with murdering a Shanahan. The punishment would be too swift and severe. More likely in Kiernan’s case, the fellow would threaten him a little, maybe even bully him, but that’s as far as it would go. At least Kiernan hoped so.
Shaw lowered his revolver but didn’t holster it. “Should have known you were the one sheltering Darragh.”
