“Rightly so.” At least as sure as she could be.
“Shall I stay?”
“I’ll only visit a wee minute.” Alannah said it as much for Bellamy as Mrs. Christy.
He didn’t respond as he watched the exchange. Instead, he leaned back against the door and crossed his arms over his broad chest.
Mrs. Christy began to walk toward the rear of the house, leaving the trunks open with the remaining items beside them still needing to be packed. As she reached the dining room door, she paused and lifted her brows again at Alannah to ask if everything was okay.
Alannah gave her a quick nod, hoping to convey reassurance.
Once the housekeeper’s footsteps faded into the dining room, Alannah tucked her hands into her apron pockets. Her fingers brushed against the hard cover of a small book, a collection of short stories by Edgar Allan Poe.
She traced the embossed lettering along the spine and waited for Bellamy to say something.
He studied her as if he was trying to see right into her mind. He couldn’t do that, could he?
She plunged her hands deeper into her pockets to keep them from trembling. “You said you had a message for me from Torin?”
“No, not a message.”
“Then whyever did Torin send you? Surely not to set up a match for me.” A scoffing laugh slipped out.
Something glimmered in Bellamy’s eyes. “Oh aye, your brother came to me secretly last night and is wanting to marry you off.”
2
Marry off Alannah?
Kiernan Shanahan halted in the breakfast room, his hand against the door to the hallway where Bellamy and Alannah were talking.
He’d been near the carriage house handing over his mount to Mr. Dunlop and conversing with the fellow when he’d spotted Bellamy walking down the street toward the house.
Something about Bellamy’s hasty pace and stealthy glances had set off warning bells inside Kiernan. Although Bellamy had never given him a reason for mistrust, Kiernan couldn’t keep caution from racing through him.
He’d snuck inside Enya’s home through the back door and managed to make it through the house without being seen or heard. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or bad. What if he’d been someone more disreputable, like Shaw Farrell?
Kiernan’s blood turned cold just like it always did whenever he thought about the way Shaw Farrell had kissed Alannah. At that time, he hadn’t known Alannah, since she’d just moved to St. Louis. He’d only heard the men teasingTorin about how beautiful his sister was and Torin telling them not to go anywhere near her if they valued their lives. From the lethality in his voice and face, it had been clear he hadn’t been teasing in return. And from the way the men had immediately stopped talking about her, it was also clear why Torin was a leader of the Saints Alley gang. He was more dangerous than he appeared, and they knew it.
When Kiernan had first seen Alannah outside the factory, he’d realized she was just as beautiful as the men had claimed, if not more so. With her blond hair and soft blue eyes, everything about her—her graceful neck, her full rounded eyes, the high sweeping cheekbones, and even the tiny pucker of her upper lip—was so tantalizing. As if that wasn’t enough, even though she’d still been thin as a result of the Great Hunger and the hardships of the passage over to America, she had a womanly figure that her clothing couldn’t hide.
Kiernan could admit he’d found her attractive from the start and still did. A man would have to be completely daft not to notice her. Unfortunately, Shaw had noticed her, too, and the gang leader was as dangerous as Torin, if not more so.
Kiernan didn’t understand all that had happened between the two men, but apparently Torin had made an enemy of Shaw. With the Saints Alley and Farrells already rival gangs, the hostility between the two men had only made things worse.
Normally, Kiernan stayed well away from involvement in gang problems and didn’t tolerate any gang fighting in his factory. But after witnessing the threats that day Shaw had kissed Alannah, Kiernan hadn’t been able to say no when Torin pleaded for help in hiding her.
Kiernan usually swung past Enya’s once or twice a week toreassure himself that everything was still alright with Alannah. Now that Enya and Sullivan had left for New Orleans, Kiernan would have to cut back on his visits, or he’d risk the neighbors gossiping and assuming he was having illicit relations with one of the servants.
On the other hand, if Torin had asked Bellamy to find Alannah a match, maybe he wouldn’t need to come much longer at all.
“Torin doesn’t need to be marrying me off,” Alannah said. “I’ll be just fine, so I will.”
“Naturally.” Bellamy sounded as though he hadn’t a care in the world. But underneath it all, Kiernan suspected more was going on than met the eye.
“I’ll find another job soon enough.”
“Another job?” Kiernan couldn’t keep the question from slipping out.
