“I want you to look over everything, so you can be certain in your own mind, but I believe you will find that the evidence is there. The payments date back years, probably beginning at the time of Howe’s suicide. That Tanner and his family have been able to keep Garnet in operation must have sorely taxed their resources, even with Quinton Shipping becoming part of the entire business.”
Rhys could not take in the depth of Roland’s treachery. His flinty eyes narrowed as he stared out the carriage window. “They would have had to import the materials to build that schooner and cut their own prices to compete with Canning. And do you know what makes no sense?” he said bitterly. “My father was slashing his own throat to achieve his ends. He was so bent on destroying Garnet that he was sacrificing his own business.”
Kenna folded her arms around Rhys’s. “I suspect that he believed when Garnet was finished there would be time enough to recover what he paid out and more. Roland was in the stronger financial position. The Clouds would have had to declare bankruptcy eventually.”
“I think my father seriously underestimated Tanner Cloud. Garnet Shipping would have held on for years.”
“I don’t know that Roland cared how long it would take, Rhys. I think he believed, however erroneously, that he was avenging a friend.”
“A treasonous friend,” Rhys said tightly. “I shouldn’t wonder that my father had something to do with that.”
“Oh, Rhys! Don’t even think it.”
He said nothing in reply, remaining deep in his own thoughts during the rest of the drive home.
Rhys’s withdrawn mood had not changed when they went to bed but when he reached for Kenna in the darkness of their room, she went to him gladly, laying her arm across his chest and her head in the crook of his shoulder.
Her soft breath caressed him. “I love you, Rhys Canning,” she said. “Nothing your father ever did can change the way I feel about you. I hope it hasn’t the power to change the way you feel about yourself.”
Rhys stared unblinkingly at the ceiling. “I could not love my father, Kenna. But until this evening I was never ashamed of him. I feel it so deeply within me now that I ache with it.”
“Don’t do this to yourself,” she pleaded softly.
“We’re going to be very alone, you and I,” he told her, his voice rasping. “I will not let his injustices stand, Kenna. In the morning I will begin putting a stop to wages given for no work and bribes that were used to keep Garnet without lumber and iron. I am going to tear up the contracts that kept fares unreasonably low. In fact, I’m going to tear them up in front of the merchants who signed them. You know what will happen once the word is spread, don’t you? When the reserve of Canning money is no longer in circulation, we are going to be shunned. Have no doubt, my father’s business friends are going to revile us for laying open their immoral conduct.”
“You’re hardly going to put a notice in theGazette,Rhys.”
He smiled as if the thought appealed to him and knew a moment’s pleasure. “No, I’m not going to do that,” he said and then sighed. “This affair does not have to reach the public. It will be enough that those men who entered into agreements with my father learn from me that it is finished. We won’t be welcome in many homes after that.”
“I can think of one place where we would be welcome, even if you had not discovered Roland’s dealings a year from now. Alexis and Tanner don’t bear any ill-will, Rhys. Why, they wouldn’t even speak of what Roland had done this evening, which is why I remained silent about my suspicions. They certainly did not invite us into their home to win our support. If you had not asked about Roland, I sincerely doubt the topic would have been broached.”
“You’re right, of course. And I value their friendship, too. But aren’t you in the least curious why they never fought my father publicly on this count? They could have stopped him by acknowledging openly how he was trying to ruin them. He would have been afraid of the scandal.”
“Perhaps they had no tangible proof,” she suggested. “Or it simply may be that they thought they could overcome the pressure Roland was placing upon their business. Does it really matter?”
“No, I suppose not.” But still he was curious. Something that Tanner had said about his notorious wife refused to be silenced. Was it more than a lover’s tease between them? A truth, perhaps, that his father had known? His thoughts strayed from Tanner and Alexis to his wife, who was rubbing the sole of her foot along the length of his calf. “I never asked what you think, Kenna. Do I have your support in this? It will not be easy on you either, you know.”
“What do I care for being sought after for every social affair?” she said, mocking his question. “Of course you have my support, darling. We are hardly going to be pariahs. Alex and Tanner will see to that. There are hundreds of people in Boston who had no dealings at all with Roland Canning.” Her hand slipped across his abdomen and pressed against his thigh. “Can we speak of this on the morrow, please. I would dearly love…” She whispered her desire in his ear.
“Kenna!” Rhys pretended shock. “Where did you learn those words?”
Her teeth tugged on his ear lobe. “From you, dearest. Where I learned everything.” She slid down his body and her tongue flicked across his flat male nipples, arousing them as he did hers.
“Not everything,” he denied huskily, brushing his fingers through her hair. “You’re very…” She pinched the back of his thigh. “Creative! I swear I was intending to say creative!”
She lifted her head and looked into his dear face which was graced at the moment by an impish smile. “I love you.” She kissed the faint dimple in his chin. “You can’t imagine…” Her mouth brushed his and the kiss deepened as desire swelled between them.
Kenna was an impatient lover that night, rousing them both to a fiery passion that left them breathless in its aftermath. Their skin misted with love’s labors, their bodies tensing and arching, then curving into one another as pleasure’s demands were surrendered to. They curled spoon fashion, Rhys’s arms beneath the tender curves of Kenna’s breasts, and slept that way most of the night.
In the morning Rhys went to the warehouse alone, but promised Kenna he would review the ledgers before he did anything. He admitted to himself that he had harbored a niggling hope that Kenna was wrong in her assessment of the irregularities in the accounts. That hope was extinguished by early afternoon. There was simply no other explanation that made sense. Rhys had a lengthy conversation with Joshua Grant but was finally satisfied that the man was guilty only of not questioning some of Roland’s practices. Grant had never concerned himself with finances, his position demanded only that he make decisions about the cargo and sailing schedule and report back to Roland’s lawyer, Mr. Britt. Britt, in turn, notified the bank to release funds for wages or made the deposits for Roland. Entries were made in the ledgers on a weekly basis by Britt’s clerks.
Rhys’s meeting with Britt lasted less than twenty minutes, long enough for him to terminate their business relationship. Though Britt protested he was only directing payments according to Roland’s wishes, Rhys knew the man had understood all along what Roland was really asking him to do.
“I told you I advised your father to turn the profits back into his own line,” Britt argued heatedly, pushing back his wire spectacles until the lenses seemed to press against his eyes.
“The fact remains that you did as he wanted,” Rhys said coldly.
“He employed me, for God’s sake! He was my most important client!”
