Page 12 of A Wager with the Matchmaker (A Shanahan Match #3)

12

Alannah hadn’t shown up at their usual meeting spot two nights in a row.

Kiernan stared at the ledger on the desk in front of him in his mine office, but the numbers all blurred together. He’d been trying for the past hours to study the financials his accountant had laid out for him, but all he could see was Alannah.

Mostly he pictured her sitting beside him with the stars and moonlight casting a glow over her that made her ethereal. He loved the way she focused completely on him when he was talking, her eyes bright with questions, her head tilted with interest. And he loved the way her expression lit up when she told him about the things she liked doing, her lips curling up with an almost-smile.

He loved when her nose scrunched whenever he said something she didn’t like, and he loved that she wasn’t afraid to tell him when she disagreed. She had her own opinions about matters, and he’d begun to relish hearing them and sometimes even debating her. Their conversations were never dull, always lively, and yet genuine.

Genuine. Alannah was genuine about everything. She never pretended to be anything she wasn’t, was her real self, and never tried to impress him.

Unlike all the women and their families he’d been meeting with where everyone was trying to impress everyone else, especially with what they could offer each other in a marital arrangement.

It felt too much like a business deal, and the longer it went on, the more awkward he was finding it. Of course, he’d always been considered one of St. Louis’s finest catches. Although he didn’t have a fortune currently, as firstborn he would someday inherit the bulk of his family’s estate and wealth in addition to what his da had already given him.

With just the right match, he could rise to the top, farther than Da. But was this whole process worth it?

He clasped his hands to both sides of his pounding temples. If only he wasn’t thinking so much about Alannah, maybe he’d be able to think more objectively about his future. But the truth was, he’d missed meeting with her over the past two nights, so much that now he couldn’t stop contemplating it. He was actually starting to drive himself crazy with his preoccupation.

“Stop this, Kiernan Shanahan.” He shoved away from his desk and stood with such force it sent his chair toppling behind him. He was not only wasting time thinking about her, but he was likely worrying for nothing.

He righted his chair, then stalked around the front of the desk, paused, and shoved his hands into his hair. He stared out the open door that overlooked the area where several men were mixing clay with water in large vats—the last batches of the day before quitting time. Beside them were rows of long wooden boxes with uniformly sized compartments and the edges nailed tight to prevent the clay from seeping out. Several other men were packing the already mixed clay into the molds, while yet another worker scraped off the excess with a level rod.

Kiernan normally took pleasure in watching the creation of the bricks. But not yesterday. And certainly not today.

Expelling a tight sigh, he paced to one side of the cabin and then back.

When he’d stopped by the kitchen to check on her this morning, he hadn’t been able to speak to her privately because Cook had been present. For the couple of seconds that he’d stood awkwardly in the doorway, she’d kept her back to him at the worktable, as though she hadn’t wanted to see him at all.

He’d been as baffled then as he was now. What had happened to cause the change? It was almost as if she was avoiding him. Was she?

He paced the length of the cabin again. The office was sparsely furnished with only a corner stove, an old desk, and a couple of wooden chairs. Years ago, it had been home to the mine owner, but Kiernan had turned it into the official headquarters.

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 about the 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 also technically 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 of the 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.”

Kiernan kept his gaze hard and pointed. “He’s one of my best employees. I offered him a job at my brickyard.”

The two men standing slightly behind Shaw had equally hard demeanors. Though they weren’t as broad or strong, they carried themselves with an air of dangerous nonchalance. Kiernan had seen it often in gang members, men who’d become so accustomed to violence and death that they no longer valued even their own lives.

“Torin Darragh’s a dead man.” Shaw’s threat was the same he’d thrown out the day he’d fought Torin in front of the glass factory back in the spring.

Kiernan gave what he hoped was a casual shrug. “If I find my best employee dead, I’ll know where to send the police.”

Shaw gave a casual shrug too. “The police won’t know where to find me.”

“I’ll make sure they look.” It was possible Shaw was bribing some of the police to do his bidding. But Kiernan would find the means to pay them better to do what he wanted.

He hoped the situation didn’t come to that with Torin dead and the police searching for Shaw. What Kiernan had really been hoping for was that Shaw would finally give up his vendetta. But was it only a matter of time before Shaw found a way to kill Torin?

Most likely it would take money to get Shaw to leave Torin alone. “How much do you want?” Kiernan didn’t have money to spare at the moment. But if paying Shaw would resolve the issue and keep Torin and Alannah safe, then Kiernan would figure out a way to come up with the necessary funds.

Shaw exchanged a glance with his companions, a slight grin curling up his lips. “I like this fellow.”

The feeling was not mutual. “How much?”

Shaw’s grin inched higher. “I want Torin’s sister.”

There was no blasted way Kiernan would ever let Shaw have Alannah. “It was clear she didn’t want you.” He was referring back to the day Shaw had kissed her in front of the factory, a memory that burned through him every time he thought about it.

“She’ll have me.”

No she wouldn’t. Kiernan forced his hands not to fist. “Find someone else.”

“Alannah Darragh is the most beautiful woman in St. Louis, and I don’t want anyone else.”

Why was Shaw being so persistent? “We don’t always get what we want.”

“I do.”

The frustration was only swirling faster inside Kiernan. If he wasn’t careful, eventually he would say or do something that would reveal how much he knew about Alannah and how much he cared about her. Because aye, he did care about her.

“I’m planning to marry Alannah,” Shaw continued. “I’m ready to have a wife and kids.”

The thought of this man doing so with Alannah sent chills through Kiernan. “And bring them the danger of gang life? No.”

“I’ll be able to give them anything they want.”

“They won’t ever be free, and you know it.”

Shaw’s gaze turned sharp, almost lethal, and his grin disappeared. “Ten thousand dollars.”

Kiernan released a scoffing laugh. Ten thousand? The amount was exorbitant. Kiernan would never be able to amass that much. He’d never be able to amass even half that amount, not even if he begged his da for it.

“Nobody leaves the Farrell gang without paying.” Shaw holstered his gun. “And the cost is always steep.”

Too steep. Alannah or ten thousand dollars. If Shaw didn’t get his payment, he’d kill Torin. That was becoming all too clear. Kiernan was also afraid that Alannah would give herself over to the gang leader in order to save her brother. She’d suggested it after the threats outside the glass factory. Thankfully, Torin hadn’t gone for the idea. And Kiernan hadn’t either, and he never would.

The trouble, now that Shaw knew Torin was at the brickyard, was how long before he learned where Alannah was? Even though Kiernan had warned Mam and the other servants not to say anything, how could her presence at Oakland stay a secret forever?

Maybe he’d been foolish to stand in the way of Bellamy matching and marrying her off. At least with another man, she’d be safe from Shaw. And her safety was the most important thing.

Kiernan shifted his horse. “Stay away from Torin and his sister, Shaw.”

“Or what?”

“Or you’ll wish you would have.” Kiernan didn’t wait to gauge the man’s reaction. Instead, he nudged his horse forward down the road. His back was stiff, and a part of him expected another shot to ring out, one to scare him, maybe even injure him. But after several long moments with nothing, he picked up his pace, his heart thundering with his pulse.

For as much as he wanted to shelter Alannah—and Torin—trouble was drawing closer. He just prayed he would be ready with a solution when it finally caught up to them.