Trade Winds (Choc Lit) (13 page)

Although it was only early autumn, the evenings were cold and he was grateful the sitting room had a tile stove similar to the one in Fergusson’s house, although much smaller.
Fru
Ljung kindly lit it for him before he came home from work each day. She also agreed to cook him supper for a few extra
daler,
which saved him a lot of bother.

Next, Killian arranged for young Jamie to come to his lodgings as often as he could, and he was soon progressing with his Swedish speaking.

‘Your pronunciation is atrocious,’ Holm told him with an unaccustomed grin.

‘Oh, yes?’ Killian grinned back and didn’t take offence since Holm said it in a good-natured fashion. ‘Guess I’ll just have to try harder then.’

Halfway through his second week, he was surprised to find Miss van Sandt outside the door to the warehouse one afternoon. He had answered her knock, since Holm was out at a meeting, and no one else seemed to be about.

‘Miss van Sandt, what an unexpected pleasure,’ he said and smiled.

She looked startled and tried to peer around him into the warehouse, as if she was searching for someone. ‘Er, I came to see Mr Holm. Is-is he here?’

‘No, but you’re welcome to wait for him upstairs if you want.’

‘Uhm, no thank you. I was only passing and don’t have much time.’

He looked past her to see whether the formidable Mrs Forbes was in evidence. All he could see was a maid with a bored expression on her face waiting nearby. ‘You were allowed out on your own? Tut, tut, your gaolers are slacking,’ he teased.

‘What do you mean? I’m not a prisoner. Whatever gave you that idea?’ Her protest came rather too quickly, proving that he had hit the mark. She scowled at him, which made him want to reach out and smooth her brow. He resisted the urge.

‘Aren’t you? It seems to me that most girls are prisoners until they marry, forever guarded against any passing man.’

‘Only against men like you, I should think,’ she shot back.

‘Perhaps,’ he conceded with a grin. ‘Why don’t you come inside and we can put it to the test? I presume that little maid is meant to defend your virtue, but we can leave her there.’

Miss van Sandt drew herself up to her full height, which wasn’t very much since she didn’t reach any further than the bottom of his chin. ‘Thank you, but I don’t need to test that theory. I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t be safe anywhere near you.’

‘You’re probably right. Does it scare you?’

‘No. I can deal with men like you. My father taught me.’

‘I see. And what else did he teach you? How to do sums? How to trade?’

A wary expression crossed her features. ‘Who told you that?’

‘No one. Let’s just say it was an educated guess.’

‘Have you been talking to Albert?’

‘Who? Oh, you mean Mr Holm. No, he’s quite the clam. He only talks business. Is that why you came, to talk business?’

‘Yes, I mean no …’ She tailed off, looking thoroughly flustered. ‘You ask too many questions.’ A frightened look entered her eyes. ‘I would be grateful if you didn’t mention to my stepfather that you have seen me here today. I, er, … he wouldn’t be pleased.’

‘No, I don’t suppose he would. Does Mrs Forbes know you’re out?’

‘She thinks I’m at the market. And I was. I just thought I’d pay Albert a quick visit while I was out. He was my father’s friend, you know.’

‘Just on the spur of the moment. Of course, I quite understand.’ She opened her mouth to say something again, but before she could utter another word, he pulled her inside the door, out of sight of the maid. ‘I’ll keep quiet on one condition.’

‘What?’ Suspicion lurked in her eyes now.

‘You give me a kiss.’

‘How dare you?’ Her grey eyes flashed like slivers of diamond ice and she took a step backwards, her chest heaving with indignation. But Killian noticed she didn’t flee entirely. He took that as a good sign and followed her.

‘I dare anything,’ he said, then without further ado he pulled her close and covered her lips with his in a swift kiss. He didn’t hold her for very long, but he had time to register that she felt soft and just right in his arms and she smelled of summer flowers. She blinked up at him, as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened and he almost felt bad for taking advantage of her like this. Almost, but not quite. How could he regret something so enjoyable?

‘There, now you have my word I won’t mention a thing.
Adjö, Fröken
van Sandt,’ he said, and took the stairs up to the office two at a time, resisting the temptation to look back.

He had definitely won that round.

Chapter Eleven

It was over before she even had time to blink, but the imprint of his mouth stayed on Jessamijn’s for the rest of the day. It was as if he had branded her. She walked back to the house in a daze, looking neither right nor left. Once home, she went straight up to her room and sat down on her bed.

‘Dear God,’ she muttered, wondering why a simple kiss could have such an impact on her when she didn’t even like the man.

It had seriously shaken her, there were no two ways about it. Her entire body was tingling, as if he had done much more than touch her lips with his own for such a brief space of time. It was ridiculous. The man was a rogue and he was just playing with her for some perverse reason only he knew. He couldn’t possibly have any interest in courting her, or he would have come round to the house again without being invited. They hadn’t seen hide or hair of him since that first supper and her stepfather claimed he kept the young man busy.

So why had he kissed her?

Jess could only assume he acted out of habit. A man with looks like that must be used to the attentions of women and perhaps flirting was as normal to him as breathing was for everyone else. There could be no other reason. He seemed to delight in teasing her. It worried her that he had been astute enough to ask about her interest in the business. What had he found out? Did he know she still kept in contact with Albert from time to time? That Albert was in fact loyal to her and tried to keep her up to date with matters relating to the company so that she wouldn’t forget the things her father had taught her?

No, he couldn’t know that. Albert would never tell a soul. Besides, that was before her banishment to Askeberga. She hadn’t seen Albert since her return, which was why she’d jumped at the chance to seek him out today when she was finally allowed out without Mrs Forbes.

Albert was the only one who could answer her questions about whether the business had really been in trouble when her father died. He’d be able to tell her if that was yet another lie which had conveniently tripped off Robert’s tongue. Albert would also know the best way of discovering what had happened to her father’s will. Jess felt sure there must be some way of finding out about its contents, someone who remembered. Even if the document itself had been destroyed.

But Albert wasn’t there. Instead she’d met Kinross and that penetrating blue gaze of his had almost made her forget why she had come. Unless he was a mind reader, he couldn’t possibly know anything.
Her secrets were safe.

But was her heart? Jess shivered. She had to make sure that it was.

‘There’s a gentleman to see you, sir. Says he has information for you.’ The butler at Lord Rosyth’s town house was wearing an expression of acute dislike as he made this announcement to Farquhar. He looked as if the individual in question smelled badly. ‘I’ve put him in the morning room.’

Farquhar looked up from the broadsheet he’d been reading in the peace of his grandfather’s study. He had retreated there, since he knew the old man was still asleep. ‘Thank you, I’ll go and see him in a moment.’

Farquhar had a network of spies working for him, but as Killian was now out of the country, he hadn’t expected to hear from any of them. His curiosity piqued, he made his way to the morning room. There he found his most trusted, but also scruffiest, informant waiting for him.

‘Allan, I didn’t expect to see you today.’ He indicated the man was to stay seated and he took a chair on the opposite side of the room. The butler had been right in his opinion. Allan was none too clean and stank to high heaven, but then personal hygiene wasn’t what Farquhar paid him for.

‘No, don’t suppose you did, sir, but I heard a very interesting piece of information and I said to myself, I said, I bet Mr Kinross would be very pleased to hear about that.’

‘And what was this interesting information?’ Farquhar often became impatient with Allan’s long-winded way of reporting, but he knew he couldn’t show any outward signs of this or the man would demand a larger payment than necessary.

‘Well, I was in a tavern drinking, and there was this man called McGrath. Drownin’ his sorrows he was. Tellin’ everyone in sight as how he didn’t have nothin’ to live for no more because your cousin, that’s Mr Killian o’ course, had robbed him of his only means of earnin’ a living.’

‘Robbed him?’ Much as he disliked him, Farquhar didn’t think Killian would stoop quite that low.

‘Well, a figure of speech really. What he meant was, he played a game o’ dice with your cousin and nat’rally he lost, like everyone else.’

‘Of course.’ Farquhar ground his teeth. It had always been a mystery to him why his cousin should have been blessed with such luck when he never won anything himself. So unfair. ‘And how much did this McGrath lose?’ He wished Allan would get to the point.

‘Not how much, sir, but what. A ship, it were. The
Lady Madeleine
by name. Big one ’parently. Your cousin sailed off in it hisself, so I heard. Not sure where he was headed though.’

Allan finished his tale, looking hopeful. Farquhar dug in his pocket and brought out a couple of silver coins, which made the man’s eyes light up. ‘You’re sure my cousin now owns this ship?’

‘Oh, yes. No doubt about it. McGrath signed a note and everythin’ in front o’ witnesses. I asked one o’ his mates and it was all above board.’

‘Right. Well, thank you, Allan, that is most useful. Do you think you could keep an eye out and let me know if the ship returns?’

‘O’ course, sir. Thank you, sir.’

Farquhar showed Allan out, deep in thought. So Killian had acquired a ship, he mused. That was bad news and something would have to be done about it. He couldn’t possibly allow Killian to keep such an asset for long. That would be sheer madness.

‘Damn his eyes,’ he muttered. Killian was like a cat, always landed on his feet, but Farquhar was determined to put a stop to it. Even cats only had nine lives and he was sure his cousin had already used up a fair number of them. It was past time he lost the rest.

‘Miss van Sandt came to see you,’ Killian told Holm when the man returned. He kept his tone neutral to show him he hadn’t thought this strange in any way. Despite this, a wary expression crept into the Swede’s eyes and he frowned slightly.

‘Did she? I knew her father well. She sometimes comes to talk about him and to ask after my health. Very kind-hearted, she is.’

‘Yes, so she said. Well, I’m sure she’ll come again another day.’ Killian decided not to push his luck by probing deeper, although he was sure this was nowhere near the whole truth. There were still a lot of things he needed to learn. Finding out Miss van Sandt’s secrets was only one of his goals.

Without further comment, he went back to adding up sums.

The most important documents in the office, together with any cash, were kept in a strongbox. A short while later Holm asked Killian to search through this for a particular agreement which the chief assistant wanted to look at. The box had a hefty lock and only Holm and Mr Fergusson had a key. Holm gave his to Killian, then went to speak to one of the workers employed to load and unload cargoes down in the warehouse.

Killian had no difficulty opening the box. It took him a while to find the required document, however, and he had to riffle through most of the contents before he came across it. On impulse, he quickly sifted through the rest of the papers inside to see if there was anything of interest.

He was intrigued by several official-looking documents relating to house purchases. It would seem that Fergusson was buying up property in Gothenburg. Was he trying to increase his wealth by renting them out? It was likely, although the houses were all bought on behalf of the company.

So far, Killian hadn’t come across any rent payments in the accounts he was given each day. This made him wonder if the rents were going straight into Fergusson’s pockets. It was certainly something he would have to investigate. He memorised the addresses of the properties in question so he could make discreet enquiries at a later date.

He gave Holm the document he’d been asked to find.

‘Thank you.’ Holm nodded. ‘You can put the rest back now. We don’t want any of the workers to see its contents.’

Killian replaced the papers and locked the box, then sat down again. For some reason, his thoughts returned to Miss van Sandt. He decided to try to fish for at least a few answers, just to see where it might lead him.

‘Mr Holm,’ he began, trying his best to look as if he was just curious, ‘does Miss van Sandt own shares in this company?’

Holm looked up and narrowed his eyes. ‘No, why you ask?’

‘I just wondered. I heard some gossip about her and a young nobleman who was after her dowry. I thought perhaps it was the company he wanted. Not that she isn’t pretty,’ he added quickly, since it was obvious Holm was very fond of her.

‘Well, he wouldn’t have had any part of it,’ Holm said, ignoring Killian’s comment about Miss van Sandt’s looks. ‘Mr Fergusson owns it now. Everything was left to Mrs van Sandt and as her new husband, of course it all came to Mr Fergusson when he married her.’

‘Did you see the will?’ Killian smelled a rat, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

‘No, why should I? Mr Fergusson gave it to the local magistrate as is the usual way.’ Holm gave him a speculative look. ‘Why you want to know these things? You want to marry the girl yourself?’

‘Me? No, heaven forbid. I don’t have the time for marriage just now, there’s so much else I have to do first.’

Holm nodded, seemingly satisfied, and Killian thought it best not to ask any further questions. At least not openly.

Killian had spent an afternoon in the warehouse, learning from one of the foremen exactly how everything was stored, and was making his way up the stairs to the office when he heard raised voices. Or rather, one raised voice and a few muted replies. He tip-toed up to the top and stopped just short of the door, listening intently.

‘And I must’ve told you a hundred times not to encourage that girl to meddle in matters she has no right to know anything about. She was seen entering this building and I won’t have it, you hear? This is
my
company now. I don’t hold with females doing anything other than keeping house. I don’t care what nonsense her father taught her. The man was a deluded fool who obviously couldn’t cope with the fact he’d bred no sons. No one in their right mind would expect a female to know anything about a business, even if she had inherited it, which she didn’t. And besides …’

Fergusson, whose outraged voice could be clearly heard through the thin wood of the door, continued in this vein for quite some time. Occasionally, Holm tried to inject a comment or two. He protested that Miss van Sandt had only come to pay him a courtesy visit because of his friendship for her father. Inevitably, he was shouted down and soon stayed silent.