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"They’ve only just left," Aline said "Good htly tanned co He possessed an elegant insouciance that could only have co born to limitless wealth The faint lines that cynicism had carved around his eyes and olden handsoh his proportions did not approach McKenna’s warriorlike build
"If you descend the stairs on the left and follow the path to the forest, you will catch up to them," Aline told hi a cloud bank "Thank you, my lady It is my particular torment to enjoy sports that can only take place early in the "
"I assu you o with h I lish trout are far lish business
"Much to ht bow in preparation to leave, then paused as a thought occurred to him "My lady, I have a question…"
So to ask It took considerable acting ability to ht, as I took a stroll through the back gardens, I happened towo how ive you her nauests? No? Well, then, she was probably a servant"
"I don’t believe so" His broas heht frown of concentration as he continued "She has light brown hair and green eyes…at least, I think they are green…and she is small of stature, perhaps only an inch taller than you"
Aline shrugged apologetically Although she would have liked to oblige hi him her sister’s name, she wasn’t certain that Livia wanted him to know her identity yet "At the moment, Mr Shaw, I can think of no one on the estate who matches that description Are you certain that she wasn’t a figination?"
He shook his head, his dark lashes lowering over rich blue eyes as he seenitude "She was real And I need--that is, I would very much like--to find her"
"This woman see sed a hand through the glea the a a deep breath for the first tiaze
"Yes, I understand"
The unmistakable sincerity in her voice seemed to snare his attention He s a rush of liking for thesports party if you run"
Shaw laughed briefly "My lady, there is nothing in this life I want badly enough to chase after it"
"Good," she said, pleased "Then you may take an early breakfast with me instead I’ll have it served out here"
With her coreeable at the prospect, Aline directed a servant to set out breakfast for two at the table A steaht to thes, baked h Shaw see, he seely brewed coffee, drinking it as if it were the antidote to so back in her chair, Aline popped a lance of flirtatious inquiry--the look that never failed to elicit the information that she wanted fro the scone with a sip of well-sugared tea, "how many years have you known McKenna?"
The question did not see downed two cups of coffee with barely a pause for breath, he now applied hiht," he replied
"McKenna told me that the two of you er on his boat"
Apeculiar smile curved his lips "Is that what he told you?"
She tilted her head to the side as she regarded him closely "Is it not the truth?"
"McKenna tends to shade certain details in the interest of shielding my reputation In fact, he’s far more concerned about ar in her tea "Why did you strike up a partnership with a mere ferryman?" she asked in a deliberately relaxed tone
Gideon Shaw took a long time to answer He set down his half-empty cup and stared at her steadily "McKenna saved my life, to start with"
Aline did notthe waterfront, blind drunk Even now I can’t reot there, or why On occasion I have so, and I can’t account for hours or even days" His bleak smile chilled her to thethe docks that no one saw me, especially as the weather was incle back fro ocean--in thestorm, no less--and fished htened at the thought of the risk that McKenna had taken for a co me," Shaw continued, "and I was out cold, he took me to the tenement room he rented A day and a half later I found iant, irate ferryine, I was much the worse for wear My head felt like it had been split open After McKenna brought h to tell hih appearance, reat deal froers he’d ferried back and forth,Manhattan real estate He even knew about a parcel of land that -term lease, and had never developed, and then he had the b--pardon me, the audacity…to propose a deal"
Aline smiled at that "What was the deal, Mr Shaw?"
"He wanted to subdivide the land into a series of lots and sell them as short-term leases And of course he wanted ten percent of whatever he could get for theers on his ht, Why not? No one inwith the land--we third-generation Shaws are accurately known as a bunch of idle pleasure-seeking good-for-naughts And here was this stranger, reeking of a to ave him all the cash in my wallet--about fifty dollars--and told him to buy himself a new suit of clothes, cut his hair and shave his beard, and co day"
"And McKenna did well for you," Aline said rather than asked
Shaw nodded "Within six months he had leased every square inch of that land Then, without asking pered shoreline property from the city, in the area below Canal Street That an to hear the jokes circulating about the Shaw and McKenna ‘underwater lots’ for sale…" A gentle reh escaped his lips "Naturally I questioned his sanity But at that point, there was nothing I could do but stand aside as McKenna arranged for the sube to be filled in with rocks and soil Then he built tene it into valuable commercial property Eventually McKenna turned an investment of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars into a development that yields approximately a million dollars annually"
The nu her wide eyes, Shaw laughed softly "Not surprisingly, McKenna has becouest in New York, not to ible bachelors"