Yes, she was pretty, but he’d seen more than his share of pretty women, wealthy ones, too. But this one was different. This miss didn’t back down from him. He’d never known how to soften himself, make himself approachable, but he’d never had the need, in business or pleasure. The women he tumbled had no interest in his personality, and the fewer words spoken to men laboring in trenches or in shipyards, the better.
Flirting with her had been a delightful distraction, a chance to focus on something other than the daunting ledgers he kept locked in his office in Edinburgh. For once, he envied his cousin’s ease with words, his easy charm.
The door swung open, and James stumbled in, smirking upon seeing Callum. “I knew you’d be awake.”
He turned to the design spread on the pitifully small writing desk. “What would ye’ve done if I’d been sleeping?”
James snorted and collapsed in a wing chair by the fire. “Said a prayer to the almighty for a set of warm gloves, because hell would have frozen over.” He laughed at his joke for a moment, and Callum ground his teeth together. He loved his cousin, truly, and wondered often if he should admit the true state of his uncle’sbusiness. But he’d caused the Taggart family enough pain in his lifetime.
“Well,” James drawled, “you should be happy I stayed up late because I convinced a few of Valebrook’s friends to invest.”
Callum twisted in his seat. “Ye did?”
“We’ll see if they’re still in when they sober up, but I believe so.” With a smug nod, James propped his hands behind his head and crossed his legs at the ankle. “You’re welcome, cousin.”
The momentary elation drained from Callum’s chest as he refocused on his sketches. “It will be for naught if I cannae get this design fixed.”
His cousin pushed to standing and leaned over Callum’s shoulder. “Is that the new pump?”
“Aye.” Callum dropped his pencil and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “If I can make the entire system hydraulic, the tanks light enough to carry, we’d solve the problem in Panama. The canal will become a reality.”
James stiffened. “Are you still going on about this venture in South America?”
“Whoever solves it will be a hero, not to mention minted beyond compare.”
“We’re doing just fine.”
Perhaps James was, because Callum was always there to foot thebill.
“The money is for ye, James. Taggart Maritime. Yer family’s name is on it, not mine.”
“Taggart is your family in every way that matters.”
Callum ignored him, and, as though he wasn’t irritating him enough, James returned to stand by his side. “You know it’s a death sentence, that canal. Why do you think no one has been successful?”
“I ken it’s dangerous, but no one has succeeded because they didnae have this design.” He tossed his pencil on the paper. “The design I’m never finishing.”
James crossed his arms over his chest, tension pulling his spine ramrod straight. “I hope you don’t finish.”
Callum got to his feet, towering over his cousin. “Why’s tha’?”
“Because you’ll leave. When’s the last time you’ve been home, seen my mother?”
He cringed at the thought of his Aunt Aileen in Edinburgh, the woman who raised him as though he was her own, even after what he did. What he cost them. “I wrote her a letter last month, and I’ll visit before I depart.”
James gave him a slow once-over. “Would my da have wanted you to go to Panama?”
No. His uncle would have wanted his eldest son to still be alive, to be working alongside James at the helm of the company, the Taggart brothers united. Not a family destroyed by an interloper. His uncle should have wished Callum far away from him and his children.
Callum emptied his lungs and sat back down at his desk, ignoring how James tossed up his hands and sank back into the wing chair. “If I can get to Panama, get this job done, we’ll never have to worry about moneyagain.”
“We don’t have to worry about money—”
“Yes.” Callum’s words were a bark, a clap of thunder. “Money can protect ye. Connections with powerful men like Valebrook can protect ye. And last time—”
“I never thought that would happen, Cal.” James’s voice broke on Callum’s name, the nickname he’d used since they were lads.
Callum turned his chair to face his cousin. “Jamie, I ken. And I’d do it again if ye needed.”
