Chapter 15
San Francisco; the Next Day
“You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here.”
Alexei hadn’t even fully stepped into Harold Farnsworth’s shipping office before the man greeted him.
He paused in the doorway, meeting the eyes of the blond-and-gray-haired man whose business dealings he’d spent the last two days mucking up. “I can leave if you’d like, but don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing if the situation were reversed.”
Harold leaned back in his chair and picked up a glass filled with dark liquid. Cognac, if Alexei had to guess. It had been Farnsworth’s drink of choice on Alexei’s previous visits to San Francisco.
Usually the man offered him some, but today Farnsworth merely swirled it in his glass, then set it down on his polished desk without taking a sip.
Alexei took Farnsworth’s silence as an invitation to step inside.
He shut the heavy wooden door behind him and headed toward the upholstered armchair opposite the sprawling desk.
“That shipyard is an amazing opportunity for me and my family. You can’t blame me for taking it.
And I can’t even bring myself to feel bad about it, seeing how you were trying to swindle a widow and her four daughters out of an inheritance. ”
Farnsworth pressed his lips into a flat line. “I was looking for the best possible deal.”
“Their most valuable workers are now working for you. That seems like a deal.”
Farnsworth muttered something, then shook his head. “Why are you here, Alexei? I thought you too honorable of a man to gloat.”
Alexei stiffened. “No. I’m not here to gloat. I’m here to thank you for the business advice you’ve given me over the past several years, and I’m also wondering if I might call on Laurel before I return home.”
Farnsworth had raised his glass of cognac again, but rather than take a sip, he stilled, his golden eyebrows winging upward. “You still want to call on Laurel?”
He steepled his fingers. “I don’t see why business dealings between us should ruin the friendship I have with your daughter.”
“Friendship? Is that what you call it?”
Alexei shifted. “She’s a lovely woman. I consider it a privilege to know her.”
Farnsworth finally took a sip of his cognac, then set it down.
“Laurel doesn’t have many friends, not like her sisters do, and she certainly doesn’t have any gentleman friends.
Other than you, it seems. But there’s part of me that wants to be mad at you, at your brother Yuri—at everybody, really—about losing that shipyard. ”
“You wouldn’t have lost it had you offered them a fair price.
” Alexei crossed his arms over his chest. “In fact, you could have offered them more than me at any point, and they would’ve taken your offer over mine.
Mrs. Hollister will need to live off what she’s made from the sale for the rest of her life. ”
“You’re probably right.” Farnsworth took another sip of his cognac. “Though a man can never be too careful with how he spends his money in this economy.”
Alexei bit back a laugh. There was nothing wrong with the economy, at least not as far as Harold Farnsworth was concerned. The man was making money hand over fist, and judging by the ship he was building just outside the office, he was going to be making money for a long time to come.
“So, about Laurel . . .” Alexei prompted. “I leave for Sitka tomorrow, and if at all possible, I’d like to see her before I go and continue writing her after I’m gone.”
Farnsworth set down his glass with a sigh. “Come over for supper tonight, then, and bring the brother you brought to town too. What’s his name? Samson? Samuel? I feel like it starts with an S.”
“Sacha.”
“Sacha. I should have figured it’d be Russian.
I’ll send a note around to my wife about dinner.
Laurel will be happy to see you, I’m sure.
And honestly, as much as I’m mad that you swooped in and stole my next acquisition out from under me, that was well played.
Having that shipyard will be a good decision for your business. ”
Farnsworth paused and tilted his head, and Alexei could almost see the ideas flashing inside his mind. “Of course, you could always move down here and work for me, manage what I have. We might even be able to combine the two shipyards.”
Alexei lifted an eyebrow. “You want me to manage your shipyard?”
“You’re a naval architect. Seems like it would be a good fit.”
“I’m a year short of having my degree.”
“You could finish it easy enough if you were living here. I have a foreman who’s handy when it comes to swinging a hammer, but he doesn’t understand the newest advances in shipbuilding, or how strong steel is, or how the structure of a large metal ship differs from that of a smaller wooden one.
He doesn’t know much about the boilers that power them either.
He’s from the era when everything was wood and sails. ”
“Those are the kinds of ships I build,” Alexei pointed out.
“Yes, but only because your supplies are limited due to your location. You understand how the bigger ships work, and I have a feeling that you’ll be building one of your own before too long. So, like I said, if you want a job, you can have one. All you need to do is move down here.”
“And marry Laurel? Is that the unspoken part of this offer?”
Farnsworth scowled. “I might be a businessman, but I’m not so shrewd that I consider my daughters assets. While I require them to marry respectable men, I won’t strong-arm them into marrying one of my associates out of convenience.”
Alexei blew out a breath. That was something, at least.
“I’m sure Laurel would enjoy you being closer, for what it’s worth.”
It was a nice offer. Farnsworth didn’t need to start talking about a salary for Alexei to know he’d be paid well.
But he wasn’t sure he could leave Alaska.
Everyone other than Yuri might be married, but it seemed like his family needed him now more than ever.
“I appreciate the offer, truly. But I belong in Alaska.”
Farnsworth exhaled. “Figured you’d say that, but if you ever get tired of all that rain and snow and wind, there will be a place for you here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Alexei stood. “What time is dinner?”
“Seven.”
He turned and headed toward the door, moving quickly through the outer office, where a trio of clerks sat working at their desks. When he stepped out into the shipyard air, the scent of salt and wood and metal filled his lungs.
All too easily he could picture himself living here, working in this shipyard, attending fancy dinner parties, courting Laurel in earnest, maybe even drafting designs for entirely new ships.
Ones that were more efficient. Ones that could carry the same load as a barge but moved through the water with the speed and precision of a wooden cutter.
But with the rest of his family living in Alaska, he couldn’t picture himself enjoying it.
Or at least, he couldn’t envision himself enjoying most of it. But the part where he got to design new ships? He’d wanted to do that since he was a boy.
And really, would it be so hard to have a lovely woman from a wealthy family by his side as he did so?