Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Afew days later, Elizabeth, with Fiona in tow and emboldened by their first visit, decided to pay Zachary and O’Reilly a call. The men were occupied in the back, so the foreman escorted the two women up to the office. The door closed, shutting out the clanking of machinery and shouts of workers.
At a high desk sat a small man with a considerable paunch, to which he unwisely drew attention by draping a heavy brass chain across his expanse.
He possessed an unfortunate, ferret-like face, with close-together dark eyes, accentuating his long and pointed nose.
The bookkeeper nodded and continued with his work, electing to remain in silence.
Fiona took a seat. Elizabeth decided to stroll about the office.
Natural light flowed in from the muntin windows on the southern wall, rendering crisscrossing shadows on the floor.
Maps and mechanical drawings were tacked to the walls.
A massive table hosted more drawings. In addition to the bookkeeper’s desk, there existed a large rolltop desk, a clock, two old and walnut-framed Currier and Ives lithographs, one of a ship, and the other a homey family scene that gave her pause.
Her heart clenched. How wonderful it would be to live in a loving household.
There remained a scattering of papers piled high, ledgers, account books, inkwells and dip pens, staplers and envelopes, neat and tidy, and remarkably free of dust, an illustration of the owner of the firm.
O’Reilly came steaming into the office, slammed the door and made a beeline to Fiona.
He took her hands in his and helped her rise.
“I can’t believe my eyes. My beautiful Fiona come to visit me twice.
As God is my witness, there is a female yet to be born who can resist the primal allure of this amazing physique. ”
“Of course, what you say is never with a clear thought in your head.”
“Your warm words on any winter evening are a balm to my soul, and I take it you possess nothing but love for me.”
“It happens to be the heat of summer. Of course, you have two parts of a brain, ‘left’ and ‘right’. In the left side there is nothing right. In the right side, there’s nothing left.” Fiona nodded with an act of pious charity.
O’Reilly faked a near apoplexy. “How you insult me.”
“I’m not insulting you. I’m describing you.”
“You’re giving me goose-pimples, Fiona. A shame I didn’t meet you when I was a schoolboy with dark desires.”
Fiona harrumphed. “You are cruel to mock me.”
O’Reilly laughed heartily. “Whatever idiot broke your heart, I’ll be happy to break his legs.”
“You offend me. There were many hearts I broke.”
O’Reilly threw his hands up in the air. “Faith, I know another you’re adding to your heartbreak pile.”
“You have the devil’s own tongue,” Fiona scoffed, turned on her heel and headed to the door.
O’Reilly followed like a lovelorn puppy. “I swear on the Saints–”
“How you prattle freely the Book of Revelation according to St. Daniel O’Reilly,” she tossed over her shoulder.
“Wait, are you abandoning me so soon? Who is going to flirt with me now?”
“Who isn’t?” Fiona snapped, stopping halfway.
O’Reilly spoke sorrowfully. “Oh, my lovely Fiona, if God sends me down a stony path, may He give me strong shoes.”
Fiona pivoted on him, caught his hands held in supplication, and skewered him with a lethal glare. “May God give me stony shoes to trample over your stony heart.”
O’Reilly adopted a look on his face that would have done top honors at a wake. “Why the furor?”
Fiona sniffed. “You have ignored me for two days. What am I supposed to think?”
He took her arm in his, guided her from the office. “You know you are the only one. I’m working hard to make a good life for you. Come, I’ll show you what I’ve done.”
Phew! What a whirlwind those two were. Elizabeth exhaled, left alone with the bookkeeper who never once looked up from his pen’s scratchings. She paused behind him reviewing the books. He was the worst accountant she’d ever seen. He was placing liabilities in assets, and assets in liabilities.
“You are a disgrace to your profession. I’m going to tell Mr. Rourke about your incompetence.”
The little man turned around and sneered. “And what would you, a mere woman, have any idea of the world of finance?”
She placed her hands on her hips as Zachary entered the office.
“Elizabeth, this is a pleasant surprise, and excuse my appearance,” he said, grabbing a shirt off the back of a chair, but not before Elizabeth had a splendid view.
His bulging arm muscles glistened, and she couldn’t help but admire his broad shoulders and the way his chest tapered neatly down to a tight waist and slim hips.
Her gaze moved downward on his abdomen, his navel circled with dark hair and making her forget her altercation with the bookkeeper.
“Mr. Rourke, you must remove this woman. She has no idea—”
Elizabeth snapped to attention, her ire ramped up again and in full war mode. “Mr. Rourke, you must fire this man immediately. Your books are a mess.”
“Now see here,” said the little man. “This female is a featherweight when it comes to sums. She doesn’t have the faintest idea–”
Elizabeth grabbed the receipt pile, laying down each, one by one. “This is a charge. This is a payment. What you have done is a breach of trust and I believe intentional. No one could be this stupid.”
“Why, I never—”
“I agree,” she said. “Never had a brain in your head or—you are a liar.”
The little man dared to look her up and down. “I won’t tolerate a woman come to service the needs of Mr. Rourke.”
With one punch, Zachary knocked the bookkeeper off his perch, picked him up by the collar and threw him down the stairs. “You’re fired!”
Elizabeth widened her eyes and attempted to catch her breath at how quickly Zachary had dispatched his accountant. “Thank you.”
“You shouldn’t be here. New Yorkers seek out scandal as avariciously as they chase profits.
You know better than me, whenever there is scandal about, New York society will pounce on it.
Devour it. Shun the object of the scandal.
Elizabeth, they would make you an outcast. You must stay away. It is the only way I can protect you.”
“I came in a closed carriage and Fiona is with me albeit she is visiting with Mr. O’Reilly. My parents are in Rhode Island for the next month, so I have some latitude.
He drifted over by the tall windows, the morning sun sought him as if to confer a special favor, burnished the deep raw umber of his hair, slid light into the depths of it. When he straightened, lifting his eyes–oh, really, such handsome lashes.
“How is business?” She sauntered around his office, her gaze going over the bed in the other room. Her cheeks heated, and then she turned to him.
“Everything is going wrong. Money is short. Deadline due for payment. Your father and Dyer, a looming threat with both swooping in and taking everything. My first machine arrived at one customer, enough to bail me out, only to find out he didn’t have the money.
There is theft. Delays. One nightmare after another.
” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Why are you here?”
Elizabeth didn’t dare burden him with her problems. He had enough to deal with.
“Nothing significant,” she said. “I thought I’d drop by after visiting Caroline.
” She walked to the viewing window overlooking the plant where men labored building his engines.
She had slowed the duke’s advantageous marriage and her mother’s aggressive machinations by going to her father.
Affairs were delayed during the hot month of August while the family was off to their summer Rhode Island estate.
Elizabeth was excused with her charity work at the orphanage.
He angled his handsome head. “I think there is something.”
She couldn’t fool him for one second. “There is that, but nothing I can’t take care of.”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “I need a bookkeeper and one that I can trust. It is impossible for me to do everything. I need a miracle.”
“I’ll be your miracle. I’ll be your bookkeeper.”
Zachary cocked his head. “Are you kidding?”
“I’m not prone to vapors, and I can certainly do the books, even better than most men.
” She huffed past him in a swirl of skirts, joined him at the accountant’s desk, glancing at the accounts and frowning with disapproval.
Elizabeth fussed a moment with one of the rows of pleated ruching that circled the skirt of her pale green dress, letting her fingers slide over the soft cotton dimity made practical by the warm weather of late August. “I am more than qualified to do your bookkeeping. For years, I worked on many of my father’s very private books. Let’s start working.”
“Do your magic.”
He seated her and she tugged off her gloves off, picking up a fountain pen and dabbing it in the ink. Shoulder to shoulder, he stayed with her as she made entries, explaining her organization.
He cleared his throat. “I saw O’Reilly happy as a clam with Fiona.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Those two. Like surviving the War Between the States. O’Reilly’s quick humor averts disaster with Fiona every time. I do think he lives to goad her.”
“O’Reilly’s clever witticisms provide an invaluable balm to survive the layout of machinery and making things work. He makes a bad day always good.”
For hours, she pored over the books, straightening his accounts.
He came in and out of the office, attending to building his machines, and then listening to her explain the efficiencies of how she was reconciling his accounts.
Her fingers were splattered with ink. She bit her lip and tapped her finger on the ledger.
“Out with it,” he commanded.
“You want the good news or the bad news.”
“Everything.”
She took a deep breath. “That’s good because it is all bad news.”
She paused before speaking. “Your bookkeeper was sloppy, missing and miscalculating expenses, even the smallest financial details are amiss.” She blew out a breath. “I’ve hit the tip of the iceberg, logging and organizing all your financial transactions.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I need someone with your talent daily, and someone I can have confidence in.”
“I’ll come after I teach the orphans in the morning. Mrs. Merriweather can help by covering for me in case any word arrives regarding my mother or father.”
“If you come here, your reputation could be ruined. I’ll not have the newsboys hawking”
“The devil with it. I’m tired of playing by the rules, especially when I can use my talents to help someone.”
His grin could not be contained. “You would do that for me?”
“I believe in your vision, and I want to make that vision possible,” Elizabeth said, leaning forward in turn, so their heads almost met.
“I must tell you that what I’ve discovered is disheartening.
Your financial statements show that you have much less than what appears in your assets.
It’s as if your bookkeeper were setting you up for failure, and if my figures are correct embezzling your funds. ”
Zachary groaned and scrubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “He came highly recommended…Dyer’s man.”
Elizabeth widened her eyes. “In that case, I must resolve the problem.”
“What you’ve done is a gift. Your mathematical acumen is amazing.”
She warmed to his praises. “I thank you for the compliment. My father never said one thing about my abilities. In fact, he frowned upon it.”
“He should have respected your talents and brought you closer to his business.”
She sighed. “A shame I wasn’t a boy.”
He looked her over from head to toe. “I’m very glad you are not a boy.”