Page 52 of Highland Crown
“Some villager you shouldn’t have sold a musket to,” Cinaed snapped. Searc almost smiled. Irony had always appealed to him. “The bloody sandmongers felt they’d been cheated because so little was washing ashore.”
“Was all your cargo lost?”
“Gone. I blew it up. I wasn’t about to let anything fall into the hands of the local authorities. No evidence remains of what theHighland Crowncarried.” He was left with nothing. “I need to start over.”
Cinaed quaffed some small beer and sat back, stretching his legs out. He remembered another time in his life, sitting right here in front of this man, when he’d had nothing to his name. Albeit, he’d been a boy then.
“You think you’re poor, is that it?” Searc stopped moving and faced him.
Cinaed shook his head. “I have no money, but I’ll never be poor again. I have skills and I have experience. I’ve sailed every type of ship seen on the Atlantic. I can command anything from a sloop to a brig to a barquentine. I know there are ship owners along the coast who are looking for an able captain to—”
“You’renotpoor,” Searc interrupted, stabbing the air with a stubby finger before going back to his pacing.
Suddenly, he didn’t like the direction this conversation was going. “I’ll not borrow money from you. You’re still a Mackintosh. Even though I rank you far above that dog-faced clan of ours, the business between us is still just that. And I refuse to put myself in debt to a—”
A pudgy hand shot up, stopping him. Searc leaned on the back of a chair and pointed his bushy eyebrows at him. “You’re not poor, you bloody fool.” He enunciated each word slowly and clearly.
Cinaed’s eyes narrowed. Since he’d started smuggling arms, he’d procured weapons in New York or Philadelphia, and Searc always handled this end. The clan chief who was to receive each shipment was arranged here. Searc’s men met theHighland Crownwith boats to transfer the cargo when they arrived, so he’d had no worries with customs house officials when the tow horses hauled her upriver to her berth at the pier. Searc took care of all of it, including any bribes that were needed for the excise men to look the other way. Prices were agreed upon in advance, and Cinaed’s share provided ample capital for fitting out the ship and investing in cargo for the next crossing.
He liked the arrangement. He kept his independence. He didn’t want to be under Searc’s thumb by borrowing from him. But that didn’t seem to be what he was saying.
“I know what is mine back in Halifax. I know what I’ve lost.” Cinaed sat back, crossing his arms. “But I’m not about to guess at whatever it is you’re trying to tell me. So, out with it.”
Searc’s restless nature wouldn’t allow him to stand still long enough to explain anything. He paced back and forth a few times, then came to a sudden stop by his desk, glaring at Cinaed.
“Just know that what I did was for your own good.”
Already, he didn’t like the sound of this. “What exactly did you do?”
“I invested it. All of it. For you.”
The words tumbled out and lay stinking between them like month-old herring. Searc had been holding out on him. Despite knowing how the man dealt with others, Cinaed believed Searc treated him differently. They needed to trust each other when Searc laid out their business arrangements. But he’d been lying.
“Invested?” The word left a nasty taste in his mouth. If this were any other man, Cinaed would have already had him by the throat. But because it was Searc, he waited. The man was pacing again, his hand inside his coat. He was taking no chances.
“You’ve always been too free with your money to be a good businessman. I’ve seen how you’ve wasted it,sharing more with your crew than they deserve. You take risks for Scotland. That revenue cutter you stole and sank. All those rebels you transport back and forth, charging them nothing for the crossing. You’re all heart and no head.”
“I’ve done well enough doing business my own way,” Cinaed said. “So, you’ve been keeping the lion’s share?”
Searc stalked to his desk and began pawing through the pile of ledgers. “Not keeping it for myself.”
Cinaed thought he was broke, having lost his ship. Now he wondered if Searc had kept enough for him to start again. “How much have youinvested?”
The dark brows drew together. “Calm yourself.”
“This is as calm as I plan to be right now,” he threatened.
“Well, you need to hear and agree to my terms.”
“Terms?” Cinaed growled. “You steal money from me, and now I have to agree to terms to get my own money back? If someone pulled this on you, their body would wash up in pieces on the banks of the river.”
“I didn’t need to tell you,” Searc barked. “I could have kept it and never said a word.”
“But you did. So, out with it before my patience gives way.”
Searc pulled out a ledger from the pile and laid it on the desk. A folded paper was visible between the pages of the book. Cinaed glared at the man. He knew nothing would make Searc divulge anything until he was willing.
But the most important thing was, he wasn’t completely ruined.
