Hearts of Steel by Elizabeth Camden EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Author: Elizabeth Camden
- Language: English
- Formats: PDF / EPUB
- Status: Available for Download
- Series: None
- Price: Free
- File Size: 2 MB
New York City
June 1902
The prospect of apologizing to the only enemy Liam Blackstone had in the
world was galling, but he’d do it to keep Fletcher’s respect. Liam strode
down the street alongside his mentor, listening to Fletcher’s reasons he
should apologize to Charles Morse, possibly the biggest scoundrel in the city.
“The point of yesterday’s outing was to have a cordial afternoon sailing in
the harbor so you and Charles could bury the hatchet, not to stir up new
resentments,” Fletcher said. “Throwing him off your yacht opened up a
whole new front in the war between the two of you.”
“He slapped a seventeen-year-old deckhand,” Liam bit out.
“Yes, and that was regrettable, but there were better ways to handle it than
letting your temper fly off the handle.”
Yesterday’s fight had been a doozy. The afternoon sailing excursion on
Liam’s private yacht had collapsed quickly after Morse struck the deckhand,
a sweet kid named Caleb. While Caleb could be a little slow, once he
understood a task, the kid carried it out doggedly and never tired. The
problem was that Caleb couldn’t adjust. Any change to his routine got Caleb
flustered, which was what happened when Morse started banging out orders
yesterday.
They had been a mile out at sea when Morse slapped Caleb. Liam ordered
Morse to be rowed ashore, and the incident cast a pall over the rest of the
afternoon. Several of the other businessmen aboard the vessel privately
commended Liam for the way he protected the deckhand, but no one
approved of what he’d done in throwing Morse off the yacht.
Now Fletcher was dragging Liam to Morse’s home like a disobedient child
to apologize. The Morse estate squatted on a large plot on the richest part of
Fifth Avenue. It was where robber barons flaunted their wealth in grandiose
palaces towering five stories high with molded entablatures, spires, and
turrets . . . so different from the slum where Liam grew up.
“I understand you are still new in the world of Wall Street,” Fletcher said.
“Everyone appreciates the fresh perspective you have brought to the board of
directors. You are the only one among us who has actually worked at a steel
mill or made anything with your own two hands. Against all odds you
persuaded the board of directors to authorize a huge pay raise for the men in
the steel mills—”
“Over Morse’s objections.”
“Yes! Charles Morse is the shrewdest man on Wall Street, and you got the
better of him. Be proud of that. You won. Why can’t you simply get along
with him?”
Because Charles Morse was a bully. He showed it in his brusque manner in
dealing with servants and how he cheated at cards if he couldn’t win
honestly. If the rumors were true, even Morse’s own wife disliked him, and
they were newlyweds.
Fletcher continued his litany. “You are the two youngest men on the board
of directors, and I’m baffled as to why the pair of you can’t get along. He is
only forty-six, and you’re what, thirty-seven?”
“Thirty-five,” Liam corrected.
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