Free Newport Summer by Nikki Poppen Page B

Mother is already
convinced you’ll propose. We have to keep her dangling
for another six weeks without committing ourselves to
anything significant,” Audrey cautioned.
    Gannon smiled. “We’ll manage. Your father and
friends have offered me a chance to invest with them in
a short line railroad that seems promising.”
    “The Hudson River Line?” Audrey asked sharply, surprised that her father would have brought that particular
issue up with someone he’d just met. He’d discussed it a
few times over dinner.
    “Yes, I believe that was it. Do you know it?”
    “Do you know what they mean to do with the railroad?” Audrey queried, wondering how much her father
had disclosed to Gannon. She didn’t want to be between
Gannon and her father. When it came to business, Wilson St. Clair was ruthless. But Audrey didn’t want to see
Gannon used as a pawn. She had not anticipated this
type of development when she proposed her plan.

    Gannon furrowed his brow. “This is all somewhat new
to me, but I believe we’re to acquire the railroad and then
sell it to a larger line for enormous profit so that the
larger line can expand. Yes, that’s right,” he said, thinking through it all out loud. “We’re buying low and selling
high.”
    Audrey smiled. “You’re doing admirably. That’s precisely what he and his cronies intend to do. Did you
never invest in England?” Investments and stocks had
been such an ongoing fixture in her life that it seemed
odd that Gannon hadn’t thought to seek out investment
as an avenue to secure his finances earlier.
    “I’ve invested before” Gannon leaned his elbows on
the stone fence and looked out over the Atlantic, calm
and blue under the summer sky. “But not like this. I’ve
invested in cargoes and boats, of course. I’ve invested
in canal projects. But the intent was never to invest to
sell; it was more of investing to acquire. I’d receive a
profit from the cargo when it returned to port and was
sold. What your father proposes with the railroad is a
bit different. There’s no end product”
    “At the end there’s money. Quite a lot of it,” Audrey
corrected. “He must like you to offer you a place with
them, and he must trust you as well. The success of the
venture depends exclusively on two things: money and
secrecy” Audrey gripped the stone fence, her anxiety growing. She knew enough about the railroad’s situation
to know that the Hudson River Line was nearly bankrupt and that shares in the railroad would shortly hit an
all-time low. When that low came, her father’s group
would swoop in and buy up the majority of the stock so
that he and his group could control the railroad. If others
heard of the plan, they would definitely move to block
it. Timing was everything.

    Audrey gave Gannon a hard look. “You will keep his
secret, won’t you?” Now that the plan had become real,
the risk was far larger than she’d realized. She was risking more than money.
    Gannon reached for her hand where it lay on the rough
stone and squeezed it. “I will keep his trust and yours. A
gentleman’s word is not to be doubted”
    The sincerity of his gesture moved her unexpectedly.
Worse, it threatened to undo her carefully steeled feelings. She’d been prepared to like Gannon Maddox since
that first day on the beach but nothing more. Now, the
more she saw of the diverse faces he showed the world,
the more difficult it was becoming to keep her emotions
detached.
    “You’re a surprising man, Gannon Maddox. When
you’re with my parents and out in society, you’re sleek,
urbane, confident, commanding. There’s a certain aura
of unassailability about you that says, `Watch me, but
don’t come too close.”’ Audrey turned sideways to face
him straight on. “Yet when we’re alone like we were on
the beach, like we are now, you’re completely .. ” She struggled for the word, lifting a hand to push back her
hair from her