Page 26 of The Pursuit of Lord Kit Cavanaugh

Evidently, her recent experience of him had overwritten her previous assumptions and the distrust those had generated.

Like the boys and the teachers, her confidence in him and his support was rock-solid; she would own herself flabbergasted if Peabody made the slightest headway against Kit Cavanaugh.

Crossing to Miss Meggs, who was working on drawing up next week’s timetable, Sylvia said, “I’ll be on my way. I won’t forget the chalk and ink, and I’ll see you all on Monday.” She caught Jellicoe’s and Cross’s eyes and nodded a farewell, then raised her voice and called, “Goodbye, boys. Enjoy your days off, and I’ll see you all here on Monday.”

“Yes, Miss Buckleberry!” they enthusiastically chorused.

With that happy sound ringing in her ears, Sylvia went out of the door, tugged it closed, and headed for her office.

After a break for lunch, Kit, along with Wayland, Mulligan, and the other four carpenters, started constructing Wayland’s pulley gantry. They’d already trimmed the beams and struts to the correct sizes. Using ropes and smaller pulleys, they hauled one end of the first of the heavier beams up, then with four men anchoring the ropes, keeping the huge beam upright, Kit and Mulligan heaved and swore and shoved the base of the beam into place. The instant they had it correctly positioned, Wayland set a ladder against it and, with Kit and Mulligan steadying the beam, climbed up and quickly attached iron braces, locking the beam in place against one of the massive timber ribs of the old warehouse.

Wayland came down the ladder, moved it away, attached another set of braces at knee height, then stepped back and motioned for the men to release the ropes, which they slowly did.

Catching their breath, they all stared at the beam, standing straight and solid.

Wayland smiled widely. “Excellent!”

Mulligan and the carpenters grinned, as did Kit.

Wayland swung to face them. “As soon as you’re ready, we can start on the second one.”

The men mock-groaned, but they were soon wrestling the second beam into place, equally successfully.

There were six beams to be positioned, spaced in pairs down the workshop, three beams on each longer side. They’d got all six up and were discussing the logistics of hauling up and securing the crossbeams when a tap on the frame of the open doors drew their attention.

A small, round woman with gray hair pulled back in a tight bun stood peering into the workshop’s gloom. “Lord Cavanaugh?”

Kit grabbed his coat and shrugged into it as Mulligan and the carpenters turned to stare at him. “Lord?” Mulligan asked.

Kit flashed them a grin. “For my sins.” Settling his coat sleeves, he crossed to the woman. “Miss Petty—come in.”

The previous afternoon, when he’d returned to his office after seeing Sylvia home, he’d found Miss Petty waiting. She’d been sent around by the labor exchange. He’d let her into the office and, after a quick discussion of her past experience—with a recently defunct ship-building firm—and the duties he would like her to fulfill, he’d hired her and considered himself blessed.

This morning, despite his early start, she’d been into the office before him; he’d left her organizing and ordering supplies and had told her to call at the workshop in the early afternoon to meet Mulligan and the senior carpenters and to see where she would be spending some of her hours each week.

She advanced, not tentatively but rather with a certain curiosity, her eyes sharp behind a pair of brass-rimmed spectacles as she looked up, taking in what they were working on. “A gantry, is it?”

“Indeed.” Kit paused to glance back at the work in progress and noticed the struck look on Mulligan’s and the other men’s faces. Knowing Miss Petty’s background, her comment hadn’t struck Kit as odd, but meeting a woman with a lick of ship-building understanding had clearly surprised the others.

Grinning, Kit waved the men forward. “This is the company’s new secretary, Miss Petty.” Wayland smiled and came up, keen to make Miss Petty’s acquaintance; the others followed, somewhat more bashfully, in his wake.

Kit made the introductions, then announced, “Miss Petty will be spending roughly half her time here.” Kit gestured at the rough framework for the offices they’d already set in place. “She’ll be sharing the front office with Mulligan. Miss Petty will be responsible for disbursing wages and paying any bills that get presented here, rather than to our office in King Street.”

Miss Petty acknowledged Mulligan’s and the others’ bobbed heads with a serene smile and gentle nods, then said, “It will be a pleasure to work with a ship-building concern again. I was born in the city, and my father was a shipwright.” She paused, then went on, “I should perhaps add that while I will not tolerate any disrespectful language being directed toward me, I am extremely good at not hearing things that are none of my business.” She ended with a cheery smile that, together with her words, got the men relaxing again, and their chorus of “Pleased to meet you, miss” rang sincere.

“If you don’t mind, your lordship, I’ll just take some measurements in the office.” Miss Petty gestured to the area in question. “Perhaps, Mr. Mulligan, you might show me what you have planned for the space, and once I have the measurements, I’ll order whatever’s necessary.”

Mulligan looked strangely uncertain, but nodded. “Aye. We could do that.”

He and Miss Petty moved toward the office.

With Wayland and the others, Kit started walking back to where the gantry struts lay spread on the floor.

A tentative rap on the warehouse door frame had Kit and Wayland glancing that way, then pausing.

A thin boy of about thirteen or fourteen stood in the open doorway, nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot. He cleared his throat and said, “Sir, can you tell me who to see about a job?”

The boy’s piping tenor carried easily through the empty building. Mulligan and Miss Petty halted and turned to study the lad. The other men halted, too, and looked curiously his way.