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He'd been here for months now and hardly ever stepped a foot out of doors apart from an early morning ride when he believed everyone else was probably asleep. He just didn't want anyone to see him. The only people he'd allowed to see him was his household staff and solicitor.
He once rode out to see the house Joseph Donnelly had grown up in and he himself had burnt down the day of Joseph's father's funeral. He saw the rubble from the top of the hill and wondered if that had been his first mistake. If he hadn't burned down that house would he still have Shannon? If he hadn't burned down the house Joseph would never have come after the Christies and met Shannon.
He'd decided to sort out the mess Dublin had become in his absence. It had fallen into total chaos and unruliness after they'd followed Shannon to Boston after the Christie's house was burned down. He saw now maybe he'd gone the wrong way about collecting rent debts. Maybe he should have just evicted them rather than burned down their houses.
He'd had his solicitor lower the rent of the people who lived off the Christie's land. They'd given it to him once they'd left for Boston in the hope Shannon would return to Dublin with him. Well that hadn't happened. She now lived in Oklahoma as Mrs Donnelly. He'd heard from the locals about their marriage and Mrs Christie's friends. They'd come to give their condolences and to tell him Mrs Christie felt sorry for him. He wouldn't see them himself but they would leave messages. He didn't want anyone's pity.
He'd lowered the rent so if in the unlikely occurrence of another woman coming along for him none of the locals would take her off him. He knew it was selfish but he had to preserve his own future. No-one else would. He had to rely on himself. No-one else cared about him. His parents were dead and he didn't even want to think about his former fiancée.
It wasn't like he needed the money anyway. All he needed was enough to feed himself and his servants, horses and dogs. He didn't want to keep any company. The only company he'd kept previously was the Christies and now they were gone. He didn't exactly want to entertain Mrs Christie's friends; they were a bunch of gossipers. He would keep himself to himself and not let anyone else in.