"Isn"t it lovely? Perry found it in a Maya tomb. He told me wonderful stories abouta""
"How thoughtful of Perry," Liam interrupted. "Unfortunately, I"m not staying." He freed his arm from Caroline"s hold. "I"ll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, Perry will be coming with me, and I want you to go upstairs to your aunt. Is that clear?"
She pouted. She was very good at it; it would have worked on most men. "But Perry has only just arriveda""
"His visit is at an end," Liam said. He strode back to the door and signaled to Biggs, who waited just outside. "Biggs, see that Miss Gresham goes upstairs and remains there."
The butler bowed to Caroline. She cast Liam a look halfway between tears and outrage and flounced away, Biggs at her heels.
"That wasn"t well done of you, old man," Perry remarked. "Somewhat boorish, at best, considering your abrupt entrance."
Liam turned and met Perry"s gaze. "Worried?" he asked, advancing on the Englishman. "Can"t hide behind her skirts now, can you?" He wanted to charge at Perry, wipe the smirk off that pale, handsome face. But there were better ways of going about thisa"much better ways.
Perry retreated a step and stopped, raising his hands in appeas.e.m.e.nt. "I"m not hiding. I know why you"re here. But this is hardly the place toa hold the discussion you have in mind."
"You"re right. That"s why you"re coming with me. There"s someone I want you to meet. Someone I found in the jungle."
Perry didn"t react beyond the lifting of one well-groomed brow. "In your present mood, old man, I doubt you"ll do well at introductions."
"In my present mood I have very little patience for your games. Either you come with me now, or I go upstairs and tell Caroline how you betrayed me in the jungle."
"You wouldn"t do that."
"No? You made certain to be with Caroline, alone, when I wasn"t here to prevent it. Unfortunately for you, I"ve returned, and I decide whether you ever see Caroline again."
The easy indifference left Perry"s expression. "You don"t have that much power. She"s not your propertya""
"Don"t underestimate me, Perry. You failed the last time."
"Did I, old man?"
Liam bared his teeth. "The proof stands before you."
But Perry didn"t take the bait. He was utterly coldblooded, relaxed, and elegant in his movements as he retrieved his hat and cane from the hall stand. He let Liam maneuver him out the front door and to the waiting brougham, revealing not so much as a single uneasy gesture to betray his guilt.
The air in the carriage was as thick with tension as the Bay with fog in high summer. Liam directed the driver back to the Palace, mollifying his banked rage with a long, hard stare at Perry"s impa.s.sive face. It was Perry who broke the silence first.
"If it"s an apology you want, old man, I"ll be happy to give it," he said, shifting his cane between his hands. "I admit what I did in the jungle was hardly honorable."
Hardly honorable? Liam almost laughed aloud. Was it so easy for Perry to dismiss an attempted murder? Or was it possible he thought Liam didn"t know who was behind it?
"I should never have abandoned you as I did," Perry went on slowly. "I was angry, and not thinking clearly. I knew you could reach the nearest village with the provisions I left you, buta""
"Save your apologies," Liam snapped, "until you"ve met my friend. You may find that things turned out a little differently than you expected."
The carriage door opened. "The Palace Hotel, gentlemen," the driver announced. Perry hesitated, gazing up at the towering bay windows.
"No need to be afraid, Perry," Liam said behind him. "If I wanted you shanghaied, I wouldn"t have brought you here."
Perry alighted, and Liam took his arm as companionably as if they were still the close friends they"d once been. They walked through the Grand Court and to the elevators; Perry hid it well, but Liam felt his tension.
Liam"s own tension mounted as they stopped before the door to Mac"s room.
Now he would know. Now he"d be sure how much Mac was tangled up in all this. He wondered why he wanted her exoneration.
But the h.e.l.l of it was that he did.
He nodded to the hotel employee he"d set to guard Mac"s door, gesturing the man discreetly out of the way, and knocked.
The door cracked open an inch. A familiar brown eye peered through the slit, blinked, and vanished. The door swung wide to reveal Mac in her shirt and trousers, her expression caught between a foolish grin and the threat of an imminent tirade.
But Liam wasn"t watching Mac. He examined Perry"s face, waiting for the first shock of recognition.
"Miss MacKenzie," Liam said, "may I present my colleague and partner in adventure, Mr. Peregrine Sinclair."
Mac hadn"t known what to expect, but this had been pretty far down on her list of likely occurrences.
She should have seen it coming. Liam had kept her prisoner here, making sure she didn"t run away if she, Perry"s partner in crime, decided that she"d be better off gone than stuck waiting for the inevitable confrontation.
The confrontation that was about to take place.
Perry walked in first, giving Mac an all-too-brief moment to study the man who stood at the eye of the coming storm.
Peregrine Sinclair.
Mac locked her knees and ordered herself to stay firmly on her feet. She would have liked nothing better than to indulge in a few blessed seconds of incredulity, awe, and general stupefaction. She was standing in a hotel room in 1884 with her own great-great-grandfather, for G.o.d"s sake. She had known this moment would come, but the reality was a little more overwhelming than she"d antic.i.p.ated.
Perry"s thin, handsome features were marked with the unmistakable Sinclair stamp. He was young and alert and bore all the elegance of born-and-bred aristocracy, from his neat tie and flawlessly trimmed mustache to his highly polished shoes and bra.s.s-headed walking cane. He was, in fact, the perfect image of a Victorian gentleman.
He was also either a man without a heart, utterly unscrupulous and ruthless in pursuit of his goalsa"or a relatively innocent party to a nasty misunderstanding. And Liam, just behind him, was watching Mac"s face keenly.
"Miss MacKenzie," Perry said, doffing his hat. His hair, like Mac"s, was nearly black, and his brown eyes were watchful. "I haven"t had the pleasure."
His accent was properly British and softly precise. He looked Mac over, taking in her jeans and shirt and short hair with a calculation that left nothing unremarked.
"I"m, uh, pleased to meet you," Mac said, offering her hand. Perry took it, his clasp warm and firm.
Liam pushed pa.s.sed him into the room and shut the door. "Not quite the tender reunion I"d expected," he said caustically.
Perry released her hand and looked at Liam. "Now that we"re here, may I ask what this is all about?"
Liam"s eyes were dark as slate, and the muscles in his jaw bunched and released. "So the game continues, Perry?"
"Perhaps if you"d clarify the rules," Perry said. "I gather I"m supposed to know this young lady?"
"Then you deny it."
"Meaning no disrespect," Perry said, casting a swift glance at Mac, "but I"d remember such an acquaintance."
"And you, Mac?" Liam said. Suddenly he was close behind her. "You haven"t met Mr. Sinclair before?"
Mac turned to face him. "Unfortunately, I"ve never met your friend in my life, and he"s certainly never met me."
The mockery faded from Liam"s gaze. "Don"t play his game, Mac. I only want the truth. Whatever it is, I won"t hold it against you."
"Unusual att.i.tude on your part, old man," Perry said. Liam wheeled on him, fists clenched.
"Hold it!" Mac wedged herself between them. "I"m not exactly thrilled at being a p.a.w.n in this little chess match. So let"s get this straight, shall we?" She glared at Liam. "I don"t suppose you"ve told him why you brought him here, have you?" She turned an equally fierce gaze on Perry. "And you have absolutely nothing to feel guilty abouta"except for the fact that you left Liam in the jungle. Is that right?"
The two men looked at each other, one convincingly puzzled and the other close to explosion. Perry"s expression cleared. "Liam said he met someone in the jungle," he said to Mac. "He gave no details. Apparently you know about our unfortunate argument. But I don"t understand how you are involveda""
"Don"t you?" Liam interrupted. "She was the one who found this."
He pushed his hand into his coat pocket and brought it up holding something round and silver and trailing a broken chain. Perry"s watch, which Mac had last seen lying in the dust in Liam"s tent. He hadn"t forgotten it.
Liam stared at Perry; Perry gazed at the watch, and glanced from Mac to Liam with drawn brows.
"I"d wondered where I lost that," he said.
"Lost it. Careless of youa"old friend." Liam dangled the watch from its chain, swinging it back and forth like a hypnotist"s prop. He spoke to Mac without taking his eyes from Perry"s face. "I never told you the history of this watch. I gave it to Perry years ago, when we returned from our first expedition together. It was in the Himalayas, and he was wounded pushing me out of the path of a boulder." He smiled. "It was always an unlikely friendship. I was the American provincial with no taste and money to burn, and he was the fine Englishman with little more than an excellent education and a long list of blue-blooded ancestors behind him. Can you imagine it, Mac?"
"I regret the loss of that friendship far more than any watch," Perry said. "It was never my intention, Liam, no matter what youa""
Liam turned and hurled the watch across the room, striking the overstuffed chair by the fireplace with deadly accuracy. "No," he said softly. "It was only your intention to kill me."
Mac held her breath. Perry"s face went white, and then he choked out a laugh.
"What?"
"It didn"t work, Perry," Liam said, his voice a rasp. "Your guerrillas didn"t do their job. And whatever hold you had on Mac wasn"t enough. She saved my life, and she brought me the proof I needed."
"Proof?" Perry stabbed the tip of his cane into the carpet. "What in G.o.d"s name are you saying?"
"All"s fair in love and war, isn"t it, Perry?" Liam said. "It wasn"t enough to abandon me. You had to make certain I never returned, so you"d have Caroline"s fortune uncontested."
Perry"s face lost its shock. "My G.o.d," he said. "You Irish b.a.s.t.a.r.da""
The tension in the air stretched to the breaking point, and suddenly Mac knew she was the only rational being in the room. G.o.d knew someone had to be. Her body felt like a fragile barrier between two angry men, but it was the only weapon she had. Along with simple desperation.
"Listen to me," she said. "I"m just as interested in getting to the bottom of this as either of youa""
"Stay out of it, Mac," Liam growled.
"It"s a little late for that." She met Liam"s glower and turned to Perry. "Let me lay it out for you, Mr. Sinclair. Liam thinks you used the watch to pay guerrillas to attack him in the jungle, and that I was working for you as well. He brought me here as a trap for you, expecting us to betray each other."
"She turned up in the jungle, alone, just after you disappeared with the bearers and supplies," Liam added. "And she had the photograph."
Perry either thought Liam had gone mad, or he was doing an excellent approximation of confounded disbelief. "What photograph?"
"You know b.l.o.o.d.y well. Were the crazy stories of traveling through time her idea, or yours? Did you expect me to swallow such blarney? Oh, she played the damsel in distress well enough, but I didn"t think even you could stoop so low as to put a woman in danger to serve your ends."
Perry"s lean frame was as taut as a strung bow. "This is preposterous," he said. "Trust me, old man. If I wanted you dead, I"d go about it in a much more efficient fashion."
The bluntness of his speech was as effective as a bucket of cold water. Perry straightened his waistcoat and stroked the tips of his mustache with precise, deliberate motions. "Let me make myself clear. I do not know Miss MacKenzie, and I did not hire anyone to kill you." He held Liam"s gaze. "Yes, I left you in the jungle, knowing you"d be delayed in returning. I wanted to get to Caroline before you. You simply wouldn"t listen to reasona""
"Reason!"
"But I ask you to listen now. For G.o.d"s sake, we"ve saved each other"s lives more than once. Think, Liam. If you know me at all, you know I wouldn"t do this."
Liam made a sound of disgust and strode away, then turned suddenly and looked straight into Mac"s eyes. "Well, Mac?" he asked with unexpected gentleness. "Do you believe him?"
She couldn"t read Liam"s expression, or the strange light in his steady gaze. "I"ve never met Mr. Sinclair before," she said, "but I believe he"s telling the truth." She swallowed. "If I thought he"d tried to kill you, he"d be my enemy as much as yours."
He came to her then, holding her more surely with his unwavering regard than with any physical restraint. "Would he?" He raised his hand; she shivered as his fingers brushed her cheek. "And what is it they say about the enemy of my enemy?"
"I"m not your enemy, old man," Perry interposed coolly. He looked at Mac. "Liam"s life was never in any danger from me."
Liam dropped his hand, his expression hardening. "Then you can prove your good faith," he said to the Englishman. "Stay away from Caroline."
Perry walked to the window, leaning on his cane as he gazed out on the city. "You know that"s impossible."
"I know that nothing has changed, whatever happened in the jungle." Liam smiled without a trace of humor. "There are less than two weeks left until her birthday, and you won"t be getting any more chances to deceive her with your flattery and corrupt her innocence."
"Corrupt her?" Perry spun around, cane raised like a weapon. "You"re deceiving yourself. You don"t care about her happiness. You don"t love her. Why are you so afraid to let her make her own decisions?" His eyes narrowed. "Or is there something else you feara""
Liam strode to the door and flung it open. "Get out of here, Perry, before I decide you"re a b.l.o.o.d.y liar."
Perry took up his cane and sauntered unhurriedly across the room. "This isn"t finished, old man."
"You"re right." Liam all but shouldered Perry out the door. "I"ll be watching you. Keep that in minda"old friend." He glanced back at Mac. "Don"t worry. I"m persuaded of your innocence. I keep my promises."
"Wait," Mac said. "We haven"ta""
Without another word Liam followed Perry and shut the door behind them.
For a painful stretch of time all Mac could hear was her own pounding heart. She backed up until her legs. .h.i.t the bed, and sat down.
Great. Just wonderful. Liam had walked out on her again, and nothing was resolved. She laughed weakly and rubbed at her forehead. Maybe she should be grateful for a little peace and quiet to think, because she seemed to be back at square one.