Part 19 (2/2)
The girl was an oddity. She wore pants that molded her slender legs, an oversized s.h.i.+rt, and boots like a man from a mining camp. She was pretty in an unpolished way, but not exactly beautiful, and certainly no lady. Her dark hair was cropped short and uncurled. Her wide, dark eyes were those of an innocent, but her very presence here made such innocence impossible.
Perry had seldom seen Liam fraternizing with women of any sort, even on expedition, though he knew Liam was no celibate. Liam was always courteous with the ladies, in his rough way, but his deeper feelings for the gentler s.e.x remained a mystery.
All that had changed, if what Perry suspected was true. For some reason this Miss MacKenzie, with her unlikely stories, had a profound effect on Liam. Perry had seen them together only for a few moments, but that had been enough. The girl aroused Liam's strong protective instinctsa”instincts he had heretofore focused almost entirely on Caroline.
Very promising, indeed.
”Well, Miss MacKenzie?” Perry prompted softly.
She sat down, her face a little paler than it had been a moment before. ”Yes,” she said. ”We were lovers.” There was that slight hitch in her voice, a hesitation that Perry suspected had little to do with any maidenly modesty.
”And yet he didn't entirely trust you,” Perry mused. ”You said you were not his prisoner. You came here voluntarily, did you not?”
”Yes.”
”And was this because he offered to help you, or for some more personal reason?”
She looked up. Oh, yes, she understood him.
”I needed his help,” she said. ”But it became more than that. For both of us.”
”And yet, lovers or not, he deceived you when he brought you here as a trap for me.”
”He believed he had his reasons.”
The stiffness of her words didn't disguise her emotions. Perry sat down again, studying her face. ”You may be justifiably annoyed, Miss MacKenzie. But you still havea some affection for Liam.”
Only the expression in her eyes confirmed his guess, but it was enough. ”I see,” he said. ”And what does Liam intend now? He set a guard on your door. What are his plans for you?”
”I don't know,” she admitted. ”There's a lot about Liam that I don't understand yet. He told me very little about Caroline when we were together, but he did make his plans very clear. You accused Liam of not caring about her, and he accused you of being a fortune hunter.” Her gaze held quiet challenge. ”Maybe you can explain this relations.h.i.+p to me, Mr. Sinclair.”
”It's simple enough. Miss Gresham is Liam's ward, and has been since her father's death. He gave Gresham an oath to protect and care for her.”
”Did he promise to marry her as well?”
”I don't know.” Perry stared down at his hands. ”He is determined to shelter her from the world, even if he drives all the joy from her life and crushes her spirit.”
”Because he wants to protect her from you?”
”It was he who introduced Caroline to me shortly after she returned from her European finis.h.i.+ng school six months ago. But when I began to care for her, his att.i.tude toward me changed. During this last expeditiona”
”Are you a fortune hunter, Mr. Sinclair?”
He laughed at the bluntness of her question. ”I am not. But I'm unlikely to convince Liam otherwise.”
”But you're certain he doesn't love her.”
”I have never been so sure of anything in my life.”
”And you do.”
”Yes. I know how terrible marriage is without love. I can't let that happen to Caroline, Miss MacKenzie.”
”And how does Caroline feel? Does she love Liam?”
Perry deliberately unfolded his hands. ”She has known him since childhood, years before her father died. Her habit of obedience to him is strong. She is too young, too naive to understand how Liam could destroy her chances of happiness.”
”But she feels something for you.”
”I believe she does. And she needs time to make the right decision. Time Liam doesn't intend to give her.”
Miss MacKenzie stood and paced to the door and back again, gnawing her lower lip. ”You came here hinting that we might a.s.sist one another, Mr. Sinclair. I know what you want, and maybe I can help you.”
Perry rose to meet her. ”The question is what you want, Miss MacKenzie, and what you'll do to get it.”
”I want Liam.”
”Why?”
”Ia think I understand at least one thing about him,” she said slowly. ”I'm not the kind of woman who needs to be sheltered and protected, and Liam isn't the kind of man who can live that way.”
”I see that you do know him, Miss MacKenzie. You must also be aware that he is very rich.”
The girl did have pride. She glowered at him. ”Are you accusing me of being a fortune hunter? Maybe you should give me the same benefit of the doubt I'm giving you.”
”Ah. Then you love him.”
The uneasy flicker of her eyes prepared him for prevarication, but in the end she surprised him yet again. ”I also need time, Mr. Sinclair.”
”And time is the crux of the matter, is it not?”
She gave him an odd look and shook her head, as if to clear it. ”Liam said something about two weeks.”
”Caroline's birthday. I believe Liam has deliberately been waiting to ask her to marry him until that daya”the day when her fortune becomes her own.”
”Isn't that a bit risky with another suitor in the wings?”
”It would seem so, wouldn't it? Why would he put it off, Miss MacKenzie? The possible answer to that question gives me hope that we have a fighting chance.”
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