Part 21 (1/2)

In less than two weeks those days of freedom would be behind him.

He paused on the upstairs landing and turned toward the chamber that would be Caroline's. It had been decorated in her favorite colors, with no expense spared: a queen's quarters, connected to his rooms by a wide pa.s.s closet. When they were married she could retire therea”when she was not sharing his bed.

Restlessness twitched through him as he entered his own room. He glanced at the great walnut bedstead, imagining Caroline in it, her golden hair spread across the pillows. He censored the notion before it could fully form.

But another image filled the vacant place in his mind: snubbed nose, smudged face, dark hair cropped short as a boy's, snapping dark eyes, bold mouth, and outthrust jaw.

Mac. Mac in his bed, challenging him to join her.

Mac with her lean firm body twisting catlike around his own. Mac dueling wits with him, winner take alla Liam strode into the bathroom and snapped on the bathtub faucets, letting the tub fill with cold water.

Devil take it, what was wrong with him? He hadn't touched Mac in nearly a month, though they'd traveled side by side in the jungles and mountains and slept within a few feet of each other.

But this afternoon, at the Palace, when she'd faced him down so bravelya He strode to his dresser and tossed his coat over the back of a chair. Noa”he tugged his limp tie loose and threw it likewise on the deska”there was no good reason to think of Mac at all. Not when his thoughts should be only of his future wife.

He began to unb.u.t.ton his s.h.i.+rt, building a mental picture of Caroline. Pet.i.te, with dainty ankles and rounded arms; face as flawless as an angel's, as lovely as any English aristocrat's; china-blue eyesa Dark eyes. Short hair. Long legs and tanned skin and parted lips.

Liam slapped the s.h.i.+rt over the chair, glaring at his unshaven reflection in the mirror. He'd been too long away from his obligations. Once Mac was safely in Napa, he'd have no more of this baffling and troublesome temptation.

He'd make himself into the stable, respectable husband Caroline needed, here in this house, within these walls, confined to a simple domestic life. Tonight's raid would be his last. No more taking chances, no more adventures, no more meetings with bold, pestiferous, distracting females in the junglea His reflection stared back at him, grim and stolid. Liam turned away from the mirror and the man he was to become.

The Chinatown alley stank of human refuse and the stale odors of cooking. From where he crouched behind a stack of crates, Liam had an un.o.bstructed view of the gated and barred house that was the object of tonight's raid.

Almost no moonlight reached the alley, and the nearest streetlamp was far away. There were places of concealment everywherea”enough to hide the motley group of raiders: Chen and three other Chinese men like him, who'd lost relatives or friends to the slave trade or to tong bullets; a few policemen who'd come to agree with Liam that there was too much corruption to work within the law; even Irishmen like Liam himself, once known as the princ.i.p.al enemies of the Chinese in San Francisco.

Now they were scattered in a wide arc around the house, each man within signaling distance of the rest. Waiting for the instant when the tong hatchetmen guarding the entrance would be distracted, and the raid could begin.

The girls had arrived on a steamer late that afternoon, twelve of them, some no older than thirteen, each and every one bound for a life of slavery and prost.i.tution in Chinatown or communities in the countryside.

Since the Exclusion Act two years before, it hadn't been so easy for the tongs and their bribed allies to bring the girls into San Francisco. Not so easy, but far from impossible. At least four of this group had arrived smuggled in crates as freight; others had been carefully coached to convince immigration inspectors that they were native Californians returning from a trip to the land of their ancestors.

There were always mena”officials and policea”who would take bribes from the wealthy tongs and profit heavily by it. Men who had no pity for the girls and the terrible life of degradation that awaited them.

Two years ago Liam had a.s.sembled this little group. What they did was technically illegal, but Liam had no faith in the law to protect these innocents.

He nodded to Chen across the alley. In a minute or two Chen's niece would make the daunting walk across the street, in full view of the hatchetmen. The chance of seizing another Chinese girl in a town that never had enough of them would be too great a temptation for the tong men to resist.

Liam ground his teeth together and touched the b.u.t.t of his pistol. Using Mei Ling had been completely against every principle he lived by, but it had been getting increasingly difficult to catch the tong off guard. They didn't know who carried out the raidsa”Liam and his men always went maskeda”but they were more careful than they'd once been. The two heavily armed hatchetmen at the house were proof enough of that.

Only this once, Liam had told Chen. But the girl had insisted with remarkable courage, having at one time been destined for the bagnios herself. And it might be the only way to save the other twelve.

Liam's thoughts drifted inevitably from Mei Ling to the other two women who had succeeded in plundering his peace of mind.

h.e.l.l. He s.h.i.+fted his crouch, stretching a cramped muscle. Every time he swore to himself he wouldn't think of Mac again, he broke his own oath. What was she doing now? Was she sleeping, or wide awake still cursing him for today's little drama?

Or worsea was she feeling forsaken, afraid, alone in that hotel room with no idea of her fate, abandoned by the man who'd promised her safety? Liam scowled. He should have taken the time to explain, but Chen's message couldn't wait. And after the confrontation with Perry, Liam hadn't trusted himself to maintain the necessary control.

Mac would test the control of a saint. Liam's scowl became an edged grin. Mac, afraid? Ridiculous. She might want to kill him, but she wouldn't be frightened even if she were here beside him, about to throw herself into danger. She'd march into the street, oblivious to her peril, and spit right in the eye of the boo how doya .

”Mr. O'Shea! Mei Ling is ready!”

He turned quickly to acknowledge Chen's whisper. Mac wasn't here, thank G.o.d, and there was no more time for thinking. Liam tugged his mask over his face. Either he'd come out of this with twelve young girls on their way to freedom, or he'd die in the attempt.

Fierce joy swept through hima”the joy of challenging fate itself. There was no deception in this. No posturing to prove himself a gentleman worthy of Caroline Gresham. Only the rush of blood, the racing heart, the bunching of muscles preparing for action.

A lone, timid figure draped in a silk robe and hood crept into the street in front of the guarded house, looking about fearfully. One of the hatchetmen noticed and signaled to his partner. They straightened from their gambling and moved to the gate.

Liam raised his hand. Chen followed suit. All around the house the raiders tensed.

And then the waiting was over.

It should have been a day for celebration.

The raid had gone perfectly. All the girls had been rescued, spirited away to the hidden safe house where the tong would never find them.

Liam abandoned his tie, heedless of the uneven knot, and walked to his bedroom window. The morning was beautiful and clear, perfect for traveling. If matters had gone as intended he would have made the necessary visit to Caroline, keeping his promise to her and providing the required explanations, and then he'd have gone to the Palace for Mac. A bit of reasoning and persuasion, and he and Mac would have been on their way to Napa by ferry and rail. Liam had expected to return by tomorrow evening at the latest, leaving Mac safely bestowed on the ranch.

But the new information from Bauer, received less than an hour ago, had overturned Liam's best-laid plans. Biggs's note had arrived only a few minutes later, carried by the Gresham stableman.

Both had conveyed the same message: Come at once. Only Bauer's had mentioned Perry, but that was more than enough.

Liam tugged on his black cutaway coat, swearing under his breath. Had he underestimated Perry's capacity for guile yet againa”and his powerful desire for Caroline's fortune?

Liam gave Chen a few terse instructions and strode to the stables to the rear of the house. Forster had the phaeton waiting. Liam took up the reins and turned the carriage toward California Street, driving blindly past neatly-kept houses basking in the hazy glow of the early autumn sun. His thoughts were as fouled as a fisherman's net caught on a sunken s.h.i.+p.

He arrived at the Gresham residence in less than ten minutes. The stableman who took charge of the phaeton had the good sense not to offer a cheery greeting.

Biggs answered Liam's knock so quickly that he must have been hovering very close indeed. His ordinarily stolid countenance was clearly being put to the test.

”Where are they?” Liam demanded without preamble.

The butler coughed discreetly. ”In Miss Gresham's sitting room. Mrs. Hunter is, as usual, indisposed and laid up in her bed. Another young lady is with thema””

Liam stiffened. ”Another young lady?”

”She came with Mr. Sinclair. One Miss MacKenzie.” He noted Liam's expression and arched a brow. ”Ah, you know of her, Mr. O'Shea? I didn't realizea””

Apparently neither had Bauer, who hadn't mentioned a second visitor. And apparently Mac's guard at the Palace had been boughta”or tricked.

Liam brushed past Biggs and strode for the stairs. The sitting room door was open, and Liam paused in the hall to regain his composure.