Part 23 (1/2)
”Your judgmenta”” He stopped himself. ”Caroline, look at me. Everything I do is for your own good. You must trust me. I know more of the world than you ever can.”
Then Mac didn't hear anything but the ticking of Caroline's clock. Driven by the need to know what was happening, she cracked the door open and peered into the hall.
Caroline was standing very close to Liam, leaning toward him, her breathing deep and her gaze locked on his.
”What I don't know,” Caroline murmured, ”I can learn.”
Liam averted his eyes and stepped back. ”You've learned everything a young lady requires,” he said. ”Kindly finish your preparations. I'll be waiting downstairs with the surrey.” He turned and walked quickly away.
Mac closed the door and regained the bed just before Caroline charged into the room. Liam's ward touched her own cheek as if to check for a flush and paused to examine herself in front of a large mirror. ”I must ask a favor of you, Rose.”
”A favor?”
”Yes. Liam will expect me to ride with him, but I would much prefer your cousin's company.”
Mac slid off the bed, her skirts bunching up around her hips. ”How can I help you?”
”By playing a little game.” Caroline turned, her mouth quirked in a sly smile. ”When we go down, you shall wear my fur cloak and I shall wear my secondhand, the one I would have given you. And I will give you my favorite carriage bonnet. If we both wear veils, Liam won't realize what we've done until it's too late.”
”I don't think we can pa.s.s for each other,” Mac cautioned. ”Our heightsa””
”Never mind that. It need only be for a few moments.”
”Mr. O'Shea will be angry.”
”Let him,” Caroline said, tossing her head. ”I'm not afraid.” She sized Mac up with a provocative glance. ”But perhaps Liam frightens you.”
Mac suppressed a reckless laugh. ”I'll help you. You and Perry do seem to get along so well.”
Caroline studied her a moment longer and shrugged.
”Good.” She frowned, walking a slow circle around Mac. ”Yes. I do think you look quite presentable enough for your first appearance on the town. Just one more little adjustmenta”
She poked a straight pin into the heavy fabric at Mac's waist.
Mac rolled her eyes heavenward. So why didn't you just set me an easier task, Homera”like preventing the sinking of the t.i.tanic?
But there was no answer, and no going back.
Mac was almost ready to face Liam again when he arrived with the surrey.
It was ”the s.h.i.+ny little surrey with the fringe on top,” as the old song went, with two sets of long, roomy seats. Mac studied it as she stood with Caroline in the shadow of the front entryway, each of them wrapped in their respective coverings from top to toe.
Mac's bonnet was smothering, heavy and dripping with plumes. The veil enabled her to watch Liam jump down from his seat behind the horses and stop to exchange a few words with Perry, who waited at the curb with a much lighter, two-pa.s.senger carriage that Caroline had called a ”gig.”
A moment later Liam was stalking toward Mac and Caroline, his expression set. Perry picked up his pace and came flush with Liam as they reached the door.
”It must be now,” Caroline whispered to Mac. ”You wait here for Liam, and I will go with Perry.”
Perry knew exactly what he was doing. He planted himself next to the disguised Caroline and took her arm, greeting her as Rose. The two of them were already to the gig when Liam addressed Mac, who had pretended to be busy with the hem of Caroline's fancy cloak.
”Are you ready, Caroline?” he asked impatiently.
She nodded, head down, and accepted his offered arm. She sensed him looking at her, perhaps wondering at her silence, but still he said nothing as he handed her into the carriage. It wasn't until she stumbled over her skirts getting into the front seat that he stiffened with realization. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him look toward the gig. He breathed a curse.
So the game was up, but Caroline had achieved her goal. She was in the gig with Perry, ready to leave at a moment's notice.
The bonnet was s.n.a.t.c.hed from Mac's head before she could remove it.
”Was this your idea, or Perry's?” Liam growled.
”Caroline's, actually.” Mac met his gaze with more self-a.s.surance than she felt. ”She wanted to ride with Perry. I think she was a little upset with you.”
Liam stared at her, clearly preparing to read Mac the riot act, but Perry chose that opportune moment to drive the gig past the surrey.
”Mustn't keep the horses standing, old man,” Perry said, checking the restive animals with a steady hand on the reins. ”Caroline and I shall meet you at Golden Gate Park.” His horses broke into a trot.
Liam hopped up into the driver's seat beside Mac, jaw set, and slapped the reins over the backs of his own team.
”Golden Gate Park,” Mac said nervously. ”I really am looking forward to seeing it. Must be pretty different now, compared to my time. They haven't even landscaped it yet, have they? Is it still all sand dunes?”
She thought he wasn't going to reply until he looked at her, brows lifted in amazementa”and suddenly began to laugh.
Mac, pretending to be Caroline. If the attempt hadn't been so ludicrously successful, it would have been unthinkable.
It was, in fact, a very good joke.
Liam's laugh faded to a rueful smile. He was the fool not to have seen it immediately. Of course, by the time he'd realized what had happened, only a public commotion would have corrected the situation.
Perhaps if he hadn't been so b.l.o.o.d.y distracted. Distracted by Mac in the Gresham housea”distracted by her now, in that borrowed carriage dress that made her look disturbinglya”
Feminine. That was the word. Feminine in the way Liam had always maintained a woman should be and had never expected to see in Mac.
There was something to be said for the change. The bodice of her dress gave her a surprisingly interesting shape; beneath the snug, high-collared fit of the basque, her bosom had taken on unexpected prominence. Her waist was minuscule, her hips emphasized by the bunched fabric and bustle of her skirta”a far cry from her denim trousers or the thin cotton pants and s.h.i.+rt she'd borrowed from him once upon a time.
She almost looked like a lady. But she didn't look like Mac, and he wondered why the thought unsettled him. He had the unexpected notion that Mac didn't need such trappings to be utterly femalea”and he remembered, with shocking clarity, that day she'd stood in the jungle lake with water gleaming on her naked skin. Or lying on top of him, small b.r.e.a.s.t.s bare against his chest, kissing him with wanton pa.s.sion.
He snapped away from that image. h.e.l.la”the problem was that Mac was pretending to be something she wasn't. It had to be part of whatever scheme Perry had planned, however he'd dragged Mac into it.
It wasn't going to work on Liam O'Shea.