Part 24 (1/2)

Mac listened, bemused, as Caroline outlined her plans for the ball. Liam set the surrey in motion alongside Perry's gig, keeping his expression carefully neutral.

Caroline had manipulated things to her liking once more. Perry's doing, of course. The ball was an unavoidable nuisance, but now it had become another setting for Perry's game.

Not that Mac would enjoy it. She would be as much as home at a formal society ball as Liam was.

The four of them drove on without speaking, bypa.s.sing the park proper with its conservatory and largely undeveloped dunes. A turn north on Stanyan carried them past the cemeteries that dotted the Outside Lands beyond the city limits. Within minutes they reached the long straight lane that led through the countryside to Point Lobos, Cliff House, and the Pacific Ocean.

”Well, Mac,” Liam said when Perry and Caroline had fallen a little behind, ”I'll give you credit. You seem to know how to survive in this city.”

She chuckled. ”I wouldn't want to go through that kind of inspection too often.” She looked sideways at Liam. ”I'm sure Caroline can't wait to be the next Mrs. Wyndham, laying down the law for the rich and famous. How thrilling.”

A feminine squeal interrupted Liam's belated response. Several seconds pa.s.sed before he recognized the voice as Caroline'sa”and the carriage, pa.s.sing them at a rapid clip, as Perry's gig.

Perry's gig, driven by a girl. A girl with blond hair. Caroline, urging Perry's team to a reckless pace on the old speeding drive that ran alongside the main avenue to the ocean.

Caroline squealed again as the gig hit a rut in the road and her hat went flying. The speeding drive had once been the province of young bucks anxious to test their teams against each other, but it hadn't been kept up. It was uneven, furrowed by weather, dangerousa And Caroline didn't know a b.l.o.o.d.y thing about driving.

Chapter Fifteen.

Were it good To set the exact wealth of all our states All at one cast?

to set so rich a main On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour?

a”William Shakespeare THE GIG WAS well ahead before Liam slapped his own team from their easy trot into a rolling canter. Even that wasn't fast enough; Caroline had her horses at the gallop.

Liam cursed and exhorted his team to greater speed. He had only an instant to spare for Mac; he started to warn her, but she was already prepared. She caught the edge of the seat as they burst into flight.

The surrey b.u.mped over uneven patches on the pitted clay surface and swayed with the speed, but Mac was sitting up, her face into the wind, grinning from ear to ear.

”Can you go any faster?” she shouted. b.u.mmer echoed her plea with a bark from the rear, and Norton pa.s.sed them by, tongue lolling.

By all the saints, Mac had never looked more alive, more attractive than she did now, with the wind ruddying her skin and her short hair in windblown tangles. It was as if she might spread wings and fly of her own accord.

Liam knew that feeling. It was the very soul of existence. Adventure, risk, the reckless need to dare the limits of life itself: Mac felt their seductive power just as he did. And Liam was caught in a rush of desire as powerful as it was unexpected.

Desire he had tried to ignore ever since their brief time together in the jungle. Desire he shouldn't be feeling, born of the excitement of the moment and of his anger and his wayward thoughts.

The surrey was almost even with the gig as they started up the curved, ascending lane to the jutting headland on which Cliff House perched. Both carriages slowed, and Liam could see Perry's steadying hands over Caroline's. Guiding her, encouraging her to defy her guardian.

Caroline was breathless with laughter. Like Mac, and totally unlike. All Liam felt as he watched Caroline laugh was rage.

And fear. Gut deep, coming out of a past long gonea”fear of failure. And loss, and death.

He drove that madness away and pulled the surrey alongside the gig with a sharp jerk of the reins.

They looked at him, Perry and Carolinea”her smile fading, his gaze cool, united in their mutiny. Reins slackened, and the horses came to a stop.

”You see, Liam,” Caroline said triumphantly. ”I can drive.”

Liam pushed the reins into Mac's hands and jumped down from the surrey. ”Get out of the gig, Caroline,” he ordered.

She tightened her fingers on the gig's reins and lifted her chin. ”No. Perry and I were onlya””

”Get out. Now.” Liam reached up and s.n.a.t.c.hed the reins from her hands.

”See here, old man,” Perry said. ”There was never any danger. I'd advise you to calm yourself.”

Liam turned on Perry. ”You blackguard.” He helped Caroline down. ”Go inside and wait for me.”

She feigned a sob. ”Liam, pleasea””

But he wouldn't be moved by her tricks. ”Miss MacKenzie,” he said between his teeth, ”would you be so kind as to accompany Miss Gresham into Cliff House?”

Mac scrambled down from her seat. ”Get a grip, O'Shea,” she hissed as she pa.s.sed him. She gently took Caroline's arm, and the two women moved off.

Liam turned back to Perry, clutching the carriage wheel in his hand. The rim cut into his palm. ”Get out of here before I lose my temper.”

”A terrifying prospect indeed.” Perry gathered up the reins. ”Take my advice, old man, and consider the nature of your audience before you do something you'll regret. You're not hurting me.”

”Go.”

Perry went, though not without a certain leisurely insolence. He clicked to his team and sent them off down the lane, his unflappable demeanor completely intact.

Liam strode back to the surrey. The horses were in need of cooling off after their run, and Liam himself felt near the point of explosion. He drove to the hitching racks beside the long white building at the top of the road and paid a loitering young man to walk the horses.

His gut was churning with a snarl of emotions. He wasn't thinking as he stepped through the doors of Cliff House. The place was all but empty. A few families, groups, and couples were scattered amongst the tables in the main dining room. Caroline and Mac were the only visitors standing before the large windows that framed an impressive view of Seal Rock and the ocean.

But it wasn't the view Liam noticed. He stared at the two women, deeply conscious of the vivid contrast between them. Against the window they were only shapes, but he thought he could see something more: a glow, a burning that was like a candle's flicker in Caroline and a roaring furnace in Mac.

Mac glanced over her shoulder, meeting his gaze. Meeting and holding, challenging, promisinga Liam broke free and strode across the distance between them. He grasped Caroline's hand, pulling her away from the window and Mac.

Caroline didn't resist. Her bootheels clicked on the floor in a rapid, uneven beat as she struggled to keep up with him.

He found a secluded hallway leading off the dining room. As good a place as any; this wouldn't be any delicate wooing. He'd been putting off the inevitable far too long.

He released her hand. ”We have something to discuss, Caroline.”

Her eyes were very blue and very wide, just as they'd been when she was a child. Only then they'd been filled with trust and admiration. ”Discuss?” she said. ”Like the way youa chastised me in front of Perry and Rose?”

”Caroline,” he said, more evenly. ”You deliberately ignored my warnings. You could have been hurt.”

”Perry was with me. I was safe.”

”Safe?” He laughed. ”What was the point of that little performance, Caroline? Did Perry put you up to it?”

Her hands twisted in the folds of her skirt. ”Ia it was my idea.”