Part 26 (1/2)
Mac was reasonably sure Caroline was right. If Perry were able to come.
Good grief.
The quadrille ended, and the hired orchestra struck up a waltz. Mac faded back against the wall, determined not to be dragged out again by some well-meaning, tailcoated male who would grab a peek down her dcolletage.
Her vigilance was rewarded. She was left alone to watch Liam walk onto the ballroom floora”Liam, leading Caroline to the center of the room. A Liam who had never looked so eleganta”or so much like a cat among pigeons. Or a tiger pretending to be a house cat.
He wore his black and white, perfectly cut evening clothes as well as he'd worn khaki and canvas in the jungle. This was not his milieu, but when he stalked forward crowds parted for him like the Red Sea before Charlton Heston. He was the ideal blend of danger and elegance: Tarzan visiting his estates in England, James Bond in the rough, a fair-haired G.o.d of Adventure. A woman would have to be blind not to notice.
Caroline wasn't blind. And you'd never know from watching them dance that Liam had been cold and Caroline sullen for most of the past two weeks. Liam's dancing wasn't eleganta”it was powerful, sweeping Caroline about the room like a feather in a hurricane. And Caroline was an exotic bird in her costume gown of brilliant green silk and burgundy satin ribbons.
At the moment they were very much a couple, though Liam was almost twice Caroline's age. Both fair-haired and pale-eyed, both gorgeous, both from the same century.
And Caroline gazed at Liam, flushed and laughing, as if she were transfixed by the wild stare of a frightening and fascinating predatora d.a.m.n, Mac thought with feeling. d.a.m.n d.a.m.n d.a.m.n d.a.m.n daa”
”You aren't dancing, Rose?” someone asked from the general direction of a nearby potted plant.
She knew the voice, though the man who came up beside her was wearing a black cape and a mask that covered most of his face.
”Perry?”
He raised a gloved finger to his lips. ”Quietly, my dear. I doubt Liam would be pleased to see me here.”
Mac eased farther back against the wall and pretended not to notice him. ”Where have you been?” she demanded in a whisper.
”Ah. I'd wondered if my absence would be noted.”
”Noted? That's putting it mildly. Liam's been grim as death, Caroline's been sulking, I haven't been able to get an explanation out of anyone, and now you turn up in disguisea””
”All with good reason, I a.s.sure you.”
”Such as? Maybe the fact that Liam was pretty mad at you following that stunt you pulled at Cliff House? I'd say that backfired for sure.”
”It was hardly a 'stunt,' as you put it. There is a purpose in everything I do.”
I wonder, Mac thought. ”In that case, seeing as we're allies, maybe you could fill me in. Liam has virtually locked Caroline away. You've left him a completely clear field.”
”I've been well aware what goes on in the Gresham and O'Shea households,” he said coolly, ”including your lack of progress with Liam. It was your intention to attract his interest, was it not?” He smoothed his immaculate white waistcoat. ”You a.s.sured me you'd do anything to win him from Caroline.”
”I don't see how I could have done much of anything, with Liam stuck to Caroline like glue. I've only seen him in Caroline's housea”Hey, wait a minute. What do you mean, you know everything that goes on?”
”I have my methods. And kindly don't gape, Rose.”
She looked back toward the dancers. ”Somehow I don't like the sound of that.”
He shrugged. ”One of us has to look out for our mutual concerns. I'd hoped that in my absence you might find it easier to deal with Liam. Plainly that was not the case.”
”So what did you want me to do? Kidnap him?”
”That might not be a bad idea,” he muttered.
The small hairs rose on the back of her neck. ”Excuse me?”
Even from several feet away Mac could feel Perry's intensitya”an almost palpable aura she usually a.s.sociated only with Liam.
Determination. Tenacity. Ruthlessness.
”You didn't disappear just to make it easier on me,” Mac said. ”We were supposed to work together on this. If I don't know what you have in minda””
”I have in mind to stop Caroline from marrying Liam,” he said. ”And I'm afraid it has become necessary to take more drastic measures to a.s.sure it doesn't happen.”
There was a flat certainty in his words that chilled Mac through the layers of stifling gown, though she'd been thinking along the exact same lines. ”Why now?” she asked.
He touched his upper lip, and Mac realized with a shock that he'd shaved his mustache. ”I told you that Liam was planning to propose on her birthday. After tonight he'll no longer have control over her fortune, but he wields enough authority and influence over Caroline that I fear she will accept him.”
”Then why didn't you take the risk of asking her yourself?”
”She isn't ready.” Perry paused to observe Liam and Caroline dancinga”watching with an almost frightening concentration, as if he could reach out and pluck Caroline from Liam's arms by sheer force of will. ”The situation is delicately balanced. To push the issue now would play into Liam's hands. She needs time.”
”Which we don't have.”
”The carriage accident complicated matters considerablya””
”Carriage accident?” Mac interrupted. ”What are you talking about?”
”The Beautiful Blue Danube” rolled by uninterrupted for several excruciating seconds.
”Then Liam didn't tell you?” Perry said. ”I shouldn't be surprised. I knew you weren't in the surrey when the accident occurred, buta””
Mac closed the s.p.a.ce between them in a few awkward strides and barely restrained herself from grabbing the satin edges of his cape. ”What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?”
He told her in so many dry, colorless words. Mac searched his eyes.
”How did it happen?”
”My sources tell me the axle was sawed halfway through.”
She went very still. ”Then you're saying it was deliberate. Someone wanted the carriage to crash.”
And it must have happened after he dropped me off. d.a.m.n it, Liam, why didn't you give me some cluea ”Someone,” she said coldly, ”wanted to kill Liam.”
”So it would seem. And judging by your expression, Rose, you're remembering Liam's accusations at the Palace, and wondering if I had anything to do with it.”
Her eyes narrowed. ”You disappeared after this so-called accidenta””
”Given Liam's earlier suspicion and our recent contretemps, it wasn't difficult to guess where he'd a.s.sign the blame for the latest mishap.” He held her gaze steadily. ”Come, Rose. If I bore Liam such fatal ill will, why would I volunteer this information and earn your suspicion as well as his?”
He had a very good point, and yeta””How can I be sure? I hardly know you.”
”But you of all people should understand what it is to be falsely accused of a crime. If I wanted him dead, I would have found a far more efficient means of committing the deed. Either you trust me, or we are both in very hot water.”