Part 28 (1/2)

This is your opportunity to make good on your hopes of renewing Liam's interest and showing him the intensity of your feelings. All you need do is follow my instructions carefully, and I will take care of the rest.

So. Perry probably didn't know about her little attempt last night. d.a.m.n.

I have already seen to it that Caroline will not receive Liam's invitation. I will send a carriage at 6 o'clock to deliver you to the Poodle Dog, earlier than the invitation specifies. A man will take you to a private room, and there you will wait for Liam's arrival.

I venture to presume that you understand what you must do, and it may be your last chance. Drastic measures, Rose. But it is vital that I know if you are succeeding.

If your attempts have been insufficient to turn the tide, you must let me know at once so that I can be prepared to give any necessary aid. You will do this by summoning the waiter outside the room and asking him to bring in the wine. He is in my employ. You will drink and see that Liam does the same, and by that signal I will know our plan has failed.

Well, some of that didn't make a whole lot of sense. What was Perry going to do if she did fail? Burst in the room and come to her rescue?

As for the elaborate secret signalsa”it all sounded very underhanded anda sinister. But she did trust Perry. She had to.

She returned to the last paragraph of the letter.

If you succeed, however, I will declare myself openly to Caroline. I should have done so long ago. We are both taking great risks, Rose, but we are doing what is right.

Mac set down the letter and closed her eyes. If only she knew what ”right” was. She certainly no longer knew her own heart.

Chapter Seventeen.

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring The Winter garment of Repentance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To flyea”and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

a”Omar Khayyam HE WAS EARLY, which was just the way he wanted it.

Liam took the stairs to the doors of the Old Poodle Dog two at a time. All day he'd kept himself busy: running with Norton and looking in on b.u.mmera”who was recovering nicely, thanks to Chen's and the veterinarian's quick attention; consulting with Mr. Bauer, who as yet had not found a definite trace of Perry; seeing to his various neglected business interests and fulfilling long-delayed obligations to his a.s.sociates and investors in San Francisco.

And mopping up the aftereffects of last night's disastrous raid. Only two of the seven girls had been rescued, and those almost by sheer luck; the rest had been spirited away before the group could find them, vanished into the very bowels of Chinatown where they might never surface again except as downtrodden prost.i.tutes.

There had to have been an informant. Someone had known their objective and had given the tongs enough warning that the slave traders had taken extra and early precautions. It hadn't done any good to move the raid up by one day. None at all.

Liam's jaw tightened as he walked into the restaurant lobby. No use in repeating last night's attempt; the raiders must completely change their methods of operation if they were to get the tongs off guard again. And Liam could not be the one to make those changes. Not after tonight. All of that must be put behind him.

Because, after tonight, his oath to Edward Gresham would be fulfilled. The thought brought him little satisfaction.

After tonight Mac would be out of his life.

”M'sieur? May I be of service?”

The Poodle Dog's matre d' approached him with a diffident step, recognized him, and asked him to make himself comfortable while a waiter was summoned to show him to his room.

The first-floor dining room, always popular, was crowded with respectable couples and families; far too public a place for a proposal.

Liam's room was on the second floor. More private, but still eminently respectable. He'd be waiting when Amelia Hunter delivered Caroline, all proper and correct.

Caroline would certainly not know what went on in the rooms on the upper two floorsa”floors reserved fora less reputable a.s.signations between men of wealth and their paramours. She would be fully occupied in his. There would be a quiet dinner by candlelight, the proposal free of interruption, and thena A waiter, circ.u.mspect as all Poodle Dog employees, arrived to lead Liam to the elevator. The man made no comment as the contraption made a rattling ascent to the second floora”and beyond, to the third. Even then it did not stop.

”There must be some mistake, my man,” Liam said impatiently. ”I am to meet a ladya””

The waiter's face remained impa.s.sive, but his eyes held a glint of knowing amus.e.m.e.nt. ”Yes, sir. A lady, on the fourth floor.”

If Caroline had been brought to the fourth floor, there certainly had been a mistake. The elevator doors opened on a plush, carpeted corridor. Gas lamps were turned very low. The place stank of genteel decadence.

The waiter led him down the hall to the room at the end. Liam knocked once, opened the door, and stepped inside.

A woman rose from the velvet couch where she'd been sitting and turned to him. A woman taller than Caroline, more slender, her hair the wrong colora ”Mac! What the h.e.l.l are you doing here?”

The door closed discreetly behind them.

”Caroline asked me to come,” Mac said, a little too quickly. ”She said the three of us would be having dinner together.”

A coldness washed through Liam, followed by raging heat. ”Perry,” he growled.

Mac didn't flinch, didn't show any sign of guilt. ”What's going on?” she asked. ”Have you finally seen Perry? Where did he go?”

He ignored her question. ”Let me understand you.” he said, moving farther into the room. ”You claim that Caroline asked you to come here.”

”That's what her note said.”

For the first time Liam noticed Mac's gown: it displayed more dcolletage than anything he'd seen on her before, and it hugged her figure like a second skin.

”Caroline,” he said, ”would not have asked you to accompany her. Not after last night.”

They stared at each other, a lightning-flare of purely physical awareness arcing between them.

Her skirt rustled as she came toward him. ”I didn't intend to hurt Carolinea”if she did see us.”

He snorted. ”Have you been in a place like this before, Mac?”

She blinked at his change of subject. ”Not exactly.”

”Do you know what people do in this room?”

”Eat, I supposea”It is a dining room, isn't it?”

”A very private one.” He circled the room until he was almost behind her.

”I figured,” she said, turning to keep him in view.

”But this wasn't the room I reserved for tonight.”

No. This parlor was a regular love nest. He'd been in rooms much like this one, here and in far less elegant locations. Dininga”on food, in any casea”was only one of the lesser attractions. There was probably a bed behind those red curtains if the wide settee didn't suffice for the purpose at hand.

He inspected the table of hors d'oeuvres that had been laid out beside the fireplace. Winegla.s.ses, but no winea”an odd omission under the circ.u.mstances.

”Come now, Mac. You must know that the Poodle Dog is renowned in San Francisco. For its cuisine, its elegance, and the rooms above the second floor.” He picked up a delicate appetizer and crushed it between his ringers. ”Rooms like this one.”