Twice A Hero Part 34

"That's not how it looked to me," she retorted thoughtlessly. "Liama""

He tried to shake her, but his grip had remarkably little power. In fact, his skin was draining of color, his eyes darkening with paina "Liam?" She reached for him and tried to focus. He was moving back and forth in her line of vision, undulating like a s.h.i.+p on the ocean. But it wasn't because she was dizzy. He was the one doing the tiltinga"crumpling, falling, his coat sleeve awash in blood.

She thought she screamed, or maybe it was the sound of police whistles coming closer and voices calling out in warning. She felt the vibration of many footfalls through the ground beneath her, recognized Chen's distinctive accent above the others. Uniformed men with guns and nightsticks swam in her vision.

"Miss MacKenzie!"

She looked up at Chen. "Pleasea get help. Liam's hurta""

After that she didn't hear Chen's reply, or any of the hubbub around her. She knelt in the sticky dirt, cradled Liam's head on her lap, and stroked his wet hair away from his forehead.

"This is the last time I'm going to come to your rescue, Liam O'Shea," she said, choking on tears that wouldn't stop. "You'd d.a.m.n well better recover, or I'm never going to let you forget it."

For once he had no retort.

Chapter Twenty-Two.

Time's glory is to calm contending kings, To unmask falsehood and bring truth to light.

a"William Shakespeare "HE'LL BE FINE, Miss MacKenzie, I do a.s.sure you. They are only flesh wounds, and you did well to stop the bleeding so quickly."

The portly doctor closed his bag and gathered the other two watchers in with his gaze. "I'll grant you, if the knife had struck a little more to the right, it might have been far more tricky. But under the circ.u.mstances, I've st.i.tched him up and all he'll need is a bit of rest."

Rest, ha, Perry thought. Liam would be on his feet within a day, if Perry knew anything about the Irishman.

And he did. He'd come to know more about many things in the past two weeksa"more about Liam, and Caroline, and himself.

As for Miss MacKenziea She was wan and pale, a mere shadow of her usually robust self; she sagged in relief at the doctor's news. She'd hovered at Liam's side all the way back to his house, ignoring Chen's anxious presence and Caroline's questions and the police Chen had summoned.

Now the police were gone. Chen listened intently as Rose questioned the doctor at length; Caroline was downstairs with Mei Ling, comforting the girl as best she could.

Perry smiled softly. Caroline. She'd surprised even him today with her bravery and common sense. He'd been shocked to see her in Chinatown with Rosea"and then not so shocked, knowing how much rebellion lurked under that lovely, delicate exterior.

But they'd both underestimated Caroline's stubbornness. She'd had the sense to stay out of the fight until the hatchetman came for her; then she'd fought tooth and nail instead of swooning or screaming.

Perry was proud of her. He knew she must have followed him when he'd stopped to watch her house for a few brief moments before facing the ordeal in Chinatown; she'd followed out of concern for him. She'd stayed by his side, obeyed his instructions like a woman with twice her experience. Even when Perry had been helpless to save her from the hatchetman and Liam had thrown his knife, she'd never lost her courage.

At the end of it all she'd run to Perry, not Liam.

He counted it a sign of hope. Hope that she was beginning to see him as more than merely a friend; hope that the pain he'd given her would fade quickly. Already she was thinking beyond herself, staying with Mei Ling and doing what she could for the dazed young woman. Perry's brief explanation of the fate that awaited girls like Mei Linga"a fate Caroline had been ignorant ofa"had roused her immediate indignation.

It was the first stirring of the woman Perry knew she could be. Would be. He'd heard only a trace of bitterness in the last words she'd spoken to him: "I know Liam has no need for me. Nothing can ever truly hurt him."

In that she was wrong, Perry thought with a twinge of sadness. It wasn't the physical wounds that mattered most. From those a man recovered. But that was not something she could yet understand; Liam had hurt her youthful pride, torn her admiration of him to tatters, and she would need time toa Time to fully realize how wrong it would have been to marry her guardian, to see that things had worked out for the best. Time to recognize what love could be. That was all she needed nowa"time and love.

Perry knew how to be patient.

"Mr. Sinclair?"

He came back to himself. "Doctor?"

"Mr. O'Shea asked me to send you in. I advised him to rest, buta"" The doctor shook his head. "I trust you won't tax him."

"You may trust me," Perry said gravely. He nodded to the doctor and glanced at Rose. She stood frozen against the wall, her face a mask to hide what Perry knew she must be feeling.

Liam hadn't asked to see her.

Perry went to Rose and clasped her shoulder. She looked at him with such desperation that he almost mouthed the plat.i.tudes he knew she had no use for.

Instead he squeezed her shoulder and turned to beard the lion in his den.

Liam lay on the bed, propped up against a bundle of pillows, his arm and chest swathed in bandages. He was as pale as Rose, the hollows under his eyes and cheekbones p.r.o.nounced, the lines around his mouth deepened with pain. He opened his eyes as Perry shut the door.

"So," Liam said. "It seems you saved Mac's life. And mine."

Interesting, a part of Perry thought distantly, which action Liam mentioned first. "I know that surprises you, old man," he said. "But perhaps now you're prepared to believe I never wanted you dead."

Liam laughed and hissed as the motion wrung a protest from his body. "No. Just out of the way."

Perry pulled a chair close to the bed. "Do you mind if I sit down?"

"I'm not in any shape to stop you."

"Of that I wouldn't be too sure. But I do trust your common sensea"now." He sat down and crossed his legs. "Where shall we begin?"

"I don't know." Liam pa.s.sed his uninjured hand over his face. "I don't know what to believe anymore."

From Liam it was a shocking admission, especially to one he'd considered an enemy. "You want to know why it appeared that I was working with the tongs," Perry prompted. "You want to know what really happened with the carriage, and the drugged wine, and the ambush in Chinatown. Is that a place to start? Or do you perhaps still suspect I was behind the jungle attack?"

"Should I think what happened with the guerrillas was coincidence?" Liam said heavily.

"It seems to be the truth. Odd, isn't it? It was that coincidence that led you to a.s.sume I was responsible for the carriage accident as well. I learned of the sawed axle soon after it happened. I suspected you might hold me responsible for it even before I knew you had better reason than I'd supposed."

"And that's why you disappeared."

"Only in part." Perry uncrossed his legs and sat forward. "Hear me out, old man. You may have trouble believing what I tell you, and I don't ask for your trust. I knew you wouldn't listen before, but nowa"

"I owe you," Liam said. "Maca""

Ah, yes. "Mac." "As I owe you for Caroline's life. Hard as it may be for you to accept, I didn't go to the tongs hoping they would help me eliminate you, and then suddenly have a change of heart. A dramatic scenario, I grant you, but not accurate."

"Then why?"

"I don't deny that everything I did was to free Caroline from youa"and save both of you from a disastrous alliance."

"n.o.ble of you, old friend," Liam said bitterly.

"I also don't deny a selfish motive." He let silence fall until Liam was looking at him again. "I love Caroline. I want her happinessa"and yours. I learned long ago that the end does sometimes justify the means."

"That sounds more like the Peregrine Sinclair I know."

"But how little we do know each other. How little we know ourselves." He forced himself to focus on the issue at hand. "Let me dispense with the tong business first. It was when I learned of the carriage mishap that I realized there was more going on than our disagreement over Carolinea""

Liam sat up against the pillows. "How did you learn about it? Only Chen and Forster knewa""

"And both are loyal to you. But I do have experience in getting information, old man, as you discovered when you investigated my past." He saluted Liam with two fingers to his temple. "You were good at unearthing matters I'd thought buried. But I was the best at what I did for the mother country."

"You were a d.a.m.ned spy and hireda""

"We're speaking of the present, not my past." He leaned back in the chair again, ignoring the sting of memories he'd put behind him. "Following the incident at Cliff House, I came to Sacramento Street fully intending to have it out with you. But the accident persuaded me it would not be the right timea"and also convinced me that someone meant you ill. When Forster saw me on your grounds he advised me to leave, since he'd overheard you threaten to kill me. I thought it best to lie low and see what I could learn about the true villains of the piece."

"And made yourself the most conspicuous suspect."

Perry shrugged. "It was a risk I had to take. I'd already lost your trust. And I was reasonably certain at that point that you would not ask Caroline to marry you until her birthday, because I knew you did not truly wish to marry her at all. I had nearly two weeks in which to investigate."

Liam looked away. "Wiser than G.o.d himself, aren't you?"

"No," Perry said softly. "Not always wise. But I didn't want to see you dead, Liam. I already knew about your work with the slave girlsa"yes, I made it my business to know all you did, for Caroline's sake. It didn't take me long to realize that the tongs and their outside supporters had decided to riska dealing with you. They'd lost too much business and too much money on the girls you'd rescued. They arranged the accident as a warning. If you died in the process, all the better."

"Your resignation from active service was a great loss to the queen."

"Thank you. Once I knew the nature of the threat, I set about contacting the tong lords in question and offering my services to them. As your friend, I had access to you that they did not. I offered to get rid of you for a portion of their profits in the slave trade. They saw the benefit of having one outsider take care of another; less risk of police interference that way. The boss couldn't pa.s.s up the opportunity. I told them they mustn't take any more action until I was ready."

"And they believed you."

Perry grimaced. "Apparently not enough, since they planned to kill us both in the end. In any event, I knew you would almost certainly propose to Caroline the night of the ball, so I came disguised and spoke to Rose about how we might prevent it. I'd learned of your raid for the following night, so I warned the tongs and then set an anonymous message to Chen that the tongs knew of it. As I hoped, you moved the raid to that very eveninga""

"d.a.m.n you," Liam said, pus.h.i.+ng forward as if to rise. Only physical weakness held him down. "You were the informant. They were ready for us when we went that nighta""

"Yes. I'm not proud of that miscalculation. Apparently my warning put the tongs doubly on guard. I am sorry."

"Be sorry for the girls we couldn't save."

Shame was not an accustomed emotion to Perry, but it was one he'd begun to learn. Love did that to a man. "I shall make up for that," he said evenly, "in time. The next morning I learned of your expected rendezvous with Caroline at the Poodle Dog, and saw to it that the invitation she received was altered."

"You sent Mac in her place."

Liam's coldness belied the concern he'd shown earlier for Rose. Perry wondered how much he'd underestimated the threat to Liam's pride. "It was my idea, Liama"don't blame her. You see, she couldn't accept that I'd tried to kill you, however little her faith in me seems justified. But she was worried about youa"deeply."

That gave Liam pause, enough that Perry felt a renewal of hope. If the man had his eyes opened to the chance he had right in front of hima "You made sure Caroline walked in on us," Liam said.

"I did. But Rose didn't know that was part of my plan."

"And what about the drugged wine?"

Ah. There was no avoiding this confession. Perry wrapped indifference around himself and spoke without a trace of emotion. "That was an errora"an overeager waiter in my employ. If Mac hadn't succeeded in winning your interest, I determined to get you out of harm's way. I could only delay the tongs for so long, and I knew they meant to kill you eventually, whatever the risks."

"You put Mac at risk. She almost drank it."

There was more dangerous anger in Liam now than at any time before. Another hopeful sign.

"The drug would only have rendered you both unconscious. I have connections in this city and beyond that you know nothing about. I could have spirited both you and Rose to a safe place, long enough to convince Caroline you were not truly interested in her, and the tongs that you were no longer a threat. I would never have harmed either one of you, Liam."

He only stared at Perry as if he wished he were on his feet and capable of knocking his former partner to the floor. "If Mac had been harmeda"" But he caught himself and was satisfied to twist his sheets into tortured b.a.l.l.s between his fingers.

"And was Mei Ling's kidnapping also your idea, Perry?"

"No. The tongs knew you'd come if they abducted her. I took full advantage of the trap. I told them I'd have a carriage to get you out of Chinatown when you came to rescue Mei Ling, and all their problems would be solved."

"And you thought you had everything so well controlled that no one would be hurt? Not Chen, not Mei Ling?"

"It was a risk, but I did what I could to minimize it. Did you wonder why it was so easy to free Mei Ling and hold off the hatchetmen until she and her uncle escaped? I did what I could without betraying myself. When it was apparent they might kill you, it was necessary to hit you in order to a.s.sure them of my sincerity."

"And what if you had got me away?"

"I would have gone through with your 'disappearance,' at least until matters with the tongs had cooled. Quite a moot point now, since they know I betrayed them." Perry rose and walked halfway across the room. "I doubt the tongs will feel comfortable making any further attempts on either one of us, given the renewed police interest in their activities. Nevertheless, I think a change of scenery might be advisable for the players in the game."

"Is that all it ever was to you, Perry? A game?"

Strangely enough, that accusation hurt more than any of the others. "It was never a joy to me, Liama"not here, and not in England. I would like nothing better than to settle into a quite uneventful life with the woman I love."

Liam's eyes were empty of emotion. "How can I trust you with her?"

"Perhaps it would help to tell you that I'm not the fortune hunter you feared. A rather large family breach was recently healed, and I've been welcomed back to the bosom of the Sinclairs. I came into a nice sum of money, old mana"enough to support Caroline comfortably without dipping into her funds in the foreseeable future." He paused, smiling wryly. "It is something your mana"Mr. Bauer, is it not?a"can confirm easily enough."

"How long have you known?"

"Only for a week, but by then there was little point in telling you of it. There were more pressing matters to deal with. Given the current situation, I wish to take Carolinea"properly chaperoned, of coursea"to England to meet my brother. He was always the most decent of my immediate family, and she would enjoy the travel."

Liam was quiet for a long time. "Mac always trusted you," he said at last. "But you used her as well."

"I doubt anyone can use Miss MacKenzie without her cooperation. She's a very bright girl, though one might question her taste."

Liam's gaze locked on his with a strange, burning ferocity. "What do you mean?"

"Do you know what she told me when she first approached me? That she wanted to help me, and all she wanted in return was you. Not your money, but you. Now I'm inclined to think she was telling the truth all along."

"Truth? What is the truth in any of this?"

"I've learned one thing in my varied career, old man, and that's that there is no one truth. Each man must find his own."