The Magic of You by Johanna Lindsey
“Told my lord that you no can stand the little missee, that you big-time furious that she was put next door where you can hear her. So he say lock her in with you.” Then, sternly, “It would help, Captain, if you no lookee so pleased about new arrangement.”
Warren hadn’t expected that kind of help from the little man, and he’d expressed his gratitude by suggesting to Taishi, “If you ever get tired of working for that tyrant, come see me about a job.”
“Get dressed,” Warren said, shaking Amy awake. “Zhang has pulled a fast one, coming in at night. I suppose he thinks the less people around to notice his presence here, the easier it’ll be for him to depart as soon as he gets what he wants.”
“I take that to mean we’ve arrived in Bridgeport?” Amy replied sleepily.
“At last.”
“But how did they find the town without your help?” she asked.
“Did I forget to mention that they were here last month?”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “You most certainly did.”
Warren shrugged. “Taishi mentioned it. Zhang knew where I hailed from. He also knew about the Skylark line. That was the only lead he had to find me, so his first place to look was right here.”
“Do you think there will be anything left of your house?”
Her dry tone brought a grin to his lips. “You mean after they ransacked it? His people are a bit more meticulous than that, and, of course, the vase wasn’t left there. But he found out that I’d sailed for England. That’s why he showed up there.”
“Just where is that vase?”
“It was given to an old friend of the family for safekeeping.”
With most of her questions answered, Amy started dressing. She had just one more question she considered rather pertinent. “What is your plan?”
“A little drama on your part for starters.”
“That sounds interesting.”
“I hope you still think so when you hear about it. I want you to insist you be allowed to go with me.”
“I would have done so anyway.”
“But I’m going to insist you stay here—”
“Blister it. Warren—”
“Hear me out, dammit. Zhang just loves to disaccommodate me. Whatever I don’t want, he’s more than willing to see that I get, so he’s got to think I don’t want you along, getting in the way. But no matter what I say, you have to fight tooth and nail to be allowed to go with me. Now hurry up. I doubt we’ve got much time.”
“You haven’t said what happens if our little drama doesn’t work.”
“If it comes to that, I’ll have to grudgingly allow your presence, but I don’t think that will be necessary. If Zhang stays true to form, he’ll insist you have to accompany me.”
“Then what?”
“Then—I still don’t know.”
He expected her to get upset at that point, but she just smiled and said, “Don’t worry about it. Something will occur to you.”
They had only a few more minutes before Taishi, quite serious-faced for once, opened the door. Li Liang stood just behind him. And as they stepped out of the cabin, they found that Zhang had deigned to leave his luxurious accommodations for the send-off. Of course, he undoubtedly assumed it would be the last he would see of Warren, and he’d want to personally savor the revenge he had planned for him.
“We trust the recovery of the vase will not take long, Captain?” Li asked for Zhang.
“Depends on how long it will take for me to locate the man who has it. Do I go alone, or with an escort?”
“You will be accompanied, of course. Americans cannot be trusted.”
“And you Chinese can? That’s a laugh,” Warren said with sneering contempt.
Amy interrupted at that point, before they were both goaded into confessing to their plans. Since trust was supposed to be all that Warren had to count on now, it was too bad of him to admit he didn’t have any.
“Why don’t we get on with this, gentlemen, and reserve the name-calling for some other time?”
Warren turned her way. “We? Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“With you, of course.”
“Not on your life,” he said and turned back to Liang. “Enough is enough, and I’ve had too damn much of her infuriating company. If my sister wouldn’t have held it against me, I would have slit that scrawny neck of hers. But we’re here now, and I don’t have to put up with her any longer, so keep her the hell away from me.”
Amy supposed he’d said all that for Zhang’s benefit, but it still hurt to hear it. “I’m going with you, Captain, or the scream you’re about to hear will have the authorities arriving within moments to investigate. And I happen to know that small towns like this post guards on their docks, as well as on these other ships around us, so don’t think I won’t be heard.”
Zhang spat out a few words, and in the next moment Li said, “She goes with you. Captain. You will understand that we do not care to draw attention to ourselves.”
Of course he understood, since they planned to leave two murdered bodies behind, and this ship was not exactly equipped for war or defense. The Chinese wouldn’t be safe until they had cleared American waters entirely.
With Amy not part of the party. Warren might not have had so many sent along with him, but with her presence, six men served as escort, including Li Liang and two of Zhang’s personal bodyguards. Warren didn’t delude himself into thinking he might be able to take them on, even with Taishi’s lessons under his belt. Which was why he was never so glad in his life to see a Skylark ship in the berth next to theirs, and not just any Skylark ship. She was The Amphitrite, Georgina’s own craft, and the situation had just turned entirely in his favor.
“We’re in luck,” he said for Li’s benefit as he stopped below the gangplank of his sister’s ship to call out, “Ahoy The Amphitrite.”
Liang pushed his way to Warren’s side to demand, “Your friend is on that ship?”
“Could be,” Warren replied evasively while he waited for the watch to appear.
It took a few tense moments, in which time Liang could have spirited them away. But he didn’t. Warren’s luck was improving by leaps and bounds. He even knew the man who finally appeared at the rail.
“Is that you, Captain Anderson?”
“It is indeed, Mr. Cates.”
“We’d heard you was in England.”
“A change of plans has brought me back. Did you notice the ship that just berthed beside you?”
“Couldn’t miss her, Captain.”
“If I haven’t returned in the next hour and come aboard to join you, blast her out of the water. So mark the time, Mr. Cates. One hour exactly.”
There was only the barest pause before Mr. Cates replied, “Aye, aye. Captain.”
But there were some furiously hissed orders at Warren’s back, and he turned to see one of Zhang’s men running toward their ship to warn his master. “Call him back, Li,” Warren said, “or I change that order to right now.”
With another furious hiss, the man came trotting back to them. Warren smiled at Li. “Merely my insurance, you understand. You can have the damn vase, but you’re not getting me and the girl with it.”
“And what assurance do we have that you will not give that order again once you are safely aboard this ship?” Li wanted to know.
“My word will have to do.”
“Unacceptable.”
“But all you’ve got.”
Amy could have kicked Warren. He wasn’t giving them any choice but to do something drastic.
She told Li, “I happen to know that his pride has been damaged by this whole ordeal, and he is not going to want it known, in his hometown of all places, that he was coerced into coming here against his will, which will surely come out if he has to explain why he’s littered the harbor with dead bodies and a ship’s debris. He’ll let you leave with the vase, Mr. Liang, you may depend upon it. Now, shall we proceed?”
Warren gav
Timing was everything now, and since it was less than twenty minutes to Ian MacDonell’s house on the direct route, Warren took them there indirectly, through a maze of side streets and back alleys. This accounted for an extra ten minutes and just thirty to return to the dock, which they’d now have a hard time finding their way back to without him, especially if Li had thought to try a mad dash for it, to set sail under the allotted hour.
Mac’s house wasn’t all that far from Warren’s. If Amy weren’t with him, he might have tried some mad dashing of his own, to elude his escort long enough to get Zhang blown out of the water. It was certainly a thought worth savoring, considering what Zhang had planned for him. But Warren would never take that kind of chance with Amy’s life.
As it happened, it took another five minutes of pounding on Mac’s front door before the Scotsman was roused from his bed to answer. “Dinna ye ken what time it is?” were the first disgruntled words out of his mouth, before he even noted who’d disturbed his sleep.
“We’re aware of the time, Mac.”
“Is that yerself, then. Warren?”
“Yes, and I’ll explain later. Right now we’re in a bit of a rush, so could you fetch that Tang vase for me?”
Mac glanced at Amy beside him, then at the Chinese men behind him. “As it happens, I put it in the bank. It’d be safer there, I was thinking.”
Warren grinned. “As it happens, I was afraid you might have done that—but I can see now that you didn’t. It’s all right, Mac. Fetch it for me.”
“Ye sure ye want me to do that, laddie?”
“Yes. The damn thing has proved more trouble than it’s worth. I’m sending it back to its rightful owner. And the time, Mac. Do hurry.”
Mac nodded and moved off down the hallway. They waited in the foyer. The doors were all closed around it. Mac had left only one candle burning to see by, and it was enough to see that Li was suffering some indecision.
It wasn’t over yet. Warren realized. Li had been given specific orders about two executions, and the Chinese were fanatics about carrying out their orders. He was frantically trying to figure out a way he could still do that and keep his master from getting killed.
“It can’t be done,” Warren remarked casually, drawing the Chinaman’s furious gaze to him. “You’d never make it back in time. Do you really think Zhang wants to die for a little revenge—when what’s most important here is the vase?”
Li didn’t reply, and Mac returned at that moment with the vase. Li reached for it, but the Scotsman held it aloft, well out of his reach, until he could hand it over to Warren.
Amy moved closer to get a better look at the antique that had caused her to be transported across the sea, a voyage she couldn’t regret at the moment, despite the tension she sensed in the room, and the knowledge that she and Warren weren’t out of this dilemma yet. It was an exquisite work of art, though, that ancient piece of porcelain. It was so delicate it was almost translucent, worked in gold on white, an Oriental scene in minute detail. It had to be worth a fortune, but right now it was worth their lives.
Warren was thinking the same thing, and suddenly remembering what Georgina had done with this vase when she’d returned from England. He held it in his hands, turning it slowly from side to side. And then he looked over at Liang and said with dead seriousness, “It’d be a shame if I suddenly dropped this, wouldn’t it?”
The Chinaman turned quite pate. “You would die instantly,” he promised.
“That was the plan anyway, wasn’t it?” Warren replied, and then without looking at her, he said, “Amy, go into that room over there behind Mac and lock yourself in. Go!” And to Liang, who started to stop her: “Forget about her. She was never a factor in this, except that my sister is rather fond of her. You’re getting the vase, but we’ll return to the docks without the girl.”
Which was what they did. And Amy, who’d shut herself up in a closet that had no lock on the door or anything in it with which to create a barricade—she was sure Warren had known that would be the case, had only been bluffing to get her out of the way—was furious for having jumped to do his bidding without thinking about it first.
Mac opened the door behind her. “Ye can come out now, lassie.”
“I was just going to do that,” Amy replied. “And don’t just stand there, man. Fetch a gun, more if you have them. We have to return to the docks to make sure they don’t try anything at the last moment.”
“Warren wouldna like that, I’m thinking,” Mac said doubtfully.
“And I’m thinking I don’t care what he would like at the moment. Stick me in a closet indeed,” she added on a grumble, then: “What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
Chapter 38
As it happened, Amy and Mac were too late to be of any help, but no help had been needed. They arrived at The Amphitrite just in time to see Warren leaving her. The Portuguese ship had wasted no time in departing, was already swallowed up by the darkness beyond the harbor lights.
Amy wasn’t the least bit disappointed that her assistance wasn’t necessary. She threw herself straight into Warren’s arms to share his relief that it was over. She didn’t notice that he didn’t return her hug.
Over the top of her head. Warren asked Mac, “What’s she doing here?”
“She’s as bossy as yer sister, I dinna mind telling ye,” was Mac’s surly reply.
Amy moved back from Warren to glare indignantly at the redheaded Scotsman. “I most certainly am not, and what if I am? He could have needed our assistance, and if he did, how would he have got it if we weren’t here to give it? Tell me that, why don’t you?”
“Never mind, Mac.” Warren sighed. “You don’t want to try to understand that, believe me.” And to Amy, he said, “Come along and we’ll get you to bed. It’s over. Tomorrow we’ll find you a ship home.”
She was mollified only because he’d mentioned “bed,” and she was under the assumption that she’d still be sharing his. As for finding a ship tomorrow, she’d talk him out of that quickly enough. She’d like to see something of his hometown before they returned to England.
As she fell into step beside him, she asked, “So what happened? Li actually fell for your bluff about shooting them out of the water?”
“That was no bluff, Amy.”
“Oh,” she said, somewhat surprised.
“And as long as I retained the vase,” Warren continued, “they weren’t going to risk trying to take it away from me. We got back here and I merely asked Mr. Cates if the guns were primed and ready. When he said they were, I tossed the vase to Liang.”
“Tossed it?” she gasped. “You didn’t.”
“I damn well did, and his expression before he caught it almost made this entire incident worthwhile.”
“I can think of a few other things that have made it worthwhile.”
“Don’t,” was all he said to that.
He picked up his pace then, so she had a hard time continuing any conversation while trying to keep up with him. Nothing she wasn’t familiar with. She wondered at his mood, though. She put it down to anticlimax, and the fact that he hadn’t gotten anything out of this situation, had in fact lost a priceless antique. He’d gotten her, but she didn’t think he’d count that, especially since she’d already been available to him for the asking.
At his house, he very briefly introduced her to his housekeeper, who’d had to be roused from bed to get Amy settled. She was shown to Georgina’s old room and given some of her nightclothes. There were some old dresses she could try on in the morning.
When asked if she wanted something to eat before retiring, Amy said anything would do, as long as it wasn’t rice. She didn’t bother to explain, especially since a hot bath had been arranged for her, and all she could think about was getting into it.
But once she was prepared for b
He wasn’t in bed yet either. He was sitting in a chair with a bottle of whiskey cradled in his crossed arms, staring at a cold fireplace. He hadn’t heard her enter, and she hesitated to draw attention to herself, because it hit home that he really hadn’t intended to come to her tonight. She didn’t know what to think about that, but she certainly didn’t think it was going to be a permanent arrangement. That never entered her mind.
She finally said, “Warren?” determined to find out what was wrong.
He merely turned his head to locate her. “What are you doing in here?”
“Looking for you.”
“Well, now you’ve found me, take yourself back to your bed. It’s over, Amy.”
“The unpleasantness is, yes, but we’re not.”
“Yes, we are.”
“You can’t mean that.”
He shot out of the chair to face her. He didn’t sway. Not much was missing from that bottle. He’d been too busy brooding to drink it.
“Damn it,” he nearly shouted now. “When are you going to stop hoping for something that isn’t going to come?”
Amy stiffened at the sudden attack. “If you’re referring to marriage, I can live without it if you can.”
“Sure you can,” he sneered. “And so can your blasted family.”
He was right, of course. She’d never get away with living in sin with him.
“Then we’ll go on as lovers,” she suggested, though it was rather hard to settle for that at the moment. “No one will have to know.”