Bride Trilogy - The China Bride Part 29

She gave him a dazzling smile. "Yes, my lord."

When they reached the highest place and could see miles in all directions, he'd ask her to marry him, he decided. After all, marriage was the goal of a courtship.

And if she didn't accept him today-well, he'd ask again tomorrow.

Chapter 43.

Her hand in Kyle's, Troth climbed to the next level of the castle, feeling buoyant from the pure, clean rush of his chi. Even if he hadn't spoken, she would have known that the chapel had crystallized his spiritual healing. Wholeness had been coming gradually, she realized, as he fought his way back to physical and emotional health after the ordeal he'd endured in China.

Ruefully she recognized that she hadn't been much help to him. She'd gone from anxious servility to p.r.i.c.kly anger, skipping the intermediate stage of being a caring, helpful friend, let alone a true wife. She'd been of no use to either him or herself. The weeks since his return had been difficult for them both. Yet they'd survived, and were both regaining internal harmony. What might that lead to?

The second level of the castle contained low, crumbled stone sheds that had been used for storage, workshops, and livestock. Rather than explore, they continued climbing and went through the gate of the third and highest level. The keep, guardhouses, and other essential buildings, all roofless now, were set around three sides of a courtyard. The fourth side, on the south, was formed by the high stone wall that they'd just pa.s.sed through, which separated the main level from the workshops.

The approaching storm had stiffened the wind to the point where it would take a man's hat off, but that only added to the barbaric splendor of the setting. Troth threw back her head and laughed, because she was happy and Castle Doom was as wild and free as the wind itself.

The main keep ran along the east wall to their right, but Kyle gestured left to the stone steps that ran up to the battlements in the southwest corner of the courtyard. "If you can manage one last climb, you'll be able to see half of central Scotland."

She gave him a teasing glance. "I shall manage. I'm not so sure that you will."

Before he could reply, an ear-numbing boom shattered the air. Troth winced, thinking it was thunder from the coming storm.

As another bolt shook the skies, Kyle grabbed her around the waist and physically dragged her through the empty doorway of the keep. More thunder sounded while he yanked her left from the door and flattened her against the stone wall. Disoriented, she gasped, "What are you doing? "

"Someone's out there, and he's shooting to kill," he said grimly.

Before Troth could protest, several more cracks sounded, and she saw debris flying upward from the ground inside the doorway, less than a yard away from them. She stared in horror at the pockmarked earth. "Why would someone be shooting at us?"

"I wish I knew. Perhaps it's a madman who has taken up residence here and resents intruders."

She could feel the beating of his heart where they pressed together. He was protecting her, she realized. No bullet could strike her without going through him first. "How did you know so quickly?"

"In India I joined some army patrols on the North-West Frontier. Very educational. The Afghans are excellent shots. One doesn't forget the sound of a rifle when it is aimed at one's heart."

She was willing to bet he'd never mentioned such expeditions to his father. The thought of him there horrified her, and she hadn't even known Kyle then.

The shooting had stopped after they disappeared from view, so he withdrew a step and pulled off his coat. After bunching the fabric, he edged the coat into the open doorway at head level. Another ragged volley sounded, and from the way the fabric jerked she guessed that at least one bullet had struck Kyle's decoy. As he put the coat on again, she saw the white of his shirt through scorched, smoldering holes.

"I think there must be at least two men, and they're carrying multishot rifles," he said coolly. "Probably they're in the guardhouse directly opposite us, so they have a clear view of the whole courtyard, including the gate that leads to the lower level. We'd be riddled with bullets before we moved ten feet toward the gate."

"I didn't know there were multishot rifles.""Several of the most expensive London gunsmiths make them. It's not the kind of weapon a poor, crazed Scottish hermit would be carrying."

Grasping for hope, she asked, "You always travel armed, don't you?"

"Yes, but all I have is a single-shot pistol that would be good only at close quarters. Useless against two rifles."

When she started to ask another question, he placed his hand over her mouth as he listened. The only sound was the wail of the wind. If someone was moving stealthily across the courtyard toward their refuge in the keep, there was no warning sound. The knowledge that the killer might be approaching even now made Troth's skin crawl.

Kyle pulled out his traveling pistol and c.o.c.ked it, aiming it in the direction of the door as he raised his voice. "If we're trespa.s.sing on your property, please accept my deepest apologies. Allow us to go unharmed and we'll never bother you again."

"Aye, then," a thickly Scottish voice boomed across the courtyard. "Come ye out and ye can leave safely if ye swear ne'er to come back."

Troth frowned, thinking the voice familiar, but Kyle's face hardened like granite. "I don't trust you to let us walk away unharmed, Caleb Logan," he called back.

Her jaw dropped as she recognized the voice of her father's old partner. But why would he be here, trying to kill them?

"So you know it's me," Logan said jovially, reverting to his normal accent. "You guessed right, too-you willna leave Castle Doom alive. You took your time getting here, though. Scouse and I got b.l.o.o.d.y bored waiting for you to arrive."

"d.a.m.nation, Logan's the one who suggested bringing you here," Kyle said under his breath. "It was such a good idea that it never occurred to me that he was setting a trap. G.o.d only knows why he wants us dead. Do you know who Scouse is?"

Troth nodded. "One of Logan's sea captains. They say he's a vicious devil."

"A reliable ally for murder, in other words." Kyle scanned the empty sh.e.l.l of the keep that was both shelter and prison. Four stories tall and the largest of the ruined buildings, the keep was the eastern wing of a U-shaped series of structures, all roofless and of varying heights. The doorway through which they'd entered was the only opening on the ground floor. All other doors and windows were two or more stories up the walls. The builders of Castle Doom hadn't wanted enemies to be able to enter easily.

His gaze lingered on the lowest of the south-end windows. Two stories up, it overlooked the lower levels of the castle. Then he shook his head. "We could probably manage to climb up to that window and then down the outside of the keep, but once we reached the lower levels of the castle we'd be easy targets. If we climbed from the back of the keep and down the cliffs... Well, I'll try if there's no other choice, but the odds aren't good."

She was so terrified she could barely breathe, but she managed to keep her voice steady. "You're saying there's no way out, and it's just a matter of time until Logan or Scouse come into the keep and shoot us like rats."

"I'd risk the cliffs first, but I think there's a better way." He caught her gaze with his. "Christ, I hate suggesting this!"

"Whatever the best chance is, we try it. What are you thinking? "

"You're agile as a monkey and you can outfight any man I've ever seen." He made a gesture that encompa.s.sed the keep and the north end of the castle. "The ruins run around three sides of the courtyard, and they offer concealment for someone to circle around and reach the guardhouse from the back. If I keep Logan talking and distracted, do you think you can make your way through the ruins and attack them from behind? Kung fu is no help against a rifleman at a distance, but if you can reach them without being seen, we have a chance."

Dear G.o.ds, he trusted her enough to suggest such a thing! Calm descended, dissolving her initial panic. "I can do it."

"G.o.d bless you, my love." He gave her a swift, hard kiss. "Don't be shocked at anything I say. Now go."

Dropping her plaid so she'd be unenc.u.mbered, she ran the length of the keep as Kyle shouted, "You may have rifles, but I have a pistol. Whichever of you comes in here first is a dead man."

"I guessed you might be armed or we'd have been in there already. But we can outwait and outshoot you, so say your prayers, Maxwell." "Since it's going to be a long wait, you might as well satisfy my curiosity.

What the devil have I done that made you decide to kill me?"

"You came to China."

As the conversation echoed hollowly through the ruins, Troth surveyed the door opening two stories up the wall. The climb would be tricky, but the mortar that bound the stones had deteriorated with the years, leaving finger-and toeholds for someone who was light, agile, and desperate. Cautiously she began to climb.

After a lengthy pause, Kyle yelled, "I've racked my brain, but d.a.m.ned if I can remember anything I did that might have offended you this much. We hardly knew each other. If I've insulted your honor, I'd be happy to apologize, or settle the issue in a duel."

Logan gave a bark of laughter. "Affairs of honor are for you so-called gentlemen, not the likes of me. I'm just a lowborn merchant, so I go direct to what I want rather than making a game of death."

Troth reached the sill of the door and scrambled up into it, catching her breath as she evaluated her next step. The adjoining building was smaller and lower than the keep, and had no ground-level entrances at all. Her best bet would be to make her way over and up onto the building's back wall. She'd be able to move along the top quickly, then have only a short climb up to the top of the wall of the slightly higher building beyond.

She took a deep breath and swung from the door so that her face was pressed against the cold, damp stone. Though her nerves screamed for her to hurry, she made sure her new holds were secure before she released the old ones. Moving across a wall like a spider couldn't be rushed.

Again taking his time replying, Kyle called, "Resenting my birth isn't much of a reason, especially since I'm involved in trade myself. Can you honestly say I ever showed disrespect to you or any other Canton trader?"

"Maybe not," Logan said grudgingly. "But you won't soil your aristocratic hands on opium. When you take your seat in the House of Lords, you'll be in a position to damage our business, maybe destroy it altogether. A pity I didn't manage to get you killed in the Settlement."

Troth froze for a moment. So Logan was the Fan-qui who'd hired the a.s.sa.s.sins to attack Kyle! May demons eat his liver, and soon.

"You greatly overrate my potential power in Parliament."

"The fact that you've actually been to Canton and seen the trade close up will make all the difference," Logan spat out. "Your stinkin' fellow lords will believe your objections. Even some of the traders in Canton started saying that maybe you had a point. You're too d.a.m.ned persuasive."

Limbs shaking from effort, Troth reached the top of the back wall and hauled herself up. Then she made the mistake of looking down at the sheer drop of the crag below. If she fell...

She closed her eyes against waves of dizziness, reminding herself faintly that there was a rim of land below that she'd probably hit if she fell. Possible death rather than the sure doom of falling down the crag. Besides, there was no reason to fall; the walls of this old fortress were all several handspans wide, easy to walk along.

Most of all, she had to do this, or she and Kyle would both die here.

Head steady, she climbed to her feet and began walking along the wall as fast as she dared in the stiff wind. Storm clouds were approaching rapidly and rain would make the stones far more treacherous.

"I have a deal for you, Maxwell," Logan shouted. "I'd rather your body was found without bullet holes in it. If you throw down your pistol and come out, you can die in a nice quick fall off the cliff rather than gut-shot and howling with agony."

Kyle laughed as if they were discussing a minor wager rather than murder. "Either way I'm dead. What's the advantage of surrendering to you tamely?"

Troth reached the end of the second building. The roofless sh.e.l.l ahead of her was higher but not by much. Wind tearing at her garments, she clawed her way to the top of the third building and paused for another survey.

She'd reached the northwest corner and had a clear view of most of the courtyard. The building where she perched was right next to the guardhouse, with both buildings built out from the battlements. By looking down and to her right, she had a clear view of Logan and Scouse, who were lounging in the entrance to the guardhouse with their rifles.

Almost directly opposite them was the door to the keep, with Kyle concealed just to the left. Since he had only a pistol, there was no need for Logan and Scouse to hide. Even if their quarry charged out of the keep, his hand weapon wouldn't be effective across the width of the courtyard.

She recognized Scouse from Canton. Burly and bullet headed, he was well known in the gin shops and brothels of the Settlement. He'd started as a common sailor before the mast and worked his way up to captain by brute strength and cunning. Even though she had wing chun, he would be a very dangerous opponent.

"The advantage of cooperation is that I swear on my mother's grave that I'll see your body is discovered so your family will know you're dead," Logan replied. "Otherwise you'll simply disappear, and they'll never know what happened."

Troth sucked in her breath, knowing how much such a threat would affect Kyle. Too angry to delay his reply, Kyle shouted, "You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

Logan heard the anger also, and roared with laughter. "Now, now, you insult my mother, who was as sour and upright a woman as ever lived." His amus.e.m.e.nt vanished. "The longer you make me wait, the more likely I am to decide to hide your body in the hills where no one but the crows will ever find it. You're going to die, Maxwell, but if you surrender soon enough, at least you'll have some say about how it happens."

She started along the top of the last wall. Once she reached the end, she'd be able to climb down to the wall-walk that ran inside the battlements, and from there she could enter the guardhouse and attack. But for now, she must tread warily. If Logan or Scouse turned they'd immediately see her silhouetted against the sky. Her skin crawled at the knowledge of what an easy target she'd make.

She was midwall when the storm hit in a blast of rain that almost knocked her from her precarious ridge of stone. She crouched immediately to regain her balance and was soaked to the skin in seconds. Chilled to the bone, she began creeping forward again.

Logan and Scouse cursed at the onslaught of rain. On instinct she flattened herself along the wall on her belly just before they turned to glare up at the clouds. The storm darkened the sky enough that they didn't notice her clinging, terrified, to the wall. In her soaked garments, she must blend in with the irregular stones.

As she lay there, heart pounding, Scouse said something to Logan, making a sweeping gesture toward the battlements and the south wall of the courtyard. They exchanged several sentences, and she got the impression they were arguing. Then Logan shrugged, conceding the point. Scouse crossed to the rear of the guardhouse and began to climb the steep stone staircase that led to the wall-walk.

Horrified, she realized that the sea captain must have told Logan that they could end this quickly if he followed the wall-walk to the south wall, which separated the courtyard from the lower castle. Crossing the south wall would bring him to the lowest window at the south end of the keep-and from there he'd be able to murder Kyle with a single shot. Easier to dispose of bodies for crows to eat than to stay out in the rain.

Knowing Kyle would have no chance if Scouse reached the keep window, Troth scrambled to her feet and raced recklessly toward the sea captain, praying that she could get down to the wall-walk and catch up with him before it was too late. The swift squall abated to a spattering of drops, which helped a little with the footing, but she guessed this was only a lull, with more rain coming.

Kyle yelled, "Maybe I'll cooperate in my own murder, but with one condition."

"Aye?"

"Spare Troth Montgomery's life. She's no part of this."

Another chilling laugh from Logan. "Ah, but she is. She'll be royally p.i.s.sed to know I got her sent to Canton after her father's death rather than back to Scotland."

After a startled moment, Kyle said, "So you were behind that. Did you have something to do with Hugh Montgomery's death?"

"I didn't cause the typhoon that sank his ship, but when his comprador told me the girl had a bit of fever, the letter I sent to Hugh in Singapore implied that his precious daughter might be deathly ill." Logan laughed. "That maybe brought him back to Macao faster than was wise during the storm season."

The shock was so intense that Troth skidded on the wet stones and started to fall. She managed to twist and come down belly-first onto the stone, knocking the breath from her body. She clung there, stunned at the knowledge that Logan had orchestrated her father's death. There had been no risk to Logan. If her father had reached Macao safely, his partner could have said innocently that he'd misunderstood the severity of Troth's illness, but G.o.d be praised, the la.s.sie was all right now. He was a devil!

"Why did you do that?" Kyle called, his voice shaken.

"Hugh was pleasant enough, but a fool. Like you, he didn't believe in opium trading. With him dead, I took the money and bought five hundred chests of the best Indian opium. That day was the beginning of my fortune."

So that was why her father had apparently died penniless. Logan must have also spread the rumors that had tarnished her father's name, since discrediting Hugh Montgomery had made his swinish partner look better.

Cold with rage, Troth rose and closed the dozen feet to the end of the building, then swung around and started to feel her way down toward the wall-walk. It was several feet wide, so when she finally reached it she'd be able to catch up with Scouse in seconds.

"You're a clever man, Logan," Kyle said, a good imitation of reluctant admiration in his voice. "You also know China. Montgomery's daughter is more Chinese than European now. If you spare her, she'll go with you willingly to Macao."

"She wants to return to the East? "

"Can't wait to leave-she's badly disappointed in Scotland and has made me promise to send her back. Britain is too d.a.m.ned cold, and she's angry because her father apparently claimed his family was wealthy. You saw them-they're only a couple of steps up from crofters, and she wants better than that. If you take her as a concubine, I guarantee you'll not regret it. She was one of Chenqua's women, and she's the best in bed I've ever known- and believe me, I've had more than my share of women. It would be a pity to waste such talent by killing her."

As Troth blinked at Kyle's lies, she saw Logan stiffen with interest, but his reply was wary. "How can I be sure she won't slit my throat for revenge?"

"Logan, she's Chinese,'" Kyle said with elaborate patience. "She's been trained to submit completely to her master. Once you kill me, it will be obvious to her that you're a superior master. She'll do anything you want in return for some jewelry now and then and maybe a slave girl to beat. Understand what I mean when I say she'll do anything?"

From Logan's posture, Troth guessed that Kyle's suggestive tone had released a flood of fevered imaginings. "So she was one of Chenqua's wh.o.r.es," the trader said hoa.r.s.ely. "No wonder he was so quick to take her back to Canton even though she was just a child. Disgusting lecher."

A good thing Kyle had warned her not to be surprised at anything he said! She jumped the last several feet onto the wall-walk and raced after Scouse at full speed. Since he was taking his time, she should catch up with him just before he reached the intersection with the south wall.

"He might have been a lecher, but he trained her very well. If you ever tire of the girl, you'll get a good price selling her to another Fan-qui."

"Very well, I'll take her. If she's as good as you say, I'll make her my tai-tai in Macao." Logan's voice roughened. "You've got your bargain, so come on out. Keep me out here any longer in this weather and I may change my mind."

Troth was almost within touching distance of Scouse's broad back when the sea captain pivoted, alerted by the sound of her footfalls. He had his gun in his hands, but for a critical instant, he simply stared, apparently unable to believe she was a threat.

She knocked the rifle from his hands with a vicious kick. It clattered onto stone before spinning outward over the abyss. As he shouted, she punched his throat but did little damage-his neck was a rock-hard column of beefy muscle.

"You little c.h.i.n.k b.i.t.c.h!" Murder in his eyes, he stalked forward.

As she waited for his attack, she prayed to all the G.o.ds of East and West for the strength to win the most difficult fight of her life.