The Captain's Pearl

by Jo Ann Ferguson

  “Bryce—”

  “How do you know my name?” He scowled as she started to explain. “Later.” With his hands heavy on her shoulders, he crushed her toward the ground. “Cooperate, you little fool. I don’t want to get into a fight over you.”

  Unsure of all his words, she glared at him before she dropped her forehead to his muddy boots. She listened as he talked to someone outside. He spoke Cantonese with only a hint of an accent.

  “Good,” he murmured in English. “That should keep him away.” Louder, he ordered, “Get up.”

  Wanting to ask why he sounded angry, she sat back on her heels, then stood. When his gaze raked the flimsy material, she remembered what Davis had told her. Bryce did not find her ugly. She raised her arms to cover herself. He caught them in his broad hands. Fire seared her as if she had been scorched by a cooking pot—only this heat was oddly pleasurable, making her want to savor it. Daring to lift her eyes, she found his glowing, not from opium, but with emotions that both frightened and enticed her.

  “Faith!” he breathed. His hands moved toward her, but he pulled them back and whirled to look out the door. In a tight tone, he whispered, “Get dressed.”

  “This is all I have.” She was glad he spoke Cantonese.

  “Does the captain know that?”

  “He has gone to get clothes for me.”

  He faced her and pinned her in place with his green gaze. “Do you realize how dangerous this will be?”

  “I would rather be dead than live this life.”

  He laughed tightly. “I would rather be alive than risk my life to help my captain’s half-Chinese half-sister escape a brothel. If you are his sister.” He glanced at the door. The word he snapped under his breath was not Cantonese. “Come here.”

  “What?”

  “Cooperate, if you want to get out of here alive.”

  Lian gasped as he pushed her back onto the filthy pallet. She tried to roll away.

  Leaning over her, he grasped her head and forced it under his. A wicked smile tilted his lips. “Make this look good, blue eyes,” he murmured.

  Her scream was muted by his mouth over hers. She tried to wiggle away. She raised her fists to strike him, but his other hand grasped her wrists and pinned them to the pallet. She struggled beneath him until he laughed.

  In horror, she looked up. His green-gray eyes twinkled with merriment. When his hand settled on the curve of her hip, she shivered. Why did this fire burn wherever he touched her? Was he a demon sent to torture her?

  There was a strange, rough sound in his voice as he whispered, “Keep squirming like this, and I might forget that I promised to do no more than keep an eye on you.”

  She froze, frightened by the potent heat in his eyes and the wisp of a smile beneath his mustache. When his hand brushed her cheek, fire cascaded through her again. She closed her eyes, unable to resist the sweet temptation of his mouth caressing her eyelids before teasing the tip of her nose.

  “You must stop,” she whispered. “This is—”

  “Delicious.” His tongue traced her lips, and the brush of his mustache tickled her. “Absolutely delicious. Now let’s convince your nosey friend that you’re earning your keep.” He captured her mouth again.

  Knowing he was trying to protect her, she did not fight him. Instead, she was fighting herself and the longing to touch him as he was her. His fierce kisses swept away her breath as he held her between his rock hard arms and his lips.

  His mouth explored hers, sparking every inch to life. Her fingers discovered firm muscles beneath his cotton shirt. Loosening his grip on her hair, he outlined her body with undisguised eagerness. She sighed against his mouth, unable to battle her own craving.

  His tongue jabbed past her lips to find that soft sound. Astounded by the lightning which shot through her as he boldly explored her mouth, she delighted in the forbidden rapture. Her fingers rose through his hair and discovered his sweaty skin at the open collar of his shirt. Fiercely he pressed her to the ground, demanding as much pleasure as he gave.

  “What in hell—?” came a gasp.

  “Don’t get ruffled, Captain,” Bryce said in English, as he stood and pulled Lian to her feet. “We were just making sure that bastard out there didn’t get suspicious.”

  Davis glanced at Lian who was staring at his first mate an unfocused gaze. “Does she realize that was why you were kissing her?”

  “I explained it.” He smiled. “Like I said last night, she’s ripe for a tumble.”

  “Dammit, Bryce! She is my sister.” He motioned to Lian.

  When she edged around Bryce, Davis gave her an encouraging smile.

  “I would make love to your Great-Aunt Tildy to get out of place with my head unbashed. It’s probably too late to tell you this is not going to work, Captain.”

  “Far too late.” Davis stared into Lian’s eyes which were so like his father’s. Not just in color. He saw the same nugget of determination. “Lian, we’re going to take you to the ship.”

  “Ship? The China Shadow?”

  Bryce commented dryly, “She learns fast, doesn’t she?”

  Davis put his finger to her lips. “Don’t say its name here, Lian. Put these on.”

  Lian looked at the odd clothes he shoved into her hands. Slipping her legs into the trousers, she drew them beneath the silken drape. The waistband reached up under her breasts.

  “Lovely creature this new sister of yours is!” Bryce chuckled, as he took a piece of rope from his pocket and reached out to tie the trousers around her.

  When she flinched away, he scowled.

  “Don’t frighten the poor child, Bryce,” Davis admonished.

  “She is no child. If you had held her as I have—”

  “Lieutenant Trevarian!”

  Lian could not mistake the anger in her brother’s voice. Her awe of him increased. If he was more powerful than Bryce, he must be a great man.

  “Aye, Captain,” Bryce said with obvious reluctance, then smiled grimly. “Let’s get out of here. Sun Niang is going to be mighty annoyed.”

  Davis began to speak. As she wrapped a dark cloak around herself, she shook her head when he asked if she understood.

  He looked at his first mate. “Explain it to her, Bryce. You speak her language far better than I do.”

  Bryce bent so his eyes were level with hers and said in Cantonese, “Do as you are told, little fool. If you cooperate, you might escape alive. If you are foolish, we shall leave you behind. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, I understand you completely.”

  With a smile that chilled her, he nodded. “I thought you would.”

  Misgivings oozed like cold rain along her. “You need not steal me. Buy me from Sun Niang.”

  With a wry grin, Davis shook his head. “I tried. With both Bryce and me buying your time, he thinks you are a true prize. Even opium could not buy you.”

  “Opium?” Bryce asked. “Where did you find that, Captain?”

  “Don’t ask.”

  “He thinks she is worth more than a chest of opium?”

  Lian glowered at him as Davis said, “I offered him more than one, but he would not sell her.”

  “His loss.” Bryce chuckled, and she was shocked by the transformation. The taut lines of anger vanished as he rubbed his hands together. “So we shall do as we planned?”

  Davis’s grin matched his mate’s. “Make sure we have at least five minutes for a head start.”

  “Aye, Captain.” His smile faded as he faced Lian. In Cantonese, he continued, “Do exactly as you are told.”

  She nodded. When her brother held out his hand, his broad fingers closed around hers, comforting and protective. She lifted the hood over her head and shivered with fear and excitement as Bryce brushed past them.

  When she started to follow, Davis whispered, “Wait.”

  “What—?”

  “Say nothing, sister.”

  Lian bit back the questions taunting her. She watched Bryce sto
rm across the courtyard. When he berated Sun Niang with curses she had not guessed a Yang Kuei-tzŭ could know, she heard Davis’s low chuckle.

  “He has an astounding Cantonese vocabulary,” he said in admiration.

  “Foreigners are not supposed to learn much Cantonese.”

  “Bryce cares little about the law when he feels it is unfair—to him. I think he paid workers in the bars to teach him.”

  When she started to ask another question, he put his finger to her lips again. The argument was growing loud. Davis’s hand tightened around hers. She tensed. Bryce would abandon her if this failed. She wished she knew what her brother might do. She must put her trust and her life in the hands of two strangers. She must concentrate as surely as the man had on his studies to win the fox’s daughter.

  “Now!” Davis whispered.

  Keeping her head down, Lian went with him into the courtyard. Her bare feet made no sound. They must not go too fast, nor too slow, or they would be noticed. As her breath rasped in her ears, she prayed those here would be too busy grasping for pleasure to notice three foreign devils had left when only two had entered.

  Davis put his arm around her shoulders. When she started to pull away, he whispered a warning as a man walked toward them.

  “Jo tau,” Davis mumbled, but the man ignored the polite greeting. Pushing against her back, her brother herded her into the outer garden.

  Lian was sweating beneath the heavy cape as she listened for the telltale sounds of pursuit. When Davis led her into the chaos of Hog Lane, she paused.

  “Come on,” he urged.

  “But, Bryce—”

  “Can take care of himself.” He motioned toward the river. “We have to get you out of here.”

  She pointed in the opposite direction. “Mother’s house is this way.”

  “First we’ll get you away. Then I’ll come back for her. I promise.”

  “But—”

  He framed her face in his hands. “Lian, a Catherwood never breaks a promise.”

  Slowly she nodded. Even if he was a Yang Kuei-tzŭ, she could not doubt his fervency. A Catherwood never breaks a promise. Yes, that was what Mother had taught her.

  Bodies pressed on her from every direction as they walked through the crowded street. If they were stopped, she could be sent back to Sun Niang—or to death. Again and again she looked over her shoulder. Where was Bryce? They should not have left him to face Sun Niang alone. If Bryce was killed, she would never be able to savor his fiery touch again. She shook her head. Was she crazy? Whether he lived or died, she must never allow him to treat her like a whore again.

  Davis pulled her down an alley. Sudden pain speared her foot. When she yelped, Davis asked, “What’s wrong?”

  She gasped as she raised her foot. A spot of blood revealed she had stepped on broken glass which glistened in the faint light.

  “Can you walk?”

  “Of course.

  He patted her arm. “Good. Let’s wait for Bryce. He should be along any—”

  Bryce burst into the alley at a run. Pushing his hair back from his eyes, he called, “They’re on my tail. Angry as wet bees!”

  Davis swore. “Lian has hurt her foot.”

  “They’re coming fast.” He pointed to the harbor. “Go, Captain. I’ll bring her.”

  “Bryce, I—”

  “Captain, the ship needs you more than me.”

  Davis did not argue. Urging Lian to do the best she could, he vanished into the shadows.

  Lian turned at a shout. Men were racing toward them.

  Bryce caught her arm. “Run! What in hell are you waiting for?”

  When he pulled a pistol from beneath his coat, she moaned. He and Davis could be sentenced to death for having a gun here. Then she realized they had nothing to lose. By stealing her, her brother had put more at risk than his cargo and his ship.

  She forgot her sore foot as she tried to keep up with Bryce. Maybe he was hoping to lose her. He had warned that he would leave her behind if something went wrong. Beneath her right rib, her breath tightened on each step.

  He seized her arm again and tugged her behind a stack of chests which might have contained tea or silk or opium. “Don’t move!”

  “Bryce—”

  “Shut up!” He raced away, half a dozen men chasing him into the darkness.

  She took a silent breath. Any sound could betray her. Sitting on her heels, she waited for Bryce to return. Would he? As five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen, she began to fear he had left her. She drew the heavy cape around her to keep herself invisible. She should go to Mother. But what then? Mother could not protect her from Mother’s Younger Brother.

  Lian was yanked her to her feet. She started to shriek, but a hand clamped over her lips. Ripping one arm free, she tried to claw at the fingers gagging her.

  “Cooperate, you little fool,” growled Bryce, as he whirled her to face him. In rapid Cantonese, he outlined the path they must take to the harbor. “Stay close. I would not want to shoot you by mistake.”

  At his low laugh, she stiffened. He would be glad to get rid of her. When he tugged on her again, she ran with him from shadow to shadow. The lights in the nearby buildings pooled on the ground, waiting to expose them. She matched her steps to Bryce’s cautious ones. Although she despised his arrogance, she had to admire his dedication to his captain’s orders.

  He pulled her into an open space near the docks. Her cloak loosened. Before she could capture it, it fluttered off.

  “Forget it!” His next words were swallowed by an explosion.

  Lian groaned as he shoved her behind a stack of wooden boxes. The odor of tea was so strong she wanted to retch. He fired his gun. When the still hot weapon was shoved in her hand, she stared at it.

  “Can you reload?” Bryce stared across the open area.

  “No.”

  “Dammit! You are totally useless.” He grabbed the pistol and with quick efficiency reloaded it. Pressing it into her hand again, he stated, “Keep that ball for saving your skin. We have to run straight to the dock by the factor’s house. See it?”

  She looked past the tall building which was decorated with a row of carved columns. The sparkle of moonlight marked the river. “Yes, but, Bryce, what do I do with this?”

  “Point it and shoot.”

  Before she could ask how, he gripped her hand. She ran. Dirt erupted in front of her. Bryce wrenched her in a different direction. Another gun fired. Shouts filled the air. She was unsure if the voices belonged to Sun Niang’s men or the Americans in the factor’s house. She screamed as a ball struck near her.

  Bryce fired again. She heard a screech. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a man fall. Others fired from behind tea chests.

  The gun was ripped from her fingers. Bryce raised it and shot. Racing out onto a wooden pier, he picked her up and she screamed as he tossed her toward the water.

  Davis caught her and pushed her to the floor of a boat, while he shouted orders in stilted Cantonese. Dropping next to her, he kept her down.

  “Bryce!” Panting, she cried, “He—Cannot leave him—” Shots rang over her head, but she was unsure if they came from the ship or the wharf. Water cascaded onto her as someone struck the deck beside her. “Bryce!”

  “Be silent, you little fool!” he snarled as he dropped to his stomach. He pulled river weeds from his hair.

  More shots struck the mast. She was astonished when she heard a laugh. Bryce was grinning. He was mad!

  “Well, Captain,” he said as he leaned on his elbow, “you proved me wrong.”

  “It doesn’t happen very often.” Davis chuckled as the sound of guns dissolved into the distance. “Did you enjoy your swim?”

  Bryce grimaced. “Canton is a lovely place.” His gaze locked with Lian’s. “Next time you decide to play hero, Captain, I shall be busy on the China Shadow.”

  “That reminds me …” Without further explanation, Davis surged to his feet and along the deck toward where two
men were working with the sail.

  Lian whispered, “Thank you. I am forever in your debt.”

  “You are, aren’t you?” His wet fingers plucked the filmy drape away from her arm, then stroked her. “Whenever you want to pay that debt off, blue eyes, let me know.”

  “You are—You—” Her English failed her, and she spat in Cantonese. When he stood, laughing, she could not guess if he meant what he had said or was jesting. She must learn how to gauge his peculiar emotions, for Bryce could remain a part of her life for far longer than she had imagined … And far longer than she wished.

  Four

  Lian stared at the China Shadow’s bare masts when lightning outlined every rope. At last, they were here. The long trip along the river to Whampoa had taken hours.

  “That is our father’s finest ship,” Davis said with pride.

  “He has more than one?”

  “Two right now. His other ship is the Pacific Shadow.”

  “That is the ship he sailed to Canton before I was born.”

  Davis grinned. “You know a lot about the Catherwoods.”

  Running her hands along the railing, she watched the ship eclipse the stars and the pagoda on the shore. “To me, the Catherwoods and America are like a legend.”

  “As China is to us.”

  In surprise, she turned to look at him. Her mundane struggle to survive had been no fairy tale.

  “Yes,” said a deeper voice. “China is a distant star, a jewel which every man longs to possess.”

  Lian’s eyes widened. That Bryce would speak like a poet astounded her. Softly she said, “That is what is feared. That the Yang Kuei-tzŭ will ruin the perfection of China.”

  “You do not mince words, do you?” Bryce asked.

  “I only repeat what I have heard,” she said in Cantonese, for he had spoken in that language. “You bring opium to enslave our people at the same time you speak of friendship. Should we trust foreign devils?”

  “I wouldn’t.” Folding his arms on the rail, he frowned. He pulled off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. When she regarded him with surprise, he muttered, “The captain of this scow was intimating that he would trade our passage for an hour with our cargo. I was confused until I realized he meant you, blue eyes.”