A Talent for Trouble

by Jen Turano

  Grayson lifted his head and nodded, although he didn’t meet her gaze. “It is a long journey, but again, we were young and thought we were on the greatest adventure of our life. We took our time getting there, sometimes traveling by coach, sometimes by horseback and occasionally by boat, but it was while we were traveling by coach that we met another gentleman who made us an offer we couldn’t refuse, an opportunity of a lifetime, so to speak.”

  Arabella shifted in her chair. “Should we assume it was an opportunity of a rather shady nature?”

  “It was a lucrative opportunity,” Grayson countered, “an opportunity that turned out to be more dangerous than shady.” He moved back to his seat and sat down, his shoulders drooping ever so slightly. “I accepted the gentleman’s offer and became indebted to the Wu family, a powerful and ruthless Chinese family who were involved in an intricate exporting business.”

  Theodore narrowed his eyes. “Where did you fit in with this exporting business?”

  “Well, that’s a little complicated, but to put it as simply as possible, Francisco and I were chosen because Wu Wah Hing, the head of the Wu family, needed the services of socially prominent gentlemen who could assist him with brokering deals with shipping lines. It turned out that many captains flatly refused to negotiate with Chinese businessmen, having a difficult time understanding them and also believing the Chinese to be less than trustworthy.”

  “And this Wu Wah Hing placed two men someone from his company just happened to meet on a coach in incredibly important positions with little background information? What made him trust you?” Theodore pressed.

  “Well, Francisco and I had to agree to a . . . side deal.” Grayson moved back to his seat, sat down, and began to take an extreme interest in the crease marking his trousers. He finally lifted his head. “I had to agree to marry Wu Wah Hing’s eldest daughter.”

  10

  Grayson braced himself when Felicia jumped out of her chair, tripped over her gown, wobbled for a moment, and then advanced directly toward him.

  His first instinct was to leap to his feet and dash out the door, but for some odd reason, her gaze had him pinned to his chair. He found he couldn’t give in to his instinct to flee. In fact, he was having a remarkably difficult time even sucking in a single breath of air.

  Even though he’d vowed to distance himself from her, he couldn’t help but admit she was incredibly magnificent when she was in a foul frame of mind, what with her blue eyes shooting sparks and her cheeks flushed a becoming shade of pink. Those thoughts disappeared in a flash when she took one last step, got her foot tangled yet again in her skirt, and tumbled . . . straight into his lap.

  The smell of state ale wafted from her hair, causing him to feel the strangest desire to laugh.

  Knowing full well Felicia would be unable to appreciate his amusement, he grabbed hold of her shoulders and tried to pull her out of his lap, his desire to get her a safe distance away from him increasing when he suddenly realized the warmth from her body was beginning to play havoc with his senses. To his relief, Theodore came to his rescue, lifting Felicia up easily by the waist and plopping her down on her feet a second later.

  Felicia, to give her credit, appeared perfectly composed after her less than graceful plunge. She patted her hair, sent Theodore a lovely smile, and looked down her nose at him. “Did I understand you correctly? Your marriage was nothing more than a business opportunity?”

  Most women who blushed got rather splotchy, but not Felicia. Her temper had resulted in a lovely pink glow over her entire face, drawing attention once again to her startling eyes.

  “Well?” Felicia prompted.

  Grayson cleared his throat. “Well, yes. Soon after our introduction to the Wu family, Wu Wah Hing presented me with a surprising proposition—marriage into the family. I know it sounds mercenary, but if it makes you feel any better, I was doing Lin a favor by agreeing to marry her.” He swallowed. “She wasn’t considered very attractive, you see.”

  Felicia’s only response was a sharp intake of breath.

  He cleared his throat yet again and continued, knowing he had no choice but to get everything out in the open, or at least the more pertinent parts. “China is a completely different world from what we’re used to. Women are not well thought of to begin with, and when one is not pleasing to the eye, she’s often neglected.

  “Unfortunately for Lin, she was the eldest daughter, and as such, she was expected to marry before any of her younger sisters could take husbands. Because she was unattractive, she’d had no suitors, so Wu Wah Hing proposed that if I married Lin, he would turn over a large amount of gold to me and the responsibility of securing new shipping routes for the family business. It was an opportunity that benefited everyone.”

  Arabella frowned. “Why wasn’t that Francisco fellow asked to marry Lin?”

  “He wanted to marry Mei, the other daughter Wu Wah Hing wanted to get off his hands. Mei was far more attractive than Lin, and since Francisco had been the one to fund our expedition to China, he insisted it was only fair that he be allowed to marry the attractive sister and leave Lin to me.”

  “Lovely taste in traveling companions you had there, Grayson,” Felicia said, sarcasm dripping from her every word. “Did you ever consider how humiliating it must have been for Lin to marry a man who was only doing so for personal gain?”

  “I never got the impression she was humiliated by our marriage, Felicia, only that she appreciated having been given a means to escape her father’s constant belittlement. I must admit I’m not entirely certain about that though. As I mentioned before, I knew nothing of the Chinese language. But she was never abused after entering into marriage to me—not from her relatives, and certainly not from me.” He cleared his throat. “It was a marriage in name only.”

  Complete silence settled over the room, causing Grayson to wince. He wasn’t certain he should have let that little tidbit escape, but now that it had, he was—

  “Explain Ming,” Felicia demanded. “Is she illegitimate?”

  “No, she’s not.”

  Felicia blinked, and then her eyes widened. “You had more than one wife?”

  Her incredulous tone saddened him, as did her apparent assumption he would be capable of assembling a harem.

  “I freely admit my behavior in China is not something I’m proud of, but I never stooped so low as to marry more than one woman.”

  Felicia considered him for a long moment, plopped back down in her chair, folded her arms across her chest, and simply stared at him, apparently waiting for him to continue.

  He was somewhat hesitant to do so, knowing that what he still had to say was far more troubling than his marriage to Lin and his relationship to Ming.

  “Ming is Francisco’s child. Francisco and Mei were killed along with Lin, and I took responsibility for their daughter,” he finally admitted. “When I left China, I decided it would be easier all the way around if I simply let people believe she was mine.”

  “Why didn’t Mei’s father take responsibility for the child?” Theodore asked. “Ming is his granddaughter, after all.”

  Grayson forced himself to continue, knowing that to do so was going to cause him quite a bit of discomfort and might, perhaps, lose him the friendship of the people currently sitting in the room. “The night Francisco, Mei, and Lin were killed, they weren’t the only ones who lost their lives. Everyone connected to the Wu family was murdered—except for me and Ming, that is.”

  He drew in a breath, slowly released it, and looked up at the ceiling, unwilling to see the horror in everyone’s eyes as he continued his tale. “The Wu family wielded incredible power in China, and yet they were the object of envy amongst their competitors, especially the Zang family. I believe this family took exception to one of our acquisitions, and so . . . they attacked the estate and slaughtered every person there, setting the buildings on fire after they finished, which burned all the bodies beyond recognition.”

  “But . . . how di
d you manage to escape?” Felicia’s question was barely a whisper.

  Grayson forced himself to meet her gaze. “I was not there at the time of the attack. I was dealing with a captain who wanted to renegotiate his terms, and the meeting went much longer than I’d expected.” He tilted his head. “I was beyond annoyed with the captain at the time, but now I’m remarkably grateful he was so difficult. If it hadn’t been for him, I’d have been killed as well.”

  Arabella sat forward. “How did you end up with Ming?”

  “After I finished with the captain, I headed home, but it wasn’t long before I spotted the flames. Licks of fire were traveling high into the sky directly over the Wu family’s grand estate.

  “The compound was empty when I arrived, the fire consuming everything in sight. As I stood amidst the flames, I realized the destruction had to have been caused by one of our rivals—and my life was in danger because someone had gone to great lengths to wipe out the entire Wu family. Even though I was only a son-in-law, I was considered part of that family. I returned to where I’d left my horse, already having made the decision to leave China as quickly as possible.”

  He looked up at the shocked faces surrounding him. “That’s when I found Ming. She was just standing there, in the midst of all that chaos, her little face streaked with soot, jabbering in the way two-year-olds do. She was the only true Wu left alive, which meant her life was in great peril too. I scooped her up, headed for the docks, and paid a small fortune to get us safely out of China.”

  Theodore began to drum his fingers against the arm of the chair. “She’s the heir to the Wu fortune, isn’t she? That’s why her life would have been in such peril.”

  “She might be, although the thought has crossed my mind that I might actually be an heir as well since I was Wu Wah Hing’s son-in-law.”

  Theodore’s gaze sharpened. “Would these rivals of the Wu family bother to track you down all the way to America?”

  “I don’t know why they would, especially since I’ve given no indication I’d ever try to claim any part of the Wu fortune—for Ming or myself. However, the Chinese do seem to hold revenge close to their hearts, and they might try to eliminate me and Ming simply to complete their vendetta against the Wu family.”

  “That could explain the interest you drew from those Chinese men in the pub,” Theodore said.

  Grayson shifted in his seat. “There is one other possibility. I left China with a rather large fortune in gems from Wu Wah Hing’s office down at the docks. I figured Ming deserved some type of inheritance, and those gems are rightfully hers, given to the Wu family generations ago by an emperor who’d been pleased with services rendered.” He released a breath. “Upon further reflection though, considering the attention I garnered today, I have to wonder if perhaps I should have left Ming’s inheritance behind, because someone probably knows those gems went missing, and those gems are worth the time and expense to cross an ocean after them.”

  Felicia sucked in a sharp breath. “We should go fetch Ming immediately.”

  “I’ve already seen to Ming’s protection,” Grayson said. “I hired guards to watch out for her the moment we reached England. They traveled with us here, and believe me, they’re the very best. I’m more worried that someone might have realized you were with . . .” His voice trailed off when rapid footsteps suddenly sounded in the hallway.

  “Hello? Is anyone here?”

  Grayson immediately rose to his feet when Ruth Murdock sailed into the room, followed by Jeffrey. She stopped and smiled at everyone before she set her sights on her daughter. “Jeffrey and I were delivering some of the pies you couldn’t fit in your cart today when we just happened to see your pony cart parked outside and . . .” She stopped talking and frowned. “What, pray tell, are you doing once again dressed in your old style, and what have you done with your hair?”

  Felicia smoothed down the skirt of the opera gown and narrowed her eyes at her mother. “I have never, ever, worn a gown like this. Well . . . not before today.”

  Ruth ignored the statement as she leaned forward. “Is that ale I smell?”

  “It might be a little ale,” Felicia admitted slowly before she brightened. “Did you know that ale is the latest remedy for controlling curl in a person’s hair?”

  Ruth ignored the statement. “What have you gotten yourself into now, Felicia?”

  “It wasn’t intentional, and I certainly didn’t plan on becoming involved in a brawl in the midst of that pub.”

  Ruth’s mouth formed the word pub before she spun around, looked at Arabella, then Theodore, and then settled her sights on Grayson. “Since you have what appears to be blood on your shirt and your clothing is shredded, Mr. Sumner, may I assume you’ve shared the company of my daughter today?”

  He refused to wince. “I must admit that I have, Mrs. Murdock.”

  “And did you encourage my child to go into a pub?”

  “He didn’t encourage me, Mother,” Felicia said, rising to her feet. “I went in there all by myself. Grayson just happened to be trailing me at the time and followed me into the pub, apparently because he felt it wasn’t a suitable place for me to go, especially unescorted.”

  She smiled and nodded to him. “It was a fortuitous circumstance indeed that he followed me there, especially since I attracted a wee bit of attention, which might have caused the brawl in the first place.”

  Ruth tapped her finger on her chin, and her eyes turned speculative. “Tell me, Mr. Sumner, why were you following my daughter?”

  “Ah, well, you see . . .”

  “He wanted to apologize to me for his behavior a few days ago,” Felicia explained before he could finish.

  The speculation turned to outrage. “You didn’t tell me you’d seen Grayson a few days ago.”

  “Her sneaky ways have apparently come back to her,” Jeffrey proclaimed, speaking for the first time. “I always knew they would, once she abandoned her desire to become a minister’s wife and returned to her normal self.”

  Felicia lifted her chin. “I’ve never had sneaky ways, Jeffrey. Mischievous, perhaps, but never sneaky.”

  “Was it your mischievous ways that caused you to forget to mention your rendezvous with Grayson?” Ruth demanded.

  “I did not have a ‘rendezvous’ with Grayson, Mother. He simply joined Agatha and me for lunch. It was completely innocent.”

  “If it was so innocent, why did he feel the need to follow you today in order to apologize?”

  “Mother, you’re reading entirely too much into this.”

  “You’re covered in ale and wearing a dress you weren’t wearing when you left the house today. I don’t think I’ve even begun to start reading enough into this.”

  Grayson couldn’t help but feel a stab of sympathy for Felicia. Granted, she had gone willingly into the pub on her own, but what had happened in there, and the danger she might even now be facing, was not her fault. It was his, pure and simple. He moved to Ruth’s side and touched her arm. “I take full responsibility for your daughter’s condition, Mrs. Murdock. It’s my fault she’s covered in ale.”

  Jeffrey let out a sound that seemed almost a growl. “You dumped ale on my sister?”

  Grayson glanced to Jeffrey’s now-fisted hands and couldn’t really say he blamed the gentleman for his anger. Felicia was not looking her best, nor had they apparently explained the situation well. He opened his mouth to add more details, but before he could get a single word out, Felicia stepped forward and shook her finger at her brother.

  “Of course Grayson didn’t dump ale on my head. I dumped the ale on myself when I hit that man over the head with a full tankard of the substance.”

  Grayson knew even before Ruth turned red in the face and began yelling that Felicia’s statement had been exactly the wrong thing to say.

  11

  Minutes later, Felicia shifted on the seat of the pony cart and swiveled her head, a distinct flash of disgruntlement settling over her when she saw the rath
er ferocious gentleman Theodore had sent to guard her trailing her cart from a discreet distance. Why she even needed a guard was still a little confusing because the discussion they’d been having regarding Grayson’s past had come to an abrupt end the moment Ruth had begun yelling.

  It hadn’t escaped her notice that Grayson had been relieved by the abrupt change in conversation. He’d used Ruth’s dismay over her daughter’s participation in a brawl as a means to get Felicia, accompanied by Jeffrey, quickly out of Theodore’s office and on her way with barely another word said. She had heard Grayson tell Theodore something about “ruthless Chinese practices” and that “anyone who shared an association with him might be in danger,” but since her mother had been delivering a blistering lecture to Felicia regarding the impropriety of a lady being in a pub, she hadn’t been able to hear anything else.

  No, she’d been sent on her way, none the wiser as to what was actually transpiring. She was decidedly put out with Grayson. He’d evidently made the decision she didn’t need to be well informed but was simply supposed to go along with being saddled with a guard and not be given answers to her questions. Such as . . . why would anyone still believe him to be alive if the whole Wu family had been slaughtered and . . . what dastardly business had the Wu family, and Grayson, been involved with in the first place?

  The guard took that moment to yell something in her and Jeffrey’s direction, which caused her to turn front and center, not wanting to even acknowledge the man. But when she did so, she realized he’d been yelling out a warning, because poor Thor was drifting toward the wrong side of the street, directly into the path of a large delivery wagon. She uttered a small shriek, snapped her mouth shut when she remembered Thor didn’t appreciate those, tugged on the reins, and breathed a sigh of relief when she missed the delivery wagon with inches to spare. The disgruntlement that had been plaguing her for quite some time turned to downright grumpiness when Jeffrey let out a laugh by her side, even as he gripped the edge of his seat all too dramatically before making an elaborate production of wiping nonexistent sweat from his brow.