China Rose

by Marsha Canham

  He touched his brow and was about to turn and go when China asked, "Justin is in a lot of trouble, isn't he?"

  Bates pursed his lips, scratched his curly brown hair, then finally nodded. "Aye, that he is. But he's been in trouble before and no worse for wear."

  "He didn't say much about it on the way here."

  "Then it's best I say nothing either. He'll be telling you what he thinks it's safe for you to know."

  China frowned. Then it struck her. Like a bolt of lightening out of the heavens. "You called him Captain!"

  Bates was slow to respond, looking at her as if there was about to be a trick question. "Aye. I did. Should I have called him sum'mit else?"

  "He is the captain of this ship? Justin Cross is the captain of the Reunion?"

  Bates looked confused. "Aye. He didn't tell you that?"

  "No," she said, genuinely puzzled herself. "No, he didn't."

  "He bought the old girl ten year back when he was just a nip full of questions and out to explore the world. She was called Scorpio then. A fine ship with fine lines. Fine captain too...before the accident."

  "Accident?"

  Bates glanced warily past China's shoulder, which made her turn and check too, but Justin was sound asleep.

  "Aye, Miss. There were an accident at sea. A collision with a merchantman, the Orion. It was a black, foul night and you couldn't see to spit past your hand. The Orion was in the water where she shouldn't ought to have been, heading hell bent for where she shouldn't ought to have been going. Cap'n Trimble, well, he were out of his leagues too, carrying a hold full of black ivory. When that came out in the trial, we were branded guilty of ramming the Orion without ever bothering to look at the rest of the evidence. The Scorpio was branded too, as a slaver, and sold on the auction blocks. Mr. Cross there was the only one who bothered to ask anything past 'what was her cargo?'. He bought her and kept on the old crew, all except Cap'n Trimble, of course, who died without ever being able to defend himself.

  "The navigator, Jason Savage, was made captain and young Master Cross came on board as a common crewman to learn the ropes. Started from the bottom, he did, helping sew sails and scrub the decks, splice ropes and swab out the cannon. Then six years back, Cap'n Savage caught the stomach rot and died out to sea. The Reunion had already made a bit of a reputation for herself, plus...well...you've met Lord Ranulf...so the lad thought it would do no one any harm to leave think Savage was still at the helm. And that's the way it's been ever since."

  "Justin....is Jason Savage?"

  "As fine a captain and navigator as Savage ever were," Bates insisted, nodding. "We come into port, they line up on the decks to sign on."

  "But surely, over the years, someone would have uncovered the ruse?"

  Bates shrugged. "Most of the old crew is scattered to the seven seas, and the new ones only know him as Jason Savage. He's mostly careful too, so he is, not to cause any stir while we're here in port. We usually avoid Portsmouth when we can. Should have sailed right past this time too, but he said he had some family business to tend to."

  China was still trying to absorb the fact that Justin was the feared and renowned Captain Jason Savage. Privateer, blockade runner, smuggler...

  Bates shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, realizing he had probably said far too much. "Will you be wanting anything else, Miss?"

  She blinked at the question and looked up. "Oh. No. No, thank you Mr. Bates. You have been very kind, thank you."

  He grinned a little and touched his forelock. "Green as an Irish bog you were when the Cap'n carried you on board. Mind what I said, biscuits and tea and you'll be fine."

  When she closed the cabin door, she turned and leaned against it.

  Justin Cross was Jason Savage.

  She tried to remember everything she had heard about the notorious captain of the Reunion, but most of the more recent gleanings had come from Ranulf's incessant rants concerning the evils of slavery and the ship captains who perpetuated the evil by breaking England's laws against trafficking in human flesh. That he had no inkling whatsoever that his brother was Captain Savage was intriguing. Jason Savage was Sir Ranulf's nemesis, the unseen thorn in his side. Mention of Savage's name brought an instant flush of hatred to Ranulf's face...almost as deep as the hatred he felt for his brother Justin...his other open, salted wound.

  What on earth would he do when he found out the two were the same man?

  China moved closer to the berth, studying the sleeping man as she had not yet had the opportunity to do: long and hard, without his sharp wit or guarded expressions to protect him. There was none of the tension that normally held his jaw square and brow slightly furrowed, also none of the reckless energy or passion of his waking guise. She could not even conceive of the strain he must bear playing two roles, keeping each separate from the other with the constant risk that both might be uncovered.

  She recalled the look on his face the previous day when he had come upon her in the market haggling with the pie man. He'd had some of his crew with him...the five burly men who had accompanied him to the armory. Had she addressed him by name, as Justin? Had they overheard? Had they known or had they wondered?

  And the look on the barmaid's face earlier tonight. She hadn't recognized the name China had used: Justin Cross. She had seemed puzzled and only referred to him as 'the gent in room three'.

  She blew out a soft breath and backed away from the berth. She went behind the desk and took a seat in the deep leather arm chair. The crock of tea was still steaming hot as she poured out a cup and sipped it cautiously. Her tummy seemed to appreciate the warmth, as it did the three biscuits and large wedge of cheese she devoured.

  She allowed almost three hours to pass before she uncurled herself from the chair and approached the berth again. Her hand had not even reached his shoulder when Justin's eyes opened wide, startling her.

  He said nothing for a long moment, then his gaze flicked past her, scanning the cabin, settling finally on the level of oil in the lamp that burned overhead. "How long have you let me sleep?"

  "I confess, it was more than an hour," she said quietly. "I'm sorry, Captain, but I thought you needed it."

  He smiled briefly and lifted a hand to tuck a stray black curl behind her ear. "You say that is you expect me to beat you soundly and send you off the short end of a plank."

  "Mr. Bates thought you might be angry enough to do it if I disobeyed you."

  "And so I am," he said through a yawn. "Terribly. For that matter--" The yawn was ended abruptly and his eyes flew to her face again. "What did you call me?"

  "I called you captain. As in Captain Jason Savage. That is what your crew calls you, is it not?"

  He pushed himself up onto an elbow. "You and Bates must have had quite a long chat."

  "It was not his fault. He let the word 'captain' slip and..." she stopped and shrugged.

  "And like a true female you pounced on the poor man's error and made like Torquemada until you had him singing like a canary?"

  "Who is Torquemada?"

  "An infamous Spanish Inquisitor."

  She smiled tightly. "I'm sorry if I pried or asked too many questions. I guess it had something to do with being lied to, being deceived, betrayed, duped. Being played with like a cat plays with a mouse. Or a chess master plays with a pawn. If you tell me where my clothes are, I will happily return to shore and you won't ever have to endure my questions again."

  "Ahh."

  She backed away from the berth and turned away before he saw the shimmer of hot tears in her eyes.

  Justin sat fully upright and swung his long legs over the side of the berth.

  He sighed and shook his head. "I don't suppose you would believe me if I told you it was never my intention to lie or deceive, dupe or betray you? I didn't even know you existed, China Rose. Your presence at Braydon Hall was as much a surprise to me as mine likely was to you. As for the other charges, I admit I did think nothing more of you at first than a silly
heiress my brother had found and was going to use to restore the family fortunes. Perhaps I did even use you a little; Ran was so incredibly incensed to think you might be more attracted to me than to him. It was an easy way to keep him off balance."

  China closed her eyes, feeling the tears spill over her lashes and run down her cheeks. She sensed him standing behind her, felt the heat of his body pressing close but not quite touching.

  "I did not consider the possibility that I might be the one who would find himself off balance," Justin murmured. "I can't...and won't say it is love, China Rose, but it is the closest damned thing to it that I have ever felt. So close, I am tempted to send you back to Ranulf just to prove you don't really mean anything to me."

  She felt a tremor ripple down her spine and threaten the steadiness of her knees. "Indeed, Sir," she whispered, "if you did I would have to tell him how you kidnapped me and forced me to come on board the Reunion. I would certainly have to tell him what happened at the inn, which I don't imagine would please him overmuch."

  "No," he murmured, gathering several glossy strands of hair off her shoulder. "I don't imagine it would. I also don't imagine I would let you past the cabin door."

  Having exposed the pale curve of her neck, he lowered his lips and pressed a kiss onto the soft, velvety skin. "I am truly sorry, China. I should have told you sooner, at the inn at least. But you were there and in my arms and I lost myself in you. I didn't have to think about being Justin, or being Jason. I just had to think about you and how to fill you so full of me that you might get lost too."

  His arms slowly enfolded her and she did not resist. He held her against his body, his face buried in the cloud of her hair.

  "You said once that you would never lie to me," she whispered.

  "And I never did," he said, lifting his mouth from her shoulder. "I may not have been exactly forthright with the truth, but I never lied. And I never will. Ask me anything you like, anything at all, and I will answer you with the absolute truth. Even if means letting you walk out that door."

  She sighed and leaned back against him. "I have been sitting here these past three hours with nothing to do but think back over everything that has happened. The woman you were supposed to have murdered...she named you as her assailant."

  Justin released her from the circle of his arms and paced over to the bank of slanted windows. He lifted a flap of canvas and peered out, but there was still little to see. He turned and sat on the corner of the desk.

  "Bess knew me only as Jason Savage," he said finally.

  "Bess?"

  "Bessy Toone. She used to be a barmaid at the Boars Head Inn."

  China recognized the name at once. Ranulf's mistress. The girl she had seen ever so briefly, yet cataclysmically at the dressmakers. If she had been a barmaid at the inn, it explained how Ted Bates would know her, and because he also knew that Justin and Jason were one and the same man, it would also explain why he had come to warn Justin of his impending arrest for murder.

  "If she worked at the inn, she would have known most of your crew?"

  "Most," he nodded. "She had never met Justin Cross. She'd heard me talk about him though. A damned fine sort I made him out to be too. No wonder she let him into her rooms without too many questions."

  She moistened her lips. "Would it not stand to reason then that whoever presented himself as you, would also know that?"

  "Meaning a member of my crew? There are only two from the original crew of the Scorpio still serving on board the Reunion, and both of them...Ted Bates and Bartholomew East...I would and have trusted with my life on numerous occasions. Moreover, neither of them would be capable of killing Bess and both were miles away at the time of the murder."

  "If Ted Bates was miles away...how did he find out about it in time to warn you at the inn?"

  "He was on the way to Bess's to deliver a message when he saw the commotion and heard what had happened."

  "A message?"

  "Yes."

  "From you?"

  "Yes."

  "You knew her...intimately...didn't you." It was not a question.

  "Yes."

  She lowered her eyes and plucked at a frayed thread on the sleeve of the oversized shirt. The quilt had been left behind on the chair, so she blamed the shiver that coursed through her on the chill on her bare legs.

  "Before you ask the question you are going to ask, you should know Bessy was sweet and generous, kind and loving and funny. She had a smile for everyone and rarely an unpleasant thought no matter how cruelly she might have been treated in life. Because of the way she chose to live her life, she was branded a whore, but Gracey Street was full of outcasts and misfits. It has a very equalizing effect on relationships."

  "Did you...love her?"

  Justin smiled softly, though it was like a stab through his heart to see China's eyes so desperate for him to lie, despite his promise.

  "I loved what she was," he admitted. "She was free and unassuming. I loved the way she laughed at the arrogance of those who condemned her, and I loved the way she told most of the world to go to hell on a broomstick." He paused and watched the abuse the cuff of his shirt was taking from her fingers, then drew a deep breath. "I was angry when I found out she had moved away from Gracey Street, and of course, when I found out she had taken up with Ranulf...God curse the irony of that, if you will...I was furious and hurt enough to have throttled her to within an inch of her life. And more than enough to want revenge on the man himself, even though he was my brother."

  Justin's jaw strained from the tension and the little muscle in his cheek twitched. "In the end, I decided to simply find a way to cheat him at his own game. It was a personal insult, you see, or at least I thought of it as such. One that I couldn't let him get away with even though I knew he had no idea Bess and I were...friends. Imagine my surprise when you stumbled into the library that night and announced with a haughty little toss of your head that you were to wed Sir Ranulf Cross in two weeks time."

  China's head tipped up again.

  "I had it all planned, China Rose," he murmured. "How I would lure his fiancée away, possibly even compromise her. Ruin her for him. It looked easy enough too. You were just a frightened little thing with big eyes and a name that belonged on a map. I kept telling myself you didn't matter, it was an eye for an eye. That you were just some backwater heiress with ambitions of moving out of the country and into higher society."

  Justin's gray eyes followed the trickle of a single tear as it streaked down the pale curve of her cheek. "It didn't turn out that way though. It wasn't nearly as easy as I thought. I saw how frightened you were, and how alone. How everyone was pushing and pulling you and...suddenly...you started to matter to me. A great deal. And I'm damned if I even know why or when, exactly, it happened. I suspect it was that night in the rose garden, when you could have told Ran to check the bushes for the mask and cape, but you didn't."

  China caught her lower lip between her teeth to stop it from quivering. The tears were flowing freely now. She could feel their wetness on her neck, running as far down as the gaping edge of the cambric shirt.

  Justin stood and moved to within arm's reach. "How the devil is a man supposed to think clearly when you're leaking water all over yourself?"

  China sobbed suddenly and covered her face with her hands. Justin reached out and drew her forward gently, then wrapped his arms around her tightly--so tightly he feared he might crush her. He held her, feeling the tremors that shook her slender body, and was surprised to feel an echo of those tremors racing through his own.

  "China, China, China," he whispered, burying his mouth in her hair again. "My beautiful China Rose. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. Not to me. I am an adventurer, a blackguard. I sail God's oceans with impunity, enjoying my hard-won freedom. I am not supposed to have thoughts of hearth and home and family."

  She hic-coughed and angled her face up. "Y-you have thoughts of h-hearth and home?"

  "When I look at you I d
o." He kissed the salty tears off her lashes and cheeks. "When I woke up just now I thought: that is how I want to wake up every day. Looking at you. Of course, I may actually have to add kidnapping to my vast repertoire of sins in order to have that happen."

  China slid her arms up and curled them around his neck. Tears were still flowing, but they were sweet and bathed her smile as she whispered, "You don't have to kidnap me, Captain. You just have to kiss me."

  His reply was more of a muffled groan as their lips came together. His fingers burrowed up into her hair and twisted tight, holding her fast while his mouth all but devoured her. He released her only long enough to lift her into his arms and carry her to the berth. Her shirt, his clothes were perfunctorily stripped and cast aside and his impatience could not be checked once the feel of her naked body seared the length of his. The joining was swift and urgent, marked only by her eager cries and whimpers. When he had greedily sated his own needs, he made love to her slowly again...and again...taking deliberate care to introduce her to pleasures almost too shocking for her senses to absorb.

  By the time they fell into an exhausted sleep, utterly drained, tangled in each others arms and legs, China had lost the ability to separate his heartbeat from her own.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  China lay with her head on Justin's shoulder. His arms were wrapped around her, keeping her warm, keeping her close. Her fingers toyed with the dark hairs on his chest, bringing a smile to her lips from the sensation as well as from her complete lack of modesty in enjoying it. A month ago...even a week ago she would not have believed it had anyone foretold she would be on board a ship in Portsmouth Harbor, deliriously exhausted, comfortably naked in the arms of a man--a man who was not her husband, not even her betrothed.

  Her fingers paused in their roaming.

  Justin's eyes opened and his arms shifted slightly. "You really must stop doing that."

  "Doing what?" she asked, lifting her hand off his chest.