China Rose

by Marsha Canham

  He smiled and covered her hand with his own, pressing it back down. "Thinking of more ways to entice me."

  She blushed through a protest. "I wasn't thinking that at all."

  "Hmm." He closed his eyes again and guided her hand down beneath the blanket. "Because if you were, this would be a better way to do it."

  China gasped and snatched her hand back. He laughed and rolled her quickly beneath him, kissing her soundly. He did not let up until she was wriggling and squirming with pleasure and her blush had spread from her hairline to her toes.

  "I was, in fact, thinking about what someone would say if they could see me now."

  "They would envy you," he said promptly, exploring her neck, her earlobes, her temple with his lips. "And wonder why it took you so long to realize you belonged in my bed."

  "I rather doubt that," she murmured.

  He nuzzled deeper. "And have you decided after all that it does matter what others think?"

  "No. I know it should, but no. Why is that, do you suppose?"

  "My corrupting influence. I can think of no other explanation."

  "I have no doubt Ranulf would agree with you on that point, Captain. I cannot imagine his reaction were he to know I was here with you, and..."

  "And how we spent the night?" His lips brushed a nipple and teased it until the skin gathered into a tight little bud. "Do you not know that it is the height of poor taste to worry about one man's opinion when you are in the arms of another?"

  She sighed, "Not as poor as righteously lecturing me on how I should behave in the weeks leading up to our marriage, while he blithely spent his evenings in the arms of Bessy Toone."

  "Some would say the same about me--how I could calmly go about seducing you while I was behaving like a bandy-legged schoolboy over the loss of Bess."

  "Some would," she agreed quietly.

  He growled softly and pushed himself up onto his elbows to look down at her. "I thought you would have guessed it by now--we Crosses thrive on foolish games. One pitted against the other. Two outfoxing the one. The one retaliating and sending the two into retreat. Divide and conquer, even in matters of the heart."

  "You make it sound like a game."

  He kissed the tip of her nose then rolled beside her again. "At times it is, China Rose. At other times it becomes a war. A war of wits and deeds and nerves of steel."

  "But why? There can never be a winner, not in a game or in a war when family is involved. Only someone who loses less painfully."

  "That is very profound."

  "It wasn't meant to be. And I probably would not even think it if I had brothers or sisters myself. Being only one, it was difficult to play games of catch me if you can." She repositioned herself in the circle of his arms and tucked her head up under his chin. She thought of the girl she had seen in Madame Rochelle's dress shop--the shock of red hair, the sensuous body, the beguiling face. Surely she'd had dreams and aspirations too, never thinking as a child that she would grow up to be the plaything of men, and surely never that her life would end so suddenly and brutally. "She was very young, was she not?"

  "Bess? I suppose so. I never asked her age and she never told me. Women grow up quickly on Gracey Street. They are not allowed the luxury of a long childhood."

  "How did you meet her?"

  He stared up at the ceiling beam while his fingertips traced small circles on her arm. "We'd had a particularly bad crossing with storms and mishaps plaguing us every league of the way home. Two of my men went overboard and a third was dying of dysentery. I went straight to the inn and got drunk and stayed drunk for nearly two weeks. When I cam out of it Bess was just there. I don't know where she came from, I don't know how long she'd been looking after me, but she was there and she stayed...and it is even worse talking to a man about another woman when you are lying in his arms."

  She ignored his protest. "How did Ranulf meet her? I cannot see him frequenting somewhere like the Boars Head Inn."

  His fingers stopped tracing for a moment. "Perhaps not the inn. But he was a regular visitor at one of the better establishments on Montemayor Lane. I assume he met her there."

  China frowned and raised her head.

  "A brothel," he said succinctly. "A house of ill repute."

  "Oh."

  "Run by a woman who has been providing her clients with quality entertainment for several years. Ran helped her get started, in fact. He loaned her the money when she needed it, and in return, he has had his pick of the newest and the best additions to the stable. Emmeline often takes in strays when she thinks she can clean them up and make a profit. She had a good eye for...talent."

  "Meaning she wouldn't trouble herself to find out where Bess came from or who her former friends were?"

  "Not likely. Why do you ask?"

  "Because someone had to know," she said softly, "that she was acquainted with either Ranulf Cross or Jason Savage, and know that while she likely could not identify Justin Cross on sight, she would not hesitate to let him into her rooms."

  Justin sighed and nodded. "That is what has been troubling me. That someone used my name to get to her."

  Ruling out the owner of the brothel was only one possibility, and not a very likely one at that. China reasoned, but did not say it out loud, that it could have been someone from the crew of the Reunion holding a grudge against its captain. Or it could have been someone from the Boars Head Inn who had stumbled over the dual identity. Equally possible, it could have been any one of Ranulf's enemies who wanted to see the Cross reputation scandalized into utter ruin. Sir Ranulf had political ambitions. A mistress was nothing out of the ordinary--it was almost expected of a man with his wealth and position--but a mistress bludgeoned to death in a jealous triangle by the man's brother...? No one could recover from that sort of scandal.

  There was another option, but was too horrible to contemplate: that Ranulf had somehow found out about Bess and Jason Savage.

  "And had Bess murdered for it?" Justin asked when she was pressed to explain the violent shiver that coursed through her. "I doubt that very much."

  "You said once that he met violence with violence."

  "I did and I meant it. But he would have killed me, not her."

  "His own brother? His own flesh and blood?" China was struck again by the ugliness of it all, recalling the look on Ranulf's face when he ordered Justin out of Braydon Hall. "He could not hate you that much."

  "You would be surprised to learn exactly how much we three Crosses detest one another."

  "Not enough to kill, surely. To argue and plot and challenge one another, yes, I can understand that. Even to go so far as to banish you from the house and disown you...but to kill?"

  "How much hatred constitutes enough? How do you suppose families down through the ages weaned out the weaker ones? The strong killed them off and called it family duty. Look even to the thrones of England and Europe to see how many brothers slew brothers in order to gain the crowns for their own heads. Nowadays we've become too civilized. People frown on doing away with kin openly, even those who have become an embarrassment or a disgrace to the good name. It still happens though. Ranulf would like nothing better than to be rid of Eugene and myself. Eugene, likewise, would give up drink for life if he thought he could remove Ran from power and place himself at the head table of Braydon Hall. He's simply too much of a coward to do it himself. Instead, he baits the two of us and hopes that one or the other will do the job for him. He was the one who told me Ran had a new mistress and who she was, though God only knows how he found out."

  "So...if he knew about Bess...?"

  "It would stand to reason he knew about me?" Justin shook his head. "No, I'd stake my life on the fact he doesn't know. Believe me, if Eugene even suspected I was Jason Savage, he would have disclosed it openly in front of Ran for the sheer pleasure of watching his reaction. Besides, something Bess said at the hospital keeps slamming doors in my face. Bates said she told the doctor that 'Jay' sent the murderer to her room t
hat night. If Eugene was behind it, or anyone trying to destroy Ranulf through me, she wouldn't have named Jason Savage."

  China sighed. The times she wished she had not been an only child fizzled into dry air.

  "All things considered," he mused, "I am surprised I have survived as long as I have in this family. Ran is downright rabid in his attempts to restore the family name to its former prominence. He would just as soon forget there was another Cross sailing the high seas."

  "Another?"

  "Aye. I come by my lust for adventure on the seas naturally. Our father, Sir Anthony Cross, was an admiral in His Majesty's Navy. He retired from service after losing an arm, like Nelson, in 1912."

  China remembered the portrait in the gallery, the uniform, the medals.

  "Striking another stake into Ran's heart was my choice of ships to embark on."

  "You mean because the Reunion is a slaver?"

  "Partly that. And I see I shall have to swear it on an oath of your choosing that she has sailed clean these past six years."

  "If so, why do you allow the rumors to persist and spread? Why do you allow yourself and your crew to be scorned as slavers?"

  "Because slavers are pariahs, my pretty. Lepers. They come and go and no one treads too near for fear some of the taint will rub off. And for now it suits me to come and go unmolested."

  "Why?"

  Justin angled his head to look sidelong at her. "Your father raised a curious daughter. Has no one ever explained that a woman's charm lies in her oblivion to anything that does not involve tea cups and pretty dresses?"

  She drilled a fingernail into his rib. "You said you would answer any question I wanted to ask."

  "So I did," he murmured, kissing her hard. "But there are some questions for which you might feel better not knowing the answer."

  "Such as knowing that the Reunion was once the Scorpio?"

  There was a pause of several heartbeats duration, after which Justin pushed upright and swung his legs over the side of the berth. "How did you know that?"

  "Mr. Bates told me. After I had guessed this to be your ship, I suppose he thought he should explain how you came to take the name Jason Savage."

  "Bates takes too much upon himself at times," Justin murmured. He walked naked to the sideboard and poured out two glasses of red wine. "What else did he tell you about her?"

  China's eyes had followed his buttocks on the way across the room; they followed something else on his way back, which made her thoughts suffer a momentary lapse. She had never fully and unabashedly examined a naked male body before, but even with nothing to compare him to, she thought Justin's hard, sculpted muscles, long legs, and...and other things, must surely be close onto perfect.

  She blinked to break the spell. "About her? Who?"

  Justin almost grinned as he explained. "From the beginning of time, ships have been referred to as females. Her, in this case, would be the Reunion...or...the Scorpio."

  "Oh. Yes. Well, not much. He stopped short of telling me much past the fact you bought it at auction and renamed it, then took Captain Savages name after he died."

  "So he made no mention of the Orion?"

  "Only briefly. He said the two ships were involved in an accident at sea. The Scorpio struck the Orion during a storm."

  "If you believe the verdict of the naval tribunal, it was no accident. They claimed it was an 'unprecedented act of murder on the high seas'."

  "They said the Orion was sunk deliberately?"

  Justin nodded and took a deep swallow of wine. "The captain of the Scorpio was found guilty of an act of piracy and sentenced to hang. He cheated them on that score, however, for he died of a fever before they could knot the rope. Plus, the instant it became known that the Scorpio's cargo was black ivory, she was condemned without further investigation. It was too easy to rouse public opinion against an illegal slaver than it was to have to explain why there were a dozen highly respected, highly influential Englishmen on board the Orion bound for Napoleon's France, taking with them nearly a million pounds in gold."

  "For France?" Her eyes widened. "They were sympathizers?"

  "Dammit woman." He feigned a scowl, though there was a gleam of admiration in the gray eyes. "You are going to have to learn not to be so clever when you are around me. It's unnerving."

  "But is it true? Were there sympathizers on board the Orion?"

  Justin sobered and nodded. "Yes. But they were not just ordinary wealthy English fools. They held positions of trust, with access to Wellington's plans, his strategies and weaknesses. They also had knowledge that the Prussians were reluctant to commit their army, which would have given Napoleon a huge advantage. As it was, Wellington had a damned hard time of it in Belgium. The Prussians dallied and stalled until the last minute before their prima dona general, Buchner, arrived and threw his weight into a united front. If Bonaparte had known in advance there were serious problems on both fronts, well...England and all of Europe would be flying the fleur de lis right now. It was that close."

  China sat up, hugging her knees to her chest, and pulled the blanket around her shoulders, leaving only one arm bare to hold the wine glass. "How did you find all of this out? And why has no one else? Someone must have noticed the list of casualties on the Orion and wondered why they were heading to France with all that gold."

  "The logbook stated she was on her way to Lisbon. There was a list of casualties, but the important names were left off."

  "Then how did you find out?" she asked again.

  He swirled the last inch of wine around in the bottom of his glass before draining it. "Because Sir Anthony Cross was one of the casualties."

  China's chin came up off her knees. "Your father?"

  "Yes."

  "He was a...a sympathizer?"

  "Don't be afraid to use the word traitor. God knows I've thought it and said it and questioned it a thousand times over."

  "You don't believe it?"

  "He paid in gold for passage on board that ship, China. He had to know where it was going. He had to know his fellow passengers. Most damning of all was the fact he had sold everything, lock, stock, and barrel. He had liquidated all of his assets, everything except for Braydon Hall, which might have roused more suspicion than was worth risking. I can tell you, Ran was more than a little shocked when he started going through the details of his inheritance. There was nothing left of the Cross family fortunes. He has been keeping up appearances, but scrambling to rebuild them ever since."

  "You said your first thought was that he had finally found a rich heiress to marry. Why has he not done so before now?"

  "Damned if I know," Justin admitted. "Eugene has never married either, not for a lack of willing candidates."

  She rested her chin back on the top of her knees. "You said the information about the Orion was never brought out into the open."

  "It wasn't. Can you blame the tribunal for wanting to keep it a secret that some of their leading statesmen and financiers were traitors? At a time when morale was already verging on non-existent?"

  "On the other hand, if it was your ship and your crew being accused of a crime, no matter what the implications, would you not want all of the facts to come out? What did the captain of the Scorpio say in his own defense?"

  "Nothing."

  "Nothing? You mean he let them accuse him of murder and piracy when, in effect, he was doing England an incredible favor by sinking the Orion?"

  Justin refilled his wine glass. "I can only think that because he knew he was dying, he agreed to take the secret to the grave with him. He may well have struck a bargain for his officers and crew, since none of them were ever prosecuted. They were allowed to go free and scatter into the wind. The ship would likely have faded from memory too if I hadn't bought her."

  "Yesterday Ranulf accused you of trying to blackmail him. I presume someone else has discovered the truth?"

  "It would seem so."

  "And now you are trying to find out who?"

&nbs
p; Justin smiled crookedly. "You make me out to be far too noble, China Rose. For all I care, whoever it is can blackmail Ran into a pauper's grave. I am not in this to save his hide or his precious reputation."

  "Then why are you?"

  "Let us just say I'm a curious fellow. I like to know who is accusing me of things I haven't done. And before you drive another fingernail into my rib to point out it was me who robbed him on the road last week, yes...I am not above stirring the pot a little to see what rises in the steam. Speaking of curiosity, what were you doing in my room the other day?"

  "The other day?"

  "My room. You were in it, were you not?"

  She had the grace to flush. "Why yes, yes I was. But only because I found the entrance to the passageway in my room and followed your footsteps in the dust. I was not prying or looking for anything in particular, I just wanted to see how you went from one room to the other without being seen."

  Justin set his glass down and plucked hers out of her hand. He twined his fists into two thick lengths of her hair and brought her face close to his. "What would you have done had I been in my room at the time?"

  "Turned around and gone back...naturally."

  "Naturally," he murmured. "With any explanation that I would have believed?"

  "Are you insinuating that I hoped to find you there?"

  "Did you?"

  "Certainly not!"

  "But the possibility did cross your mind."

  "It...may have," she admitted, conscious of the delicious tugging sensation on her scalp as he twisted her hair tighter. "Not until after I was already there, however, and..."

  "Yes? And?"

  She closed her eyes and shuddered deliciously as his lips touched her temple. "And I wondered what you would say if you saw me there in my nightdress."

  "Again, Miss Grant? A nightdress? As charming as the one you tempted me with the first night? You do seem to enjoy tempting the Fates."

  "It was...spur of the moment, and not intentional, I assure you."

  He chuckled and kissed his way to her lips. "Ran is a bigger fool than I thought; a man too blinded by greed and ambition to see the treasure that was right before his eyes. However, not being either ambitious or blind--" his hands smoothed down her shoulders, stripping away the blanket as they went-- "I fear this conversation must soon come to an end."