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.Buskers in button-adorned costumes sang and danced for the laughing, well-dressed crowd leaving the theater, flower girls plied their wares under the lamplight, whores lingered in the shadows.This busy circus was no place for a confrontation, either.Jackspotted his own carriage waiting far down the street and hurried her toward it.He took her into the anonymous darkness where the mud and tears on her emerald gown would not be noticed and commented on, before anyone saw her grime-covered, furious face."I'm not going to ruin your reputation twice," he whispered to her as they moved along."Keep still and I'll have you safe away in a few moments.""I don't want to keep still," she answered, and not in a whisper."Please.""Say it again.""Why?""You need the practice.""You've always had a vicious tongue on you, you know that?""And I'm proud of it.And another thing, Jack PenMartyn, I was having adventures long before I met you, and I've had plenty since.What do you think I was doing when we met?""Visiting your cousins.Your missionary cousins.""But I wasn't studying to be a missionary, you fool!""You were a lady when I met you.A prim, proper, innocent child."She snorted.Loudly."I've never been proper in my life.I grew up in the gold and silver mining camps, in the West, when it was really wild.""You grew up a rich man's daughter.""Who got his money digging in the dirt, with my mother and me beside him.What kind of pedestal do you have me on, Lord PenMartyn?""A very high one," he answered breathlessly."And you're going to stay on it."He pulled her back into the shadows of a doorway and kissed her hard.A whore fled from the spot, squawking at being dislodged from her customary space, but no one would take notice of an angry prostitute.They would of an angry lady of quality.He was determined to protect Sherrie whether she wanted it or not.To the whore he threw two guineas and suggested she go home.The streetwalker thanked him and disappeared into the night.Sherrie wiped the back of her hand across her mouth and didn't look in the least thankful.Her cheeks were flushed, her lips swollen from the kiss he hadn't meant to be so rough—and satisfying.He couldn't help smiling his old dangerous, knife-edged smile at her.She wasn't intimidated by it.The tiger in him stirred and stretched its claws at her show of spirit.He fought the beast down, or at least he tried."I'm taking you home," he told her."Don't argue with me about it."Her angry eyes glittered and burned."Your home or mine?""Yours," he responded.Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes, but the fury didn't lessen any."Really?" she asked, voice tight with emotion."My home?"He gestured toward his carriage."Yes.Of course.Where else?""I don't have a home.""Primrose House.I'll take you to—" He felt helpless all of a sudden, floundering.He looked at her and her pain shot through him like a knife, skinned him alive, cut out his heart.Tears spilled down her cheeks.She gasped in agony, her arms crossed tightly across her waist."I haven't had a home," she told him, throat tight from trying to hold back the sobs, "since the day you sent me away."Jack couldn't breathe, and he didn't care.To die right now would be a blessing.He couldn't think from the shock.From the sorrow.From the loss.Once again his world crumbled and spun around him.He was so damned sick of living in a kaleidoscope.All he could do was take a step toward Sherrie, though that step was none too steady.Only to stop and turn when the door to his carriage opened and Jhou Xa stepped down, his saffron and red robes whirling around him.Several other Asians stepped out of the shadows as Jhou Xa came forward.These men were dressed' in black, and moved with familiar, deadly silence.They efficiently blocked any chance of escape.Jack would fight them if he must, but he turned to the Shaolin monk first."I would not interrupt if it was not important," Jhou Xa said.He gestured toward the carriage."There is not much time.Rhu Limpok must see you.Now."Chapter 23"You kept the necklace," Rhu Limpok said."How nice." The Great Khan of Kuzay smiled, showing broken, stained teeth."Sit, my friends.Have tea." He waved a servant forward, and the guards who'd brought them from the carriage took up posts in the back of the room.The Khan sat back on a pile of peacock silk cushions as Jack, Sherrie and Jhou Xa took seats on the opposite side of the low table.He had been speaking Mandarin.Now he switched to the dialect spoken on Kuzay."And you kept the girl."He raked his gaze over Sherrie, and sighed."I suppose it was a mistake to try to take her from you.I'm an old man now," he said earnestly to Jack."I regret many things.""Like trying to have me killed?" Jack questioned.He was calm now, his mind focused on the moment.The ride to the estate where the delegation from Kuzay was staying had been brief, but it had given him time to get his emotions under control.He had to stay calm.Not for his own sake, but to keep Sherrie safe.He picked up the teacup that had been placed before him, and ran his thumb along the smooth porcelain rim.He took a drink to acknowledge the Khan's hospitality."Am I supposed to forget that night and be your friend now?"Rhu Limpok made a fluttering motion with his hand."That is long in the past.I have long ago forgotten your offenses.Forgotten and forgiven.We are different people now."There was a flower-draped statue of a seated Buddha in the room, its bronze skin gleamed warmly in the lamplight.Incense burned in front of the serenely smiling statue, sending up fragrant curls of smoke behind Rhu Limpok's head."Jhou Xa told me you are now a religious man," Jack commented.The old man shrugged."Perhaps." He flashed his broken teeth again, and cackled."My Great Wife's become a nun.Did he tell you? I bless Buddha daily for that.".From the corner of his eye, Jack saw Sherrie try to hide a smile.Rhu Limpok noticed, too, and turned his attention on her."My son sends his greetings, Golden One.And my Great Wife as well.She prays that you have given your husband many sons in the years since the two of you left our land."Sherrie looked at her hands rather than answer Rhu Limpok.Jack studied her profile as she remained humble and silent—like a proper wife—for once, waiting for him to respond.Damn her.Rhu Limpok looked at him expectantly.Jack cleared his throat [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]