Mary Putney - The China Bride

"In Western reckoning"-she calculated-"twenty-seven. Soon twenty-eight."

Though she looked younger, she was a woman grown, trapped in a life where she was not a woman at all. "Have you ever wished to visit your father's land?"

For a moment, her eyes were clouded with almost unbearable longing. Then she shook her head. "My joss binds me to China."

"Joss?"

"Fate. Fortune. Joss sticks are burned to petition the gods for good luck."

He'd seen the smoldering sandalwood sticks and even heard the word used, but hadn't thought to ask the meaning. "See how much I am learning already?" Carefully he sat up and leaned toward her. "Wouldn't you like to have someone with whom you could relax and speak freely, rather than always playing a role?"

Her mouth twisted. "The fact that I saved your life does not give you the right to question me, Lord Maxwell."

Realizing that he was being damnably rude, he settled back again. "I'm sorry. I'm afraid that you fascinate me."

"No doubt you find all freaks and monsters fascinating," she said acidly. "Good night, my lord. Do not go alone into public places again. The men who attacked you were hired, and the person who wanted you dead may try again."

He frowned, realizing that he'd almost forgotten the attack. "Why would anyone want to have me murdered?"

"I have no idea. Perhaps an enemy of Chenqua wanted to create a situation that would cause my master great problems. Or perhaps you've made enemies of your own, with your too-frank tongue."

"It is the way of my people to be frank. I've said nothing in Canton to make mortal enemies." From what Gavin had told him about the local politics, it seemed more likely that someone had wanted to injure Chenqua. The death of an English lord who was one of Chenqua's trading partners would be a great scandal in both China and the West. "How did you learn that I was to be attacked?"

"An informant of mine in Hog Lane heard two gang members boasting of the money they'd earn for killing you. He had the wit to come to me as I left the hong."

"So you are indeed a spy."

"I am. And you have cause to be grateful for it."

She walked out, her chin high, every inch a Scotswoman. He guessed that she'd be Jin Kang before she'd gone another dozen steps.

He rubbed his aching head, thinking of the spark of attraction that had flared between them when "Jin Kang" had shown him how to hold a calligraphy brush. Never in his wildest imagination could he have believed that the shy clerk was really an incredible woman warrior who could defeat six thugs with her bare hands.

But now that he'd met her, how could he forget her?

Despite her fatigue, Troth reported the night's events to Chenqua as soon as she returned to Honam Island. He received her in his private study, wearing a hastily donned robe and a stern expression. "What is so urgent that you must disturb my rest?"

She bowed deeply. "I apologize most profoundly that such a useless creature as I has interrupted your sleep, but two hours ago there was an attempt on the life of Lord Maxwell."

He frowned. "Tell me."

She gave a succinct explanation, starting with the message from Teng and ending with her helping Maxwell back to his hong. She told everything except that the Englishman had discovered her true identity, and not only because Chenqua would be displeased. Speaking of that rare interval of honesty would destroy its magic.

After she finished, Chenqua asked, "Did you recognize any of the attackers?"

"One was Xun Kee, of the Red Dragon gang. I think they were all Red Dragons."

He stroked his beard. "Zhan Hu, the Red Dragon leader, would never condone such an attack-it must have been a private commission. I shall consult Zhan. Between us, we shall learn who hired these louts, and assure that they are suitably punished."

Troth felt a chill down her spine. Her identification had just condemned half a dozen men to torture and death. Though they undoubtedly deserved it, she was enough her father's child to deplore the ferocity of Chinese justice.

Chenqua continued, "You must protect Lord Maxwell until he leaves Canton. Stay close to him. Enlist Elliott's aid to achieve that if necessary-he will also be concerned for Maxwell's continued health."

Dismayed, she knelt before him. "Please, lord, choose another. I am not worthy of so great a responsibility."

"You saved him from six Red Dragons bent on murder. There are few men in Canton who could do as much, and none are in my employ."

Instead of accepting dismissal, she said, "Maxwell is more perceptive than most Fan-qui . I fear that if I spend much time with him, he may see through my disguise."

Chenqua gave her a faint, dry smile. "I have faith in your ability to deceive him."

She bowed again, then withdrew, weary to the bone from fatigue and the bruises she'd acquired in the fight. Though Maxwell and Chenqua had been impressed by her performance, she knew that it had largely been the element of surprise that enabled her to prevail against so many. She'd certainly taken her share of blows.

In her room, she undressed and donned a cotton robe, then released her hair and gazed into the mirror. The image that looked back at her was harsh and unattractive, but it was undeniably the face of a woman, not sexless Jin Kang.

Slowly she ran her fingers through her hair, loosening it into waves that fell to her waist. What about her had brought that intensity into Maxwell's gaze? Her sheer strangeness, probably. Yet for a moment she let herself believe it had been admiration. If nothing else, at least he had not been shocked by the fact that she was a mongrel.

Are you content with your life ? She turned from the mirror. Of course she was content. Only a fool yearned after the impossible.

Have you ever wished to visit your father's land ? Dear gods, how she had wished for that! For the first dozen years of her life she'd looked forward to the day when her father would take her to Scotland as his acknowledged daughter. She had not known then how doting a parent he was compared to most. In his eyes, she had been beautiful, and while his uncritical love had not prepared her for what others would think, she could not be sorry that she had been his beloved pet. If only he had not died…

Wishes could not change fate. She knelt before the small altar and lighted three joss sticks in honor of her father and mother. The scent of the burning sandalwood soothed her. She was fortunate to be part of a powerful household, to be educated in two languages from birth when many Chinese women could not even read or write, and to have the freedom to move around Canton. She would have gone mad if Chenqua had turned her into a maidservant who was never allowed to leave the compound.

But was this the life her father would have wanted for her? She watched the smoke spiral up from the glowing tips of the joss sticks. He would have been grateful that Chenqua had saved her from starvation- with her looks, she would not have been desirable as even the lowest kind of prostitute.

But Hugh Montgomery would not have been pleased to see his only daughter as a fraudulent clerk, ashamed to raise her head or look anyone in the eye. When she was small he'd told her bedtime stories of Mary, Queen of Scots, who'd led her men into battle with her long red hair flaring behind like a banner. He'd explained how in Britain women were forces to be reckoned with, not humble creatures with less value than even the least important man.

And he'd raised her to be a Christian who believed in heaven, and who had no need to make offerings to the dead so that they could survive in the shadow world.

Damn Maxwell ! It was his fault that she now remembered her childhood dreams of riding recklessly across Scottish moors, and arguing with men as an equal. Of being a woman and proud of it, rather than hiding her female garments like a shameful secret.