Mary Putney - The China Bride

Kyle pulled out his traveling pistol and cocked it, aiming it in the direction of the door as he raised his voice. "If we're trespassing on your property, please accept my deepest apologies. Allow us to go unharmed and we'll never bother you again."

"Aye, then," a thickly Scottish voice boomed across the courtyard. "Come ye out and ye can leave safely if ye swear ne'er to come back."

Troth frowned, thinking the voice familiar, but Kyle's face hardened like granite. "I don't trust you to let us walk away unharmed, Caleb Logan," he called back.

Her jaw dropped as she recognized the voice of her father's old partner. But why would he be here, trying to kill them?

"So you know it's me," Logan said jovially, reverting to his normal accent. "You guessed right, too-you willna leave Castle Doom alive. You took your time getting here, though. Scouse and I got bloody bored waiting for you to arrive."

"Damnation, Logan's the one who suggested bringing you here," Kyle said under his breath. "It was such a good idea that it never occurred to me that he was setting a trap. God only knows why he wants us dead. Do you know who Scouse is?"

Troth nodded. "One of Logan's sea captains. They say he's a vicious devil."

"A reliable ally for murder, in other words." Kyle scanned the empty shell of the keep that was both shelter and prison. Four stories tall and the largest of the ruined buildings, the keep was the eastern wing of a U-shaped series of structures, all roofless and of varying heights. The doorway through which they'd entered was the only opening on the ground floor. All other doors and windows were two or more stories up the walls. The builders of Castle Doom hadn't wanted enemies to be able to enter easily.

His gaze lingered on the lowest of the south-end windows. Two stories up, it overlooked the lower levels of the castle. Then he shook his head. "We could probably manage to climb up to that window and then down the outside of the keep, but once we reached the lower levels of the castle we'd be easy targets. If we climbed from the back of the keep and down the cliffs… Well, I'll try if there's no other choice, but the odds aren't good."

She was so terrified she could barely breathe, but she managed to keep her voice steady. "You're saying there's no way out, and it's just a matter of time until Logan or Scouse come into the keep and shoot us like rats."

"I'd risk the cliffs first, but I think there's a better way." He caught her gaze with his. "Christ, I hate suggesting this!"

"Whatever the best chance is, we try it. What are you thinking? "

"You're agile as a monkey and you can outfight any man I've ever seen." He made a gesture that encompassed the keep and the north end of the castle. "The ruins run around three sides of the courtyard, and they offer concealment for someone to circle around and reach the guardhouse from the back. If I keep Logan talking and distracted, do you think you can make your way through the ruins and attack them from behind? Kung fu is no help against a rifleman at a distance, but if you can reach them without being seen, we have a chance."

Dear gods, he trusted her enough to suggest such a thing! Calm descended, dissolving her initial panic. "I can do it."

"God bless you, my love." He gave her a swift, hard kiss. "Don't be shocked at anything I say. Now go."

Dropping her plaid so she'd be unencumbered, she ran the length of the keep as Kyle shouted, "You may have rifles, but I have a pistol. Whichever of you comes in here first is a dead man."

"I guessed you might be armed or we'd have been in there already. But we can outwait and outshoot you, so say your prayers, Maxwell."

"Since it's going to be a long wait, you might as well satisfy my curiosity. What the devil have I done that made you decide to kill me?"

"You came to China."

As the conversation echoed hollowly through the ruins, Troth surveyed the door opening two stories up the wall. The climb would be tricky, but the mortar that bound the stones had deteriorated with the years, leaving finger- and toeholds for someone who was light, agile, and desperate. Cautiously she began to climb.

After a lengthy pause, Kyle yelled, "I've racked my brain, but damned if I can remember anything I did that might have offended you this much. We hardly knew each other. If I've insulted your honor, I'd be happy to apologize, or settle the issue in a duel."

Logan gave a bark of laughter. "Affairs of honor are for you so-called gentlemen, not the likes of me. I'm just a lowborn merchant, so I go direct to what I want rather than making a game of death."

Troth reached the sill of the door and scrambled up into it, catching her breath as she evaluated her next step. The adjoining building was smaller and lower than the keep, and had no ground-level entrances at all. Her best bet would be to make her way over and up onto the building's back wall. She'd be able to move along the top quickly, then have only a short climb up to the top of the wall of the slightly higher building beyond.

She took a deep breath and swung from the door so that her face was pressed against the cold, damp stone. Though her nerves screamed for her to hurry, she made sure her new holds were secure before she released the old ones. Moving across a wall like a spider couldn't be rushed.

Again taking his time replying, Kyle called, "Resenting my birth isn't much of a reason, especially since I'm involved in trade myself. Can you honestly say I ever showed disrespect to you or any other Canton trader?"

"Maybe not," Logan said grudgingly. "But you won't soil your aristocratic hands on opium. When you take your seat in the House of Lords, you'll be in a position to damage our business, maybe destroy it altogether. A pity I didn't manage to get you killed in the Settlement."

Troth froze for a moment. So Logan was the Fan-qui who'd hired the assassins to attack Kyle! May demons eat his liver, and soon .

"You greatly overrate my potential power in Parliament."

"The fact that you've actually been to Canton and seen the trade close up will make all the difference," Logan spat out. "Your stinkin' fellow lords will believe your objections. Even some of the traders in Canton started saying that maybe you had a point. You're too damned persuasive."

Limbs shaking from effort, Troth reached the top of the back wall and hauled herself up. Then she made the mistake of looking down at the sheer drop of the crag below. If she fell…

She closed her eyes against waves of dizziness, reminding herself faintly that there was a rim of land below that she'd probably hit if she fell. Possible death rather than the sure doom of falling down the crag. Besides, there was no reason to fall; the walls of this old fortress were all several handspans wide, easy to walk along.

Most of all, she had to do this, or she and Kyle would both die here.

Head steady, she climbed to her feet and began walking along the wall as fast as she dared in the stiff wind. Storm clouds were approaching rapidly and rain would make the stones far more treacherous.

"I have a deal for you, Maxwell," Logan shouted. "I'd rather your body was found without bullet holes in it. If you throw down your pistol and come out, you can die in a nice quick fall off the cliff rather than gut-shot and howling with agony."

Kyle laughed as if they were discussing a minor wager rather than murder. "Either way I'm dead. What's the advantage of surrendering to you tamely?"

Troth reached the end of the second building. The roofless shell ahead of her was higher but not by much. Wind tearing at her garments, she clawed her way to the top of the third building and paused for another survey.

She'd reached the northwest corner and had a clear view of most of the courtyard. The building where she perched was right next to the guardhouse, with both buildings built out from the battlements. By looking down and to her right, she had a clear view of Logan and Scouse, who were lounging in the entrance to the guardhouse with their rifles.