“Thanks,” she said slowly. “As a matter of fact, I think there is something you could help me with. I need to find out where someone lives. My, uh, cousin—Peregrine Sinclair.”
Ah. The waiter obviously recognized the name, though his face didn’t exactly light up at the mention of it. “May I ask why, ma’am?”
Strange question from a hotel employee, but she’d have to play along. “Well, I’m a… stranger in town, and I was hoping to pay him a visit this evening. I seem to have lost his address.”
Abruptly the young man pushed the food cart into the room and backed away, casting an uneasy glance over his shoulder. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he muttered. “I can’t help you.”
She squeezed past the cart and started to follow him out the door. “Maybe you could find someone who can—”
But he was already retreating, and another person had stepped into his vacant place. Mac looked up—and up—at a rather large man in a gray suit who blocked her path as effectively as a locked door.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
The bruiser removed his hat. “I’m sorry, miss,” he said. “Mr. O’Shea said you were to remain in your room.”
Two and two came together fairly quickly in Mac’s brain. “There must be some mistake.”
He looked her up and down, much as the waiter had done, and his expression was just as dubious. “I have orders. Mr. O’Shea said you’d be safer here, until he comes back.”
Mr. O’Shea said, and apparently his word was law. This was Liam’s city, and she didn’t have the slightest idea how far his wealth—and his influence—might reach.
Far enough, evidently, to hire a thug to guard her door and make sure she didn’t escape. “So Mr. O’Shea wants to keep me safe, does he?” she muttered.
The guard shrugged and replaced his hat. “You’re to be comfortable, miss. You can have anything else you want.”
Anything but freedom. So much for Liam’s generous impulses. “I don’t suppose you have any Coke machines, do you?”
But any petty satisfaction at the guard’s momentary confusion didn’t make her feel better. He stepped forward, herding her back into the room, and gripped the doorknob.
“If you need anything, miss, I’ll be right outside. Enjoy your meal.” He closed the door firmly, if gently, in her face.
Mac turned from the door and bumped into the food cart. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that her last meal had been scanty and many hours ago. Well, she had to eat, if only to keep up her strength.
The dishes under their silver covers were recognizable enough: some kind of meat in a rich sauce, a salad, soup, potatoes, vegetables, shellfish, and a small decanter of what smelled like wine. The latter was particularly tempting, but she passed on it. A clear head was what she needed now.
The one thing she was sure of was that Liam was coming back. And when he did, there was going to be a reckoning.
Chapter Eleven
The strongest of all warriors
are these two—
Time and Patience.
—Leo Tolstoi
THE LATE AFTERNOON air was clear and crisp, with no hint of fog: a perfect autumn day, and still quiet on Nob Hill while its inhabitants completed their business in bank and office and began the serious pursuit of drink and pleasure in the bars and hotels along the Cocktail Route.
Liam hardly noticed. The beauty of the evening meant nothing to him; he was not thinking of the business colleagues and acquaintances he might have joined in their endless rounds of libations.
He was trying not to think of Mac, who was safely sequestered in her room at the Palace and, unless he missed his guess, was even now realizing she couldn’t leave. There’d be time enough to attend to her when Perry was dealt with.
Perry, who at this very moment was courting Caroline. Liam had been a fool to think Perry would be lounging about in his rooms on Market for a single precious second.
Liam leaned forward in his seat as the brougham rounded the corner onto California Street. He’d been waiting for this ever since Mac had given him the proof of Perry’s treachery. For weeks he’d been patient; the sea voyage had been worst, for he’d had little to occupy his mind but thoughts of the coming confrontation and what he was going to do with Mac.