“Isn’t it lovely? Perry found it in a Maya tomb. He told me wonderful stories about—”
“How thoughtful of Perry,” Liam interrupted. “Unfortunately, I’m not staying.” He freed his arm from Caroline’s hold. “I’ll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, Perry will be coming with me, and I want you to go upstairs to your aunt. Is that clear?”
She pouted. She was very good at it; it would have worked on most men. “But Perry has only just arrived—”
“His visit is at an end,” Liam said. He strode back to the door and signaled to Biggs, who waited just outside. “Biggs, see that Miss Gresham goes upstairs and remains there.”
The butler bowed to Caroline. She cast Liam a look halfway between tears and outrage and flounced away, Biggs at her heels.
“That wasn’t well done of you, old man,” Perry remarked. “Somewhat boorish, at best, considering your abrupt entrance.”
Liam turned and met Perry’s gaze. “Worried?” he asked, advancing on the Englishman. “Can’t hide behind her skirts now, can you?” He wanted to charge at Perry, wipe the smirk off that pale, handsome face. But there were better ways of going about this—much better ways.
Perry retreated a step and stopped, raising his hands in appeasement. “I’m not hiding. I know why you’re here. But this is hardly the place to… hold the discussion you have in mind.”
“You’re right. That’s why you’re coming with me. There’s someone I want you to meet. Someone I found in the jungle.”
Perry didn’t react beyond the lifting of one well-groomed brow. “In your present mood, old man, I doubt you’ll do well at introductions.”
“In my present mood I have very little patience for your games. Either you come with me now, or I go upstairs and tell Caroline how you betrayed me in the jungle.”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
“No? You made certain to be with Caroline, alone, when I wasn’t here to prevent it. Unfortunately for you, I’ve returned, and I decide whether you ever see Caroline again.”
The easy indifference left Perry’s expression. “You don’t have that much power. She’s not your property—”
“Don’t underestimate me, Perry. You failed the last time.”
“Did I, old man?”
Liam bared his teeth. “The proof stands before you.”
But Perry didn’t take the bait. He was utterly coldblooded, relaxed, and elegant in his movements as he retrieved his hat and cane from the hall stand. He let Liam maneuver him out the front door and to the waiting brougham, revealing not so much as a single uneasy gesture to betray his guilt.
The air in the carriage was as thick with tension as the Bay with fog in high summer. Liam directed the driver back to the Palace, mollifying his banked rage with a long, hard stare at Perry’s impassive face. It was Perry who broke the silence first.
“If it’s an apology you want, old man, I’ll be happy to give it,” he said, shifting his cane between his hands. “I admit what I did in the jungle was hardly honorable.”
Hardly honorable? Liam almost laughed aloud. Was it so easy for Perry to dismiss an attempted murder? Or was it possible he thought Liam didn’t know who was behind it?
“I should never have abandoned you as I did,” Perry went on slowly. “I was angry, and not thinking clearly. I knew you could reach the nearest village with the provisions I left you, but—”
“Save your apologies,” Liam snapped, “until you’ve met my friend. You may find that things turned out a little differently than you expected.”
The carriage door opened. “The Palace Hotel, gentlemen,” the driver announced. Perry hesitated, gazing up at the towering bay windows.
“No need to be afraid, Perry,” Liam said behind him. “If I wanted you shanghaied, I wouldn’t have brought you here.”
Perry alighted, and Liam took his arm as companionably as if they were still the close friends they’d once been. They walked through the Grand Court and to the elevators; Perry hid it well, but Liam felt his tension.
Liam’s own tension mounted as they stopped before the door to Mac’s room.
Now he would know. Now he’d be sure how much Mac was tangled up in all this. He wondered why he wanted her exoneration.