“You exaggerate.”
“Do I?” She dropped her hands on her hips. “Do I understand that you are now royally engaged to a Chinese bride?”
“She’s abribe,and I don’t yet know if this is a ruse. It could be over the minute we get rid of the mandarin, but even so, I don’t like the appearance of accepting a bribe.” He shook his head. “Kimberly, they were going to kill her right before our eyes—”
“Max!”
“What?”
“We are not discussinghow this happened.I need to know how tomanage itbefore—”
The knocker sounded loud enough to reverberate back here in the library. Thetonwas arriving. They both stared at the door then back at each other.
“I need a plan of action,” she said.
“What plan?” he retorted. “I am to see the woman settled and get rid of the man. After that—”
Emmaline stuck her head into the library door. “Keep your voices down!” she hissed. Then she sent an apologetic look at Kimberly. “I am so sorry,” she said. “I cannot imagine how difficult this must be for you.”
Max snorted. “For her? I’m the one who is supposed to marry a stranger!”
“You’re an idiot,” Emmaline said to her brother before she turned back to Kimberly. “I’ll keep the biddies away for as long as I can. Mother will help after her restorative. You know how much she enjoys her upset nerves. She’ll likely make a dramatic entrance in twenty minutes or so. But after that—”
“I will endeavor to be quick,” Kimberly answered. “Thank you.” Then she turned to face Max. “Is it true? She’s an opium eater?”
He jolted. “Where did you hear that?”
She threw up her hands. “It’s what is said about all the Chinese.”
He winced. It could be true. Or more likely, Yihui was fighting horrendous pain from broken feet and may or may not have had opium to fight the agony. “I have only just met her. She told me they broke her feet.”
Kimberly appeared to absorb that information with a frown. “Have you sent for a doctor?”
“I have to get rid of the mandarin first. Otherwise, he’ll interfere with everything.”
She nodded. “Did you truly sit on a donkey cart with her?”
“I couldn’t very well leave her up there alone. She looked like she was headed for Tyburn.”
“Of course not,” she muttered, and he couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or genuine. “Exactly how direct was Prinny’s command?”
“Explicit.”
“And did he mean it?”
Max shrugged. “Maybe. I may be able to talk him out of it once I understand the particulars.” He rubbed his chin. “I need to speak with Lord Benedict. He’ll know the details of our relationship with China.”
Benedict was high up in the Foreign Office and Max’s unofficial superior. If anyone could help him out of this quagmire, it would be Benedict.
Meanwhile, Kimberly dismissed Lord Benedict with a wave of her hand. She’d never cared about the business of nations.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked.
He stared at her. “Kimberly, I don’t know that there’s anything to do. I’ve sent an urgent message to Lord Benedict. I’m doing my best to get rid of that toady mandarin. Yihui is upstairs alone as she wanted—”
Kimberly rolled her eyes. “Not that! The way I see it, I can either wait patiently by your side playing the wilting Ophelia until I drown myself for lack of attention—”
“Wilting what?”
