Free Moonflower Madness by Margaret Pemberton Page A

her admission of fear.
    â€˜I can manage,’ she said stiffly. ‘I’ve managed quite well for two days now.’
    He took no notice of her, unsaddling Ben and slackening his bit, unbuckling an end of the rein and tying it to a nearby sapling so that he could graze.
    â€˜If you have, you’ve been lucky,’ he said curtly. ‘China isn’t a country where it’s safe for anyone to travel alone, not even a Chinese.’
    â€˜I think you’re wrong,’ she said coldly, trying not to remember the gang of beggars in Fu-tu Kwan who had almost pulled her from Ben’s back. ‘The Chinese are just as courteous and hospitable as anyone else.’
    His brow quirked and she looked away from him swiftly, hating the discomfiture he aroused in her.
    â€˜I quite agree with you that they are an amazingly courteous nation. They quite often carry hospitality to incredible lengths, but realities have to be faced and the reality is that the countryside is vast, poverty-stricken and infested with beggars and brigands.’
    What he was saying was true, but she had no intention of admitting it. Picking up the quilted cloth that had been on the saddle, she began to rub Ben down. He watched her silently for a minute or two and then said, his voice oddly gentle, ‘You have to go back, you know.’
    Her fingers tightened on the cloth. ‘I do not have to go back,’ she said fiercely, keeping her back to him. ‘If I go back I shall be sent to England and in England I shall have to live in a mausoleum of a house with no-one for company but servants.’
    â€˜Is that where you lived before you came to China?’ he asked, and there was genuine interest in his voice.
    â€˜Yes.’ She continued rubbing Ben down. ‘My aunt always travels with my uncle, and until a few months ago it was customary for Serena to remain in England in the care of her governess. When my parents died I was obliged to join her.’ She paused for a moment, stroking Ben’s neck, saying with touching candour, ‘Serena never minded the arrangement very much because she has never been used to anything else, but I hated it. The house is in Lincolnshire,’ she added, as if it explained everything.
    Zachary Cartwright’s unsmiling mouth twitched suspiciously at the corners. ‘Yes,’ he said sympathetically. ‘Lincolnshire must have been rather dull after Lake Garda.’
    All through their conversation she had had her back towards him. She was just about to turn to him and tell him confidingly how extremely dull Lincolnshire had been after Lake Garda, when she remembered to whom she was talking. Her chin lifted defiantly. ‘And so you see, Mr Cartwright, I shall not return to Chung King or to England. I am going to Kansu.’
    The moment of near-camaraderie was lost. His mouth hardened. ‘Not with me, you aren’t,’ he said with all his old fury.
    She swung around to him, facing him fully, refusing to be intimidated by his almost overpowering masculinity. ‘You are not the only member of the expedition to Kansu, Mr Cartwright. Lord Rendlesham may very well have other ideas.’
    The fire was some distance from them but, in the flickering light that it gave, her small high breasts were clearly defined beneath her jacket and her softly rounded hips were anything but male in the frugally cut Chinese trousers.
    â€˜Yes, and I can imagine what some of them are,’ he said darkly. ‘You are returning to Chung King tomorrow. I’m going to take you there myself.’
    Her eyes flashed furiously. ‘We’ll see about that,’ she said between clenched teeth, striding past him and back towards the circle of fire and Lord Rendlesham. She placed herself firmly in front of him.
    â€˜Lord Rendlesham … Charles … I am formally asking you that I may be allowed to join your expedition to Kansu. I can be very useful.’ She tried