The Tiger Prince (3 page)

“In a hole like this you cling to the people you can trust.”

“I assume you’re bedding her? She did try to take that machete for you.”

Ruel smiled with genuine amusement. “I admit I have a certain talent in that direction, but even my conceit won’t permit me to think a woman would risk being beheaded by a machete to keep me between her legs.”

He deliberately changed the subject. “But she’ll keep an eye on me until I’m better. You don’t have to stay.”

“Are you sure you won’t have something to eat? It will strengthen you and I’d like to be able to travel in a fortnight.”

“I’m not going with you.”

“Of course you are. What do you have here? Mila tells me Barak has recovered and taken over your claim.”

“Son of a bitch,” Ruel muttered.

“Probably.” Ian grimaced. “But I admit to being glad he occupied himself stealing from you instead of wreaking vengeance on me.”

“You should have thought of that before you interfered.”

“Possibly.” He smiled faintly. “Particularly as you weren’t able to fight my battle for me as you did when we were boys.”

“You were never merciless enough. You could have bested anyone in the glen, but you never learned to go for the jugular. You can’t let anyone—”

Ian interrupted. “I suppose the minute you’re on your feet you’re going to go after Barak and try to retrieve your property?”

Ruel thought about it. “No.”

“Very sensible.” Ian tilted his head to study Ruel’s expression. “But not at all like you. As I remember, you always believed in taking an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

“Oh, I still do,” Ruel said. “But these days, when the issue isn’t important, I sometimes let fate exact vengeance for me.”

“Which means?”

“The claim here was played out a week ago.” He smiled with supreme satisfaction. “I’m going to enjoy thinking about that bastard breaking his back working that claim and getting no more than a pouch of gold dust for his trouble.”

“I see.” Ian paused. “Then your gold mine was another failure like Jaylenburg?”

Ruel stiffened. “What do you know about Jaylenburg?”

“Just that you staked a claim, stayed there for six months, and moved on.” Ian dipped the cloth again and wrung it out. “You’ve moved on a good deal. Australia, California, South Africa …”

“You seem very knowledgeable.”

“Not really. I paid a young man to find you, but he always managed to just miss you until Krugerville.” He shook his head as he laid the cloth on Ruel’s forehead. “You’re not a boy any longer. You can’t chase rainbows for the rest of your life.”

“I’ve never chased rainbows.” Ruel smiled faintly. “I was always after the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, never the rainbow itself.”

“Gold.” Ian pulled a face. “You always told me that you’d find your gold mine and become the richest man in Scotland.”

“And I will.”

“You ran away from Glenclaren when you were only fifteen and haven’t found it yet.” “How do you know?”

Ian glanced around the crudely furnished hut and then up at the cracks in the ceiling. “If you did, you’ve become more miserly than old Angus MacDonald.”

Ruel found his smile widening. “And how is the charming Maggie MacDonald? Did you ever wed?”

Ian shook his head. “You know Margaret has her duty to her father. She will not wed while he needs her by his sickbed.”

“Still? Good God, at this rate you won’t be wed until you’re both doddering on the grave.”

“It will happen as God wills.” Ian changed the subject. “What is Cinnidar?”

Ruel stiffened, his gaze flying to Ian’s face. “Cinnidar?”

“It seems to be on your mind. You kept repeating it while you had the fever.”

“Anything else?”

“No, just the one word … Cinnidar.”

Ruel relaxed. “It’s not important. Just a place I visited once.”

“You’ve visited too many places. It’s time you came home and put down roots.” He paused. “Father’s dead.”

“I know. I got your letter.”

“You didn’t answer it.”

“There was no point. He had stopped being important to me years ago.” He added, “So had Glenclaren.”

“And me?”

“You were Glenclaren.”

“I cannot deny that.” Ian smiled. “I love every pond, stone, and moth-eaten tapestry of the old place.”

“Then go back there.”

Ian shook his head. “Not without you.” He looked down at the floor, and the next words came awkwardly. “It was not because I did not have love for you that I didn’t come after you while Father was alive. I knew he was wrong and treated you badly. It just seemed … difficult. I have always regretted that—”

“Guilt?” Ruel shook his head. “For God’s sake, I knew you always walked a fine line between the two of us. I didn’t expect anything of you.”

“I expected it of myself.”

For an instant Ruel felt a rush of warmth as he looked at Ian. Affection? God, he had thought those gentler feelings had been burned out of him years before. Affection was dangerous, and it was far safer to skate on the surface of emotion than plunge into that quagmire. He said deliberately, “But then, you always were a fool.”

“Aye.” Ian smiled gently. “But foolishness or not, I mean to give you back your place at Glenclaren.”

Ruel stared at Ian with exasperation mixed with helplessness. Ian had always felt guilty about their father’s treatment of Ruel, and now it seemed he was determined to put things right. Ruel was too familiar with his brother’s dogged obstinacy not to realize Ian, once set on a course, would not give up. “Why should I go back? There’s nothing I want there.” He could see no softening in the resolution hardening Ian’s features, and for
the first time realized Ian might actually become a problem. Christ, he had a hell of a lot to do in the next few months, and he didn’t need Ian plodding behind him, trying to lure him away from his goal. “Dammit, I don’t want you here.”

“Unfortunate.”

“You’ll get in my way.”

“Only until we board the ship. I’ll leave you alone once we’re on our way home.”

“I’m not going to Glenclaren. When I’m well enough to travel I’m going to Kasanpore.”

“Not to this Cinnidar?”

“Let’s say Kasanpore is a way station on the way to Cinnidar.”

Ian frowned. “I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of this Kasanpore.”

“India. The city of Kasanpore is the primary residence of the province ruled by the Maharajah of Savit-sar.”

Ian shook his head. “You’ll be much better off at Glenclaren than traipsing off to another heathen country.”

“I’m going to Kasanpore,” Ruel said through his teeth.

Ian gazed at him for a moment before sighing in resignation. “You have sufficient funds for this journey?”

“The claim produced exceptionally well for over three months. After I give a small nest egg to Mila, I’ll still have enough for my purposes.”

“Good, then you can afford my company. Unfortunately, Glenclaren is still as land-rich and pound-poor as it was when you were there. I’ll go with you and wait until you tire of this foolishness.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I’ll wait some more.”

“Ian, dammit, I have something important to do in Kasanpore. I don’t have time to—”

“God will provide the time,” Ian said tranquilly as he stood up and moved toward the stove. “But you can tell me all about your business in Kasanpore later. I’ll get
you a bowl of stew and you must stop this arguing and eat. As I said, you’ll need your strength for the journey.”

Kasanpore, India
May 6, 1876    

“A good evening to you, Miss Barnaby. Has no one told you that foreign ladies should not be in this section of town after dark without protection?”

The tone was low, smooth, but an underlying menace darkened the words. Jane’s heart lurched and then sped to breakneck pace as she glanced over her shoulder. Only a few yards behind her she saw Prince Abdar and the beautiful young man, Pachtal, who had accompanied him when he had come to question her at the site. Dear God, she had thought she was being so careful, and yet tonight she hadn’t even realized she was being followed!

She responded instinctively, breaking into a run, flying down the dark, deserted street.

It was too late. They’d been too close. Before she reached the corner, a powerful hand gripped her shoulder and spun her around.

Abdar stood before her. His handsome young companion moved behind her and grabbed her arms, forcing her to drop the knapsack she carried as he pulled both her arms up behind her.

“It’s not courteous to run away when I wish to speak to you,” Abdar said as he set the lantern he carried down on the ground. “I think we must chastise her for that discourtesy, Pachtal.”

Jane bit her lower lip to keep back a scream of agony as Pachtal lifted her left arm and twisted it. Prince Abdar’s smooth, childlike face framed beneath the white turban swam through the tears stinging her eyes.

“You were most uncommunicative when we had our little discussion a few days ago. I thought it best we have a more private interview. Now, where is Kartauk?”

“I don’t know any Kar—” She broke off as her arm was thrust still higher.

“You can see Pachtal is growing impatient,” Abdar said softly. “He prefers the joys of the palace and was not at all amused to spend these last three evenings trying to follow you. Particularly when his efforts proved of no avail.”

She tried desperately to think of a way to reach the dagger sheathed in her boot. “Which should have proved to him I can’t give you what you wish.”

“It proved only that you know our bazaar quite well for a foreigner and can be very elusive. Where is he?”

“I don’t know. I told you—” She gasped as Pachtal thrust her arm higher, at the same time giving it a sharp twist that sent another bolt of agony through her. The flame of the lantern in Abdar’s hand seemed to waver and dim. Why, she was going to faint, she realized with a dim sense of outrage. No! She had never fainted in her life, and this bastard would not be the one to make her start.

“Again,” Abdar ordered the man behind her.

For a long moment, Jane’s whole world was pain.

“Why are you so stubborn?” Abdar asked. “You will tell me anyway. You are only a woman and too weak and stupid to resist for long.”

Even through the haze of anguish she felt a vague sense of resentment at his words. Though she had been stupid not to realize she had been followed from the bungalow, she was not weak.

“Why suffer like this? What is Kartauk to you?” Pachtal whispered in her ear as his grip tightened on her forearms. “You’ve gotten what you want from him. Now give him back to His Highness.”

“I don’t know any Kartauk.”

“Is he your lover?” Pachtal whispered. “His Highness believes he must give you great pleasure for you to risk so much. But you will have to give him up. His Highness has need of him.”

Abdar’s well-shaped hand reached out and cupped her breast through her cotton shirt. “You are not uncomely
and will find another man to please you. I would not even be averse to letting you come to my couch.”

She wondered what he would do if she spat in his blank, childlike face.

The prince leisurely studied her features. “Yes, she is not all bad. The cheekbones are too high, but the mouth is quite lovely. Let’s have a look at her body, Pachtal” He unbuttoned the loose shirt and spread the edges back to reveal her breasts. “Ah, those grotesque mannish garments hide treasures. You are so thin, I would never have guessed these would be so beautifully full.” He cupped her naked breasts, weighing them as if they were melons. “She reminds me a little of Mirad, Pachtal”

“Let—me—go,” she said through her teeth.

“Very nice.” Pachtal ignored her command as he drew closer and peered over her shoulder at Abdar’s hands cradling her breasts. “It’s difficult to tell in this light, but the nipples are rosier, I think. Mirad’s were like huge purple grapes.”

She started to struggle.

“No!” Pachtal’s grip tightened with bruising force on her arms. “You will not refuse His Highness when he honors you with his touch.”

“I have never had a foreign woman in my bed. I believe you could amuse me for quite a long time.” Abdar smiled as he brought her single thick braid over her shoulder and quickly unfastened it. “Of course, these hideous trousers and shirt will not be permitted. I will have you perfumed and given proper womanly garments.” He ran his fingers through her loosened hair that now flowed halfway down her back in a wild stream. “Dark red. It looked closer to brown when in the braid. Interesting.” His hands returned to her breasts as his voice lowered to honey softness. “I would like to see you bound naked and helpless in my bedchamber at the palace. And why not? No one would ever know if I decided to take you back to my palace and teach you the submission due me.”

A chill went through her as she remembered the tales Kartauk had told her of Abdar. “I’m not one of your
subjects. I would be missed. Your father will not permit this.”

Abdar raised his brows. “He will not object to my amusing myself. Women have little value for my father.”

She had no argument to give him on that score. In his own way, the maharajah was as arrogant and self-serving as his son. She said quickly, “But his railroad does have value for him. And my father needs my help to complete the railroad.”

“I have observed that you seem to aid him. Perhaps I will reconsider.” He lifted his gaze to meet her own. “If you give me your lover, Kartauk.”

The combination of pain and revulsion at his touch was making her stomach churn. “I don’t know any Kartauk.”

He nodded at Pachtal, and she had to grit her teeth to keep from crying out as another agonizing pain shot through her.

“You’re beginning to anger me. I have waited too long already, and I want Kartauk tonight. Now, tell me the truth.”

She tried to block out the pain and panic and think. Obviously it would be useless to continue to deny any knowledge of Kartauk. Abdar would continue to torture her until he got what he wanted. “Very well. What do you want to know?”

“That is sensible. You admit you know Kartauk?”

She nodded jerkily.

He nodded to the man behind her and she was suddenly released. “Better and better. You see how we reward cooperation? We have no desire to cause you discomfort.”