The Tiger Prince (7 page)

“Robinson is only an overseer. Come just for an hour or so. Then you can go back to Kasanpore.”

He was silent a moment and then a smile lit his ruddy face with warmth. “You’re right. From now on I’ll be there every day until the job is done.” He studied her face. “You’re looking a bit ragged. Why don’t you stay in bed tomorrow and get some rest?”

“I’ll be fine after a night’s sleep.” She took another bite of rice. “But it really would help if you’d come with me tomorrow.”

He frowned. “Good God, you sound like a nagging fishwife. I said I’d come, didn’t I?”

“Sorry.” She finished the rice on her plate. “You’re not eating.”

“It’s too hot to eat.” He refilled his glass from the bottle on the table. “And even if I were hungry I couldn’t stomach this slop. I don’t see why you had to send Li Sung to Narinth. I haven’t had a decent meal since he left.”

She hurriedly glanced down at her plate. “Sula isn’t a bad cook. I needed someone in Narinth to make sure the work on the station was going well.”

“No one would pay any attention to the orders of a chink.” He flushed defiantly as he saw the expression on her face. “Well, they wouldn’t.”

“No more than they would a woman,” she agreed. “But he can watch and report if we’re being cheated by the subcontractor you hired to do the work.” She stood up and began to stack the dishes on the table. “Try to eat a little, or you’ll have a bad head in the morning.”

“Later.” Patrick lifted the glass to his lips and she knew he’d leave the meal untouched. “That friend of the prince’s came with the maharajah.”

She stiffened. “Pachtal?”

Patrick nodded. “Seems a pleasant enough fellow. He said to give you his regards.”

“Really?” She tried to make her tone noncommittal. “Did he say anything else?”

“No.” Patrick made a face. “The maharajah said it all. He wanted to know where his locomotive was and when we’d finish laying the track.”

“You told him the locomotive would arrive in a few days?”

“If the damn boat doesn’t sink to the bottom of the river with it,” Patrick said gloomily. “It would be just our luck. Nothing else has gone right on this job.” He brightened. “At least, he’ll be pleased with the locomotive. It’s going to sport so much brass, he’ll well nigh be blinded by it.”

Her gaze flew to his face. “How could we afford to do that? We barely had enough cash left to afford the engine itself.”

“I managed to cut a few corners.” Patrick didn’t look at her as he sipped his whiskey. “The maharajah likes a little flash and glitter, and we need to keep him sweet-tempered.”

“That’s true enough.” She stood looking at him, frowning. “What corners?”

He waved a vague hand. “I just eliminated a part here and there. Nothing important.”

“You’re sure?”

“I said so, didn’t I?” Patrick’s tone turned testy. “I’ve been a railroad man since I was a lad of fourteen, Jane. I think I know what I’m doing.”

“I just wanted to be—”

“It’s too hot in here.” Patrick pushed back his chair, stood up, and grabbed his glass and bottle. “I’m going out on the veranda, where it’s cooler.”

And where there were no troublesome questions to make him uncomfortable, Jane thought as she watched him walk toward the door leading to the screened veranda. His step was a little unsteady, but he wasn’t staggering, which meant he probably hadn’t been noticeably inebriated during his interview with the maharajah and Pachtal.

Pachtal. Both his presence and his message were obviously meant as a warning that she had not been forgotten by Abdar. During the past two weeks she had been scrupulously careful not to leave the encampment. Abdar must be seething with frustration, she mused. She smiled with grim satisfaction as she carried the dishes to the kitchen adjoining the dining room.

The tall, sari-clad servant woman was in the process of scraping bits of chicken into Sam’s bowl and straightened with a guilty smile as Jane entered the kitchen. “I know the dog is not supposed to be in here, but I thought only this once?”

“It’s all right, Sula. Just don’t let the sahib see him.”

Sula nodded. “The meal pleased you, memsahib?”

“Very good.” Jane gave her an abstracted smile as she set the dishes on the countertop. She then bent and patted the dog’s silky head. Perhaps she shouldn’t be so
complacent about Pachtal’s visit, when it might have signaled the end of the waiting game Abdar had been playing. She had meant to visit Zabrie before this and ask her to set up a way for Kartauk to leave the city, but the pressure of work had caused her to ignore everything but the laying of the track. She should really go see the woman tonight.

No, not tonight. She could feel the cold lethargy of exhaustion dragging at every limb. Why did she care anyway? Li Sung was right; Kartauk was using her as much as she had used him. But it made no difference; she did care. She had never been able to bear the idea of cruelty to the helpless—though the idea of Kartauk being helpless was ironic. Yet while Abdar held the power in Kasanpore, Kartauk was without—

Dear heaven, her mind must be as weary as her body to meander like this. She would wash up and go to bed and try not to think of Abdar, his father, Kartauk, or the monumental pressure of the work waiting for her tomorrow.

As she crossed the living room on the way to her bedroom she heard Patrick humming to himself on the veranda. For a moment she felt a flicker of fierce resentment. He was happily drowning his worries in his bottle of whiskey, leaving her to solve their problems.

“Jane?” Patrick called.

She stopped but did not turn toward the veranda. “Yes?”

“I meant it about you staying in bed tomorrow.” His tone was soft, caressing, almost affectionate. “We can’t have you falling ill again. Whatever would I do without you?”

Jane’s resentment vanished. He
did
care about her and God knows he needed her. “I won’t be ill. I’m just a little tired.”

“Well, take care of yourself.”

Easy to say but almost impossible to do when the work never ended, she thought ruefully. “I will.” She started quickly toward the bedroom door again, but a little of the lethargy and discouragement had dissipated
in the surge of warmth she had felt for Patrick. He might use her, as Li Sung claimed, but he had rescued them both from Frenchie’s and given them freedom and a roof over their heads. For that alone she would always be passionately grateful.

She lit the oil lamp on the table beside her narrow mosquito-net-draped bed and started to unbutton her loose shirt. She felt better now and would feel still better when she had washed away some of the sweat and dirt of the day. It would be foolish to put off going to see Zabrie when Abdar was clearly becoming an active danger again. The bath would revive her. Then she would be restored enough to set out for the city and deal with Zabrie.

“What is this place?” Ian whispered, peering at the large two-story sod house across the street.

Ruel’s gaze never left the doorway through which Jane Barnaby had just passed as he answered. “Zabrie’s. The Kasanpore version of a house of ill repute. Not exactly the kind of place a respectable lady visits.”

“Zabrie … ah, yes, Abdar mentioned the place, didn’t he?” Ian frowned. “Abdar could have lied about its purpose.”

“He didn’t.”

“How do you know?”

“I spent two nights here last week.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

Ruel murmured, “I’m hardly accustomed to consulting with
anyone
when I visit a whorehouse.”

“I don’t suppose you found out anything about Kartauk?”

“No, I could hardly go from whore to whore asking questions.”

“Then why did you come here?”

“Before you dig for a rich vein you have to survey the claim,” Ruel said. “And this particular survey was not without its pleasures. Zabrie is an ardent student of the Kama Sutra.”

“What’s that?”

“The eighty-eight positions of pleasure.”

“Heathen debauchery.” Ian was silent a moment before he was unable to restrain his curiosity. “How many did you try?”

Ruel chuckled. “Six. What else could you expect when I paid the lady only two visits?” His smile faded as his gaze went back to the house. “I wonder how well versed our Miss Barnaby is in the joys of Kama Sutra. It seems you were wrong about her.”

“Not necessarily. Perhaps this is where Kartauk is hiding.”

“Perhaps.” Ruel smiled. “But not likely.” “Why not?”

“Abdar knew she came here, and I doubt if he would have neglected to search the place. No, it’s more reasonable she’s missing her lover, needed an outlet for her appetites, and chose to make herself available. Zabrie told me a few of the so-called prim and proper wives of the officers of the fort come here on occasion. She furnishes them with fanciful masks and a dimly lit room, and a diverting time is had by all.” He kept his tone deliberately light to cover the chaotic mixture of outrage, satisfaction, and disappointment he was experiencing as he thought about Jane Barnaby lying naked in one of those dusky rooms. Satisfaction that he had been right and she was fair prey, outrage somehow connected with the sense of possession he had been fighting. As for the disappointment … Enough of this soul-searching, he thought impatiently. He started across the street.

“Where are you going?”

“Why, to offer my services.” He smiled recklessly over his shoulder. “I’m tired of watching and waiting. It’s time I took a more personal interest in the lady.”

“You’re going to ask Zabrie to send her to you?”

“Not by name. It’s not necessary. I doubt if there will be more than one white woman at Zabrie’s tonight.”

“Wait. I’ll go with you.”

“And sacrifice your chastity for my benefit?” Ruel
asked mockingly. “I wouldn’t even consider it. Maggie would never forgive me.”

“Margaret,” Ian corrected him. “And I have no intention of indulging my carnal urges.”

“I was joking.” Ruel gazed at his brother curiously. “You’ve been affianced to her since she was a lass of sixteen. You’re saying you’re still faithful to her after all these years of waiting?”

“Of course.”

“There’s no ‘of course’ about it. I’m not sure you weren’t destined for the priesthood.” He smiled. “And a priest would stick out at Zabrie’s like the proverbial sore thumb. Stay here and wait for me.”

“You are not welcome here.” Zabrie scowled at Jane across the room. “You have brought me too much trouble.”

“I’ve also given you a substantial amount of rupees to lighten those troubles.”

“True.” Zabrie’s scowl vanished as she turned back to look at herself in the mirror of her vanity. “And it pleases me to make things difficult for His Highness. I suppose you may sit down while I prepare myself for the evening.”

Jane sat down on the satin-cushioned divan. “Has Abdar been back since he searched the house?”

Zabrie shook her head. “I told him you came only to make yourself available to my clients.” She smiled slyly. “I said it was the only way you could enjoy yourself without exposing yourself to shame. Was that not clever of me?”

“Very clever.” Jane came across the room and seated herself in the chair beside the table. “We must talk.”

“Li Sung?” Zabrie straightened warily. “He has complained?”

“No, on the contrary, he visits you too often.”

“Because I am very, very good.” Zabrie smiled complacently as she dipped her brush into the pot of kohl on the vanity. “After all, is that not why you came to me?”

“Tell him you can’t see him so often. It’s dangerous for him to come here now.”

“Very well.” She carefully drew a line around her left eye. “The fee will be the same, however.”

Jane nodded. “I didn’t expect anything else, but make up a good excuse. I won’t have him hurt.”

Zabrie drew a line around the other eye. “He thinks he is a fine lover. He wouldn’t believe anything else now.” She looked up with a satisfied smile. “I have done well with him. Is that all?”

Jane shook her head. “Kartauk.”

Zabrie’s smile faded. “It’s too dangerous.”

“You said Pachtal and His Highness hadn’t been back.”

“That does not mean I am not watched.” Zabrie painted her lips vermilion. “You will have to think of another way of getting him out of Kasanpore. I will not risk bringing His Highness’s anger down on my head.”

“I thought you enjoyed the thought of foiling Abdar.”

“On a small scale. But he gains more power every day and it will soon be too dangerous to displease His Highness.”

“It’s not a danger if—”

“I beg pardon to interrupt.” The same doe-eyed young girl who had brought Jane to Zabrie’s chamber stood in the doorway. “But there is a man here, Zabrie. You said—”

“I’m busy, Lenar. Give him another woman.”

“But you told me to tell you when he came back.”

Zabrie turned quickly to look at the girl. “It’s the Scot?”

The girl nodded. “He says he’s in the mood for something different. He wants a white woman….”

“Oh, does he?” A tiny smile touched Zabrie’s lips. “I believe I might have to change his mind.” She nodded to a door across the dressing room. “Take him to the chamber next door and get him settled. Tell him I’ll be with him in a few moments.” As the girl left the room she turned to Jane. “You’ll have to leave. I have a customer.”

“I’m also a customer. Let him wait.”

Zabrie smiled as she picked up her silver-backed brush and began to run it through her long dark hair. “But I don’t want him to wait. He is … unusual. A challenge. I’ve never before met a Westerner who had the knowledge and experience to dominate me. At times I was not sure whether I was really in control.”

“You have British blood, that makes you half a Westerner yourself.”

Zabrie’s vermilion lips thinned. “The British officers who come here to use me would not agree. They see only an alien with dark skin that excites them and they condescend to try me.” She stood up and straightened the flowing saffron-colored drapings of her gown. “And once they’ve had me,
I
have them.”

“You hate them?”

“I do not like them any more than I like my own people who consider me untouchable because of my mongrel birth. However, it does not matter. Soon I will be so rich I will not need either of them.” Zabrie smiled mockingly at Jane in the mirror. “We are both outcasts in our fashion, are we not? You come here in your men’s clothes, sometimes so weary you can scarcely stand. There is a simpler life than the one you lead. Why not give up that foolish railroad and come here and let me show you where the easy riches lie?”