The Tiger Prince (20 page)

Jane’s plaited hair shone deep red in the firelight, and an odd tingling started in his fingertips. He wanted to
loosen the heavy braid, comb his fingers through the silken mass until it flowed wildly about her shoulders. He wanted to see her as naked and abandoned as she had been beneath him on the floor of the railway car. A surge of heat tore through him as he readied, thickening until he ached with the weight of it.

She stiffened and he knew she was aware he was watching her. She kept her gaze fixed on the cards in her hand but she knew, dammit. She reached up nervously to smooth a tendril of hair back from her temple, and the sleeve of her shirt fell back, revealing the smooth symmetry of her forearm. Another bolt of heat wrenched through him, bringing anger and frustration in its wake. All right, he would somehow keep himself from raping her, but he would not be alone in this. Look at me, he willed her. See what I’m feeling. Admit what we’re feeling.

She darted him a flickering glance from the corner of her eye. Her spine went rigid as she met his gaze. Oh yes, she knew, he thought grimly. Her eyes widened and then her head snapped back around and she was once more staring down at her cards, deliberately ignoring him again.

He wished he could do the same. Christ, why the hell couldn’t he look away from her?

“Yes, she’s much safer believing you’re Lucifer incarnate,” Kartauk murmured. “It’s getting worse, isn’t it?”

Ruel jerked his gaze away from Jane. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Kartauk smiled. “I mean that if I were doing a full statue instead of a head, I might be forced to employ an extraordinary multitude of fig leaves to mask a certain portion of your anatomy.”

Ruel carefully kept himself from glancing back at Jane. “Then it’s fortunate you’ve confined yourself to a limited area.”

“Particularly since the transformation occurs so frequently. At first I wondered if I should send her away.” His attention returned to the statue. “The signs of desire
aren’t confined only to the nether parts, you know. The jaw tightens, the nostrils flare slightly, the mouth—”

“I regret to have caused you artistic difficulties.”

“Oh, no difficulty. I would not have permitted that to happen. Actually, your lust gave the work an added shading of primitive beauty.”

“And, of course, that’s worth any amount of discomfort I might experience.”

“Any discomfort,” Kartauk agreed.

Ruel shifted restlessly on the stone block on which he was sitting. “When will you be finished with that blasted head?”

“Tomorrow.” Kartauk added wistfully, “It’s quite wonderful, one of the best pieces I’ve ever done. I’m truly magnificent. If I only had—”

“Gold.” Ruel chuckled. “I’m beginning to think your passion may be even greater than mine.”

“I have no doubt it is. To me, gold means beauty, to you, power; but beauty always triumphs in the end. Kings fall, empires fade, but art and beauty endure.” He paused and then sighed. “I suppose you wish your reward?”

“It seems a small price to ask for contributing to your greater glory.”

“Do I discern a note of disrespect?”

“You wouldn’t recognize it if you did.”

Kartauk’s laugh boomed out. “I would recognize it. I’d just lose faith in your judgment.” He went back to work. “Toys.”

“What?”

“Send the maharajah a toy.”

Ruel gazed at him blankly. “What kind of toy?”

“A child’s toy. Trust me.”

“I’m to give one of the wealthiest maharajahs in India a child’s toy?”

“He is a child. That’s the whole point of the matter. How do you think I survived his eccentricities for six years? He would have driven me mad if I hadn’t learned how to distract him when I needed to send him off in another direction.” Kartauk saw Ruel’s doubtful expression
and continued impatiently. “It’s true. The maharajah has the mind of a child. The Savitsars are Hindu and have adhered strictly to the caste system for hundreds of years. Since there are not that many choices in the upper castes, they’ve been forced to inbreed. It’s no wonder the maharajah and Abdar’s minds are not what they should be.”

“Abdar doesn’t have the mind of a child.”

“No.” He smiled sardonically. “But I assure you, there is no one more twisted.”

“Toys … you make it sound simple.”

“Not simple, but possible. Go to Namir on the Street of the Palms, a brilliant craftsman. Tell him to sell you a toy like the ones he occasionally made for Kartauk. Maybe something with an elephant. The maharajah’s mad about elephants.”

Was it possible Kartauk was right about the maharajah? Eagerness began to surge through Ruel as he remembered what he had heard about the monarch’s unreasonable demands, his tantrums and idiosyncracies.

He’s not interested in anything but his toy of a railroad.

He likes a bit of flash.

Everything he had heard about the maharajah substantiated Kartauk’s claim. The maharajah’s self-indulgent behavior and unreasonable demands could certainly have been that of a child.

“Why isn’t anyone else aware of this?”

“Perhaps they are, but it’s not wise to question the sanity of a ruler who has the power of life and death. It’s safer to assume he’s merely spoiled than feeble-minded. Besides, not everyone has my great powers of perception.”

“If I do send the maharajah a toy, what guarantee will I have he won’t merely accept it and then forget I exist?”

“No guarantee. I gave you the key, it’s your task to unlock the door. I’ll be interested to see how you accomplish
it.” He scowled. “And stop frowning. I knew I should have waited until tomorrow to tell you. Now you’ll be plotting and planning and I’ll have a much harder time getting the forehead right.”

’ve decided the toy has to be in two parts,” Ruel told Ian. “I owe one more day to Kartauk, so will you go to see this Namir tomorrow? I want one of the figures of the toy to be a maharajah, the other an elephant. Tell him he may use his own judgment for the rest as long as the first part of the toy is fascinating enough to intrigue and yet still whet the appetite for the second half.”

“Quite a challenge. How much time will he have?”

“Three days. The tracks are due to be joined in another six, and I don’t want excitement over the
completion of the maharajah’s big toy to distract from his interest in this one.”

“Isn’t it dangerous to withhold something he wants from the maharajah?”

“Probably, but I’m counting on him wanting the other half of the toy more than feeding me to the crocodiles. Besides, he likes the British and I’ll make sure to involve Colonel Pickering in the final negotiations.”

Ian nodded. “Very well, I’ll go see Namir in the morning. I imagine you’ll have to pay him fairly well.”

“Anything he wants. Who knows? I may not have to pay the maharajah as much as I thought for Cinnidar. Kartauk had some interesting insights into his character.”

“You like Kartauk?”

“He’s a keen judge of character. I don’t have to like him to appreciate his astuteness.”

“But you do like him?” Ian persisted.

“Ian, dammit, I told you—yes, I like him.”

“Good. And you like this Li Sung?”

“Well enough.” He scowled. “All right, I’m positively brimming with warm and felicitous feelings. Satisfied?”

“Oh, yes, things are going quite nicely.”

“I wouldn’t have thought you’d be so overjoyed at the prospect of my possible success with the maharajah. If I persuade him to sell me Cinnidar, you know I won’t go back to Glenclaren.”

“If Cinnidar is best for you, then that’s what I want.” Ian smiled gently. “Lately I’ve begun to suspect there’s more than gold waiting for you on Cinnidar. I’m not sure it’s even the gold you really want. You need roots and a home that you’ll love as much as I love Glenclaren. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you, Ruel.”

Christ, Ruel felt as if something hard and tight were breaking up inside him as he looked at his brother. He wanted to reach out and touch him, clap him affectionately on the shoulder as he had done when they were boys together. Everything seemed to be shifting, changing around him since he had come to Kasanpore.

Or was Ian right and it was Ruel who was changing?

No, he couldn’t accept that the lessons of a lifetime could be so easily discarded. He may have allowed Jane and Ian to touch him on a certain level, but once he had paid his debt he’d be able to dismiss them from his thoughts and go about his own business.

“I’m glad you’re not disappointed,” he said in a reserved tone. “Good night, Ian.”

Ian smiled again. “Good night, Ruel.”

“In four more days we’ll be joining the rails,” Patrick said. “Lord, and it’s about time. I’ll be glad to see the last of this foul country. This last week has almost killed me.”

“I could come tomorrow and help you,” Jane offered.

“I wouldn’t think of it,” Patrick said. “You just stay here and let me do the work for a change.” He stood up and stretched. “I’ve got to get to bed. I’d forgotten how tired a man gets working the rails.”

“But I really want to help, Patrick,” she said eagerly. “Remember how it was in the beginning when we worked together in Salisbury?”

“You’ve done your share. Now let me do mine.”

She was disappointed but reluctantly decided not to insist. Patrick had cut his drinking down to less than a quarter of a bottle a day since he had taken over the site from her. If it was responsibility that had made this change in him, she would be foolish to rob him of it. “Well, if you change your mind—” She paused and then said casually, “Since you won’t let me help with the construction, I hope you won’t mind if I make the trial run to Narinth?”

“Why should I mind?” Patrick yawned. “I’ll be glad to stay home and rest my bones after the last week. I’ve got to take the maharajah and all those highbrow nabobs to Narinth the next day, and he’ll probably find a hundred things wrong.”

She hadn’t expected any other answer but still felt
relieved. “Then it’s settled. I’ll bring Li Sung from Narinth to engineer and I’ll ride the fireman seat.”

“Whatever you like.” Patrick moved toward the bedroom. “It’s about time Li Sung came back and did some real work for a change. I bet he’s not out in the rain working the rails.” He glanced back over his shoulder. “And I noticed our friend MacClaren quit us the minute the rains started. I keep telling him I’m the only one who has the gumption to put up with this foul weather.”

“You do? When did you last see him?” she asked with careful casualness.

“Oh, he drops in at the site every day or so for a cup of coffee or a word.”

She hadn’t known Ruel had gone back to the site after that first afternoon and for an instant felt a completely unreasonable flicker of gratitude. After all, Ruel was not keeping an eye on Patrick for her sake. He wanted the railway completed as fast as possible so that he could get Kartauk out of Kasanpore.

Ruel staring at her across the temple, his gaze searing, demanding, holding.

“Your cheeks are flushed,” Patrick said idly. “Are you coming down with something?”

Her discomposure must be blatantly evident if Patrick, who never noticed anything about her, commented on it, she thought in exasperation. “No, I’m just feeling the heat. It seems worse since the rains came.” She jumped up from her chair and bid Patrick good night.

She would get over this craving, she thought desperately. She was not an animal.

Yet her body’s response to Ruel was like that of an animal in heat. There was not a moment in his presence she was not aware of him. When she had met his gaze in the temple she had felt a melting, a yielding that had frightened her.

She would ignore it and eventually this hunger would go away.

Dear God, it had to go away.

•     •     •

Ruel carefully placed the toy in a large box and then wrapped the package in bright crimson velvet and tied it with a flamboyant white satin bow.

An hour later he handed the package to the head footman at the palace, together with an extravagant bribe and the promise of an even bigger one if the maharajah received the gift at once.

He then went back to the hotel to wait for events to take their course.