The Tiger Prince

by Iris Johansen

  “What kind of accident?”

  “His father was a brakeman and was training Li Sung to the trade.” Her smile was bitter. “Li Sung was very proud of his father. Chinese were considered good enough to work the rails but not to be an engineer or fire a train, and even brakemen jobs were rare. His father could do all three and taught Li Sung. However, braking the train was his primary duty and one day he and Li Sung were both caught between two railroad cars and crushed.”

  Ruel’s lips pursed in a low whistle.

  “Oh, it wasn’t an unusual accident. It happened all the time before Westinghouse invented the air brake that could be worked from the cab by the engineer. Before that a link-and-pin coupler fastened one car to another, and to work it a brakeman had to stand between the cars. If he didn’t get the pin into the link at the right moment, the cars would come together and crush him.” Her lips tightened. “Which may be why the honor of being a brakeman was given to a Chinese. Li Sung’s father would probably never have been promoted to engineer,”

  “And does the maharajah’s train have these air brakes?”

  She nodded. “I had to cut corners on other things, but I made sure of those brakes.” She gave him a sidewise glance. “Why are you asking all these questions about Li Sung?”

  “No reason,” Ruel said casually. “Just curious.”

  “You were very strong tonight,” Zabrie murmured as she brushed a kiss on Li Sung’s shoulder. “Every time you get better and better.” She rose from the bed, draped herself in a gossamer-thin shawl that accented rather than hid her nudity. “Wine?”

  Li Sung shook his head as he sat up in bed. “I must leave now.”

  “Not yet. Stay awhile.” Zabrie crossed to the table and poured herself a glass of wine. “I have no other customers, and even if I did, I would give them to one of the other women.” She turned and smiled at him. “For you.”

  She was more beautiful than he had ever seen her, Li Sung thought. Or perhaps it was because this was the last time, she appeared more lovely to him.

  She moved back toward him. “I should be angry. You have not come to see me in a long time.” She sat down beside him on the bed, her middle finger tracing a line across his chest. “Why?”

  “I was—” He broke off as her hennaed nail raked his nipple. “I cannot think when you do that, and there is something I must say.”

  “I don’t wish you to think.”

  His hand covered hers on his chest. “I want to say good-bye.”

  Her head lifted. “You are leaving Kasanpore? When?” “Soon.”

  “That is no answer.” She was silent a moment, looking at him. “Take me with you.” His eyes widened. “What?”

  “I want to go with you.” She set her goblet on the floor beside the bed and leaned over to kiss his chest. “You know I please you and could make you happy. I’m weary of these men who use me and then spit on me because of my birth. You do not treat me this way.”

  “No.” He felt a leap of hope as he gently stroked her shining black hair. The scent of jasmine drifted to him; he loved the way she always smelled of flowers and spices. “I also have known that pain. You truly wish to go with me?”

  “Give me a week to settle my affairs here in Kasanpore and I’ll—” She caught his expression. “No?”

  “Two days.”

  “It will rush me, but it can be done.” She threw aside the shawl and moved over him. “I want you again. We will talk of the details later. Yes?”

  “Zabrie …” He closed his eyes as her hand closed around him and he began to harden. Did he love her? At times he was sure he loved her. Certainly his body was enslaved by her. “Yes, we will talk later….”

  He was a fool, Ruel told himself as he glared at the door of Zabrie’s pleasure house through the heavily falling rain. Not only was he a fool but would probably be a drowned fool if he didn’t give up this watch and go back to the hotel.

  Li Sung walked out of Zabrie’s.

  Ruel warily straightened away from the wall as he saw Li Sung cross the street and head directly to the alcove where Ruel was standing.

  “You appear a little damp,” Li Sung said.

  “I’m damn near floating away.” Ruel grimaced. “You knew I was here?”

  “I’ve grown accustomed to watching behind me in the last weeks. I suppose you had a reason for following me?”

  “Maybe I only felt like taking a stroll.”

  Li Sung smiled derisively as he glanced out at the driving rain. “It is an odd night for a walk. Are you so fond of the rain?”

  “I’ve forgotten it ever did anything else in Kasanpore.”

  “Are you going to answer me?”

  Ruel shrugged. “I thought it wouldn’t hurt to make sure you weren’t surprised.”

  “Zabrie would not surprise me.”

  “It’s not wise to trust anyone too far, Li Sung.”

  “I thank you for your advice.”

  “But you have no intention of heeding it.” Ruel nodded. “I’m not good at taking advice myself. Zabrie asked no questions?”

  Li Sung glanced back at the house. “She wishes to go with me.”

  Ruel went still. “How … surprising. And I suppose you told her about our plans to leave in two days.”

  “I told her.”

  Ruel said carefully, “May I suggest that wasn’t the most clever—”

  “Hush.” Li Sung’s hand closed on Ruel’s arm and jerked him farther back into the shadows.

  Ruel’s gaze followed Li Sung’s and his lips pursed in a soundless whistle.

  Zabrie had come out of the house and was moving quickly down the street.

  “AN odd night for a walk.” Ruel repeated Li Sung’s words.

  “Yes.” Li Sung’s voice was strained. “Come.” He started down the street after Zabrie.

  Ruel followed him. “Where are we going?”

  “I have to see where she is going.”

  Zabrie’s destination became obvious fifteen minutes later when she disappeared through the gates of the Savitsar palace.

  “Abdar,” Ruel said.

  Li Sung stared at the gate through which Zabrie had disappeared.

  “No harm done, Li Sung,” Ruel said quietly. “We can change our plans now that we know she’s betrayed us.”

  “No harm done,” Li Sung repeated dully. He slowly turned and limped down the street. “But we have no need to change our plans. I told Zabrie we were taking a boat from a point down the river to Narinth. I’m quite sure Pachtal and Abdar will be waiting on the dock in Narinth for us two nights from now.”

  Ruel’s gaze narrowed on his face. “You suspected her?”

  “I am no fool. At times she made me feel like a giant, but I know I am only a cripple.” His lips twisted bitterly. “No, she thought me worse than a cripple, a dupe.”

  “Well, you’re no dupe. You were planning on waiting outside to see if she would go to Abdar?”

  “I had to be certain. One can know with one’s mind and still not believe.” He turned to Ruel. “It is finished and you need no longer stay with me. Neither you nor Jane have reason to feel uneasy any longer.”

  “Jane has nothing to do with this. You’re going back to the temple?”

  He nodded.

  “It’s a long way.” Ruel’s lids lowered to veil his eyes. “My hotel is only a block from here and Ian keeps a bottle of whiskey in his room.”

  “I do not drink liquor. It blurs the mind and makes children of wise men.”

  “Just a thought.” Ruel smiled at him. “Sometimes a wee drop helps to keep the damp away. If you change your mind, you’re welcome. Good night, Li Sung.” He turned the corner and started up the street toward the hotel.

  “Wait.”

  Ruel glanced over his shoulder to see Li Sung limping down the street behind him.

  “Perhaps a wee drop.”

  he pounding at the bungalow door jerked Jane from sleep. It was the middle of the night. Who could be—
/>   The pounding sounded again, louder.

  She hastily threw a robe over her white cotton nightgown, ran to the front door, and flung it open.

  Ruel and Li Sung stood on the porch.

  “What are you doing here?” Jane whispered. She glanced anxiously over her shoulder, but the knocking had evidently not disturbed Patrick. Her gaze flew back to Li Sung. “What’s wrong. Why aren’t you at the temple?”

  “He wanted to see you.” Ruel made a face. “And made his desire known at the top of his voice. It was a question of being thrown out of the hotel or bringing him here.”

  “What was he doing at the hotel?”

  “A wee drop,” Li Sung murmured. He swayed and his knees gave way.

  Ruel caught him and leaned him against the door-jamb.

  “He’s drunk,” Jane said blankly. “Li Sung never drinks.”

  “A wee drop …” Li Sung’s eyes closed.

  “Now he wants to sleep,” Ruel said in disgust. “He was wide awake and noisy as the devil at the hotel.”

  “You got him drunk,” she accused Ruel.

  “Aye, it seemed a good idea at the time.” Ruel shifted his hold. “Is there a place here he can sleep, or do I have to drag him back to the hotel?”

  “The veranda.” She stepped aside and watched him half carry, half drag Li Sung across the room toward the french doors. “Why was it a good idea?”

  “Do you think I set out to corrupt your virtuous friend?” He dropped him on the couch, snatched up a pillow, and put it under his head. “If I did, you can bet it won’t happen again. After the second drink he insisted on shouting Chinese proverbs at the top of his voice.”

  “Why was it a good idea?” Jane repeated. “And why was he at your hotel and not at the temple?”

  “We ran into each other outside Zabrie’s, and I invited him back to have a drink.”

  “Zabrie!” Her gaze went to Li Sung, who was now curled on his side, sleeping peacefully. “And what were you doing outside— You followed him?”

  “I was just out for a stroll.”

  “You followed him.”

  “He’s crippled and I didn’t like the idea of Pachtal— Dammit, how do I know why I did it? I seem to be acting on impulse more often than not these days.” He picked up a cashmere throw from the chair and tossed it over Li Sung. “You don’t have to worry about him going back to Zabrie’s. She went straight from Li Sung to Abdar at Savitsar Palace. After which our friend here felt the need of a bit of comforting oblivion.”

  “I see.” She felt the tears sting her eyes as she looked at Li Sung. “I should never have meddled. She hurt him.”

  “He said she also made him feel like a giant. You have to take the bitter with the sweet.”

  She swallowed. “Thank you for caring for him. It was very kind.”

  “I’m not kind. I told you, it was an impulse that I—” He stopped and then said gruffly, “I don’t like to see you worried and unhappy. It bothered me.”

  She gazed at him in bewilderment. “How strange.”

  “I thought so too,” he said testily. “And there’s something else. I’ve been doing a bit of thinking since this afternoon—” He stopped and then said in a rush, “Oh, what the hell, there’s no other way to say it. I’ve decided I want to marry you.”

  She stared at him in shock. She didn’t think she had heard him correctly. “I beg your pardon.”

  “Not right away. It’s going to be a few years before I can offer you anything but the chance to watch me slave myself half to death. But when I have the mine working and the money starts rolling in …” He grimaced. “God knows when that will be. I may be asking you to wait as long as Ian has for Margaret.”

  She shook her head dazedly. “I don’t understand this.”

  “Ian says I want a home. He says I need …” He shrugged. “Maybe he’s right. What’s a home without a wife?”

  “And that’s why you want me?”

  “Not altogether. I … feel something for you.”

  “Lust.”

  “No, something else.”

  “Guilt.”

  “No.” He suddenly burst out, “Why do you keep asking me questions? I don’t want you to leave me. I want to take care of you.” His tone became brusque. “But it wouldn’t be a bad proposition for you. I’d make sure you had everything you wanted and wouldn’t ask anything except that you occupy my bed and eventually give me a child. Does that sound reasonable?”

  “Very reasonable.” She felt totally confused. She had never expected this, never even imagined it could happen. Marriage. Ruel. It would be like being wed to a warlock. “More reasonable than the idea of you wanting to marry me.”

  “Well, what do you say?”

  She drew a deep breath and shook her head. “No, thank you.”

  “Why not?” He said quickly before she could reply, “I know we started out wrong, but I can make it right. I respect you and, though you may not admire me, you respect me too.”

  “I couldn’t trust you.”

  “You’d learn to trust me. I don’t betray my friends, and in time you’d find that out.”

  “The railroad …”

  “I’d take care of your Patrick too.”

  “Patrick doesn’t need taking care of,” she said quickly. “And even if he did … I’d hate the life you’ve offered me. Can’t you see? I’m not the kind of woman you’d want for a wife.” She added flatly, “And you’re not what I want either.”

  A flicker of emotion crossed his face, and for a moment she thought she had hurt him. She would have sworn the Ruel she knew could never be hurt by her, but this strange new Ruel was more vulnerable. No, she must have been mistaken, for he was smiling with his usual mockery.

  “I beg to disagree. There are portions of my person you still want very much.”

  She stiffened. “You’re wrong.”

  “I’m not wrong. Do you think I don’t feel it too? It’s there all the time between us.” His awkwardness was abruptly gone and she was suddenly, vibrantly aware of him. And that was what he wanted, she realized with trepidation. In the wink of an eye he had changed into the sensual mandarin of those days before they had come together in the railway car and she could feel the magnetism he was exerting as if it were a tangible entity.

  “You’ll find I’m always obliging when it comes to giving a lady what she wants.” He turned and moved toward the french doors. “And, as I definitely want to stake a claim before we part ways, I can see I’ll have to make an attempt to remind you of just what we’ve both been missing. Expect me for dinner tomorrow night.”

  “No, I don’t want you to—”

  “Expect me.” He looked back at her, his gaze running over her loose, shabby cotton robe. “I’ve never seen you in a nightgown before.” He frowned. “If you can call that garment a nightgown. Someday I’m going to see you in something more womanly.”

  He left the veranda and a moment later she heard the front door close behind him.

  “Go away, Ruel,” she said as soon as she opened the door of the bungalow the next evening. “I told you not to come. I don’t want you here.”

  His brows lifted. “I take it dinner’s not ready?” He took off his wet slicker and dropped it on the porch beside the door. He was dressed more formally than she had ever seen him, in a dark brown suit, crisp white shirt, and black cravat at his throat. The light from the porch lantern played on the polished sheen of his black boots and the brilliant tawny streaks in his brown hair. His unexpected elegance caught her off guard and made her awkwardly aware of her own rough clothing.

  There was no reason for her to feel defensive, she told herself. He was the intruder here. “Go away.”

  “Well, if you refuse to feed me, I’ll just come in and have a word with Patrick. Is he on the veranda?”

  “He’s gone to bed.”

  “Already? It’s barely eight-thirty. Didn’t he object to you rushing him through dinner and whisking him off to bed?” />
  “I didn’t—” She stopped as she met his knowing gaze. “What if I did? I didn’t want you here and you’ve made sure Patrick thinks you’re his friend. You have no need to talk to him.”

  “Oh, but I do. I intend to ask for his daughter’s hand.” He snapped his fingers. “But then, that would confuse him, wouldn’t it? He won’t admit he has a daughter.”

  “You’re not serious?”

  “Of course I’m serious. Since I’m walking the path of virtue, I want to observe all the proper forms. He can’t be asleep yet. I’ll just go in and—”

  “No!” She drew a deep breath. “This is foolishness and I won’t have you bothering Patrick.”

  He suddenly gave in. “Very well.”

  She started to swing the door shut.

  “If you’ll come and walk out with me.”

  “Walk out?”

  “At home in Glenclaren it’s the custom for an affianced couple to walk out together in the evening. Properly chaperoned, of course.”

  “I have no desire to ‘walk out’ with you.”

  “Then I’ll be forced to come in and have my talk with Patrick. I believe he’ll give his consent to the match. As you say, he has a liking for me.”

  He was clearly not to be swayed. “It’s raining,” she said weakly.

  “All right, I’ll be satisfied with sitting with you on the veranda.” His brows lifted. “Providing Li Sung has vacated the couch.”

  “He went back to the temple early this morning.” She gazed at him in frustration. He was smiling, but she could sense both recklessness and implacable resolution beneath that glittering exterior. She threw open the door and turned on her heel. “Very well, ten minutes.”

  “Yes, memsahib.” He followed her across the room toward the open french doors. “You see how obedient I am? Obeying your every wish, trailing at your heels like your faithful dog, Sam.”

  “Sam doesn’t trail at my heels.” She sat down on the cushioned rattan couch. “Even he has too much sense for that.”

  “A remark aimed at me?” He sat down beside her. “But I’m not so favored as Sam. I’ve trespassed and must exhibit the proper show of humility.”