Veils of Silk

by Mary Jo Putney

  When trouble came, it was swift and incoherent. Two feline roars shattered the silence, so close that she half expected to feel claws sink into her flesh.

  A shrill whinny sounded behind her, and she glanced back to see a pony rear and jerk its reins free from the groom who was trying to calm it. Eyes rolling, the pony bolted, setting off a chorus of frightened bellows and whinnies from the other animals. The youngest groom shouted, "The tiger comes!" and pointed at the forest beyond Laura.

  As Laura spun around, she heard rustling in the undergrowth. In sudden panic she fired one barrel of the shotgun at the sound. She had forgotten to brace herself for the recoil, and the gun jerked, sending the shot high as the stock kicked bruisingly into her shoulder. Acrid smoke stung her eyes and her deafened ears rang, but she gripped her gun more tightly and discharged the second barrel, this time aiming lower.

  Irrationally convinced that an enraged tiger was about to burst out of the forest, she dropped the shotgun and grabbed the rifle that lay on the grassy turf by her feet. The weapon had the power to fell an elephant.

  As her finger curled around the trigger, she prayed that if the tiger attacked, her aim would be good enough to stop it.

  * * *

  Imprisonment had sharpened Ian's senses, and he smelled and heard Stephenson's camp long before he saw it. As he drew close enough to identify individual noises and odors, he pulled his horse to a stop so he could listen more closely.

  Something was wrong. It was past midnight and the camp should be quiet, but instead it was wide awake. More than that, he detected the subtle aroma of fear, a scent as unmistakable as it was indescribable.

  He frowned. This was a safe, settled part of India, and it was unlikely that bandits would have attacked. Still, he had been a soldier for too many years to ride heedlessly into an unknown situation. He dismounted and led his horse away from the path, moving silently over the soft leaf mold.

  As he neared the campsite, he heard sharp human voices speaking Urdu and the grunts and whickers of agitated animals. He tethered his horse, then cautiously approached the perimeter of the camp, his holstered revolver ready to hand.

  The boundary where forest met clearing was marked by thick undergrowth, which provided convenient cover. Stopping behind a large bush, he peered into the clearing. A churning group of men and bullocks blocked his view of the tents, but the layout confirmed that this was the camp of a British official.

  His gaze went to the single guttering torch, which illuminated a youth who was trying to coax a nervous pony toward the tents. Other shadowy human shapes were moving about, but before Ian could study them, all hell broke loose. Two feline roars, one bass and one tenor, sounded from the shrubbery to his right. As the blood-chilling sounds split the night air, the pony whinnied shrilly and broke free, bullocks began bellowing, and someone shrieked that the tiger was coming.

  Startled by the racket, the jungle cats bolted away through the undergrowth, passing less than a dozen feet from Ian. An instant later a shotgun blasted after them. As pellets shredded leaves and slammed into tree trunks around him, he cursed and dived to the ground, rolling to get out of the field of fire.

  The gun thundered again, and this time the shot came closer. Ian crouched behind a tree and studied the darkened clearing. The torch had been dropped or burned out, and all he could see were horses and bullocks rearing and tugging at their tethers, their solid forms silhouetted against the campfires.

  The only man he could discern was less than twenty feet away. A flicker of light along the barrel showed that the damned fool was raising a rifle and aiming it directly at Ian.

  Apparently the gunman was trying to protect the camp from some imagined danger, and Ian had wandered into the middle by accident. Under the circumstances retreat would be the better part of wisdom, but he had always preferred offense to defense. He was also royally irritated at being shot at. That being the case, no sooner had Ian seen the movement of the rifle than he broke from cover and dashed toward the gunman, keeping low.

  After two swift steps, he launched himself in a flat dive.

  His shoulder caught the man squarely and they both crashed to the ground, with Ian landing on top. As they fell, he wrestled the rifle away, the weapon discharging deafeningly into the air.

  The skirmish was over almost before it began. Only then, as Ian used one arm to pin his opponent to the grassy turf, did he discover that the slim form beneath him belonged not to a gunman but a gunwoman.

  "Bloody hell!" he swore as he hastily rolled away. The clearing was too dark to distinguish details, but clearly the woman was European, with a pale face and a cascade of light-colored hair. Judging by her lush curves, she was too old to be Pyotr's niece Lara; perhaps Stephenson had remarried and this was his second wife. Speaking in English, Ian said, "Sorry to have knocked you down. Are you all right?"

  "You're English," she said stupidly as she raised herself to a sitting position.

  "Scottish, actually." He sat back on his heels. "I do hope that you don't intend to revive the old English custom of using Scots for target practice."

  "I... I thought you were a tiger," she faltered.

  "You should have looked more closely," he said dryly. "I lack two more feet, a tail, and quite a lot of stripes." Glancing up, he saw that several natives had been drawn by her scream, but when they heard English speech, they stopped a dozen feet away.

  Ian stood and grasped her hand, easily lifting her to her feet. "Thank God you're a dreadful shot." He released her fingers, which were icy cold. "Why were you blasting away? No tiger would attack a camp this size."

  "Th... there's a man-eater in the neighborhood," she said in a husky, uneven voice. "We were shifting the animals away from the forest when one of the men thought he saw a tiger. I heard roaring and something moved in the undergrowth, so I fired."

  "Having had a front row seat, my best guess is that a curious panther and a caracal were investigating the camp," Ian said. "Their paths crossed, so they tried to outroar each other. When you started shooting, they wisely took off."

  "A caracal?" she repeated.

  Beginning to wonder if the woman was drunk or dim-witted, Ian said impatiently, "Surely you've heard of caracals. They're rather like overgrown house cats with long tufted ears." He handed her rifle back. "The next time you use this, remember that the first law of hunting is never to shoot at something you can't see clearly. You didn't manage to kill anyone, but next time you might not be so lucky."

  "I'm s... sorry," she said, her voice on the verge of tears.

  Embarrassed by her reaction, Ian said, "No harm done." Glancing around, he found that apparently every Indian in the camp had come to watch, but there were no other Europeans; not the collector, and not young Lara. "Where's Kenneth Stephenson? I need to talk to him."

  "You... you can't." Her voice broke.

  Trying to control his irritation, Ian said, "This is his camp, isn't it?"

  "M... my father's dead." She bent her head and ran distracted fingers through her wild hair. "He... he died of cholera. A few minutes ago. Perhaps an hour."

  "Dear God," Ian said softly, feeling like a clumsy idiot. No wonder the young woman was disoriented; with her father barely dead, it was amazing that she could string a coherent sentence together. She had even attempted to defend the camp against possible danger, and while the results had been incompetent, he gave her full marks for gallantry. "You're Laura Stephenson?"

  She nodded, swaying a little.

  Ian stepped forward to take her trembling arm. "You need to lie down."

  Head bent, she made a small choked sound, and her weight sagged against him. As he slid his arm around her waist to hold her upright, he said, "Incidentally, my name is Ian Cameron."

  Head still bent and face obscured by hair, she said, " Wh... why are you here?"

  "My business can wait till tomorrow." Switching to Urdu, Ian said to the ring of servants, "Which of you is Miss Stephenson's maid?"

  A gra
ceful young woman stepped forward. "I am, sahib."

  "Take your mistress to her tent and put her to bed. If there's laudanum, give her some so she'll sleep."

  The girl glanced uneasily at the circling forest. Correctly interpreting her disquiet, Ian said, "I guarantee you'll be safe for the rest of the night."

  The maid responded to the authority in his voice and came forward to lead her dazed mistress away. Ian had rallied soldiers in the midst of ambush, so it wasn't difficult to restore the confidence of a camp of demoralized servants.

  But as he gave orders, collected Stephenson's guns, reloaded, and retrieved his weary horse, he wondered what the devil had become of little Larissa Alexandrovna Karelian.

  Chapter 5

  Instead of sleep, the laudanum sent Laura into a black paralysis laced by nightmare images of her stepfather. He stood before her with his familiar warm smile, but when she tried to touch him, he receded away, vanishing into the swirling darkness that had already claimed her mother and first father.

  In fifteen years of nightmares, Laura had never succeeded in preventing her parents from leaving, yet it was not in her nature to stop trying. Surely if she said the right words, did the right thing, she could persuade Kenneth to stay. Yet time and again she failed.

  Perhaps she could follow him into the darkness. With immense effort, she forced her numb limbs to move and ran after his retreating figure, desperately calling, "Papa!" as she clawed through the barriers that came between them.

  Then, with miraculous suddenness, she ran smack into her stepfather's solid frame. His arms went around her and finally she was safe. Weeping with joy, she clung to him. "Papa," she whispered, burrowing into his embrace. "Papa, I had such a horrible nightmare. I dreamed that you died."

  A deep, unfamiliar voice penetrated the mists that surrounded her. "Miss Stephenson.. Laura, wake up."

  Dazedly she raised her head and found that it was not her stepfather holding her, but a stranger, a lean, harsh-faced man with a black patch over one eye. He would have been frightening if it weren't for the kindness in his voice. "You were sleepwalking," he said softly. "Are you awake now?"

  Uncertainly she pushed away from the stranger's embrace and looked around. The dream barrier she had fought her way past must have been the tent flap, for she was now outdoors, standing barefoot a dozen feet from the smaller fire. Fifty feet away, by the larger fire, she saw the sleeping forms of the servants, and drowsy bullocks and horses were scattered about.

  Piece by piece, her memory of the previous night returned, from her stepfather's death until the arrival of this capable stranger. Cameron, he had said his name was. Ian Cameron. Her gaze returned to the gaunt planes of his face. "So it wasn't a nightmare. M father really is gone."

  "I'm afraid so. Come and have some tea. I just brewed another pot." He guided Laura to a folded blanket that had been laid by the fire. After she sat down, he poured a mug of tea, sugared it heavily, and pressed it into her hands. She drank automatically, scarcely noticing the scalding heat. In the east, the sky had a rosy tint. Soon this dreadful night would be over.

  By the time she had drained the mug her haziness had cleared. It occurred to her that she should be embarrassed at sitting cross-legged in front of a total stranger, wearing only a light nightdress. Yet she was not uncomfortable, probably because Ian Cameron was so matter-of-fact about the situation. Holding the mug out, she said, "Sorry to be such a nuisance."

  He leaned over with the pot and poured her more tea. "Actually, you're holding up remarkably well. Most women would be having strong hysterics in these circumstances."

  As she sipped the second mug, she examined her companion. Last night he had been terrifying when he exploded out of the darkness and overpowered her, and even now the eye patch gave him a piratical air. Yet his stern features were well-formed, and in the glow of the fire his hair was burnished auburn. It was a surprisingly warm color for a man who had the wary, fine-strung alertness of a predator.

  Seeing the rifle that lay near his hand, she said, "You've been awake all night guarding the camp?"

  He nodded. "I doubt it was necessary, but I knew people would rest better if there was a lookout."

  Thinking that he carried himself like a soldier, she asked, "Are you in the army?"

  He gave her a sharp glance. "I wasa major in the 46th Native Infantry."

  His expression did not encourage further questions, so she returned to her tea. Her companion might have resigned his commission, but she started thinking of him as Major Cameron. He was too forceful for a plain Mr. Cameron.

  It was now light enough to distinguish colors, and the forest had become an arena of competitive bird choirs. The servants began stirring at the other fire, and soon the clearing filled with the scent of baking chapatis, an unleavened bread that was cooked on a griddle.

  Ian took advantage of his companion's distraction to study her appearance, since the night before he had been unable to determine much except that she was a bit above average height. Now the dawn light revealed that her eyes were an unusual shade of clear light amber, almost the same color as her long straight hair.

  Though Laura did not have Georgina's vivid, cream-and-gold prettiness, her features were strong and she had a contained quality that hinted at mysteries. It was an intriguing face, the sort one remembered long after mere prettiness was forgotten.

  His gaze drifted lower. Though she showed an unfeminine lack of fussiness about the unconventional circumstances, the figure revealed by her nightdress was very feminine indeed.

  He sighed, thinking that it was further proof of his incapacity that he could be so objective about a very attractive girl. He had never been a womanizer who tried to bed every female he met, but he had always had a masculine awareness of the women around him. He had not appreciated how much pleasure that awareness lent to life until it was gone.

  His gaze returned to his companion's still profile. She was indeed bearing up well, but it was apparent that paralyzing grief lay just beneath her calm surface. Regretting that he must increase her misery, he said, "Miss Stephenson, I'm afraid there are some decisions that only you can make."

  She looked directly at him. "What decisions?"

  He was intrigued to see that her amber eyes had an Oriental slant that was as attractive as it was exotic. "Do you want to take your father's body back to Baipur?" He hesitated before adding, "The weather is hot, and the trip will take days by bullock cart."

  As she understood what he was hinting at, her face tightened. "My father can be buried here. He loved all of India. It doesn't matter whether he rests in Nanda or Baipur." She ran distracted fingers through her hair, tangling it even further. "I must send a man to the village to inform the headman of my father's death, and to ask about a burial site."

  "I've already done that," Ian said. "I imagine the headman himself will arrive soon to talk with you."

  The soft-footed cook came and set down a tray that held a platter of fresh chapatis and a bowl of dal, a mixture of spiced lentils. When Laura stared blankly at the tray, Ian said, "You'd better eat something. It's going to be a difficult day."

  Obediently she picked up a chapati, tore off a piece, and used the fragment to scoop up a mouthful of dal. After she had chewed and swallowed it, she said, vaguely surprised, "I'm hungry. I think I haven't eaten since yesterday morning."

  Eventually Laura ate twice as much as Ian, though that was no great feat, given the state of his appetite. When they had finished, she said, "Your business with my father—is it something I can help you with? I... I know you must be eager to be on your way again."

  "I'm in no particular hurry," he said mildly. "If you wish, I can escort you back to Baipur."

  She blinked and looked away. "I would like that," she said in a low voice. "If you're sure you don't mind."

  "I'm sure." Though she would not have asked him to stay, Ian could see that she was grateful for the support of a countryman. Rather to his surprise, he realized that he active
ly wanted to assist her. He would have helped any woman in distress, but Laura Stephenson aroused his protective instincts. He felt an affinity with her even though the source of her pain was very different from his own.

  After composing herself, she said, "You still haven't told me why you came all the way to Nanda to find my father."

  "Actually, my primary goal was not your father," Ian said. "I'm looking for a Russian girl named Larissa Alexandrovna Karelian. I was told she was Kenneth Stephenson's stepdaughter. Do you have a stepsister by that name?"

  Her expression immediately became shuttered. "I am Larissa Alexandrovna, or I once was. What do you want of me?"

  Startled, Ian exclaimed, "You're Lara?"

  Her dark brows arched. "Indeed. Why is that surprising?"

  Ian shook his head, feeling a fool for having missed the obvious. "I'm sorry, I had it firmly in mind that Lara was a girl of thirteen or fourteen. I didn't expect a grown woman."

  If he hadn't assumed she was English, he would have known immediately, for she had Pyotr's high, dramatic Slavic cheekbones. Those slanted amber eyes attested to the centuries when Russia had been harried by the Golden Hordes of Central Asia. The inevitable mixing of the races had given rise to a Russian proverb Pyotr had sometimes used: "Scratch a Russian and you'll find a Tartar."

  His niece was living proof of his words, for clearly her ancestors had included Mongol warriors. The expression she wore at that moment would do credit to Genghis Khan in a mistrustful mood.

  With more than a hint of hostility, she said, "I've been Laura Stephenson since I was ten. No one calls me Lara now."

  "But your uncle did."

  "My uncle?" Her hostility vanished and her face went suddenly pale. "You know my Uncle Pyotr?"

  "I'm afraid I'm the bearer of more bad news," Ian said gravely. "Colonel Kushutkin died in Bokhara last year."

  She closed her eyes and a spasm of grief crossed her face. "I was afraid something had happened to him," she said sorrowfully. "It had been so long since his last letter. Even longer since I saw him in person. I was only thirteen during his last visit to England."