Текст книги "Tiger Prince "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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Текущая страница: 25 (всего у книги 28 страниц)

Li Sung came up sputtering and cursing. Danor lumbered into the water, filled his trunk, and sprayed Li Sung in the face.

"He is trying to drown me."

"No." Jane gasped, tears pouring down her face. "I think he's trying to give you a bath."

"Stupid beast!" Li Sung hit the water with his hand, sending a spray at the elephant.

Danor promptly squirted him again.

"This is . . ." Li Sung looked at Jane and then at the elephant and suddenly his anger ebbed and his lips began to twitch. "Completely unfair." The smile became a chuckle. "I do not have a monstrous nose with which to gather water."

Danor's trunk wound around Li Sung's shoulders, moving gently up and down his body. It was almost a loving caress, Jane thought, like the way the elephant had touched his baby that night in the jungle.

Li Sung's expression became oddly arrested. He stood quite still, his head tilted as if listening to something. "All right, I forgive you," Li Sung said grudgingly. "But only because I needed the bath." He grimaced ruefully. "And the laughter. I feel better now." He turned and waded back to shore.

"So do I." Jane reached out a hand to help him up the bank. "It doesn't seem nearly so long until sundown now.

Li Sung looked back at the elephant, but Danor was now ignoring them, siphoning and spraying water on himself. "Selfish beast. Look at him enjoy himself. He does not have to labor from sunrise to sundown."

In spite of the content of the words, Jane noticed a lack of antagonism that was usually present in Li Sung's tone when he spoke of Danor. It was as if that moment in the lake had washed away more than the mud encasing her friend.

Li Sung frowned when he looked at Jane. "What are you smiling about now?"

She started across the marsh toward the track where Dilam stood waiting, a broad grin on her face. "Was I smiling?"

Danor was there again, standing in the shadows of the trees across the clearing.

Li Sung turned over on his side and pulled his blankets up to his neck, deliberately ignoring the elephant.

The stupid beast could stay there all night, as he had for the past three nights. He would pay no attention to him. He needed his sleep.

The elephant was still watching him.

Li Sung muttered a curse and tossed aside his blanket. He moved past the sleeping workers as he stalked toward Danor. "Go away."

The elephant took a step closer to Li Sung.

"Have you nothing better to do than torment me? Go take care of your baby or something."

The elephant made a soft, rumbling sound deep in his throat.

"I do not want you. What use do I have for an elephant?"

Danor's trunk reached out and gently, tentatively, touched his cheek.

"Stop it!" Li Sung stepped back.

Danor stepped forward, his trunk moving caressingly down Li Sung's body.

Togetherness. Affection. Serenity. Li Sung closed his eyes as the same emotions he had experienced that moment in the river surged through him.

"I do not want—" He stopped with a sigh of resignation. "But you do not care what I want, do you? Perhaps you do not want it either. Maybe you do miss your mate. We will have to see if we can't find you another." He touched Danor's trunk. It was rough and leathery, yet oddly comforting, like touching the bark of a tree grown in a beloved childhood garden. "All right, we will try to be friends. It is not impossible we may find a common– no!"

He was lifted high and the next moment deposited on the elephant's back. "This is too much. I did not want you to—"

Togetherness, bonding, and something else . . .

Power.

He had never felt so strong or so complete.

Danor began to walk slowly across the glade toward the herd, his gait smooth, almost rolling. He felt no pain as he did when mounted on a horse or mule, Li Sung realized with amazement. His bad leg was lifted and held at an angle that was without strain. He felt whole again, as he had as a boy before he had become a cripple.

A wild sense of exhilaration flowed through him. He lifted his face and felt the wind touch his cheeks and something else touch his soul. Makhol? It did not seem such a bizarre idea now. He didn't know what bond there was between them, but he knew he had never been more content or alive than at that moment.

"Jane! Wake up!

Li Sung's voice, Jane realized sleepily, but there was something strange . . .

"Jane!"

She came fully awake and the next moment she was off her cot and at the tent entrance. "What's wrong? Is there—"

Li Sung sat on Danor's back just a few yards from her tent. "Li Sung!" she whispered.

"I wanted to share it with you," he said simply.

She didn't have to ask what he had chosen to share. It was all there in his expression—joy, exhilaration, exultation.

"How did it happen?"

"Danor." He patted the elephant's head. "He has great determination."

"I noticed that. You look very comfortable up there."

"It's like nothing . . ." He trailed off. "I can't explain."

"You don't have to." She smiled. "Makhol."

A brilliant smile lit his face, and he suddenly looked younger than the boy who had come to Frenchie's that day so long ago. "Makhol." He touched Danor's left ear, and the elephant turned away from Jane's tent. "We are learning to accommodate each other, but I may have to stay up here all night." He made a face. "I still have not figured out how to tell him I want down. . . ."

His words trailed off as Danor moved back across the clearing toward the herd.

Jane gazed after him for a long time before she let the tent flap fall and turned back to her cot. Tomorrow would be another exhausting day, and she must get some sleep. She was happy for Li Sung. How could she not be happy when he had found something that made him look like that? Nothing had really changed. He had come to share his happiness with her as a good friend would.

She was foolish to feel this aching sense of something lost forever.

"You cannot do it," Pachtal said positively.

"But of course I can." Abdar smiled. "I'm the maharajah."

"You have not been crowned yet. It will be another month before you're free to go to Cinnidar."

"I cannot wait. Your informant said the line is close to completion. Am I to wait until MacClaren has the means to fortify against me?" Abdar turned and gazed at the masks mounted on his wall and murmured, "I must tell Benares to pack up those masks."

"You're taking them with you?" Pachtal asked. "All of them?"

"Of course, and Benares must also come in case I find anyone worthy of Kali on Cinnidar. I will need power to defeat MacClaren."

"You will need an army."

Abdar frowned. "Do you question Kali's power?"

"I do not question," Pachtal said quickly. "I only suggest that Kali might triumph sooner with assistance."

"I agree." Abdar's frown disappeared. "We shall have an army."

"Not until you ascend the throne."

"Why do you argue with me? Do you think I'm not aware of the difficulties? I have thought of a way to solve the problem." Abdar smiled. "Can you not see I am devastated by grief over my father's death? My physician has become so concerned that he insists I must leave the city and seek a change of scene."

Pachtal waited.

"We will announce to my father's mourning subjects that I'm going to Narinth to the summer palace to recover my health."

"And the army?"

"I'll need a large escort to protect me on my journey. Everyone knows that the British colonel would like nothing better than to find a way to oust me from power. If we catch MacClaren by surprise, I will not need more than a few troops. You will arrange to have a ship ready downriver."

"But will these troops follow your orders when they learn you are breaking the mourning and going to Cinnidar instead of Narinth?"

"Oh, I believe they will. Once you point out that when we return from Cinnidar, a month will have passed and I will be eligible to ascend the throne." He paused. "And punish all who displease me."

"It could succeed," Pachtal said slowly.

"It will succeed. The plan was given to me by the divine Kali and she cannot fail."

"And what if Pickering suspects your plan? He is no fool."

"I cannot attend to everything. I will have to rely on Kali to take care of Pickering." He smiled at Pachtal. "Kali . . . and my friend, Pachtal."

"You are joking," he said, startled. "I cannot kill an Englishman."

"Not death. Merely a temporary stomach disorder that will make him too ill to care what I am doing for a few weeks. Is that not possible?"

Pachtal smiled. "Entirely possible."

"Why so quiet?" Ruel filled Jane's coffee cup and his own before sitting down beside her before the fire.

"I don't have anything to say." She sipped the coffee, gazing down into the flames. She was aware of the usual friendly hum of talk around the candmar but felt oddly remote from it. "Do I have to talk all the time?"

"Not all the time. Just when something's wrong. I hate like hell knowing there's something bothering you and not knowing how to fix it. Is it me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The hell you don't," he said roughly. "What did I do?"

"Nothing."

He reached out and covered her hand with his own. The warm, hard touch of his flesh against her own made her gaze fly to his face.

"That's better," he said curtly. "You're looking at me. Now talk to me. You've been working yourself into the ground for my sake trying to get this damn track laid and yet for the past three days you've never even smiled at me."

"I didn't realize smiling was required."

"It's not required. I just miss it." He turned her hand over and began tracing patterns on her palm with his index finger. "It . . . warms me."

She looked at him, startled. "Ruel . . ."

"I thought it was getting better. Do I have to go out and find another baby elephant to pull around just to get you to smile at me?"

The motion of his finger on her palm was causing little ripples of sensation to tingle up her wrist and arm. He had touched her like this when he had sat beside her on the veranda in Kasanpore, she remembered. He had stroked her palm and talked of Cinnidar . . . and the painting in the maharajah's car.

She felt a flush heat her cheeks. Like the woman in the painting, she had knelt for him in the summerhouse. She had felt him inside her, his hands caressing her while he rode her as if they were two mating animals unable to get enough of each other. The erotic memory was suddenly there like another presence beside them in the firelight. She could almost feel his hands cupping her breasts as he plunged—

She tried to pull her hand away, but his hand closed on her own.

"No." He met her gaze. "Let me touch you. I have to get near you some way."

He was getting too near, she thought breathlessly. For the past days he had been companion and ally, damping down any hint of physical sexuality, but now the sensuality that was so much a part of him was there before her.

"I wouldn't do this if there were any other way," he said thickly. "It's not what I want for us." He laughed desperately. "Correction. I want it like hell. It's just not all I want and I'm afraid I'll scare you off if I reach out and grab." His fingers moved up and stroked the thin skin of her wrist.

A hot shiver went through her. "Let me go, Ruel."

"Why?" He glanced at the crowd of laborers around the campfire as his fingers continued to feather the sensitive skin at her wrist. "No one is paying any attention. The Cinnidans are always touching each other in affection."

She knew that was true and Ruel's caress was probably not even visible to most of them, half hidden as it was between their bodies. The knowledge did nothing to rid her of this feeling of excruciating intimacy.

"Besides, you like it. You want it. Let me come to your tent tonight," he murmured. "I'll make you—"

Li Sung sat down next to them. "I have something to talk to you about."

Jane drew a quivering breath of relief as Ruel's hand dropped away from her wrist.

Ruel shot her a look that was composed equally of frustration and ruefulness. He picked up his coffee cup and turned his gaze to Li Sung. "Talk."

Li Sung said, "I believe I know a way to make the construction go faster."

"How?"

"By using the elephants," Li Sung said. "Our slowdown right now is because of the clearing problem. In Kasanpore, elephants were sometimes used for clear-ing."

"Wild elephants?"

"No, elephants that had been trained for years by their handlers, their mahouts. But I have talked to Dilam about this and, if I can get Danor to clear the trees I want him to clear, she thinks the other elephants will follow him. Since they have to consume such vast quantities of leaves anyway, we might as well guide them in the way that's most useful to us."

Ruel turned to Jane. "Do you think it will work?"

"I'll have to think about it. This is as much a surprise to me as it is to you. Li Sung didn't mention the plan to me."

"I forgot," Li Sung said absently, and then went on. "If you and Jane combine crews, Dilam and I will be freed to take the elephants and go on ahead to clear the terrain along the track route from here to the canyon wall."

"Just the two of you?"

"I'll need three Cinnidan elephant handlers to help me besides Dilam. It would be dangerous to have too many people in the area with that many uncontrolled elephants milling around."

Ruel turned to Jane. "Well?"

"We could try it," she said slowly. "If we can get the Cinnidan High Council to provide these mahouts."

"They will." Li Sung smiled confidently. "I visited Dilam's village last night and spoke to them. The handlers will be here tomorrow."

"I'm surprised they gave in so easily," Ruel said. "They're very careful of the safety of their people."

Li Sung smiled. "I took the precaution of making a splendid entrance into the village on Danor's back. They were very impressed."

"Well, you seem to have everything under control." Jane smiled with an effort. "It's a fine idea. We'll have to see if it works."

"It will work." Li Sung stood up. "I'll go tell Dilam you approve."

"Yes, do that." Ruel smiled as he watched Li Sung walk away. He added in a lower voice to Jane, "Not that it matters. I have an idea he would have gone ahead and done it anyway. Our Li Sung is changing. You won't find him in your shadow these days."

"He was never in my shadow," she protested.

"Wasn't he?"

"I never meant—" She stopped, appalled. "Did I make him feel that?"

Ruel shook his head. "No, he stayed there because he had no reason to step out . . . until now."

Jane watched Li Sung move across the clearing to where Dilam was sitting with a group of Cinnidans. Ruel was right, Li Sung had changed enormously in the past two weeks. Even the way he moved was different. Though he still limped, his gait was quick and purposeful and, when he stopped beside Dilam and began speaking, his expression was intent, alert, and held more humor and determination than she had ever seen in him. This Li Sung would never be content in anyone's shadow.

She looked down at the coffee in her cup. "The Cinnidans think he's some kind of magician when they see him riding Danor."

"Power." Ruel's gaze was still on Li Sung. "I think the elephant shared his power with him, but now Li Sung knows he doesn't need it."

"What do you mean?"

"He's found it in himself." Ruel suddenly chuckled. "God, how smugly profound I sound. But it's true. At this rate, he may be invited to sit on their council before I do."

"Perhaps." Jane threw the remainder of her coffee into the flames and abruptly stood up. "I'm going to my tent."

Ruel's smile faded. "You don't have to run away from me. I'm too much an opportunist not to realize I can't do anything more tonight. I would never have even started it if I hadn't wanted to find out why you were upset with me."

"I'm not upset with you," she burst out. "Everything in my world doesn't revolve around you. There are other things that—" She turned on her heel. "Good night."

"Other things? What other—" He stopped, paused and then said, "Good night."

She could feel his thoughtful gaze on her back until she entered the shadows beyond the firelight.

Shadows. The word reminded her of Ruel's words about Li Sung. She had never wanted to keep Li Sung in her shadow. She had always wanted sunlight and happiness for him, to give him everything he wanted and needed.

But he did not need anything from her any more and what he wanted he could win for himself.

She would just have to become accustomed to this new Li Sung.

"It's hard to believe," Ruel murmured as he watched Danor press his forehead against the bole of a young tree and push against it. "I've never seen this before. Amazing. . . "

Danor pushed again and the tree moved, the roots tore from the earth, and the tree toppled to the ground. Jane nodded. "Li Sung seems to be able to do anything with that elephant. I think we're going to be able to give you your railroad in those two months. We're up to almost five miles a day." She smiled with an effort. "I'm very grateful, of course."

"Are you?"

She turned to see Ruel's gaze fixed on her face. "Do i you doubt it?"

"Yes." He held up his hand. "Oh, I'm sure you're happy about the increase in production, but there's something wrong."

"What could be wrong?"

"Li Sung," Ruel said softly. "He doesn't need you anymore."

Pain twisted within her. "He never needed me. Li Sung was always completely independent."

"Not this independent. He relied on you for understanding and affection."

"We're still friends and friends always need each other."

"He's mad about that elephant and he's become accepted by the Cinnidans as he's never been accepted by any people."

"I know." She could hear the huskiness in her voice and swallowed. "And I'm happy for him."

"He's not going to want to leave the elephant or these people. If you leave Cinnidar, you'll have to go alone."

"And I suppose that pleases you."

"Yes, it does," Ruel admitted. "Because with Li Sung here, it gives you another reason to stay after the railroad is finished."

"I can't stay."

"You can do whatever you wish to do." He smiled. "I simply hope to make sure your wishes coincide with mine. And I think I'm getting closer to doing that every day."

He was getting closer. Since that evening by the fire he had never again touched her, but they worked together, ate together, strove toward a common goal. He was always there, helping her, encouraging her, sharing her problems and triumphs. Sometimes she felt so close to him that it was as if they were one person. She tried to change the subject. "Have you had a report from Med-ford lately?"

"This morning. He's almost reached the canyon floor. Another two days should do it." His gaze searched her face. "You look tired. How much rest have you been getting?"

"Enough."

He muttered a curse. "You said yourself you're ahead of schedule. Let me and Dilam and Li Sung shoulder the load for a while."

"Abdar will be—"

"And let me worry about Abdar."

She shook her head.

He stared at her in exasperation. "Damn, you're stubborn!"

He turned Nugget and kicked him into a gallop, leaving her in a cloud of dust as he headed back to the site.

He came riding back late that afternoon, leading Bedelia. "Come on," he said curtly. "I have something to show you."

"Can't it wait?" She wiped away the perspiration from her forehead on her sleeve. "We still have a few hours before dark."

"It won't wait," he said. "I've told Dilam to come back and supervise the crew until it's time to pack up for the day."

"But Li Sung needs Dilam with the elephants."

"Come on." His tone was inflexible and so was his expression. "Now."

It was clear he was not going to be dissuaded. She mounted Bedelia. "What's the problem? Where are we going?"

"You'll see." He spurred ahead, heading south. "Follow me."

At first she thought he was taking her to the clearing area where they'd been that morning, but before they got to it he veered to the east and took a trail through the jungle. Twenty minutes later they came out of the jungle on the bank of a lake.

"Here we are." He reined in Nugget in the feathery shade of a casuarina tree and slipped out of the saddle. "Get down."

"Where are we?" she asked blankly as she gazed around at the color and beauty shimmering wherever she looked. Scarlet poppies carpeted the banks, and across the lake flame-of-the-forest trees bloomed brilliant orange, casting fiery reflections in the cool, serene blue of the water. Farther down the opposite bank twenty or thirty elephants lazily cavorted in the shallows. "I don't understand. What am I supposed to see?"

He came around and lifted her off the horse. "Flowers, water, birds, elephants." He took a blanket off Nugget and spread it on the moss. "Me."

"You brought me here to look at scenery?"

"I brought you here to rest. Now do it."

"I don't want to rest."

"Do it anyway." He met her gaze. "You don't have to be wary of me. I was desperate the other evening. I thought I'd made a mistake somewhere along the way and I was trying to regain ground any way I could. I knew even then it wasn't the best way." Before she could answer he turned and pointed at the elephants across the lake. "Recognize anyone familiar?"

Her impatient glance followed his gesture. "I see elephants every day. I don't need to come here to—" Her eyes widened as she saw what he wanted her to see. "Caleb?"

"Caleb," he confirmed.

"I haven't seen him since we first arrived."

"Dilam told me that the cows often keep separate from the bulls, and Caleb would have had to stay with his adopted mother. I tracked him down last week."

"Why?"

"I was caught in my own trap. I took care of him." He smiled faintly. "Now he belongs to me. You should understand that."

"He's bigger," she said softly. Then she laughed as she saw him squirt another elephant with water. "And not nearly as docile."

"Don't you want to watch him for a while?" he asked coaxingly. "What's a few hours?"

She should go back. She glanced at Caleb again. "Well, maybe for a little while." She sat down on the blanket and linked her arms around her knees. "He's funny, isn't he?"

He sat down beside her, close, not touching her. "Very amusing."

Minutes passed and the tension gradually ebbed out of her. Three blue-breasted wild peacocks took heavy flight as the elephants moved farther down the shore, but the birds soon settled back to ground. No threat. No hurry. Just beauty and gentleness and affection. The soft breeze touched her cheeks, and the scent of flowers was all around her, pervading her senses.

"I can be amusing too," Ruel said, his gaze on Caleb. "If I put my mind to it."

"Running patterer . . ." she murmured.

"Aye, I can entertain you. I can take care of you. I can please your body." He added grimly, "And I'll never leave you for a damn elephant."

She was jarred from the euphoria by his words. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I want to be Li Sung and Patrick and Caleb to you." He smiled crookedly. "More. I want to mean more to you than your blessed railroad. I'm saying I want to be the one to make you laugh and to give you children."

She gazed at him, startled.

"I'm saying that I—" He stopped and then said in an awkward rush—"love you." His breath expelled. "There, it's out, and damned difficult too. I hope you're satisfied."

Satisfied? At one time she would have given almost anything to hear him say those words, and even now they filled her with a bittersweet joy. "It's too late."

He frowned. "I know I didn't say it right, but it's true and we've got to live with it." He reached out and touched her cheek with great gentleness. "It's been growing and getting bigger every day until I feel . . . it's not only lust." He grimaced. "Though God knows there's not been many nights I haven't gone to sleep hard as hell. I want to care for you. I want to make you happy. Do you believe me?"

She wanted to believe him. She did not dare. "No."

He went still and for an instant she knew she had hurt him. "I guess I deserved that." He suddenly erupted with explosive intensity. "But, by God, you will believe me. You'll believe me and you'll trust me and you'll learn to love me again. You already care something for me now, but you won't admit it. Maybe you don't feel what I feel for you, but you do feel something." He drew a deep breath and then attempted a casual shrug. "Oh well, I didn't expect it to be easy. I'll just have to be patient."

"It won't do you any good." she said huskily.

"The hell it won't," he said. "It's just that you don't trust me. You think I'll hurt you again. It won't happen. I love you."

"Until you see Ian and me in the same room. Then how much would you love me?"

He did not flinch. "I love Ian, but it doesn't even j compare with what I feel for you. Try me."

She shook her head. "I'm not that courageous." She made a motion to get up. "I've got to get back to the site."

"Sit back down. We'll go back after sundown. There's no need for you to run away. The declaration is over." He lay back on the blanket and closed his eyes.

She did not want to lie there and think about what he had just told her; the words were too seductively sweet. She looked at him in the sunlight, his hair ablaze, his body graceful and sinuous, his lashes curving on his cheeks. He was mandarin and hero and running patterer. He was determination, sensual delight, and wicked mischief. He was everything that was pleasing to the eye and tempting to the senses. Everything she wanted. Everything she could not have.

She loved him.

The knowledge came softly, sadly, absolutely. Why had she thought she could ever stop loving him? Because she was afraid, she realized. The scars were too deep. The risk was too great.

"Lie down," he said again without opening his eyes.

She could not have him, but she could have this moment of peace and sweetness. She hesitated and then slowly lay down beside him. She would have only memories after she left Cinnidar, and she would seize and hold this one. "Maybe for just a little longer," she said as she closed her eyes. She could hear the sound of the birds and the soft, steady sound of his breathing next to her. . . .

"Jane."

She opened her eyes to see Ruel bending over her. The sun streaming through the trees was now behind him, lighting his hair and leaving his face in shadow.

"Ruel . . ." she murmured drowsily.

"It's time to go. You've been sleeping for over an hour. The sun will go down pretty soon."

"Will it?" She reached out and touched his hair. So soft . . . Her hand trailed down to brush his cheek, testing the textures of him.

He stiffened. "Wake up, Jane."

"I am awake."

"The hell you are." He frowned anxiously as a thought occurred to him. "Do you have the fever again?"

She did feel warm and hazy, but she knew it was not from a recurrence of the fever. "No."

She took his hand and put it on her breast. The ripple of shock that went through him was equaled by her own surprise. She had acted without thought, on instinct alone. Yet she did not regret it. Another memory . .

"Don't do this to me," he said hoarsely. "I didn't bring you here for this, dammit."

Her breast was swelling beneath his hand, the nipple hardening. She said breathlessly, "I don't feel like resting anymore."

"I can tell." His palm slowly closed on her breast and heat tore through her body. "You're sure?"

She was starting to tremble. "Yes."

He drew a deep, ragged breath. "God, I'm glad."

He began to unbutton her shirt.

It was not like any time before. At first the rhythm was as slow and sweet as a lullaby, but later it was neither of those things. It was frantic and hot and mindless, capturing them both in a tempest of feeling. Yet she realized that storm had none of the darkness of domination. He was leading, not conquering.

The climax left her limp and gasping, her arms clutching him tightly to her.

His chest was heaving, his face buried in her shoulder. His voice was low and muffled. "Why, Jane?"

Without thinking, she told him the truth. "I wanted something to remember after I leave Cinnidar."

He flinched as if she had struck him. "I hope I made the experience properly memorable."

She had hurt him again with her careless words. "I mean, I woke up and you were there and I—"

"You don't have to explain." He lifted his head and looked down at her. "I've been used by women before. It's just never mattered to me." He swung off her, stood up, and lifted her up in his arms. "I have no intention of becoming only a memory, but I'm not above snatching a few pleasant ones of my own."

He started walking toward the lake.

"What are you doing?" she asked, startled. "Ruel, this is—"

He stepped off the bank and into the lake.

The shock of the cold water made her gasp. "You call this pleasant?"

He grinned as he set her on her feet. "You'll get used to it." His hands moved around in back of her head to loosen her braid. "I want to see your hair." He threaded his fingers through its thickness. "Silky . . . I've always loved your hair." His fingers grabbed the soft mass, holding her head back as he looked into her eyes. "I love you."

She stood there, staring up at him. She couldn't tell him how she felt. She couldn't put herself in his power again.

"But of course you don't believe me." He smiled with an effort. "Are you still cold?"

"No," she whispered.

His hands fell away from her and he stepped back. He deliberately hit the water, splashing her in the face. "How about now?" he asked with a wicked grin.

She sputtered. "Are you trying to drown me?"

"Just following Caleb's example. You seemed to find him amusing." He splashed her again.

"Ruel, that was—" His face was alive with such boyish deviltry that she broke into helpless laughter. He had changed from sober intensity to wicked mischief in the space of a heartbeat, and she welcomed the transformation with relief. "Let's swim."

He shook his head. "I'd rather splash you. You looked like an indignant ten-year-old," Ruel said. "I'd like to have seen you that young."

In the hour that followed she felt as if he had given her back the childhood she had never had as they played and swam in the water. She felt young and joyous and without a care. She was disappointed when at sundown Ruel waded back to shore and began to dress.