The Girl from the Tea Garden by Trotter Janet MacLeod

Author:Trotter, Janet MacLeod
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503941137
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2016-12-05T16:00:00+00:00

The Raja, Rafi and Stourton set off back to camp, the latter in a state of exhilaration and keen to oversee the gutting and beheading of his tiger. Adela, Wesley and Jay took a smaller number of shikaris and set off in the other direction.

‘Be back by nightfall,’ the Raja called out. ‘We’ll have a celebratory dinner!’

Back at the machans, Jay declared they should each have their own hideout. The heat was still intense and the large lunch had made Adela drowsy. She must have fallen asleep because she was roused by the machan being shaken. She sat up with a start. Was the tigress back? Then she realised someone was climbing the rope ladder up to her machan.

‘Jay,’ she gasped. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Coming to get you,’ he whispered with a soft chuckle.

Her heart began to pound. Had her father seen him? He was so stealthy that she assumed not. She couldn’t see her father’s machan, each of them hidden in the thick foliage.

‘You shouldn’t be here,’ she hissed.

‘I’ve been trying to get you alone all day, but your father is far too possessive.’ He dropped in beside her, jamming his gun in the corner. ‘I’ve missed you, Adela.’

‘Not enough to let me know what had happened to you,’ she accused. ‘Have you any idea the worry you put me through?’

He gave an apologetic smile. ‘I’m glad you care that much about me.’

‘But you don’t care an ounce about me,’ Adela said.

‘I do,’ he insisted, ‘but the situation was very difficult for me. I had to get out of Nerikot without anyone knowing, or I might have been arrested.’

‘Did you fire on any of those men, the protestors?’ she demanded.

‘Don’t waste your pity on such scum,’ he replied. ‘They were armed and dangerous and out to harm my friend and his family.’

‘So you did shoot at them?’ She was appalled.

Jay flinched from her look and glanced away. ‘I fired into the air to warn them off, nothing more. It was some of Nerikot’s guards who lost their heads.’

She didn’t know if she believed him. He took her hand and pressed it to his lips. She snatched it away, despite the pounding in her chest.

‘You led me on,’ she hissed, ‘pretending we could be together when all along you’ve been betrothed to someone else.’

He gave her a bemused look. ‘I never said I wasn’t betrothed.’

‘You never said you were,’ she said, glaring.

‘But you know what it’s like for a man in my position: there are certain duties I have to perform, such as marriage and providing heirs for Gulgat. But what we have is different; we can still be together. You can travel with me when I go abroad; we can live in Delhi or the South of France – anywhere you want.’

‘As your mistress,’ she said with disdain. ‘Never as your wife.’

‘Is that so very bad? You will have anything you want in life, Adela.’ His sensual mouth twisted in amusement. ‘You gave the impression at Eagle’s Nest that you were very happy to be my, er, companion.

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