She looked down at the carpet. "I had business with her."

"Railroad business?"

"No."

"Kartauk?"

Her head snapped up. "What do you know about Kartauk?"

"More than I did an hour ago. I know he's not your lover either."

"Of course he's not." Her tone was abstracted as she stared warily at him. "Where did you hear about him?"

"Abdar." As he saw her go rigid with shock, he added roughly, "Don't look at me like that. If I was still a threat to you, do you think I'd be talking about Kartauk or Abdar? The game's changed, and I'll have to find some other way to get what I want."

"And what do you want?"

"An audience with the maharajah and pressure brought to bear to influence him in the direction I want him to go." He paused. "That's what Abdar promised me in return for finding and turning Kartauk over to him."

"And you were going to do it?" she whispered.

"I hadn't made a firm decision. It was a possibility."

"You went to a great deal of trouble just for a possibility." She shook her head uncomprehendingly. "How could you? He's a monster."

"I suspected as much, but then, we've already discussed my lack of scruples. I don't believe we have to probe any further into my iniquities."

Her shock was rapidly being replaced by anger. "And is that why you brought me here? Did Abdar tell you to—"

"Don't be foolish. Abdar has nothing to do with this."

She suddenly remembered something. "Not even our meeting at Zabrie's? Was that man you killed in the alley a part of your plan?"

"I hate to disappoint you, but I don't kill without good reason." He frowned. "His presence there was none of my doing, but Pachtal's arrival was a little too convenient for my taste. I've been wondering—where do you think you're going?"

"I'm leaving." She threw the wrap away and jerked on her damp shirt. "Providing you haven't stationed Pachtal or one of his men outside to stop me."

"No Pachtal. No Abdar," he said curtly. "That's over. I know I've hurt you, but try to think reasonably."

She whirled on him. "You haven't hurt me. I don't let men like you and Abdar hurt me." She pulled on her trousers and snatched up her belt. "And reason dictates I'd be very stupid to trust you again."

"You never trusted me. You let me take you because it gave you pleasure, not because you had faith in my honesty." He held up his hand as she started to speak. "And I never expected anything else. You'd be a lunatic to trust me. Now that we've established that truth, let's get on with the matter at hand. Abdar wants Kartauk. You don't want him to find him. I assume that means you also want him out of Kasanpore?"

She didn't answer.

He shrugged. "Very well, I'll get your Kartauk out of Kasanpore and find a place for him where he'll be safe from Abdar. Then we're quits, all debts paid."

"What?"

"You heard me. I'm certainly not going to repeat this idiocy." He began to dress. "Christ, I can't believe I said it to begin with."

"Neither can I. Nor that you'd think I'd believe you."

"You want proof that I'm not in Abdar's pocket?" He pulled on his right boot. "Li Sung."

She went still. "What about Li Sung?"

"He's not in Narinth. He paid a visit to your supply yard night before last and departed with a knapsack you'd left earlier. I assume he was taking it to Kartauk. Ian followed him but lost him in the bazaar."

"Your brother is helping Abdar too?"

"My brother is helping me . . . with the greatest reluctance." He pulled on his other boot. "I didn't have to tell you any of this, you know. I could have staked out the supply yard myself and waited until Li Sung came back. There's a good chance I'd have found Kartauk. I'm better at stalking prey than Ian."

"Yes, I imagine you are. You have the hunter's instinct."

He ignored the bitterness in her tone. "I'm not ashamed to admit to that instinct. It's helped me to survive any number of times. It can help me save your Kartauk."

"What if I don't want your help?"

He said curtly, "You've got it anyway. I want this debt paid and out of my way."

"How honorable."

"I'm not honorable, but I'm usually honest." His lips thinned. "But with you something went wrong and I don't like it."

"You said that before."

"It's true. It's dangerous when a man starts lying to himself."

"It's me you lied to."

"No, I just didn't tell you the entire truth. But I lied to myself. I was in a fever to have you and so I convinced myself. . . . I'm not stupid and I know people." He smiled crookedly. "But I never explored any path that would lead me where I didn't want to go. I was careful never to dig very deep into why you went to Zabrie's. You threw out all kinds of signals you weren't what I wanted you to be, but I didn't let myself believe them. Hell, even Ian told me I was seeing what I wanted to see."

"Are you finished?"

"Almost. Abdar has to be watching my progress with you with interest. If you let me help you, we'll get Kartauk out of Kasanpore, but if you send me on my way, Abdar will think I've failed and probably initiate a move himself." He smiled. "Can you afford the time to contend with Abdar with your railroad to finish?"

"Better than I can afford to trust a man who might betray me."

"I won't betray you. You'll realize that if you look clearly at me and judge me as I am. Can you do that, Jane?"

Sweet Mary, the man was impossible. He had dominated her body until she had felt as possessed as a concubine in the maharajah's harem and then turned around and told her he had used her. How did he expect her to think coherently through this haze of hurt and anger?

"I don't know." She smiled bitterly. "But I agree you've made sure I know exactly what you are." She turned on her heel and strode out of the railway car.

"I received word the rails will arrive tomorrow." Patrick smiled triumphantly at Jane over the dinner table. "Right on time. I told you everything would be fine."

"You'll have to supervise the transfer from the dock to the supply yard. I can't spare the time away from the site. We laid less than a mile of track today."

Patrick nodded understandingly. "The monsoon. Poor darlin', my heart fair ached for you when you came in this evening."

Her heart had ached too, after those blunt revelations from Ruel in the railroad car that afternoon. No, it wasn't her heart, she assured herself quickly, it was her pride that had been stung. "Maybe it will go faster tomorrow."

"Not likely." Patrick poured another whiskey. "I've been thinking about what you said about my place being at the site. You're right, Jane. I've been a selfish bastard, but I'm going to mend my ways."

"It doesn't matter," she said dully. "The job is almost finished now."

"And it's fine work you've done too." He sipped the whiskey. "But these monsoons are a nasty business, and I'm not having you out there in that rain and mud. You could fall ill again. Give me one more day to transfer the rails, and then I'll take over on the site and you can stay home and take the rest you deserve."

She slowly raised her head to look at him. He sounded as if he meant it, but she mustn't get her hopes up. He had made promises before and they had come to naught. "It would help if you'd come," she said cautiously.