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‘She is tired, that is all. It has been a trying journey for me, let alone for a sheltered young woman.’ Nick’s voice came clear through the ventilation grille above the door of her father’s study. Anusha slowed to listen.
‘...reserved.’ Her father’s voice, a low rumble from further into the room. ‘Cold.’
‘It is a long time since she saw you,’ Nick replied. ‘And she has been in the zanana. You would expect some uncertainty, surely?’
He is making peace for me. What would she have done without Nick? He had spirited her away, kept her safe, restrained those powerful male instincts for her and taught her some of what she needed for this strange new life she must live before she could snatch her freedom. My friend, she thought as she walked on, unable to linger and eavesdrop with the servants hovering attentively.
He would stay, surely, for a few weeks before he went off on another mission? He must rest, allow his wound to heal, and she would have him to stand between her and this strange, half-familiar world. Nick.
Chapter Fourteen
There had to be a word for Nick and the place he occupied in her heart, Anusha thought as she curled up uncomfortably on one of the big rattan chairs in the drawing room. Friend was not enough, not for the trust she felt, nor, she feared, for that tingling sense of physical attraction that she felt when he was near. She was still wrestling with words in both Hindi and English when the men came in.
‘Ah, there you are, my dear. Is your room to your liking?’ Her father stopped on the threshold and stared at her. ‘Why are you still dressed like that? Did your maid not show you your new clothes? Never tell me they do not fit? I was sent the measurements.’
By whom? ‘I am more comfortable in these tonight, Father.’ Best not to start an argument now. Tomorrow she must cope with the corsets and the stockings and all the other horrors of European dress.
‘Very well.’ His smile was kindly, but there was a tinge of uncertainty. He does not know how to handle me, Anusha thought. He is nervous. Good!
Her preoccupation with that little triumph distracted her and she missed what he added. ‘...hunting.’ It seemed to be a joke, although Nick was not laughing. In fact, he looked as he had when they were in tiger country: alert and very, very wary. As it had then, that look sent a trickle of cold down her spine.
‘I am sorry, Father I did not hear—’
‘George, did I tell you that the situation—’
Why was Nick attempting to distract her father? The older man looked confused too. ‘I only said that male attire is not suitable for husband hunting, however useful it might be for escaping across country,’ he said.
‘Husband hunting?’
‘But of course. That is what we must apply ourselves to, is it not? We must find you a suitable husband.’
‘I am here because Nick told me I must leave Kalatwah for the good of the state and to avoid embarrassing the East India Company.’ Anusha found she was on her feet. ‘I am not here to marry anyone. I do not want a husband!’ She turned on Nick, whose face was blank now, although his eyes were wary. ‘You told me I would not have to. You told me I would be free.’
‘Nicholas?’ Her father’s tone was ominous. ‘What is this?’
‘If I had told her you intended to arrange a marriage she would have run away,’ Nick said as though the words were being pried out of him at knifepoint.
‘You lied to me.’ She could not believe it. How could he have deceived her like his? ‘I thought you were my friend, I trusted you and you lied to me. What honour is there in untruths, you fine English officer and gentleman? None.’
‘It was that or tie you up in the cabin,’ he retorted. ‘I knew you would run if you heard the truth.’
‘You promised me!’
‘No. You asked me to promise, I never gave you my word.’
‘No, because you—’ You kissed me instead. It did not take the warning jerk of his head towards her father to make her swallow the words. That was why you made love to me, to distract me. Not because you wanted me, not because you felt anything. ‘You told me I would have money, my freedom. I will not have money—is that what you are telling me also?’ she demanded.
‘What nonsense have you been saying, Nicholas?’ her father demanded, breaking into their exchange. ‘What money?’
‘Anusha believes that her dowry will belong to her, that as your daughter she will be rich and independent. She wishes to travel, not to marry.’
