Then, to her relief, she saw a small female elephant burdened with copper pots and pans and her master on the aisle that bordered the western edge of the bazaar. It was common knowledge Abdar hated elephants and avoided them at all cost. If given a choice of direction, he would surely choose another aisle. She ran ahead into the thick crowd of people gathered around a vegetable booth to lose herself from Abdar's view, turned left at the next booth, ran past the elephant, and then dove behind a fishmonger's stall. She crouched low, moving far back into the shadows.
The overpowering stench of fish, elephant dung, garbage, and a heavy Oriental perfume drifting from the stall next to the fishmonger's nearly gagged her. She tried to hold her breath, her eyes straining as she peered through the small opening between the stalls. She could see only the lower portion of bodies and tried frantically to remember what Abdar and Pachtal had been wearing. Dear God, all she could recall was Abdar's smiling, childlike face and the vicious beauty of Pachtal's well-shaped lips as he twisted her arm. The memory started her heart pounding so hard, she was sure it could be heard even above the clamor of the bazaar.
"Would you care to enlighten me why we are both in this extremely uncomfortable position?"
She whirled to peer into the shadows to the left of her.
Li Sung sat a few yards away with one leg folded beneath him and his bad leg stretched before him.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered.
"I saw you dart behind this disgustingly aromatic stall and thought it best to join you."
"I told you to wait at the city gate."
"And I chose to wait at the mouth of the street from which I knew you generally entered the bazaar. I decided I was too conspicuous at the gate. You know they do not like the Chinese here in Kasanpore, and I believe my pigtail was in great danger of being lifted from my—"
"Hush." She turned back to scan the street. "Abdar."
Li Sung went still. "Himself?"
She nodded, her gaze searching the flow of people passing the small opening. "With the same man who came to the site three days ago. They followed me from the bungalow, but I think we're safe. If he'd seen me run back here, he would have come by now." She scowled as she settled back on her heels. "But I lost the knapsack with the food."
Li Sung's gaze wandered over her wild, tousled hair and the glimpse of pale breasts revealed by her unbuttoned shirt. His mouth tightened grimly. "And is that all you lost?"
She knew that expression very well. If she wasn't careful, Li Sung's protective instincts would be aroused, and that must be avoided at all costs. "No." She grinned. "I also lost my temper. I butted my head against Abdar's lip and split it like a walnut and then ran like the wind." She quickly buttoned her shirt before reaching into the deep pocket of her denim trousers and pulling out a small chisel. "Give this to Kartauk. I bought it in the bazaar yesterday, and I'll bet he'll like it better than food anyway. I'll try to get another knapsack to you tomorrow."
Li Sung shook his head. "From now on, stay close to either the site or the bungalow. It's too dangerous now that Abdar suspects you. We still have a little bread and cheese left, and I'll come and get the supplies from now on."
"Very well, I'll leave a knapsack behind the pile of rails at the supply yard every other evening." She reached into her pocket and slipped a key from a small brass ring. "I'll keep the gate of the supply yard locked from now on to make it safer for you. Be careful."
"And you also." Li Sung took the key before rising with difficulty and limping toward her. "Turn around."
"Why?"
"I'm going to rebraid your hair. This disarray displeases me."
"Here?"
"You do not want to call any more attention to yourself than you already have. If you had a fine black mane like my own, there would be no problem, but your hair is too gaudy not to be noticed."
"It's not gaudy," she protested.
"Ugly, then. Hair was meant to be black, not red. God clearly made the Chinese and then grew weary and careless with his palette. I cannot see why he lacked the discrimination as to experiment with yellow and red and . . ." He trailed off, his fingers quickly plaiting the bright strands into their usual thick single braid.
Over the years Li Sung had performed this task a thousand times, and the familiar ritual calmed her. She could feel her heartbeat steadying and the panic gradually leaving her.
"Have you been well?" Li Sung asked. "No more fever?"
"Not for over two weeks."
"But you're still taking the quinghao I gave you?"
"I'm not a foolish child, Li Sung. I know I have to keep well. I lost almost a month of work when I was ill."
"And almost died. You forgot to add that unimportant detail." He paused. "You are foolish to protect this man, you know. He is no stray puppy." ,
"You know you like him."
He thought about it. "He is amusing, but it is dangerous to like Kartauk."
"Well, I like him."
"Because you think him without defense, but he is not without weapons. Get in his way and he'll pass over you like a runaway locomotive."
He was probably right, but she knew she still could not give Kartauk up to Abdar. "He did me a favor. You know I was desperate."
"He did himself a favor. He was hungry and you fed him." He finished the braid and then took a scrap of string from his denim trousers and secured it. "If Patrick finds out about Kartauk, he will be angry."
She tensed. "He won't know."
"Unless Abdar decides he wishes to involve him."
"He won't do that. Kartauk said Abdar doesn't want his father to know he's looking for him." Jane tossed back her braid. "And Patrick won't ask questions. He's too busy building this blasted railroad."
"You mean he is too busy drinking and whoring and letting you build his railroad."
She didn't bother to deny the charge as she would have done with anyone else. "He'll be better once we've left Kasanpore."
"You said that about Yorkshire." He turned her around and began to button her blouse. "And with every passing day you grow thinner and more weary and Patrick grows lazier and does not see." He added softly, "Or does not care."
"He does care." She jerked away from him. "He just doesn't know what to—the heat affects him."
"It certainly gives him a great thirst."
She could not deny that fact either, she thought wearily. These days Patrick started drinking in the afternoon and didn't stop until he staggered off to bed at midnight. But surely his escalating drinking was being caused by this inferno of a country. Heaven knows, the difficulties they had faced in England seemed minor compared to suffocating heat, unskilled workers, and a maharajah whose impossible demands and pettish threats had driven them to the brink of bankruptcy. "I don't want to talk about it." She glanced cautiously out into the aisle before rising to her feet. "I have to get back to the bungalow and get some sleep. We're starting to lay the track on the bridge over Sikor Gorge tomorrow."
"And Patrick will be nowhere within a mile of the site."
"He will. He promised me that—" She stopped as she met Li Sung's steady gaze and then burst out, "And if he's not, I won't care. It's no hardship. I like it."