In the last chapter Erik refused to shoot two tigers in a cage.

Ch 20

Corinna watched as Erik jogged across the street. He paused when the gun fired and she saw his hands ball into fists. As much as she wanted to hate him, it pleased her that he would not readily kill something.

He's not a mindless murderer, she thought to herself. A smile played at the corner of her lips.

After two months, she had not figured Erik out the way she had hoped. The first few days, he had been quiet and had kept a respectful distance. Once they had dined together a few times he had shed his reclusive side and become more enjoyable.

Too enjoyable.

Corinna found herself longing for his exclusive attention. She held her breath every time he turned away from her to speak to someone else. Her heart raced each time he smiled or gazed at her.

It seemed silly but he intrigued her with his French accent. Erik wasn't the first Frenchman she had ever encountered. Living in London she had met many people, many handsome young men who were Italian, Greek, French, Spanish, and even American.

But she was drawn to Erik. It wasn't his smile, the divot in his chin or the way he spoke. It was his eyes.

Even when he was gone she could still see his light eyes and dark lashes. He had eyes like the sea, lost somewhere between blue and green where the color changed depending on the shade of his clothing. Corinna blushed when she thought of how she wanted to stare into his eyes and listen to him speak forever.

He boasted of great things, of what he would do when he left India—and what he would leave behind for the world to remember him. As he bragged about his plans for architecture and how he would return to Paris and change the musical world, Corinna saw the uncertainty and the loneliness. It made her shudder when she thought of how distanced he was from people like Joseph DeChantel.

Corinna had seen the consternation in his eyes before Joseph interrupted their conversation. She had heard the slight tremble in Erik's voice when he had asked to speak to her later.

If only he knew what we shared, she thought.

Corinna fought to keep herself from weeping. He had no way of knowing how shunned she felt by her family.

"Excuse me?"

Corinna looked up and saw the mousy-haired European standing before her. It was the Dutch girl, she thought.

"Oh, Anna, don't bother that one. She only speaks Indian."

"We should tell her about lunch," Anna replied over her shoulder to her companion who was twirling a parasol over her shoulder.

The other woman scoffed. "Well, fine, if you must. I was hoping we could leave her and that other one to eat alone."

Corinna looked away. They were talking about her and Ursula as though they were ignorant animals.

"If you want to join us for lunch, we're going to be at the restaurant on the corner," Anna shouted and pointed down the street. She used her hands to make a sign of eating as she smiled pleasantly.

"She doesn't understand you," the other woman protested. "Haven't you seen anything in this country? They know nothing here."

Corinna stood and looked across the street. "We know more than you think," she said to the two of them.

The woman gawked at Corinna for a moment and nervously pulled on her necklace. She turned to her friend and the other woman shook her head.

"I—I didn't know—" the one with the mousy brown hair stammered.

"And now you do. Will you take it back?"

The woman nodded readily, crossing her arms and pulling nervously at her sleeves. "You should have said something."

"Perhaps you shouldn't have said anything," Corinna hissed.

Without another word, she stormed across the street, eyes burning with unshed tears. As she made her way to Ursula she jumped at the sound of another gunshot.

"What? What did he say to you?"

"Nothing," Corinna answered.

"Then why are you crying?"

Corinna's hands still trembled from the alarming sound of the gunshot. She squeezed Ursula's hand and averted her eyes. "They've already killed one."

"One what?"

"Tigers. They were going to hunt tigers."

Ursula shrugged. "Don't think about it. Come, Corinna, the others are waiting for us at the restaurant."

Corinna sighed. "I don't care."

"What would your father think of you wanting to spend time with that pig rather than with your lady friends?"

Corinna glared at her. "They're not my friends. I barely know them."

"You're better off with them than with Levesque. He's going to get you into trouble. Is that what you want?"

"This isn't about Erik!"

"Then what is it?"

"They think we're all ignorant!" Corinna shouted, pointing toward the restaurant. "They think we're mindless animals roaming about the streets."

Ursula stared at her for a moment. "Quit shouting. It's unladylike to raise your voice."

"I'm going back to the Inn. I have no desire to spend my time with those wretched Europeans."

Ursula rolled her eyes. "They're your blood."

Corinna's mouth hardened. "When I am in London, I'm an Indian, a foreigner, filth. When I'm in India, I'm a half-breed European. I'm foreign to my family and filth to them as well."

"Sit down."

"No, you may do as you wish for the rest of the afternoon. I'm going to the room and waiting until tea."

"Corinna—"

Corinna batted Ursula's hands away. "I hate it here. I hate it everywhere."

"You let that foolish man upset you."

"He hasn't upset me!"

"You came in crying last night because of him."

Corinna turned away and crossed her arms. "This has nothing to do with him."

"Forget him, Corinna. He's nothing. He's a worthless pig of a man."

"He is not. You have known him as long as I have and not once has he said or acted against us. He has been good to us. You cannot say that he has been lecherous. He's a good man, a very good man."

"You don't know him, Corinna," Ursula said. She half smiled. "I don't want to see you hurt by him."

"I won't be hurt by him. I want to know him…I want to know him better than this."

"If your father heard the way you were talking—"

"Then I would tell him I'm in love with Erik and he would be happy for me."

"Corinna, you cannot love this man. Your father would be horrified."

Corinna started walking back toward the Inn with Ursula close behind. She glanced over her shoulder at the hard-faced woman who had traveled with her from Indian to London and back. Corinna knew Ursula was concerned for her. She didn't want to see her hurt.

"Oh, Ursula, you needn't worry. Father would because he was happy with my mother. He wouldn't care if Erik wasn't Indian."

"Oh, you foolish girl. You shouldn't say things like that. That man is an outcast—even to his own people he's nothing but an outcast. Didn't you see those men arguing about his coming on the hunt? I could tell by the way they were gesturing toward him that none of them wanted a thing to do with him."

"Good. None of them are as valiant as they think."

"Corinna, watch yourself. He's not here to court you, child, your father sent him to act as a guardian. Besides, you know what he is after. If he's looking for an Indian princess, he's found one in Anisha." Ursula smirked when she spoke. "You know what she has that he wants."

"Exotic beauty."

"No. Shringaar."

The power of beauty.

With the tiger hunt cut short and his wife sent away to the restaurant, Joseph DeChantel cut across the street and rounded the corner. He mopped his brow with a monogrammed kerchief and opened the red door.

It took his eyes a moment to adjust from the bright midday sun to the darkened hall. The door at the end of the hall opened before he approached.

"Back so soon?" the woman asked.

Joseph grinned at the dark beauty. "I've been thinking of you all day."

"How flattering," she replied. "How was your hunt?"

His face darkened. "That damned idiot waved his gun around and started spitting and cursing like the devil."

She tilted her head to the side as she leaned against the doorframe. "Who?"

"Levesque."

A thin-lipped smile graced her face. "How long have you known him?"

Joseph stepped past her and entered the room. "Since I was a child. And you?"

"Since he was commissioned to build my home."

"Home?" Joseph asked. He glanced around the room, squinting as he searched the small table and the top of the dresser. He spotted his pocket watch and smiled as he scooped it up. "I forgot this last night."

She smiled at him. "There were more important things to consider," she said as she began to unwrap her sari.

"So what is this talk of building a home?"

"Yes, for me and my future husband."

Joseph's face flushed. He started to pull his shirt over his head but paused. "Husband, you say?"

"Not yet. Not for a few months," she replied. "You have nothing to fear, Joseph, I am promised but not claimed."

"I suppose he'll build you a palace as well?"

This time, she stopped. "What do you mean?"

Joseph flopped down on the bed and sat with his hands on his knees. He tossed his shirt aside and fixed his eyes on her body as it appeared inch by inch from beneath the bright blue sari. "He built one for a sultan from what I understand. He sent my father a letter two years ago when he was in Persia."

"Persia?"

Joseph gazed up at the woman he had just met the previous night. There were still marks on her chest where he had nipped her in the heat of passion. "Surely he came with recommendations from the sultan?"

"Surely," she replied.

Joseph smiled. "As much as I would love to discuss him, I would prefer to do so at another time."

"Why is that?" Anisha asked as she knelt on the bed and wrapped her arms around Joseph's neck.

"Because you are too beautiful for words," he murmured as he kissed her throat.