Sorry about the slow updates! I will have two chapters up this week following this one. Promise!

Noir35

Joseph DeChantel stood on the ferry dock and strained to see the time on his pocket watch. His belongings were crammed into a single suitcase at his side, which felt like the only things he possessed in the world.

Fear gripped him, strangled him with a force he had never felt before. For the past five years women had come to him willingly. He needed only a smile and his prominent name to persuade a woman to join him for a few hours in the afternoon or for the night.

In India, however, his name meant nothing. The DeChantels did not own half the countryside. They were not known for their building and trading and distilling. If he stayed a moment longer the name his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had strived so hard to make would be forever tarnished because of a girl who had changed her mind.

She was beautiful, Joseph reflected. He nervously glanced over his shoulder and saw the empty dirt path behind him. My God was she beautiful, a dark Goddess with large eyes, firm breasts, and a slim physique. However, when she had first taken his hand Joseph knew she would not be thinking of him as he kissed her lips or ran his hands down the length of her body. When she stepped from her sari and straddled him, he knew this radiant beauty would not whisper his name. She was not interested in him but it didn't matter.

Now she would never forget him.

Joseph's patience waned. The longer it took the ferry to arrive the greater his fears escalated that Anisha would send someone to arrest him. Yet he knew enough of Indian culture to realize his fears were unwarranted. She was disgraced. It was shameful that she had been….he couldn't bring himself to think that word. What a terrible, sinful word. It wouldn't have happened had she not suddenly changed her mind.

He blew air past his lips and pulled the handkerchief Lilian had embroidered for him from his pocket and mopped his brow. The Indian girl had been willing, he told himself. She had merely changed her mind without notice, which was not his fault. Women should know better. He was a man and men had needs. Lilian had been so cold lately so how was he expected to be led into temptation and then deny himself?

The attraction was purely physical. Joseph had no intention of leaving his wife for any exotic beauty. His parents would not accept the union much less the children that would certainly come in future years.

"Pardon me, sir," a voice called from behind.

Joseph spun on his heel and stared at the approaching figure. The young Indian man raised his right hand as he jogged down the path toward the dock.

"Y-yes?" Joseph asked, knowing he was trapped on the dock.

"You speak French?"

"Yes."

"It is Chandernagore," the man said under his breath. "Damned French colony.

"I know a little Hindi if it serves you better," Joseph offered.

"No, French is fine. I am looking for a young woman," the man said. He held his hand to the level of his chin. "She's about this tall, light-skinned Indian girl. Black eyes, black hair, she has a small mole right here on her jaw."

Joseph shook his head. "She's not with me. There is no one here at all."

"Yes, I see that, but have you seen her? She is my cousin. I've been searching all day for her."

"I apologize, Mr…"

"Patel. Ravi Patel."

"Patel?"

"Yes, my cousin is Anisha Patel."

Joseph felt sweat stream down his forehead. "Well, I sincerely hope you find her soon. Women should not be out alone this late at night. It's quite dangerous."

Ravi nodded and turned away a moment before he faced Joseph again. "I am also looking for a Frenchman."

The night grew darker and Joseph swayed, finding his throat had tightened. He stepped back on the dock until his heels were at the very edge. "A Frenchman?"

"He was with her earlier." Ravi stepped forward. "At the Inn on Rue de Russo."

Joseph shook his head again, unable to speak. They had come for him. Anisha had disappeared and now her family was out looking for the perpetrator. In a flash his life slipped away. He had no idea what the punishment would be—imprisonment, flogging, death….what did these savages do to convicted men?

With as much dignity as he could muster, Joseph stepped forward. He would face this like a man. "I was at the Inn on Rue de Russo, Mr. Patel."

Ravi studied Joseph for a moment. Joseph saw that the man was in his early twenties with a long, thin face and a large nose. Heart hammering, Joseph looked away, fearing his lust for Anisha would show through his terror.

"If you stayed at the Inn then perhaps you have seen this man or heard of him."

"Perhaps."

"His name is Erik Levesque."

Joseph 's lips parted. They weren't looking for him. They were searching for Erik. His name seemed to be clear of the lecherous label he had expected.

"Levesque?" Joseph echoed.

"I believe he is the reason why my cousin disappeared."

Erik was the reason why his cousin had disappeared, Joseph thought, mesmerized by the idea. Levesque, who had spent hours at Jacques DeChantel's writing desk sketching imaginary buildings, ignoring the other children and their games, was behind this girl's disappearance. This man wanted Levesque, who had ended a trophy hunt for three beautiful tigers and released two of the animals into the wild. Erik Levesque who had threatened to kill a man he found forcing a woman to give into his needs.

Joseph felt relief course through his blood. He was not the man they were looking for in Chandernagore. He was not to blame for this girl's disappearance. They wanted Erik, they wanted the man who wouldn't know what to do with a woman's body even if she was completely undressed and laid out before him.

"I know this man," Joseph said, finding his voice again. "He fled France years ago. The last I had heard he was in Persia, but my wife and I saw him here."

"You've known him for a while?"

Joseph nodded. "Indeed. And I've never trusted him."

-0-

Anisha felt the cage walls closing in around her. She packed what clothes she thought she would need into a small bag and held it close to her chest, tears streaming down her face. Ravi had not given her a chance to respond. He had seen the marks on her neck and chest as he held her by the wrists and pulled her sari down from her shoulder. Once he thoroughly inspected the marks on the upper half of her body, he yanked her skirt up and saw the small dried trail of blood along the inside of her knee.

"Serves you right," he told her as he threw her down on the bed and stormed across the room. He stalked back and forth, muttering to himself that he would not tolerate the Patel name being tarnished.

"What in the hell were you thinking when you came here?"

Anisha couldn't bring herself to speak. With her head in her hands she cried, hoping her cousin would not tell her father.

"You will regret the day you met him. I will make certain of that, Anisha."

At her cousin's threats Anisha fled from the Inn. She sprinted down the stairs, stumbled down the street until she stood by the riverside, chest heaving and brow damp with sweat. Her stomach was in knots, her body sore from fighting Joseph.

Shaking, she searched the docks, hoping she would find Erik in enough time to warn him. In her heart she knew that she owed him her life. Joseph would have suffocated her had Erik not shown up and rescued her.

Anisha heard Ravi shouting for her and ran back toward the Inn, fearing what he would do if he found her. Unable to think, the only thing she knew for certain was that she had to leave Chandernagore. She had to leave India. The farther she could travel from her family the better. She knew they would never forgive her for this, especially if she conceived a child.

London came to mind. She knew several families in London who may help her. Germany as well—France, even. Anisha held her breath. Erik was from France. Perhaps he could help her.

No, she decided. She couldn't ask him for anything else. She had seen the way he looked at Corinna and the way Corinna returned the gaze. The first time Anisha had noticed was at the table in the café when he had teased her with the flower. She had seen it again as they stood outside the Inn doing nothing more than holding onto one another. Though she didn't understand why he was attracted to her cousin, Anisha had no desire to involve Corinna in her troubles. Being spiteful would gain nothing.

There had to be someone else she could ask for help. It would be too much of a risk if she approached Erik again, especially if Corinna was at his side. If Ravi found them together he would be merciless.

It was better to escape alone. Anisha's only hope was that Erik would heed the warning she gave him and leave India at once. If she could find him, perhaps she would send him to the estate she had in mind, the place she had visited with her father several miles north of France.

If only she could remember the Count's last name. Anisha knew she would have felt better. The only thing she knew for certain was that the Count and Countess had two young sons. Philippe, named after his father. The youngest? Richard, she thought.

She would send a message in the morning and hope her word made it to France before she did.