Tiger's Quest (48 page)

I smiled. “Thank you.” I hugged him and whispered against his shirt, “I don’t know what I’d do without you. You get some sleep too.”

We said goodnight, and Mr. Kadam disappeared into his room while I climbed the stairs. Kishan padded along behind me and followed me into my room. He stood at the glass door to the veranda, waiting for me to let him out. When I slid open the door, I knelt beside him and patted him on his back.

“Thanks for keeping me company.”

He hopped up on the swinging love seat and promptly fell asleep. I climbed into bed and hugged my stuffed white tiger tightly, hoping to fill the empty space inside my chest with thoughts of Ren.

I woke around 11:00 a.m. Mr. Kadam was on the phone and hung up as soon as I sat across from him.

“I think we’ve had a lucky break, Miss Kelsey. In my investigation of the Baiga, I’ve found nothing out of the ordinary regarding the tribe located in Madhya Pradesh. The tribe in eastern India, however, seems to be missing.”

“What do you mean missing?”

“There are usually small villages near the Baiga tribes who deal with them from time to time. Such meetings are often due to controversies over deforestation or other various disputes. This tribe appears to have relocated recently and hasn’t been found. They are nomadic and do move around, but this is the longest they have gone without contacting the locals.

“The Baiga are limited by law now and cannot move about as freely as they did in the past. I will do some more research today. I also have some connections than can take satellite photos of the area and find the tribe at its current location.

“If it warrants more attention, I will inform you and Kishan. You two have had quite an ordeal the last few weeks, so I want you to rest today. There is nothing you can do until I have more data. Go for a swim, watch a movie, or go out to eat. You two deserve a break.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do? I can’t really relax when I know Ren is suffering.”

“Your worrying about him won’t make him suffer less. He would want you to rest too. We will find him soon, Miss Kelsey. Don’t forget that I have led soldiers into battle many times over, and if there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that all war-hardened troops need R&R, including you. Making time to relax is very important to the mental well being of all soldiers. Be off with you. I don’t want to see you or Kishan until this evening.”

I smiled at him and saluted. “Yes, General. I will convey your instructions to Kishan.”

He saluted me back. “See to it.”

I laughed and went in search of Kishan.

I found him in the dojo working on martial arts and sat on the bottom step to watch him for a few moments. He did a complicated set of aerial leaps and twists that would have been impossible if he didn’t have tiger strength. Then he landed two feet away and faced me with a playful grin.

I laughed. “You know, if you and Ren entered the Olympics you could both win several gold medals. Gymnastics, track and field, wrestling, you name it. You’d both get millions of dollars in endorsements.”

“I don’t need millions of dollars.”

“You’d have pretty girls fawning all over you.”

He smiled rakishly. “I only need one pretty girl fawning all over me, and she’s not interested. Now what brings you down here? Want to work out?”

“No. I wondered if you wanted to go for a swim. Mr. Kadam has ordered us to relax today.”

He grabbed a towel and scrubbed his face and head. “A swim, huh? It might cool me off.” He peeked from around his towel. “Unless you’re planning to wear a bikini.”

I snorted. “I don’t think so. I’m not a bikini kind of girl.”

He affected a deep, dramatic sigh. “That’s a pity. Alright, meet you at the pool.”

I headed upstairs and changed into my red one-piece swimsuit, slipped on a robe, and stepped out onto the veranda.

Kishan had changed into a pair of board shorts and was setting up the net for water volleyball. I’d just tossed my robe onto a deck chair and tested the water with my foot when I felt something cold on my back.

“Yikes! What are you doing?”

“Hold still. You need sunscreen. Your skin is so white you’ll burn.”

He efficiently coated my back and neck with lotion and started on my arms when I stopped him.

“I can take it from here, thanks,” I said, holding out my hand for the bottle. I squeezed out a quarter sized blob of lotion and rubbed it onto my arms and legs. It smelled like coconuts.

Kishan grinned, glanced at my legs, and winked. “Take your time.”

By the time he got the ball and a couple of towels out of the storage locker, I was done.

He asked, “Care for a game of volleyball?”

“You’ll beat me.”

“I’ll take the deep end. It’ll slow me down.”

“Okay, I guess we can try.”

He took a step closer. “Hold on a second.”

“What?”

He grinned mischievously. “You missed a spot.”

“Where?”

“Right here.”

He dabbed a giant blob of sunscreen on my nose and laughed.

I punched him and smiled. “You troublemaker!” I reached up to try and blend it in better.

“Here,” he said. “Let me.”

I let my hands drop down to my sides while his fingers lightly brushed the lotion over my nose and cheeks. The touch was friendly at first, but then his mood changed. He closed the distance between us. His golden eyes studied my face. I sucked in a deep breath and ran.

I took a few steps and cannonballed into the deep end of the pool, effectively splashing him and everything else nearby.

He laughed and dove in after me. I shrieked and swam underwater to the other side of the net. When I popped my head above water, I couldn’t see him. A hand grabbed my ankle and tugged me under. After I surfaced again, coughing and pushing the hair out of my eyes, Kishan sprung up next to me, flipped his hair back with a toss of his head, and laughed as I tried to shove him.

He didn’t budge, of course, so I splashed water at him instead, which turned into a water fight. It soon became painfully obvious that I was losing. His arms never seemed to tire, and when wave after wave of water drowned out my pathetic splashing, I called a time out.

He happily stopped the bombardment and, using his arms, pushed himself up and out of the pool to grab the volleyball. We started playing, and I was delighted to see that I’d finally found a game where I seemed to have an advantage.

After I spiked the ball for the third time, winning another point, Kishan asked, “Where did you learn to play? You’re pretty good!”

“I’ve never played in the water before, but I was decent at standard volleyball in high school. I almost joined the team, but that was the year my parents died. I wasn’t as interested in playing the next year, but it’s still my favorite game. I did okay at basketball too, but I was never tall enough to be competitive. Did you guys play sports?”

“We didn’t really have time for sports. We had competitions in archery, wrestling, and some games like Parcheesi, but no team sports.”

“Still, you can see I’m barely winning against you, even though you’re in the deep end and have never played before.”

Kishan grabbed the ball out of the air and fell into the water. When he surfaced, he was right across from me on the other side of the net. He lifted it and swam under. My feet were barely touching the bottom of the pool, leaving only my face above water. Our heads were at about the same level. He was still a good three feet away, and I narrowed my eyes wondering what he was up to. He watched me for a moment and smiled mischievously. I prepared for another water fight by raising my arms to splashing position.

Kishan was next to me in an instant. He snaked his arms around my waist, yanked me close, grinned roguishly, and said, “What can I say? I’m very competitive.” Then he kissed me.

I froze. Our lips were wet from the water. The chlorine taste was strong, and he didn’t move at first, so I could have been kissing the cool tile on the side of the pool for all I knew. But, then, he squeezed my waist, slid his hands up to caress my bare back, and tilted his head.

All of a sudden, the clean, wet, bleached out, non-kiss turned into a very real kiss from a very potent man who was very much
not
Ren. Kishan’s lips warmed and moved against mine in a pleasant way. Pleasant enough that I forgot that I didn’t
want
to kiss him and felt myself responding. My hands stopped pushing against him, and I gripped his strong upper arms. His skin was smooth and warm from the sun.

He responded with enthusiasm, wrapping one arm around my waist to crush me against his chest, while his other hand slid up my bare back to cup the back of my head. For the briefest of moments, I let myself delight in his embrace. But then, I remembered, and instead of making me happy or blissful, as kisses should, it made me sad.

I broke off the kiss and drew slightly away. Kishan kept his arm around my waist and placed a finger under my chin, tilting my face so I’d look at him. He studied my expression quietly. My eyes filled with tears. One rolled down my cheek and dropped to his hand.

He smiled tenuously. “Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.”

He reluctantly let me go as I swam away to sit on a step of the pool.

“I never claimed to be an expert kisser, if that’s what you mean.”

“I’m not talking about the kiss.”

“Then what are you referring to?”

He didn’t say anything.

I spread my fingers and placed my hand on the surface of the water, letting it tickle my palm. Without looking at him, I asked quietly, “Have I ever given you a reason to hope for more?”

He sighed and swept his hair back ruefully. “No, but—”

“But what?”

I looked up. Big mistake.

Kishan looked vulnerable. Sort of hope
less
and hope
ful
at the same time. Wanting to believe but not daring to. He seemed angry, frustrated, and unfulfilled. His despairing golden eyes were full of longing, but they also glittered with determination.

“But . . . I just can’t help thinking that maybe Ren was taken for a reason. That maybe fate intervened. That maybe you were meant to be with
me
all along.”

I replied bitingly, “The only
reason
that Ren was taken was because
he
volunteered himself to save our lives. Is this how you repay him?”

I watched the sting of my words wound him. It was easy to blame Kishan, but I was more upset with
my
reaction to him. I felt incredibly guilty about letting the kiss happen at all. My accusation was as much to me as to him. That I’d actually enjoyed his kiss made me feel even worse.

He swam to the side and rested his back against the wall of the pool. “You think I don’t care, don’t you? You think I don’t feel anything for my brother. But I do. Despite everything that’s happened, I wish I was the one who had been taken. You’d have Ren. Ren would have you. And I’d get what I deserved.”

“
Kishan!
”

“I’m serious. Do you think a day goes by that I don’t
hate
myself for what I’ve done? For what I
feel
?”

I winced.

“You think I wanted to fall for you? I stayed away from you! I gave
him
the chance to be with you! But there’s another part of me that asks
what if
?
What if
you’re
not
supposed to be with Ren?
What if
you were supposed to be the answer to
my
prayers? Not his!”

He watched me from the other side of the pool. Even from this far away, I could see that he was hurting.

“Kishan, I—”

“And before you say anything, I want to warn you that I don’t want your sympathy. It would be better if you said nothing than if you tried to tell me you didn’t like it or that you feel only friendship for me.”

“That’s not what I was going to say.”

“Good. Then are you admitting that you
did
like it? That there
is
chemistry between us? That you
are
attracted to me?”

“Do you
need
me to admit it?”

He folded his arms across his chest. “Yes. I think I do.”

I threw my hands up in the air. “Fine! I admit it. I liked it. We have chemistry. Yes! I’m attracted to you. It was nice. In fact, it was
so
nice that it actually made me forget Ren for all of about five seconds. Are you happy now?”

“Yes.”

“Well,
I’m
not.”

“I can see that.” He assessed me from across the pool. “So all I got was five seconds, huh?”

“Honestly, it was probably more like thirty.”

He grunted. His arms were still crossed over his chest, but he wore a very self-satisfied-male type of grin now.

I sighed unhappily. “Kishan, I—”

He interrupted, “Do you remember when we escaped the House of Sirens in Shangri-la?”

“Yes.”

“And you said you escaped because you thought of Ren?”

I nodded.

“Well, I escaped because I thought of you. You filled my thoughts, and the spell of the sirens went away. Don’t you think that means anything? Couldn’t it mean that maybe
we
were meant to be together? The truth is, Kells, I’ve thought about you for a long time. Since I first met you, I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind.”

A tear fell down my cheek, and I said softly, “I’m sorry for all that’s happened. I’m sorry for everything that you’ve been through. And I’m especially sorry for any suffering I’m causing you. I don’t know what to say, Kishan. You’re a wonderful guy.
Too
wonderful. If the situation were different, I’d probably still be over there kissing you.”

When I put my head in my hands, he ducked under the water and swam over to me. I heard him stand and looked up at his face. Water sluiced off his bronze torso. He really was a gorgeous man. Any girl would be lucky to have a guy like him.

He held out a hand. “Then come back over here and kiss me.”

I shook my head. “I’m
not
. . . I
can’t
,” I sighed sadly. “Look, all I know is, I
love
him. And being with you, as tempting as you are, is not something I can do. I can’t turn away from him. Please don’t ask me to.”