Did her uncle’s solicitor live in the palace?
“Well, then,” Parvati offered cheerfully.“Shall we get you settled in?”
?
Twelve
Ellie was quite certainthat she was lost.The royal palace of Nandapur was enormous.Buildings dating from multiple centuries sprawled across the property, connected by lush gardens or covered walkways.Ellie wandered through them in a daze, assaulted by gorgeous wonders at every turn.
Constance’s Aunt Parvati had shown Ellie to her airy, high-ceilinged guest room to change and wash up—tasks that Ellie had managed in about ten minutes.She supposed the rest of the household must be resting before dinner, but Ellie had dozed through most of the ride to Nandapur.She wasn’t feeling remotely tired—nor could she have nodded off when she was so busy worrying about Constance.
Ellie hadn’t missed the significance of Padma’s suggestion that a few princes be invited to the upcoming birthday party for the gloriously arrogant nine-year-old they had met on the stairs.Constance had to be worrying about what it all meant—but when Ellie had gone to find her, her room had been empty.
With Constance unavailable, Ellie had decided to see if she could locate the maharaja’s enticing royal library.
She didn’t appear to be on the track of any books at the moment.The wing she had wandered into belonged to an older part of the palace that was clearly under renovation.The rooms that lined the hall were empty of everything but stacks of tile, lumber scraps, and tools.A doorway nearby was in the process of being framed out.In another chamber, a beautiful mosaic had been partially restored.
At some point, she supposed she must run across another servant who could steer her to her destination—or at least point her back toward the family quarters of the palace.
Not that she had seen anyone for a while.
Ellie rounded another corner and found herself in a cool, shady passageway, lined on one side with pillars that framed a view of a secluded courtyard.The space was shaded by thick, sprawling fig trees.Flowers spilled from stone beds around the bluish-green square of an artificial pool.Deep, wide steps led down to the cool water, which was fed by a working fountain.
Illustrations from past readings popped helpfully up into Ellie’s mind.It resembled a Maratha bath.She was impressed to see that it was still functional.
The water looked inviting, even though the afternoon was more richly sultry than oppressive.She had dressed simply in a light blouse and skirt, and the gray clouds overhead moderated the intensity of the summer heat, promising more rain.
She was thinking of the additional research she would like to do on Maratha plumbing technology when she rounded another corner—and realized someone stood in the passageway in front of her.
It was Adam.He was wet.
His sun-gilded hair was tousled and damp.He hadn’t shaved, his jaw shadowed by two days’ growth of beard.Moisture still clung to his skin—which Ellie could see quite well, as he wasn’t wearing a shirt.
The shirt was in his hand, along with his shoes.
A heat that had nothing to do with the weather flooded through her at the sight of the broad, tanned expanse of his chest.
“You’re here,” she pointed out densely.
“Sure am.”Adam’s gaze was warm.
Ellie’s appreciation of the view was only slightly handicapped by an itching sense that something was missing.“Where’s the dog?”
“He’s around here somewhere,” Adam said, clearly unconcerned about the notion of his unruly animal running loose in a four-hundred-year-old royal palace.
“Probably a good thing,” he added.“I don’t know how I would’ve kept him out while I was in the pool.”
Ellie imagined a soaking wet Kalb leaping onto the maharaja’s furniture… but even that horrifying notion slipped from her mind as the rest of Adam’s words penetrated her brain.
“You were in the pool?”she asked stupidly, her eyes locked onto the moisture still glistening on his broad shoulders.
He closed the rest of the distance between them, his body painted with the soft shadows of the passageway.“Thought I could use a rinse.”
She glanced down at Adam’s legs.“Your trousers are dry.”
Adam kept his face suspiciously straight.“Well, I wouldn’t want to track water all over this nice palace, now would I?”
The image blazed across her mind of Adam falling into the cool turquoise embrace of the pool, then standing to let the water sluice down his skin.
