‘Chatur told me a fire had destroyed my darkroom and my bedroom.’
‘I have heard nothing about a fire. I would have been told.’
‘So he duped me,’ Eliza said.
‘Sounds like Chatur.’
‘Well,’ she said, feeling her heart falter, but then, with her feelings under control, she carried on speaking. ‘I have decided to write to Clifford.’
Neither of them had mentioned her engagement since she’d told Jay the truth, but it had been there all the time; a dark shadow they couldn’t fully ignore.
‘And?’ he said, and she saw his eyes light up with hope. He’s vulnerable too, she thought, despite all that strength and masculinity.
‘The engagement. I’m going to break it off. Is there a rider who could deliver the letter?’
‘I have just the man. He will go today.’
Eliza couldn’t resist Jay’s happy response and smiled at him. ‘So leave me alone for an hour and it will be done.’
Once he’d gone she began to write and an extraordinary sense of hope filled her heart. The monsoon was nearing; she could feel it in the air and in her blood. Thank God. She didn’t think she could bear the heat much longer and the rains would be such a blessed relief.
He came into the tent after the allotted time, but now with another man.
‘Ready?’
She gave him a slight nod. ‘Here it is.’
‘This man will take it,’ Jay said. ‘And he’ll let your friend Dottie know that you are safe.’
She smiled broadly as he took her hand.
‘Now we must hurry. They need to pack up the camp before the rains and we – my lovely Englishwoman – we are headed for Udaipore.’
33
Udaipore
The leaden heat had been relentless but now, on their way to Udaipore, it was clear rain was imminent and the advancing storm was gathering momentum. The sky had darkened and, for the first time since she had come to India, back in November, Eliza saw the heavens become suddenly wild with movement as a mass of dark clouds swirled and billowed. It was exciting. New. Different. She wished she had her camera to catch the sight of dark, strangely lit clouds sliding over the distant Aravalli hills. And, at the first sign of a violent crash of thunder, Eliza felt her blood electrify as she rode behind Jay on his motorbike in the direction of the rains.
‘What if it pours before we get there?’ she shouted.
‘We get wet!’
She laughed and, delirious with the joy of being close to him again, breathed his scent of sandalwood and limes. So much had happened before the rains, and here was another new chapter about to open up ahead of her just as the sky was about to open up too.
As they neared Udaipore, Eliza’s level of expectation rose even further. She had longed to see the romantic city of lakes surrounded by the Aravalli hills stretching in multiple directions and now she would. Breaths of hot wind ruffled the grasses and, though dying to clap her hands and leap like a child, she had to hold tight to Jay. Eventually they reached a fortress appearing to rise out of the hilltop, as these places so often did. Jay pulled up, climbed down, and then helped her off. As she steadied herself she gazed at the archways, turrets and domes of the fort.
‘This is the only place to really see the monsoon,’ Jay said.
She looked down and could hardly contain her amazement when she saw a palace appearing to float on the mirror-like lake, the romance of its location utterly enchanting.
‘Have you actually been inside the lake palace?’ she asked, as if it might be an impossible thing that anyone might go there, that in fact it was real and solid.
He raised his brows as if to say,Of course, what else would you expect?
After gazing at the breath-taking panoramic view of the city and its surroundings, their small bags were taken inside and he escorted her to a covered pavilion with huge arches and columns, behind which the fort’s palace lay.
‘We will watch from here,’ he said, as the first drops of rain began to fall.
