“We met through a conference on security issues for Asian trade routes,” Borthwick replied.
The explanation made sense.Adam’s father had built his empire on insuring trans-Pacific shipping.
It had substantially expanded from there.
“Odd line for a man of your background—surveying,” Borthwick observed.
“Never said it was my line,” Adam returned bluntly.
Ellie lifted her head to glance back at him with a flash of confusion.
Stay quiet,Adam willed at her.Please, Princess.
“You knew we were in Chhattisgarh,” Borthwick pointed out.
“I can read a map,” Adam snapped back—dread slipping out in the form of a flash of temper.“And I know how to find what I’m looking for.”
“Useful skills.”Borthwick’s steel eyes were unrelentingly focused.“Though I must say I find it odd that a man would bring his wife on such an excursion.”
Adam’s jaw tensed with instinctive rage.Borthwick talked over Ellie like she wasn’t even there.
But then, wasn’t he doing the same thing?
Not that he had a choice.
He grasped for a response, even though he knew it was a weak one.“We’re newlyweds.It’s kind of a… honeymoon.”
“In India,” Borthwick clarified skeptically.
You’re George Bates’s son,Adam told himself desperately.
His father’s voice echoed through his mind, clear and harsh.
A Bates doesn’t apologize to anyone.
Adam fixed Borthwick with a glare.“She likes history.”
The words came out as a threat.
Borthwick’s response took longer to come than it should have.Adam couldn’t help feeling the pause was deliberate.
“Well, there’s plenty of that about the place, I suppose,” the colonel finally replied, his posture easing.
Adam reeled from the change.Did it mean that he had just passed Borthwick’s test?
No, he thought with a tight thrill of fear.Every instinct told him that Borthwick’s tests were never really over.
He realized that he was tying off the last stitch.He’d finished the job without even knowing, Ellie’s three deeper wounds now sporting tidy, even rows of catgut.
Borthwick dismissively assessed Ellie’s calf.“You won’t want your wife walking on that leg.We can put her on one of our animals, but I don’t have men to spare to escort you back to civilization.”
“I don’t need an escort,” Adam ground out.
“Nonsense.This area is crawling with violent tribal thugs.I couldn’t conscience sending you off with a wounded woman hobbling you.You’ll join us on our route until she’s capable.There’s plenty of territory to explore out here.I’m sure you’ll find something useful.Was it silver that you were after?”
The question was casual.Adam smelled another test in it.
They weren’t going to stop, he thought grimly.Borthwick didn’t trust him.Adam wasn’t sure a man like Borthwick ever trusted anybody.
