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He entwined his fingers with hers. "I'm still worried about your safety, but I'm glad you came. I'm not used to having someone to watch my back. You...you do it really well."
She smiled at him, her eyes filled with love, and he wanted to kiss her. Hell, he wanted to take her back to the hotel room and make love to her.
The waiter returned with their ice cream. He handed the slip of paper to Caitlyn. "Our cook said it meant a worker, the kind who works for a master. No pay."
"You mean like a slave?" she asked.
The waiter nodded. "That's it." He hurried off.
Carlos exchanged a worried look with Caitlyn. Professor Pat and Tanit were intelligent, modern men who worked regular jobs. How could they be slaves? And more important, who was their master?
After an hour of riding in the backseat of Tanit's car, Caitlyn was struggling to stay awake. The mountain road swung back and forth, lulling her into a sleeplike trance. Fortunately, every time she nodded off, they'd bounce over another pothole or swerve to miss a motorcyclist.
The reason for her exhaustion was all Carlos's fault. He was stubborn as a mule. She'd lain in bed last night, listening to him toss and turn on the floor. She'd invited him to share her bed, promising not to molest him. He refused. After another hour of hearing him thrash about on the floor, she offered to switch places with him. Again he refused.
Thirty minutes later, still awake, she took matters into her own hands. She grabbed a pillow and blanket and joined him on the floor. He ordered her to leave him be. This time she refused. She was comfy and he could have the bed.
He scooped her off the floor, strode to the bed with her in his arms, and dumped her. He returned to the floor, and she lay in bed, marveling over how strong he was. And sexy.
For another thirty minutes she considered stripping and straddling him on the floor. She'd never done anything that bold before. Or pathetic. If he wanted her, he'd make a move for her. She couldn't force herself on him. And she couldn't handle being rejected again. He still wanted a were-panther mate. Her secret fantasy of him tossing that away just to have a future with her was not likely to ever happen. So she'd stayed in bed, restless and frustrated, while he remained on the floor.
The car slowed to a halt as the road dwindled into a footpath through the jungle. The Akha tribe they were visiting lived in a remote area close to the Burmese border. Since she was pretending never to have been there before, Carlos was the one insisting they visit this particular tribe. She hoped their wily old leader, Ajay, was still there.
"We have about a thirty minute hike," Tanit said as they exited the car. He glanced warily at the jungle. "There are other tribes not so remote, much closer to Chiang Mai, and they have wonderful handicrafts, too."
"We're going to this one." Carlos hefted his backpack onto his shoulders. "If the cat shifters exist, they'll be in a remote area like this."
"I suppose that's true," Tanit mumbled.
Carlos slipped some knives into his belt, then handed one to Caitlyn. He'd bought them at the bazaar last night while she'd bought three beautiful silk scarves for the were-panther girls.
She wedged her knife under her belt, then slathered insect repellent on her bare arms and neck. "Want some?" She offered the tube to Tanit.
"Thank you." He spread some on. "You know, there are worse things than mosquitoes in the jungle."
"That's why I bought this." Carlos holstered a semiautomatic pistol on his belt.
Caitlyn shuddered. She hoped he wouldn't have to use it. She fastened the ties of her khaki hat under her chin so it wouldn't fall off. Like Tanit, she was nervous about trekking through the jungle. She had visions of huge poisonous spiders dropping out of trees to land on her head. At least her hiking boots were thick enough to offer some protection from scorpion stings or snake bites.
She jammed water bottles into every pocket on her backpack, then swung it onto her back. "Ready?"
Thankfully, their trip through the jungle was fairly uneventful. Carlos spotted a pit viper in a tree, but it ignored them as they walked by. Caitlyn bit her lip to keep from squealing.
The sun was high in the sky when they entered the clearing where the Akha tribe lived. She estimated almost twenty wooden houses with thatched roofs. Each house was built on stilts, with ladders to the main floor. Several huts were at ground level, and she remembered from her previous stay that one was used to store farming equipment while the other two were village workshops for making intricate silver jewelry.
Surrounding the houses were fields where the Akha grew vegetables and rice or raised pigs and chickens. In the center of the village there was a huge fire pit. Off to the side, a wooden tower rose high above the houses.
Men stopped their work in the fields to watch them as they approached. Children ventured from the village to gawk at them. Women came, too, dressed in indigo tunics they'd decorated with silver beads, coins, and shells. The sun gleamed off their silver headdresses.
Tanit spoke to them in Thai, and Caitlyn could tell that most of them understood him even though their own language was closer to Burmese. They smiled at Carlos and Caitlyn, eager to have tourists who might buy their embroidered handwork or silver jewelry. She smiled back, inwardly wincing at some of the women's teeth. They enjoyed chewing on betel nut leaves that had the unfortunate effect of staining their teeth reddish-black.
She listened carefully as they spoke to each other, so she could recall their language. She'd spent two weeks here several years ago and had become fluent at that time. She smiled when two women discussed how ugly her khaki fedora was. Children commented on the strange color of her hair and eyes, while a few men speculated that she'd been here before.
As the small crowd escorted them to the center of the village, Caitlyn spotted Ajay. He'd grown more frail and had lost more teeth, but his eyes were still sharp.
He approached her, smiling. "Pretty American lady," he said in their Burmese dialect. "You have returned."
She pressed her hands together and spoke in English. "How do you do? I'm Caitlyn." She bowed, and when her mouth was close to his ear, she whispered in his language, "Can I see you alone?"
His eyes widened. "Yes, of course." He motioned toward the silversmith shop.
"Carlos," she called to him, where he was standing close to Tanit. "I'm going to look at their hand-crafts."
He nodded, and she hurried toward the silver-smith shop with Ajay. "You remember me, then?" she said quietly in his language.
"Yes." His eyes twinkled as he opened the door for her. "You came before and sat in our tower with a radio so you could spy on the Burmese."
She winced. "'Spy' is such a strong word. I was conducting research on a possible incursion across the border."
He chuckled. "My people had to flee from Burma a hundred years ago. I was happy to help you spy on them."
She shrugged with a sheepish smile. "Okay, I was spying. How have you been, Ajay?"
"My people are happy. But very poor." He motioned toward the table filled with silver jewelry.
She could take a hint. She examined the beautiful items. "You nearly bankrupted me the last time I was here."
"Are you here to spy again?"
"No. I don't work for the government anymore. I'm helping the man who came with me. Carlos Panterra. He's searching for...something."
Ajay nodded with a wise look. "Aren't we all?"
"It's a little...unusual, and I'm not sure we can trust the guide who is with us. So I've been pretending not to understand any language other than English."
Ajay frowned. "You are deceiving him?"
"Well, yes. I'm worried he might have bad intentions toward Carlos."
"Ah." Ajay nodded. "So you are spying on him."
Again with the spying. "When we join the others, I'll be pretending not to understand anything. Our guide doesn't know that I've been here before, so I'll also be pretending not to know you."
"Hmm." Ajay crossed his arms, scowling.
"I'm just doing it to protect Carlos." She bit her bottom lip. "There's one more thing I should tell you. Carlos and I are pretending to be married."
Ajay's brows shot up. "Pretending?"
She felt her face grow warm. "It's...complicated."
"Of course it is. When you start deceiving people, it always gets complicated." He shook a finger at her. "It's like I always tell the children, once you start lying, it always comes back to bite you in the butt."
