Page 39 of Empire of Shadows

“Were youspyingon me?” she demanded.

“It’s a terrible idea,” Adam continued, ignoring the accusation. “The rainy season here is due to start any day now. Once it does, any paths or game trails will turn into muck. The water level rises in all the rivers, and the current turns three or four times as strong. Even with a reliable steam engine to drive you upstream, that’s tough going—not to mention the flash floods, the mudslides, and all the fun of trying to set up camp in a mosquito ridden downpour.”

“I don’t recall asking for your opinion,” she shot back.

“Nah,” Adam returned easily. “You just asked two of the best guides in the colony—besides myself, obviously. And they both turned you down. I’d like to think you’re smart enough to realize that there’s not much point going on to thelessreliable guides… because any of them who tell you yes are either going to rob you or get you killed. What are you after in the Cayo, anyway?”

Her fury was a sight to behold. It slid over her body like another skin, tensing every muscle and turning her eyes to a flashing silver fire. Adam vaguely recalled the way she’d whacked him with the towel rack in the bathroom. If she had that towel rack now, he was pretty sure she’d be using it to try to knock him into the river.

She refrained from assault this time, limiting her response to an outraged growl.

“I have about as much interest in your opinion on the matter as I do in engaging myself to a pig,” she seethed. “So unless you are about to direct me to someone who can actually assist me—”

“I mean, I could,” Adam mused, cutting in.

That shut her up for a minute.

“Sorry?” she said.

“Apology accepted,” Adam replied innocently.

The fury flashed in her eyes again. Adam went on before she took it in mind to express her feelings in the form of a kick to his balls.

“Icouldtake you where you want to go,” he offered. “As it happens, I know the Cayo better than even Cedric Barrow does.”

Adam clamped his mouth shut before it could do anything even more stupid. Had he actually just offered to take this woman into the mountains? She’d get them both eaten by a jaguar in five minutes. She had that jaguar bait air about her.

Nor had Cedric been wrong. She was far too well-dressed and well-spoken not to be respectable—and respectable women usually had a small army of overprotective relatives lurking at their backs. Just because Adam hadn’t seen any of them here in Belize Town didn’t mean they didn’t exist. Adam was better positioned to weather that kind of trouble than a guy like Cedric, but it was still a hell of a lot more hassle than he ought to be asking for.

“Why would you offer that?” she demanded.

“Not entirely sure,” Adam admitted. “Now that I think of it, it’s probably a terrible idea.”

She glared at him with a white hot focus, and then stalked across the bridge toward the hotel.

Adam let her go… but not without a shout at her departing back.

“You know what—just forget about it!” he called out.

She whirled around, flashing him a rude gesture with vehemence.

Someone chuckled beside him. Adam turned to see a grizzled South Asian gentleman carrying a crate with a live rooster on his back.

“What are you laughing at, Mr. Nohri?” Adam demanded.

“About time you found yourself a woman, surveyor,” the older man replied with another wheezing laugh before continuing on his way.

?

Ten

Ellie stalked backto the Hotel Rio Nuevo. Outrage fired through her blood so hot and fast that she was surprised it didn’t come out of her ears in the form of steam.

Howdarethat man follow her? How dare he have the gall to offer to take her to the mountains—as if she would ever agree to travel with some muleheaded surveyor who thought he knew better than everybody else—only to take it back a breath later!

She hoped he stepped on a nettle. Were there nettles in British Honduras?

Something spiky and itchy, at any rate. Ellie hoped he walked through a whole patch of it. She pictured his arrogant face with its unjustly strong cheekbones breaking out in hives, and felt a little burst of satisfaction.

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