"We can make use of it. I've decided Li Sung is right. You can wait for your railroad."
He smiled at her and teased. "You'll be in breach of your contract." His curious gaze went back to the arched doorway through which Li Sung had disappeared. "That's not all, is it? What's this all ab—"
She had to distract him. "We'll renegotiate." She paused. "After the wedding."
He went still. "Wedding?"
"A wedding usually follows a courtship. You did say you were courting me."
"You didn't mention—"
"Are you trying to say you don't wish to marry me? I warn you, I'm not a woman to take such an insult lightly."
"Of course I wish to marry you," he said impatiently. "It's you who have avoided the issue. You told me once that you had no liking for the life I offered you."
"Is the offer the same?"
"You would still have to live on Cinnidar." His lips twisted ruefully. "Though I suppose I could raze this place to the ground if you hate the idea of living in a palace as much as you claimed."
"Li Sung thinks Cinnidar is paradise. Paradise isn't such a bad place to live." She smiled as she glanced around her at the splendid many-leveled terrace. "And a palace is what you make it. I suppose I could make an adjustment."
"And your railroad?"
Her smile faded. "I need work to do. Useful work. I can't give it up."
"We have a railroad here, dammit."
"Suppose I'm not satisfied with just running your railroad? Suppose I want to build my own?"
"You can build it here. You can build all over the damn island."
She looked at him, troubled. "There's room for only one railroad on Cinnidar."
He threw up his hands. "All right, I promised you a railroad if you completed the contract on time. You'll get your railroad. You can have mine. I'll sign it and the right of way over to you." He smiled ruefully. "That's a hell of a lot of power I'm giving you over me. If you decide to cut off my gold shipments, I'm stranded. Does that satisfy you?"
She smiled happily. "Yes, it satisfies me. I believe it will be good for you to have to worry a bit."
"I'd worry more if you left me." He reached out and grasped her shoulders. "I've been thinking about it. Do you remember when you told me your entire world didn't revolve around me?"
She had only a vague memory of that night when she had felt so abandoned by Li Sung. "I think so."
"Well, my world does revolve around you."
She laughed. "I'm honored. It's not every woman who has a kingdom like Cinnidar revolving around her."
"I'm not joking." He drew her close. "I don't ever want to go back to the way it was before." His next words were muffled in her hair. "I was . . . lonely."
She felt the tears sting her eyes. This rare admission from Ruel was very difficult for him and only emphasized his trust in her. "So was I."
"Not like me. You reach out and gather people to you. I can beckon them near but I can't trust anyone enough to be close to them."
She slid her arms around him. "Some people you can't shut away. They don't let you."
"I had to be close to you," he said hoarsely. "I needed to be close to you. If you left me now, I don't think I could stand it. I'd want to shout and roar and break the world into a million pieces."
Tiger burn bright.
She fought back tears as she said lightly, "We wouldn't want that to happen. I guess I'd better not leave you."
"Promise me."
He was oddly rigid against her, and she instinctively reached up to soothingly stroke the tight tendons of his nape. "Why should I leave you?"
"Promise me."
His mother had walked away and left him. Ian, the only other person he had loved, had also left him. Death had not really taken his brother; he had walked joyously toward it. "You have my word," she said softly. "I will never, never leave you."
The tension left him and he stood there holding her while the pink haze of sunset lazily crept over the terrace and blushed the mirrored waters of the geometric pools with a rosy glow. "I will make you happy, you know," he said. "I promise I'll make you forget how we started."
"No, you won't." She looked up at him. "I don't want to forget one minute of it. The bad times and good are so blended together, I can't give up one and keep the other, and, by God, I won't give up one second of the good times."
"I'm glad you think the good was worth the bad. But it will get better." He gave her a quick kiss, stepped back and slipped his arm around her waist, and led her to the balustrade overlooking the canyon. "I'll be such a damn good husband, even Maggie will approve of me."
The descending sun bathed the mountain in scarlet glory.
Beauty. Splendor. Paradise.
Ruel didn't appear to appreciate the view. His expression had suddenly become abstracted. "I'll have to send the crews back to work the mine tomorrow," he said absently. "I've had them working down at the docks helping Li Sung." He was silent a moment and then suddenly turned and asked her, "How would you like to go to Johannesburg?"
Her eyes widened with shock. "Johannesburg!"
"Not for long," he said quickly. "I thought maybe— Since there's going to be a delay anyway, we might—"
"Why would you want to go to Johannesburg?"
"Well, today a freighter landed at the dock and the captain said there are reports of another big gold strike just north of the city there."
She stared at him in bewilderment. "You have a whole mountain of gold just waiting for you to mine here."
He made a face. "I guess you're right. Life in those camps can be pretty rough, and you'd probably hate it. I know I don't need any more gold. I'm being completely unreasonable."
He was not being reasonable, but he was being entirely Ruel MacClaren, Jane realized suddenly.
He's not a man who is comfortable living in palaces, Li Sung had said.
Cinnidar might be home for Ruel, but there would always be part of him that craved the adventure of the search. After a lifetime of challenging himself and the rest of the world, he would never be able to tamely accept living in this palace and the luxurious life Cinnidar offered.
Any more than she would be able to accept it.
Her spirits lifted at the thought, and relief poured through her with dizzying force. She had been willing to live here because this was Ruel's home and she loved him and wished him to be happy, but she had not really been content with the idea. Paradise was a fine place to come back to when you were ready, but there was still a world out there to build and conquer.
"Do you suppose those miners would need a railroad to take their gold to the city?" she asked.
A brilliant smile lit his face. "It wouldn't surprise me."
"Well, then I think we really should go to Johannesburg." Her eyes twinkled. "After all, your mine might play out in a hundred years or so, and then our greatgrandchildren would be left destitute."
"There's always that possibility." He threw back his head and laughed joyously before picking her up and swinging her in a circle. "You really wouldn't mind going? You're not just telling me that?"
She shook her head. "I'd like to get off the train there and look around and see the sights. Cinnidar will be the last stop on the line, but I'm not ready for it yet."