‘Who said anything about giving you a job?’ Folding his arms behind his head, Ram stared at her. ‘You’ll have to compete for the various contracts along with everyone else. I can’t be seen to favour anyone or that would mean a return to the old ways. I’m doing you no favours, Mia, other than putting you in the way of opportunity.’
‘So…’ She frowned.
‘So?’ Ram probed.
‘Is that the only reason you brought me here?’
‘I can’t think of any other—can you?’
He had to move fast to dodge the pillow she threw at him. Mia wanted the type of reassurance he couldn’t give. Their affair had been born out of their old friendship and curiosity, and then lust, but she was right to think it had turned into something more—and that was something he had to deal with before they landed in Ramprakesh, because then it would be all about duty. But right now…Winding inky curls of her hair around his finger as he caressed her face, he suggested she let her hair grow again. ‘You have such beautiful hair.’ And when she touched it, as if in surprise, he took hold of her hand to kiss each fingertip in turn.
‘Is that supposed to show me that you care, Ram?’
She was still asking—and he was still on his guard. He would never lead her on. ‘I care about you, Mia.’ And that was as far as he could go. ‘If my only interest in you was that you picked up your career I could have e-mailed my suggestions to you. Or, I could have asked one of my PAs to scour the trade papers and identify some promising opportunities.’
‘I wasn’t talking about work, Ram.’
He knew that.
‘Is sex nothing more than recreation for you?’
‘Surely friendship plays a part?’ he suggested dryly.
‘Friendship?’ Mia laughed, a little sadly, he thought. ‘I don’t have many friends like you.’
‘I’m pleased to hear it,’ he said, tumbling her onto her back. He wanted her to laugh and smile and be happy. He wanted to make love to Mia until they’d both had their fill of each other, but deep down he wondered if that moment would ever come.
Ram knew just how to make her forget. Starting with her toes, he kissed his way up her ankles, her calves, her thighs, and all places north, until she was so hungry for him she didn’t care what conditions he put on their relationship. But this time she wanted to be in control—this time she wanted Ram underneath her. And so she straddled him and took him deep, riding him with the same wild abandon she had always used to answer the stone wall she came up against with Ram.
If this was all there was…
She should have known Ram wouldn’t remain submissive for long. He allowed her to enjoy him as long as he chose to and then he turned her beneath him. ‘Enthusiasm and vigour are great,’ he husked against her mouth, ‘but neither one of them is any substitute for skill.’
And then he proved it, taking her to heaven and back with artful delay and intuitive strokes that allowed her to climb the mountain only to hover at its highest peak for the longest moment before plummeting down into the deepest pool of pleasure.
‘How will I ever get enough of you?’ she asked him when they lay quietly, recovering. She was already feeling the twinges of desire again. Incredibly, the more they made love, the more she wanted to make love with Ram. ‘I’m addicted to you.’
She’d said too much. Confessions like that would only make things worse. An affair that could only last as long as the voyage couldn’t be called addictive. At best, it could be great, or fabulous or exciting; but it could never be habit-forming, for that habit would have to be broken the moment they docked. ‘What I meant to say,’ Mia amended quickly, ‘is, I’m addicted to your technique. Did you get all that out of a book?’ She cocked her head to one side in the old, teasing way.
‘All of it,’ Ram confirmed straight-faced.
He laughed as he brought her into his arms. ‘Don’t you ever take life seriously, Mia?’
And now he could have cut out his tongue. Mia had to be the bravest person he knew, and all the bravado in the world couldn’t hide the fact that she was still recovering. ‘Do you ever take this thing off?’ he demanded, lightly twanging the elastic holding her eyepatch in place. ‘It’s always so perfectly positioned.’
‘Like your ego?’
He deserved that. ‘You can take it off with me.’
‘I know,’ she said, making no attempt to do so.
‘It makes no difference to me. You’re the same person to me, Mia, with or without—’
‘You think?’ she said softly.
‘I know,’ he said, leaning on his elbows so he could look into her face.
‘I’m bored of talking about me,’ she said, and sitting up, she added, ‘It’s you I’m worried about.’
He shook his head wryly. ‘Are you trying to change the subject, by any chance?’
She ignored him and proceeded to lecture him on the perils of fast cars and even faster living.
‘When you’re as old as I am,’ he murmured, drawing her into his arms again, ‘you’ll understand.’
‘I’ll never be as old as you are, Ram Varindha. You’ll always be older than me.’
‘Can we save the philosophy and attend to more practical matters?’ he suggested with a grin.
‘If you mean, can we make love again…’ She tried to act disapproving, but she wanted him again—so badly. It was as if they had never made love. And sometimes hunger—urges—needs, had to be attended to, as Ram put it so eloquently, before reasoned thought was possible.
‘I want you—how’s that for an answer?’ Ram demanded as he thrust one hard-muscled thigh between her legs. ‘And I can’t wait while we debate it,’ he added, pressing her knees back.
Any further conversation had to wait. Her words were lost as Ram began the delivery of pleasure in a way that demanded all her concentration. He was unequalled, she realised wildly as he gave her everything she needed in a firm and practised stroke. And he was everything she had ever wanted—
And it still wasn’t enough, Mia realised when the shock waves had subsided, because rather than being the start of something wonderful and lasting between them this was leading towards the end. But it was incredible and she should be satisfied. It was far more pleasure than anyone could reasonably expect in a lifetime of loving, let alone during one passionate voyage on a billionaire’s yacht.
As they lay together with their limbs comfortably entangled, Mia realised she was exhausted beyond the point of sleep. It was then Ram suggested they take a swim. ‘Swim?’ she managed groggily, her voice muffled by the pillow from which she didn’t even possess sufficient strength to lift her head. ‘You must be joking.’
‘I thought we’d drop anchor by a beach and have a picnic.’
‘Of course we will—you’re serious?’ she demanded when Ram sprang out of bed.
‘Have you ever known me promise something I couldn’t deliver?’
She watched him stride across the room, knowing there were some things Ram would never promise her, and she felt a stab of regret for all the things she couldn’t make happen, however much she wanted to. And she hadn’t forgotten her concerns for Ram. The seeds of curiosity had been sewn and she wouldn’t rest until she knew everything that had happened to Ram over the years they’d been apart—and the shadows she’d seen flicker in his eyes told her she wasn’t the only one to have suffered a trauma.
‘I won’t be long,’ he called back to her from the door.
But with the hourglass running down, any parting from Ram was too long.
He showered and dressed and made the call to confirm that his arrival into Ramprakesh would be both discreet and low-key, the way he wanted it. Then he called the bridge and asked the captain to moor up at a beach they would shortly be passing. Moments later the giant vessel began to slow. ‘Come on, lazy bones,’ he said, coming back into the bedroom where Mia was still stretched out on the bed. He opened the doors leading out onto the balcony and threw them back. ‘Get out of b
ed and we’ll dive off the side and swim to the beach. I’ve asked the crew to bring us a picnic.’
‘Don’t you ever run out of energy?’ she complained, hiding her face beneath the bedclothes.
‘I’m sure you’ll be the first to tell me if I do,’ he said, crossing the room to whip her coverings away. Cupping her face, he kissed her.
‘Are there any bikinis in the dressing room?’ she said when he let her go. ‘Of course there are,’ she said, answering for him. ‘You wouldn’t forget a little thing like that, would you, Ram?’
‘Little things I’m rather good at,’ he told her with a grin.
‘Big things too,’ she murmured, her gaze slipping lower.
He shrugged and laughed. He had people to do everything for him—stock a boudoir, make a picnic, rule a country in his absence—but all of that was about to change. Why not make the most of every moment they had left? ‘Are you getting out of bed under your own steam or do I have to—?’
‘I’m getting up,’ she screamed excitedly as he made to catch her.
‘Five minutes,’ he warned, ‘and then I’m swimming to the island without you.’
‘Don’t even think it,’ she warned him, disappearing behind the door.
She stood on the swaying bow rail what felt like miles above the shimmering sea, side by side with Ram, with her toes curled and her head back; waiting for his signal…
‘Last one in is a—’
She had already dived in. She never waited for the word chicken. She had always had to go one better than the boys—that was half the problem of growing up with an older brother, Mia acknowledged as she struck out strongly for the shore. The water was cool against her heated skin and the currents were kind to them. Nevertheless, Ram was right beside her, keeping pace with her and guarding her, just as he always had. ‘I can manage without you running gunshot,’ she said the moment she felt firm sand beneath her feet.
‘But you don’t have to,’ he pointed out.
‘And I can walk—’
‘But you prefer to be carried.’
She was right out of arguments. Night was falling swiftly, and overhead it looked as if ink were bleeding into the rolling grey clouds as Ram strode with her in his arms to where a shrubby green carpet of land met the beach.
‘Do you ever take no for an answer?’ she demanded as he lowered her to her feet.
‘Only selectively,’ he admitted frankly.
She laughed and swayed towards him. He dragged her close. They stared at each other and in that moment they were as close as two people could be. And then they began to laugh. This wasn’t about sex. It was a celebration of a friendship that had survived against the odds. It was a celebration of everything they meant to each other, and it was proof that, whatever fate threw at them next, nothing could ever break the special bond between them.
But there were still far too many secrets, Mia thought as Ram let her go and stood back.
‘So are you going to fill in all the gaps in your life for me?’ she said. ‘Or are you too important now?’ Dragging him by the hand to where the crew were already laying out their picnic, she started to help out in spite of a chorus of protests. ‘Or is it all one big secret?’ she asked Ram as his staff made their way back to the small speedboats.
Ram chose to ignore her question. ‘Choices,’ he murmured, turning to the food. ‘What’s it to be, Mia? Truth, dare or chocolate…?’
‘Normally, I’d find that quite an easy decision to make,’ Mia confessed, tasting some of the delicious-looking finger food. ‘But first there is something I want to know.’
‘Truth, then,’ Ram agreed.
‘When you return to Ramprakesh, is it just a visit, or are you going back there to rule?’
‘At present I’m nothing more than a figurehead, but I intend to change that.’
‘You mean you want to get your hands dirty?’ she said, reading him.
‘That’s one way of putting it. I certainly don’t intend to stand on the sidelines any longer. My people need someone to work with them.’
‘And in a country noted for its corruption, you’re itching to get back there and put things right?’
‘I am,’ he confirmed.
‘You’re absolutely determined to stay and see this through.’
‘Absolutely. Now, that’s enough. It’s your turn.’
Mia groaned, remembering this had started as a game—and there was so much more she wanted to know about Ram.
‘And yours is a dare,’ he said.
‘Why aren’t I surprised?’ she said dryly.
‘Take your eye patch off.’
Mia’s growing confidence vanished in a puff of smoke. ‘I won’t,’ she said. ‘You can ask me anything else you like, but not that.’
Which was how she came to find herself belting out ‘The Time Warp’ to an audience of one on a beautiful Mediterranean beach.
Chapter Twelve
AS THE days passed it was inevitable that Mia and Ram grew closer. And, yes, she was courting disaster, Mia thought as Ram’s super-yacht began its stately progress through the Suez Canal. She was standing next to Ram, enjoying the greatest adventure of her life, knowing there could only be one outcome. Ram had his arm around her as if they belonged together as they watched the passing traffic, but that was an illusion. They were destined to be apart, everywhere but here on his yacht.
In some places the canal was as wide as a lake, and was called the Great Bitter Lake, Ram was explaining, while all Mia could think about was how quickly time was passing, and how she wished they had more time so she could enjoy this trip to the full. Ram looked so effortlessly sexy with his inky-black hair blowing around his wickedly handsome face. He had no idea, she thought as they waved to people in traditional houses lining the banks, how deeply she had fallen for him.
‘Look at the fishermen,’ he said. ‘Wave to them, Mia.’
The men were rowing small boats with their nets bundled in the back, and in the distance she could see a super-tanker. There were pylons and industrial units, cheek by jowl with holiday flats and minarets. She had never seen such a mix of things and said as much to Ram.
‘There’s such a lot I want to show you, Mia.’
She hadn’t meant her eyes to fill with tears, and turned her head away from him when he tried to blot them with his thumb. ‘Do you mind if we go inside now, Ram?’
‘No, of course not,’ he said in a concerned voice.
She led the way—wishing they were in Ramprakesh—wishing this were over—wishing she could get on with the rest of her life.
Liar, Mia thought as Ram took hold of her in the shadows of the doorway. She wanted this to last for ever—and, like a child on its birthday, she refused to accept that the day had to end.
‘I can understand that you’re overwhelmed,’ he said. ‘I felt much the same way when I came here for the first time.’
Yes, that was it, she told herself, smiling up at him.
The days slipped by until they eventually sighted Ramprakesh. The country appeared through the haze of dawn like a magical, mountainous island, drawing them towards it. Ram left her to go and stand at the rail, while she had to forget a body singing from his touch and get on with her own preparations. She guessed that however quietly Ram planned to arrive there would be paparazzi on the dock. It was inevitable, and she didn’t want to let him down.
She chose to wear a stylish, dark blue two-piece, another traditional salwar-kameez, and she teamed that with silkysoft leather sandals—not that anyone would notice, but even in the background she wanted to hold her head up high.
Being with Ram had ramped up her self-belief, Mia realised. After the accident she had gone from invalid to apathy and from there to wildly flailing about in search of a new identity. But now, and largely thanks to Ram, she had a purpose, which was to pick up the pieces of her career. And if she didn’t win the contract to handle the interior design for him, it wouldn’t be for want of trying.
Her heart lifted when she went up on deck and saw Ram staring intently at his homeland. For a moment she stood back just for the pleasure of watching him without disturbing him, but as always Ram sensed her close by.
‘Mia.’
He sounded pleased to see her and reached for her hand. She went to stand beside him to watch the dusty land of green and gold fields drifting past.
They were cruising past a tea plantation, Ram explained, and the glistening rivers she could see in the distance fed those fields. Beyond the lush green hills there were purple snow-capped mountains. She thought it a dramatic landscape over which a striking man should rule.
People had started waving to them from the shore, and the excitement grew as they recognised the yacht and realised who was on board. Mia waved to a group of children lodged perilously in a tree and felt ridiculously thrilled when they waved back at her. How could she even think of taking Ram away from this—how could anyone?
Her emotions were all over the place, Mia realised as Ram shot her a look. The sense of impending loss was becoming unbearable, but she concentrated on the children, all the time hoping that she and Ram could at least go forward as friends.
‘Are you crying with happiness?’ he teased her when her tears refused to be driven back.
‘I’ve got something in my eye,’ she said impatiently.
‘Can I help?’
‘Too late,’ she said, tipping her chin at a determined angle. Far too late. The damage was already done.
‘Well, I have to say, you look absolutely lovely,’ Ram commented as he swept an approving glance over her outfit.
‘Right back at you,’ she said, chirpiness cloaking her inner turmoil, though Ram did look fabulous in a black silk tunic and loose-fitting silk trousers that caressed his powerful body like a lover. ‘There’s only one thing that could improve your appearance,’ she commented, ‘and that’s a smile.’ She had never seen Ram looking so preoccupied.
‘There’s only one thing that could improve your appearance,’ he said, staring pointedly at her eyepatch.
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