by Lucy Monroe
Eliza gasped and glared at the driver, then she drew herself up and asked coldly, "Because we want to wait for our dinner?"
The driver's head jerked, like her words, or maybe it was her attitude, surprised him.
Before he, or Rajvinder, could comment further on the embarrassing situation she found herself in, Eliza unclipped her seatbelt, turned in her seat and offered her hand to the driver so he could help her from the car.
Which he did, a measure of respect showing on his features. "I wasn't trying to embarrass you, Miss Worthington-Smythe."
"You call Rajvinder, Vin. Is that usual?" she asked, rather than continue to focus on the unfortunate situation.
"I've worked for him since I left the military."
"And he doesn't stand on ceremony?"
The driver looked behind her at Rajvinder, who had followed her out of the car, like he wasn't sure what to say.
Rajvinder took her arm, insinuating himself between her and the driver. "No, excessive formality bores me and wastes time."
"You're going to find life in the palace tedious."
"No doubt I would if I intended to live there."
"But…" Was he saying after that amazing kiss that he didn't want to be the Mahapatras heir?
"If I agree to become the heir," he said, proving once and for all the man was entirely too good at reading her mind, or at least guessing what Eliza was thinking. "The arranged marriage, any of it, all of it, will be on my terms."
"What about my terms?" she asked, annoyed he thought she had no say.
Didn't the fact that she was doing the negotiating, rather than allowing Grandfather to do it on her behalf tell him that she wasn't a doormat to be pushed around?
"We will discuss your terms if it comes to that."
When it came to that, she mentally corrected. Because failure was not an option. And as in charge as Rajvinder believed himself to be, he would be a fool to dismiss her sense of duty and tenacity.
The restaurant that evening was not in a mall. In fact, it was as exclusive and upscale as any she'd ever been to with her royal adopted family.
Built with traditional Spanish architecture, there was a gorgeous fountain that would have been at home in downtown Barcelona tinkling with cascading water in the front courtyard. Gorgeous Christmas trees, decorated with stylish opulence nestled in the center arches on either side of the front door, welcomed patrons with elegant cheer.
She paused in front of the one the trees, taking in the holiday splendor before her. Pure white lights glowed amidst crystal ornaments and gold baubles that managed to look sophisticated rather than garish.
"It's so pretty," she breathed. "My mother did our tree all gold and crystal one year." This one brought back more memories she'd done her best to bury. Only instead of hurting, all she felt was a warm sense of nostalgia. She smiled up at him. "I thought fairies delivered our presents that year, instead of Santa Claus."
"That's quite a fanciful thought for a future scientist."
"If a scientist has no imagination, she can only live on the discoveries of the past, not build on them."
"You're a surprising woman."
"You think so?"
"Oh, you've been surprising me pretty much since the moment we met."
The maître d' showed them to a table, pulling Eliza's brocade upholstered chair out for her, offering both her and Rajvinder their napkins.
She spread hers over her lap, feeling just a little out of place in such a swank place dressed as she was, for a day at SeaWorld. She'd worn a skirt at least, but her outfit was hardly evening wear. "Tonight, you bring me here," she said with a shake of her head. "Wouldn't it have been the night for a less formal restaurant?"
The menu had no prices on it, the Christmas décor inside understated and elegant. She hadn't missed the Michelin Star plaque on their way in.
"Look around you. We are in San Diego; the dress code is nothing like Mumbai."
He could say that again. Several men were in short sleeved, stylish button up tops like Rajvinder wore with his slacks. His version of dressing down for the aquarium. Some women were dressed even more casually than Eliza in her designer skirt and flowy summer weight top.
There was even a man wearing khaki shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops. The deferential way the waiters treated him told her he wasn't a poorly dressed tourist, but someone important.
"I went to school on the East Coast." And only now was she realizing how very unlike California the rarified atmosphere of her boarding school, university and post graduate alma mater were.
"You have a strange expression on your face."
"Is it like this on the East Coast too?" she asked, realizing she herself did not know, despite having spent nearly two decades in school in the Northeast.
"No, I do not think you'd find a billionaire dressed in shorts and a t-shirt at a restaurant like this one in New York."
"I suppose a billionaire feels he can dress as he likes."
"To a point. That level of eccentricity would not inspire confidence in the partners I take on for the big projects, regardless of the level of my wealth."
"You dress the part of success."
"I suppose you could say I do."
"It's not so different, living in the palace. We all have parts to play and how each of us takes on our role determines how much of an impact the royal family has on the people of India."
He nodded, like for once he wasn't going to argue how the royal family were just not enough.
She found herself smiling brilliantly at him for the small concession. "You have your own code of honor and commitment to the world in which you live."
"I do?" he asked, curiosity, not antagonism lacing his tone.
"Oh, yes, you do. You've made millions in the alternative energy field."
"That makes me a philanthropist?"
"It makes you someone who cares if we have a decent world to leave for the next generation."
"I'm more interested in living in one today that isn't smog infested."
"You've invested in areas few would expect because of their low ROI."
"You're talking about the farming cooperatives in Asia and Northern Africa."
"Yes."
"They are profitable."
"Only because you export half of what you grow, the rest you provide to the surrounding communities for a pittance."
"Your investigators are better than I expected, if you know that."
"I saw the names of the companies and I already knew what they did. Chemistry is a big part of agriculture and I did an entire master's thesis on that area."
His dark brows drew together, his espresso eyes keen. "I thought you wanted to work on medical research."
She frowned, wondering just how honest she should, or could be. She didn't want to damage his view of the family that wanted him to come in and take over the role of prince.
"Medical research is a more acceptable career path than feeding the world's hungry."
"I would think a princess-to-be would cultivate a lot of goodwill doing that."
"Perhaps, but Adhip uncle did not approve."
"The same man you told me cared so much for the non-rarified population of India?"
"He found it a laudable goal, but didn't want his daughter spending her days on a farm."
"Is that what you wanted to do, work on a farm?"
"With farms, to increase crop yields, to fight soil erosion, to…" She let her voice trail off, realizing she was getting lost on a tangent.
"Why did you stop talking?" he asked, no evidence of boredom in his tone or posture.
"Dev used to say I forgot I was talking with people when the chemistry of agriculture become the topic of conversation, that I slipped into talking at them."
"Perhaps, but when you are passionate about something, that is not always a bad thing. I'm interested."
"You are?"
"You know my secondary businesses. You know I am."
"You are,
" she said with wonder, realizing just how good it felt to have someone want to hear her views on this incredibly important topic.
They opted for the chef's tasting menu, a four-course dinner option that revealed they both liked being surprised and trying new things.
Eliza and Rajvinder discussed everything from what genetically modified wheat crops meant to the world's populations, to how to control pests, and even the best elements for certain types of crops. Rajvinder not only asked questions that proved he really was interested, he expressed clearly educated opinions.
She'd thought his kiss was heady, this level of interested and engaged conversation was sending all sorts of signals to her body Eliza would never have expected.
All three savory courses of dinner flew by, and they were sharing a dessert before she realized it.
He fed her a bite of the crème brûlée with raspberry coulis, something going hot and dangerous in his gaze as she took the bite and then moaned in a totally gauche way at how good it was.
"I don't usually like sweets," she offered by way of an embarrassed explanation.
But the creamy concoction was not overly sugary, and it had such an amazing flavor of, was that Madagascar vanilla?
"Me neither. Or rather, I rarely eat them."
"So you do like them?" she asked, trying to understand what he was saying.
"Maybe too much."
"But you don't allow yourself to indulge often." This made sense to her. Rajvinder was far too controlled to let anything rule him, even something as innocuous as a love of sugar had to be carefully monitored.
"No."
"You're a very self-disciplined person, aren't you?"
"I'm not sure my taekwondo trainer would agree."
"Really?"
"I only go through my forms and spar with him twice a week."
"But you exercise on the other days." She had no doubt about that.
"I lift weights and work through my forms every morning, but my security team and I spar, mixing all types of martial arts and hand-to-hand combat on my non-dojang days."
Because he liked doing things on his own terms. "So, how is that not self-disciplined?"
"He would prefer I worked in the dojang every day, like he does."
"But you allow nothing and no one to control your life, even to the point of setting your workout schedule."
"You think that's it? Not that it is simply easier and more time efficient to work out in my home?" he asked with some amusement, but not an out and out denial.
"Oh, I'm sure it's all that too, but you lost control of your life before you were ever born and once you learned what it would take to get it back, you've never given away even a small margin of say over what you do and how you do it."
He didn't answer…simply looking at her with those steady, dark eyes revealing nothing of his thoughts.
Realizing too late all she'd said and that maybe she shouldn't have been quite so honest, Eliza blushed hotly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I don't know you well enough to make those kinds of judgments about what makes you do what you do."
"And if you are right?"
She was fairly certain she was, but that didn't alter the fact that they didn't know each other well enough for her to have said it. "Are you saying I am?" Did he have no compunction about admitting something that to her would have been intensely personal.
"I think you are, yes."
"And it doesn't bother you to live your life controlled almost as much by what you won't allow as what you had no choice about allowing?" she couldn't help asking, despite knowing the question flirted dangerously with invasive curiosity.
"No."
That was definite.
Impressed, she smiled. "You're a pretty self-aware guy for a self-made billionaire."
"How self-made am I when I started with a stake provided by the family that always considered me an embarrassment?" he asked sardonically.
"Plenty children of wealthy families get money to live on, very few turn that money into a personal fortune and the kind of success you've achieved."
"My stepfather helped me."
Funny, she hadn't expected him to downplay his own successes. Or maybe it was that he didn't need anyone else's recognition. Rajvinder knew what he'd done with his life.
Still, Eliza couldn't let that comment slide. "You took him on as a partner after you'd built a hugely successful empire."
He shrugged. "He helped me in the beginning. Jamison introduced me to his connections and taught me a lot."
"But the student quickly outstripped the master." Eliza set her dessert away from her and took a sip of her after dinner cappuccino. "When you took him on as a partner, you were shoring up his business, weren't you?"
"He loved my mother from the moment they met and treated her like a princess."
"So, he deserved security of the type being your business partner could provide."
"Yes. Make no mistake, he's a damn good CFO."
"But he doesn't have your vision, or courage."
"Courage?"
"You've jumped in at the beginning of industries others are still waiting to see fail."
"Too bad for them."
"Oh, I agree. You're kind of amazing." And the more she learned about him, the more she realized this self-assured, self-made man didn't need the royal family that had rejected him at birth.
His love and loyalty for his mother were the only reasons he was considering stepping into his rightful role as prince. At the heated look he gave her, she thought maybe there was another reason, for the marriage at least.
And that both pleased and terrified her. She didn't want emotional entanglements. Though sex didn't have to be that, she wasn't sure sex with him wouldn't be the downfall to her heart.
"I am just a man," he assured her, sipping his own after dinner Scotch.
She smiled wryly. "I'm not sure that's true."
"Believe me, it is."
"Rajvinder, you've built the kind of life that takes you beyond the one percent and into the stratosphere."
His mouth firmed at the use of his full name, but he didn't take her to task for it. "And you became an Indian princess with a doctorate in chemistry. I think we've both traveled unexpected paths."
"I'm not sure the life I live now is so very different than the one I would have if my parents had not died." Their wealth had been a barrier between her and the rest of the world, just as much as the palace gates.
But Rajvinder shook his head. "I don't think you would have reached twenty-seven and never been kissed if your parents had finished raising you."
Hot, inexplicable embarrassment washed over her. It was like he was saying there was something wrong with her. That if she'd been raised differently, she would have been kissed, and more, by now. But she knew it wasn't about the way she'd grown up in the palace, and more about her own reticence to connect with others.
A result of losing so many people she loved so close together when she'd been way too impressionable.
So, maybe, yes…it was because her parents hadn't raised her, but not because of the way she had been raised.
And she wasn't about to say any of that. "I am not a freak."
"No, you are a beautiful, sexually desirable woman who has been sheltered as much as any novice in training to take orders."
She laughed at that, not because the words were funny, though they were kind of, but because of the look on his face that invited her to join in his amusement. And laughing was a better alternative than dwelling too much on the first half of his statement.
He was so frank in his admiration, and honestly, she wasn't sure what to do with that.
His approval of her brain, she took in stride, used to accolades for her academic prowess and critical thinking abilities. These compliments to her looks and feminine allure were so outside her experience, she was still figuring out how she wanted to respond.
"I have not been in training for a nunnery, believe me."
"Are you sure?" he asked, his tone not altogether teasing.
"Very." She grinned and told him, "Though my boarding school was run by nuns."
That surprised a laugh out of him. "That's right."
"It's kind of disconcerting knowing you have my whole life at your fingertips in a file." He hadn't seemed to be bothered knowing she'd had him investigated.
He was probably just too arrogant to worry what anyone thought about what they learned about him.
But though she'd expected the investigation, hearing how much he had learned disconcerted Eliza in ways she had not expected.
"I don't," Rajvinder said far too seriously to be joking. "I know only the trappings of what your life has been like, not how you responded to each different situation."
"I'm pretty sure your report told you I made only a few friends at each school, spending more time in the library than socializing."
"Why?"
Because she didn't want to let anyone into her heart. Because she never wanted to love another person, even a friend. Dev had slipped past some of her barriers and she'd lost him too.
She gave truth, if not all the truth. "I'm shy."
"And maybe you didn't want to let anyone get to close after losing your entire family so close together. But it wasn't just your family, was it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Tabish might have been your mother's best friend, but she was only an adjunct part of your life. Life in the palace would have been really foreign to you at first."
"I'm sure a therapist would have a field day with my past," she offered.
He cocked his head to one side and looked at her like…well she wasn't sure what he was thinking. "I think you've dealt with all the traumas of loss really well."
Would he say that if he knew how she still held her adopted family at arm's length? That her commitment to doing what they wanted in regard to marriage and her inheritance was motived by guilt as much as duty? Because Eliza had never allowed herself to grow as close to them as Tabish auntie had wanted.
The older woman had been devastated by her inability to have children and doted on Eliza. She'd wanted to be Eliza's mom, though she'd never said anything like that. But she'd treated Eliza like a daughter and Eliza had always maintained a safe emotional distance. Adhip uncle too.
