by Nalini Singh
It was a simple dish, to be eaten with rice or roti, and one Raj had always loved.
But when he entered the kitchen, it was to the sound of a furious conversation in the main lounge. Not shouting, just hissed and angry voices. Frowning, he walked down the hall and looked in to see his grandparents sitting stiff-backed on the sofa while his mother paced the room and his father sat grim-jawed in his armchair.
Komal stood behind his grandparents, Navin beside her.
His brother had a sickened look on his face while Komal was smirking.
“What’s going on?” Raj’s voice brought everything to a halt.
“Your grandparents didn’t understand the situation,” his mother said at last.
The cold returned. “Tell me.”
“Komal spoke to us,” his grandfather said, his voice as stern as always, as stern as the lines on the dark brown of his skin. “She told us how disgracefully your betrothed’s sister is acting.”
Raj couldn’t look at either his brother or his wife. He wasn’t in enough control. How the fuck had Navin let this happen? And why would Komal go out of her way to throw dirt on Nayna?
“Dad,” he said quietly, “why isn’t Nayna answering my phone calls?”
His father’s eyes snapped, nothing of weakness in him. “Ma and Pitaji and Komal went to her and told her about that new contract you’re vying for, the multimillion-dollar one with Hari Shankar.”
Hari Shankar was a major developer, the project on offer enough to triple their turnover. “What’s that got to do with anything?” Raj asked, utterly in the dark.
“You know how conservative Hari is,” his father reminded him. “Your grandparents told Nayna that we’d lose all hope of gaining the contract if it came out that your future sister-in-law was going around with other men. Worse, they said Hari would spread it around that we aren’t the right kind of family to do business with and we’d lose everything.”
It was as if he was living in the nineteenth century. “Hari Shankar didn’t become a multimillionaire developer by caring about his contractors’ personal lives.” Outside of his visits to the temple and pious weekly prayer meetings, the man was a ruthless shark. “He wants the best and most cost-effective build, full stop.”
“Yes, I know, son,” his father continued, his jaw set in a way Raj had rarely seen. Jitesh Sen was the jovial joker of the family, not a man who’d ever been a harsh disciplinarian. “But Nayna isn’t in our industry and wouldn’t know it wasn’t the truth. Your aja and aji told her that if she loves you, she should walk away.”
Raj’s hand fisted at his side. Before he could trust himself to speak, his grandmother said, “We were thinking only of you,” and the edge in her tone made it clear she wasn’t impressed by his parents’ stance on the matter. “This isn’t the kind of blood you want to bring into our family. Komal has let us know that that sister of hers already ran off with a man before. And then got divorced! It’s possible that your—”
“Aji.” Raj shook his head at his rail-thin, silver-haired grandmother. “Nayna is the woman I love, and she’s the woman I’m going to marry. If she’ll have me after this.” He locked gazes with his father and made the call he should’ve made right back when this farce first began; Jitesh Sen knew how much Raj loved him. This wouldn’t change that. “You need to let us decide. You need to let Nayna decide if she wants to come into this family after the way she’s been treated. As much time as she needs.”
His father gave a solemn nod, his features stricken. “I’m sorry, beta,” he said with a sigh. “Your grandparents haven’t seen the two of you together as many times as we have. They don’t understand what they’re getting in the middle of—and they don’t understand Nayna.”
“Well,” his aji said, “if that woman comes into this family, then you can forget about me. I’ll be moving in with Dhiraj and his wife.”
“If that’s the decision you want to make, Aji,” Raj said, well aware that his grandmother was used to getting her way by throwing down ultimatums.
He also knew she loved him. Despite her often antiquated ideas, she’d never once brought up his adoption. As far as she was concerned, he was her eldest grandchild, and he loved her for that. But he would never give up Nayna for her. “I would’ve liked you in my life and in the lives of my children, but if you want to walk away, that’s your prerogative.”
Then he left to find his Nayna.
He was pulling out of the drive when he realized he didn’t know where to go. The first place he tried was her apartment, but no one responded to his knock. When he checked with her neighbor, the old man told him that Nayna had been home, had visitors, then left. “I was hoping she’d come back soon, make me some of that chai, and help me download my emails,” he said with a denture-white grin. “Nicest neighbor I’ve ever had.”
After leaving Nayna’s place, Raj swung by her office, but the villa was also shut up. And when he drove by her parents place, he saw no sign of her green MINI.
Gut in knots, he called Sailor. “Sail, do you know if Nayna is with Ísa?”
“No, Ísa and I are out of town visiting Ísa’s sister. Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Raj said, squeezing the steering wheel. “Have a nice time.” Hanging up, he sat in his vehicle and thought about where Nayna could’ve gone. She had always stood her ground. But Komal had poured poison into his grandparents’ minds. Maybe Nayna had fallen for it.
No.
He refused to believe that of the woman who owned his heart. The Nayna he knew would give him a chance to make this right. She would never just leave him. Not when she knew how much the abandonment would hurt.
Turning the truck around, he drove back to her apartment complex and parked in a visitor spot. He’d only been there two minutes when lights flashed behind him as another vehicle pulled in. A familiar green MINI.
He was out of his truck before he remembered opening the door.
“Raj!” The startled word was all that Nayna had time to say before he crushed his mouth over hers and wrapped her up in his arms. Hands fisting in his shirt, Nayna rose on tiptoe and kissed him back as she always did.
No distance, no rejection.
His breath harsh and his eyes stinging, he looked at her and said, “Why didn’t you answer my messages?”
“I forgot my phone at the office—and I was at the supermarket before I realized.” Scrunching up her nose, she scowled. “I had the most awful meeting with your grandparents—Komal was there too, though she didn’t talk—and I really needed double chocolate ice cream, so I drove out in a temper to get it.”
Her eyes flashed. “I went to call you once I’d calmed down enough to talk, and that’s when I realized my phone was at the office. I’d already bought the ice cream by then, so I came back here to put it in the freezer before driving to the office.”
Gripping the back of her neck, he pressed his forehead to her own. “My grandparents, what they said—”
“If you wanted to get rid of me,” Nayna interrupted, “you’d do it yourself to my face. You’d never send your grandparents, and you would definitely never send Komal.” She spread her hand over his heart. “Your parents—”
“They love you.” Shaking inside, he couldn’t make himself release her. “My grandmother threatened to cut me out of their lives if I stayed with you. I told her that was her choice. You’re mine.”
“Raj, no.” Nayna shook her head.
“I am not willing to give you up for anyone,” Raj vowed. “Not anyone, Nayna.” He held the rich brown of her eyes, eyes in which he saw home. “As for our wedding, it’s off the table until you’re ready. No one in my family will ever again interfere. If you’re never ready, then I’ll continue to be your boyfriend even when we’re old and gray, just like your aji and Mr. Hohepa.”
47
Love. Love. Love
Nayna’s breath stopped, her lungs devoid of air and the moment, it hung like a star against the night sky.
“Y
ou have your freedom again, Nayna.” Raj’s hand rough on her cheek, cradling her face as he so often did, this big man who cherished her. “I will never ever allow anyone to steal it from you.”
A sudden rush of air, a crystalline clarity. “I don’t see walls when I see you,” she whispered, the joy of the moment incandescent. “I don’t see a cage. I see my sexy hunk and hot fling. I see the man who drove hours to find my sister and who didn’t hesitate when I told him I planned to throw away my stable job for a wild risk. I see you.” And he was a man beyond price.
Raj was the husband she would choose, whether she waited five years or five months. It would always be him. By her side when trouble rose, on her side against the world. “I want you to be my husband, Raj.” A sense of utter rightness settling inside her, an inner happiness brighter than the sun.
But Raj wasn’t smiling. His hand trembled where it lay against her cheek. “You want the world, Nayna.” It came out ragged, rough. “I can’t take you to those faraway places. I have to stay here.”
Because he was a good son, a good boss, a good brother. A man who took his responsibilities and his promises seriously. “You will be an amazing husband,” she whispered, “and a devoted father.”
And because she knew he had a habit of carrying too much weight on his shoulders, she got practical. “We’ll rejig the schedule. We’ll stay home, look after things, and while we’re doing that, I’ll work on Sailor’s project. It’ll take time to get that up and running, and I couldn’t have traveled during the intensive early period anyway.”
Kissing his jaw, his lips, his cheek, she said, “You use that time to train a deputy you can leave in charge when needed. We get your father strong, and we whip Navin into shape so he can be your parents’ support here if they need it. Aditi will be older by then anyway, and I’m fully confident in her ability to kick ass and take names.”
* * *
Raj stared at Nayna, his voice thick when he spoke. “You’ve thought about this.” And everything she said, it made complete sense. She could fulfill all her dreams while making his deepest one come true.
Laughter from his dazzling lover. “Of course I have. I love you. It was only ever going to be you. So I had to figure out how to make things work.”
Raj barely heard any words after the three that changed everything. And she’d said it so simply, as if it were nothing extraordinary. As if loving him was so much a part of her it was no big deal.
Lifting her up with a grip on her waist, he said, “I love you too,” then spun them both around in a circle while she laughed and wrapped her arms around him.
When he finally came to a stop, she wobbled dizzily on her feet for a second or two before saying, “Raj Sen, will you do me the honor of being my husband?”
Feeling young in a way he’d never done, Raj replied as solemnly. “Yes, Nayna Sharma. I will.” Then he asked her to wait while he jogged to his truck.
When he returned with a small black twist tie, she laughed but held out her hand. He wrapped the twist tie around her ring finger with care, then bent to kiss the back of her hand. “A placeholder until you tell me what ring you want.” Having a sister had taught him that jewelry was serious business—and Nayna would be wearing that ring for the rest of her life.
She’d agreed to wear his ring. He’d get her any one she wanted.
Eyes dancing, she pretended to admire his creation. “Very avant-garde.”
Joy bursting out of his pores, he could do nothing but kiss her laughing mouth. He didn’t even care when a camera flash went off.
“I expect an invitation to the wedding!” Nayna’s elderly neighbor lowered his camera and surreptitiously wiped away a tear. “I’ll put this in a frame for you.”
Laughing, Nayna leaned in to kiss Raj again. And it was all so fucking perfect, with the stars in the sky and the moon peeking through the trees and Nayna’s hair all tumbled around her and her taste in his mouth.
When she suddenly pulled back with a squeak, he said, “What?”
“Ice cream!” Wrenching open her car door, she picked up the grocery bag and peeked inside. “Not melted yet.”
He waited while she ran upstairs and passed the bag to her neighbor to keep in his freezer for her.
“Now,” Nayna said after Mr. Franklin had gone inside and she was back in Raj’s arms, “let’s go fix this mess your evil sister-in-law’s made.” A scowl. “I knew it had to be her stirring things.”
Making a face, she added, “You know, the only downside of marrying you will be Komal. Promise me you’ll never let her convince you I’m having an affair with the milkman.” She poked him in the chest.
He grabbed her hand, hauled her close, kissed her because he could. “Komal is going to learn to avoid me whenever possible. I am done with her.” He’d had sympathy for his sister-in-law because of Navin’s antics, but this was beyond anything he could ever forgive. “And I know you’d hold out for the plumber.”
He laughed when she pretended to beat him up for that joke—which he could make because he knew Nayna would never break her promises to him. Nayna Sharma’s flaw was that she loved too much and too deeply. And Raj was lucky enough to be loved by her. It was a gift he would never take for granted.
“Come on, Mr. Funny, we have to vanquish a villain.” Once in the truck, she said, “Afterward, we’ll come back and have ice cream.”
Raj’s hands tightened on the steering wheel as his heart expanded to fill his entire body. Nayna was putting on her seat belt but shot him a questioning smile when he didn’t immediately pull out. Unable to explain what her simple everyday words had meant to him, he just ran his knuckles over her cheek before heading out.
All that time, his heart continued to grow and grow. Because Nayna had chosen to be his. One hundred percent in. Of her own free will. Their futures entwined. Ice cream, evil-sister-in-law, rides in this truck through the night, her asking him to wait while she ran into her office to grab her phone, muffins delivered to his job site, him fixing her plumbing, all the small, everyday moments of life, they’d have them together.
48
Vanquish Your Foes (Use Blackmail as Required)
Nayna hesitated a little when she and Raj walked hand in hand into his parents’ lounge. Not only were his parents there, so were his grandparents as well as Navin and Komal. All of them silent and stiff as they watched a documentary on television. No one talking, a hundred angry thoughts unsaid.
Jitesh Sen was the first to see them in the doorway. His face lit up. “Geeta,” he said. “Look.”
Her smile luminous, Sangeeta Sen turned off the television and rose. “You sit,” she ordered her healing husband when he went to get out of his armchair.
Then she came over and cupped Nayna’s face in her hands. A kiss on each cheek, then a hug. Whispered words in her ear. “He will love you always. My Raj doesn’t change his mind about the people he loves.”
Nayna’s eyes burned. Nodding as the older woman pulled away, she swallowed the knot in her throat. Raj hugged his mother; after that, he and Nayna went to greet his father. When they announced their engagement was back on, Jitesh and Sangeeta burned with joy.
But Raj still had something to say—this time to his grandparents. “We’ll be getting married,” he told the older couple. “Whether you want to be a part of our lives is up to you.”
“Hold on there, Raj,” his grandfather said, waving his cane. “Would you truly cut off your family for this girl?”
“If you force me to,” Raj said, utter resolve in his tone.
“Well, I suppose you know her much better than we do. If she makes you act like this, she must be some kind of woman indeed.” He thumped his cane on the ground. “Kushla, I’m too old to get into a feud with my eldest son and his son. And you know you don’t like Dhiraj’s flashy new wife.”
Raj’s grandmother sniffed. “Well,” she said to Nayna, “I hope you don’t think this means you’ll always get your own way in this family.”
/> Nayna wove her fingers through Raj’s. “My future husband is a stubborn man. I think we’ll be having a few disagreements.”
Raj scowled down at her, but she laughed and leaned her body against him. When he looked at his grandparents again, he saw his grandmother’s face had softened. She wasn’t a bad person underneath the stern demeanor. She’d be all right once she got to know Nayna.
“I was just looking out for the family.” Komal’s voice cut through the warmth, a serrated razor.
Raj didn’t trust himself to speak. Thankfully, he didn’t have to.
Nayna bristled. “Since when does looking out for the family mean being vicious and destructive?”
Komal stood, her entire body rigid. “You can’t speak to me like that!”
“Sure I can,” Nayna said, calm but unbending. “You gave me that right when you poked your nose into my business.” Temper in her eyes. “You can’t sow seeds of pain and anger between Raj and me, or with his parents. But if you try, I will kick your posterior all the way back to the hole you crawled out of!”
Raj was attempting not to smile. His grandfather wasn’t even doing that much—he had a full-out grin on his face. “Kushla! This one is like you!”
His grandmother sniffed again. “At least she knows how to be loyal.”
“What, she’s perfect and I’m not?”
“Jesus, Komal, let it go.” Navin sounded tired. “I asked Komal for a divorce,” he announced to the room. “That’s why she did it.”
Komal turned on her husband, all fury and wet eyes. “Why does she get to have the happiness?” Pointing at Nayna. “Why can’t you love me like Raj loves her? What is so wrong with me that you have to go out night after night without me?”
Navin stared at her, stricken. “There is nothing wrong with you,” he said. “I was just immature when we got married and I made mistakes and then you got so angry and I couldn’t fix it and it was easier to avoid the problem and then it got worse and worse.” Thrusting both hands in his hair, he stared at his wife. “I don’t know what went wrong with us, K, but you know it’s gone wrong.”
