by Tanu Jain
‘Please,’ she beseeched him.
Vikram had been determined not to succumb to their passion but her softly worded plea told him that he was fighting a losing battle. He made a last-ditch effort. ‘We should wait. I don’t want to hurt you again.’
But Gauri, inexperienced though she had been, knew now with a woman’s wisdom that Vikram desired her. Her insecurities about her desirability melted away and, wordlessly, she laced her fingers through his hair.
Vikram gave up trying to act nobly. He was burning up and, shorn of the careful self-control he had been exercising, his shaft stood proud and erect. Gauri saw his rigid swollen shaft and gulped, a little scared. The pain of last night was still vivid in her mind but then she looked up and saw the tenderness in Vikram’s eyes and her fears melted away.
She held up her face for his kiss. Vikram kissed her, all restraint gone. His kisses now were hot and urgent and his tongue thrust boldly inside her mouth, tangling with her tongue, coercing a deep response from inside. He sucked her lower lip between his teeth and bit gently, and stars exploded behind her closed eyelids. She was melting against him and when his thick erection nudged at her nest of curls she drew in a sharp breath. But he left her for a moment to rifle through his wallet. Full of impatience, he took out a condom which he had been carrying and rolled it on his penis.
‘Hush, relax, it won’t hurt this time, I promise,’ Vikram whispered against her mouth and with a quick kiss entered her in one swift thrust. He held himself in check, giving her time to relax and adjust to his maleness. Only when he felt her body slowly relax and absorb his maleness did he move.
Gauri was surprised to find that it did not hurt her this time, and her body accommodated him with a startling familiarity. She had a sensation of being filled completely, and his erection pulsing inside her filled her with a compelling need. She moved her hips restlessly.
Vikram looked at the vision she presented. Her long, silky hair fanned out on the pillow and her mango-shaped breasts jutted out enticingly. Her delicate neck quivered and her lips were clenched into a moue. He bent his head and kissed her hungrily, clasping her hips to hold her still. He held back the intense waves of desire building inside him. He wanted to go slow, wanted to make it beautiful and unforgettable for her.
Gauri opened her eyes and looked at him. His eyes glittered with desperate need and she felt thrilled that she could elicit such a reaction. She wound her legs around his lean hips, and Vikram groaned and levered her hips closer till it felt as if they were joined at the very core of their being.
He began moving deeper and faster, establishing a pulsing rhythm which made Gauri’s body contract with pleasurable jerks, and she picked up his burning rhythm and matched his movements till they were both flying out towards the unknown. Suddenly they were there at the very edge of ecstasy, where they remained suspended for timeless seconds before splintering into millions of pieces.
Vikram collapsed on top of her and Gauri lay there, boneless and satiated.
For countless minutes they lay like that, Vikram still sheathed inside her.
After several long moments he moved. ‘I must be heavy for you. Did I hurt you?’ he asked, tilting her chin and gazing into her eyes.
Gauri was astounded to see the shadow of uncertainty in his eyes and smiled shyly. ‘That was out of this world. Is it always like this?’
Her obvious enjoyment made Vikram feel on the top of the world. He felt like his royal ancestors, invincible and victorious. He wanted to give a bloodcurdling conquering whoop but he restrained himself.
He gave her a marauding kiss and whispered, ‘It gets better each time.’
They lay there, bodies entwined, Vikram’s fingers making lazy circles on her waist, loath to talk and shatter the peace which had enveloped them.
‘How do you know it gets better? Have you had a lot of experience?’ Gauri said, jealousy rearing its head.
Vikram bit back a smile at her possessive tone. ‘Not at all!’
‘Actually, how many girlfriends have you had? Can you count?’ Gauri asked, not mollified.
Vikram said with mock solemnity, ‘Of course I can count! I’ve just had a couple of girlfriends!’
‘You’re lying! I know that you had at least two when you were at college in London. I heard Madhav Dada and you discussing them one day,’ Gauri revealed heatedly.
Vikram was exasperated. He was unused to revealing his personal details. If it had been anyone but Gauri, he would have shut them up coldly. He tried to explain. ‘Madhav just liked to pull my leg. Actually, I’ve never had a steady relationship which lasted beyond three months. The only long, steady relationship that I had was actually with your brother!’ he added humorously.
‘Very funny! Don’t try to change the topic!’ Gauri said.
‘I’m telling you the truth!’
Gauri persisted, ‘So, you’re trying to tell me that you’ve never had a serious relationship. But you were always surrounded by beautiful women, especially Maya’s friends.’
‘They were all brainless, chattering flirts and I never could stand any of them! In fact, there have been very few women that I have been able to stand,’ Vikram admitted.
‘I know! You made your contempt for me quite plain,’ Gauri said softly.
Vikram felt his shame resurface. ‘I behaved like an arrogant boor with you. I have no excuses. All I can say is that my childhood conditioned me to be distrustful and wary of everyone, especially women. I learnt this lesson very young.’ He trailed off, unwilling to say more and leave himself vulnerable.
‘What happened?’ Gauri asked softly, her hand creeping into his compassionately. Vikram felt the comforting squeeze of her delicate, soft hand and felt a tightness in his throat.
He said, ‘My father had summoned me home for the holidays and his current mistress, young and bored, targeted me as her victim. She would waylay me at unexpected places, act coy and emotional. She rolled out her sob story of having been forced to become my father’s mistress by her cruel mother and would show me bruises caused by his physical violence. I was a crass, hot-headed teenager and fancied myself in the role of her saviour. Blinded by sympathy and angry with my father, I assured her that I would protect her the next time he became violent.
‘One night she came to my room, dressed in a negligee, weeping copiously, and pleaded with me to save her from him. I tried to stop her from weeping and she began kissing me.
‘I put her away from me when suddenly my father burst into the room. Furious, he slapped her and, when I tried to intervene, landed a couple of blows on me, too. She immediately concocted a tale of how I had been harassing her sexually and had forcibly dragged her to my room that night. She spun her web of lies and pleaded with my father to forgive me because I was just a boy caught in the grip of hormones. Her trick worked and my father turned on me.’
Vikram stopped, reliving with unseeing eyes the horror of his father cursing him viciously and hitting and kicking him. His father’s merciless beating would have continued, but Vikram had had enough. He had caught his father’s arm and coldly warned him never to raise his hand to him again. That was the last time he had seen his father—Vikram had walked out that very night, and had returned only to fulfil the last rites.
The anguish on Vikram’s face twisted Gauri’s insides. He had been just a child. Vikram’s face took on its familiar shuttered look and he fell silent.
She said haltingly, ‘Mahipal Kaka was telling me that you had a tough time after your father died.’
‘He killed my mother! I was glad when he died!’ he choked out.
Gauri looked at him, shocked.
‘He killed her! How?’ she asked uncomprehendingly.
‘The humiliation and torture he heaped on her made her take her life. She shot herself and I was the one to discover her,’ he said with raw emotion.
Gauri looked at the desolation etched on Vikram’s face. Her heart bled at his agonising loss. The bleak darkness of his ey
es smote her. A huge lump appeared in her throat when she thought of him discovering his mother’s body. It was a terrible ordeal for any child to face.
‘Who took care of you then?’ she asked tremulously.
Vikram bared his teeth in grim humour. ‘I don’t think it occurred to anyone to take care of me. The servants were all afraid of my father, and he pushed me off to boarding school so that his life could continue as before.’
Gauri’s heart ached for the grieving and desolate child he had been. No wonder he seemed so cold and forbidding and didn’t trust anyone. She laid her head on his shoulder in silent comfort.
Gauri squeezed his hand tightly and said, ‘He has gone. You will only torture yourself if you continue to let your hatred for him fester inside.’
‘I know I should not think badly of the dead but I cannot forgive him! And I cannot forget my genetic heritage or the tainted blood that runs in my veins, too,’ Vikram said, laying bare his deepest fear. ‘My father once taunted me cynically that I was his son and shared his genes and that, for all my notions of honour, once I grew up I would put my mother in her place!’ he said, full of emotion.
He remembered his mother’s sad words. ‘Beta, you don’t grow up to become like your father.’
Gauri felt her heart heave. What a burden he had been carrying for so long.
He had suffered immensely but he possessed remarkable inner strength. This explained his strong sense of justice, his inflexible moral code and his restless energy. She could never have imagined that there could be such strong similarities between both their lives, or that he, too, had had a tough life.
Full of emotion, she hugged him tight, wanting to banish his painful memories. She said with earnest feeling, ‘You could never be physically cruel to anyone. I’ve never met a more honourable or just man in my life. Your mother’s genes and not your father’s are responsible for the man that you are!’
As Gauri hugged him tight Vikram felt the knot inside him melting. He closed his eyes. She had bewitched him. Her beauty had him enthralled.
Gauri suddenly yawned and Vikram kissed her mouth and settled her comfortably in the crook of his arm.
‘Sleep,’ he commanded her.
But Gauri couldn’t sleep. She was feeling bone-weary but sleep didn’t come. She was feeling too churned up and unsettled inside.
Vikram kissed her eyes shut and asked, ‘Can’t sleep?’
Gauri shook her head.
Giving her a hard kiss, he said, ‘Stay there,’ and went back to the bathroom.
Gauri lay there, bemused. She had turned into his sex slave. He just had to look at her and her nerve endings would tingle and feelings of lust assailed her. She had fallen deeply and irrevocably into the vortex of his attraction. Her thoughts were interrupted by Vikram’s return.
She scrambled to rush under the bedclothes. He came back onto the bed and told her to lie on her stomach. Gauri stared at him uncomprehendingly, and with an impatient sigh he turned her over.
The bedclothes went flying and she shrieked when she felt herself being straddled from behind. He was astride her. Though he had kept his weight off her, he had her pinned between his legs.
Suddenly she felt liquid trickling on her back. He was smoothing lotion onto her body.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked him, dazed.
‘What does it feel like?’ Vikram asked humorously.
‘You’re…’ She forgot what she’d been about to say. It was heavenly. He was rubbing all the kinks out of her body, and it felt as if each ache was being smoothed away. His gentle ministrations continued and Gauri almost dozed off when she felt him moving lower. Her senses went on alert as he rubbed her buttocks and then the back of her thighs. With butterfly touches he reached between her thighs and Gauri felt wetness trickling from inside. It was totally erotic and the fire of wanting him began burning and crackling inside her.
He suddenly turned her over and slid his engorged length inside her warm and wet body. His powerful maleness stretched her sensitive flesh and Gauri moaned as mind-numbing pleasure drenched her.
Vikram thrust into her with fast and furious strokes and brought her to the very edge of ecstasy, from where they flew high up to the pinnacle of desire, where they were engulfed by a mind-shattering release. They lay spent and Gauri felt she could never move again.
Vikram wondered when his hunger for her would be appeased and he would be able to go for a couple of hours without the thought of bedding her being uppermost in his mind. With no other woman had he ever experienced the total merging of body and spirit that he felt with Gauri. She was so warmly receptive that it felt she had been especially fashioned just for him. A strong feeling of possessiveness filled him. She was his and he would never let her go.
They left the motel in the morning after a leisurely breakfast. Vikram had spent the night treasuring the feel of Gauri cuddled next to him. He had barely slept a wink, feeling too energised to sleep. She had been dead tired and he had controlled his desire to make love to her again and again and had let her sleep peacefully. Though he hadn’t been able to resist waking her up in the morning and making slow, sensuous love to her once more.
Gauri looked at Vikram seated next to her and felt a blush suffuse her face as she thought of all the intimacies they had shared.
She had slept dreamlessly, nestled in his arms, and had been woken up in the morning by tiny kisses raining down her nape and shoulders. Bemused and half-asleep, she had thought she was dreaming, but Vikram brought her awake with his sweet loving and made slow, drugging love to her.
Gauri stiffened when Vikram took her clenched fist from her lap and threading his fingers through hers, placed it on his thigh, where he held it firmly. Feeling self-conscious, she tried to wrest her hand away, but Vikram held fast with a slight smile on his face. Gauri’s eyes fell shyly and she left her hand in his and she felt slow warmth seeping in and warming a chill she hadn’t even known existed inside her.
Vikram looked at Gauri’s delicate and soft hand lying in his and felt warm inside. He gently traced the veins on her hand and asked her a question that had been plaguing him. ‘What did the stable boy do to you?’
‘Nothing. Just forget it,’ Gauri said, paling.
‘Tell me,’ Vikram said dangerously.
Gauri looked at Vikram’s taut face and her heart sank. Would he still blame her?
‘He just … he caught me in the stables and made some lewd suggestions. I tried to escape when he tried to kiss me and then Mahipal Kaka arrived and rescued me,’ she recounted.
‘And later, when he entered your room, did he force you in any way?’ Vikram asked, taut and still.
‘He kissed me forcibly and bruised…’ Gauri stopped. She couldn’t convey the utter repugnance and helplessness she had felt.
Unconsciously, Vikram’s grip on her hand tightened and his face was filled with fury. ‘I’ll kill that bastard,’ he hissed.
Gauri looked at him with dread. ‘Please, Vikram, just leave it.’
‘How can I leave it? Do you think Madhav would have left it? It’s a slur to the family, to Madhav, to me! I’ll make that bastard pay for what he did to you.’ His voice throbbed with molten anger.
He turned angry eyes on her. A murderous rage filled him. When he got hold of the stable boy he would throttle him with his bare hands.
Gauri tried to calm him down. ‘Whatever happened has happened. It’s in the past. The past cannot be changed. What we face is the result of one’s karmas or deeds. Everybody gets their just deserts. Probably my past deeds were such that I had to undergo all that suffering. Anyway, Baba always told me that we should move forward and not look back in despair.’
Vikram looked at the wisdom shining out from her eyes. It was difficult to imagine that such a chit of a girl could speak such words of wisdom. Her suffering had toughened her, made her wise beyond her years. Her soft and delicate appearance belied her inner strength and fortitude. He had much to learn from her.
>
Gauri began hesitantly, ‘Vikram, I have a favour to ask of you…’
‘What?’ he said indulgently. He would do whatever she wanted.
‘I know you won’t agree with me, but please put investigators on the trail of Madhav Dada. My gut feeling is that he will be found. Please, I beg you,’ Gauri said beseechingly.
Vikram looked at her earnest face, and a ray of hope arose in him. He would trust her instinct and go along with it.
He nodded. ‘All right, when we get back I’ll put some investigators on the job. I hope to God your instinct is right.’
He added sombrely, ‘Even now I cannot believe he’s gone. He was such an intrinsic part of my life for so long that I…’ He stopped, unused to expressing and sharing his pain.
Gauri squeezed his hand in silent comfort.
‘The last two years have been terrible. Madhav’s accident, Kaka Maharaj’s stroke and then my father’s death!’
‘Mahipal Kaka mentioned that a woman appeared with a young girl, claiming she was your father’s daughter,’ Gauri said hesitantly, unsure if he would take offence.
‘Yes, but I resolved it,’ Vikram said with a shadow on his face.
‘You proved that she wasn’t his daughter, didn’t you?’ Gauri asked warily, her heart aching for the little girl.
Vikram looked at her searchingly and seemed to divine her emotions. ‘Yes, the tests proved conclusively that the child, Khushi, wasn’t my father’s. She was just a pawn of her unscrupulous and greedy mother. But I have set up a trust fund for her and am regularly updated about her progress in school. I take care of the vulnerable,’ he said with a dark undercurrent.
Gauri looked at their clasped hands. It all boiled down to duty and honour for him. Would he feel the same way when he came to know about her real identity? She couldn’t risk it.
They reached Mogragarh and, after a quick shower, Gauri went to sit with her father. His condition showed marked changes and the doctors were very hopeful. Gauri felt joy welling up inside her and suddenly felt her world had righted itself. She held her father’s hand and began chanting her prayers.
