by Tanu Jain
She felt her heartbeat slowly returning to normal and looked at Vikram through her lashes, shy of the intimacy they had just shared. Beads of sweat were visible on his upper lip and she felt his hard arousal nudging against her. She reached out hesitantly and touched his throbbing velvet length. Vikram gave a groan and caught her hands. ‘You need to sleep. Leave it,’ he groaned valiantly. But Gauri wanted to give him the pleasure he had just given her. Still holding him in her clasp, she looked at him with a hint of pleading in her eyes and felt an intense wave of love overpower her when he looked at her unsmilingly, a vulnerable look on his face.
She pushed him on his back and climbed up on top of him, her insides quaking like jelly. She brought her hands to his chest, spreading her fingers lightly, teasingly over his ribs, his pectorals and finally his nipples. His nipples hardened and he bit back the moan which threatened to escape him. Then she bent her head and kissed his nipples, swirling her tongue around them and gently taking them between her teeth, exciting Vikram unbearably till he was compelled to pull up her head and kiss her hungrily. She had proved an excellent pupil.
Gauri broke off the kiss and, with a suddenness that took him by surprise, moved down and took him into her mouth. Vikram almost fainted at the excruciating pleasure which flooded him. Her sweet wet mouth enclosed him and her innocent tongue flicked out hesitantly and Vikram felt he would explode. He hauled her up to him and smothered her with kisses and flipped her on her back and, rolling on a condom with hands that trembled, entered her with one smooth thrust.
Gauri felt impaled by his magnificent manhood and took a moment to recover. Then he started moving, faster and faster, thrusting hard and pulling up her buttocks till she felt they were joined at the very centre of their beings. Soon she was climbing higher and higher till she reached the peak and stood there poised for a moment before all sensation was obliterated and she shattered into fragments.
They lay there, spent and unmoving. Vikram held her, fingers running lazy circles on her slender hips, and said teasingly, ‘You will be the death of me one of these days!’
Gauri blushed and burrowed her head into his shoulder, refusing to look at him.
‘You can still blush after all the shameless moves you made?’ he said with warm laughter, pleasure still coursing inside him.
Gauri mumbled something uncomplimentary into his shoulder, and Vikram cupped her chin and made her look at him. He dropped a gentle kiss on her lips and said, ‘Thank you! It was out of this world.’
He caressed her neck gently and suddenly felt something uneven under his fingers. He looked at her nape and saw a bruise there. ‘That bastard hurt you. I should have killed him right then,’ he said, aggression pumping through his body.
Gauri held him tight. ‘Leave it! It looks worse than it feels. If you hadn’t come on time, I don’t know what…’ She shuddered at the prospect.
Vikram gathered her close and said seriously, ‘I will always protect you and take care of you. Will you marry me now? I have tried proposing to you twice and each time you’ve turned me down. I assure you that I will never tie you down. We can live wherever you want to and you can achieve whatever you desire in your career. I will never let our marriage stand in the way of your success. And although it will be hard because I have been like this for always, I will try not to be dominating and controlling.’
Gauri’s heart lurched at Vikram’s earnest tone and his heartfelt words. Though he hadn’t said that he loved her, he had put forth his proposal so touchingly that it wrung her heart and would have been enough for her. If only circumstances hadn’t been what they were.
A world of regret in her voice, she murmured, ‘Please, Vikram, don’t force me! You know it would be a terrible thing for us to marry. I was always a burden on Baba and if I marry you I will become a burden on you.’
‘How will you become a burden? Is money so important? And anyway you will be financially independent because soon you will become a hotshot lawyer,’ Vikram said teasingly.
‘My illegitimacy will always be a burden. Your ancestry can be traced back hundreds of years, while even the identity of my real father is not known. I am not Rao Bahadur’s daughter! I don’t even know who my father is,’ Gauri said haltingly, pained.
‘I don’t believe your grandmother’s assertions and I am absolutely certain that certificate is a fake. But even if genetically you were not his daughter, you are the daughter of his heart. And that would be enough for me!’ Vikram’s tone brooked no refusal.
‘What will your family say if you marry the illegitimate daughter of a nobody? Your respectability will be tarnished and your family tree will be blighted,’ she said tearfully, laying bare her deepest fear.
Vikram gave a short, harsh laugh. ‘Do you really think I give a damn about such outdated notions of legitimacy and respectability? And how can you say all this after knowing the truth about my so-called illustrious family? I vowed on my father’s funeral pyre that the family line would die with me. When you marry me, you will, in fact, redeem me. Your nobility and integrity is unsurpassed and I would be proud to become your husband if you will have me,’ he said, taking a shuddering breath.
Gauri whispered faintly, ‘Aaji Maa has always accused me of tarnishing the family reputation, and the feelings of being a blot on the family name, useless and worthless, have been burnt into my consciousness so deep that, even though I have become independent and capable, the fear that I am not good enough still remains. I’ve conquered most of my fears but I won’t be able to overcome this fear. Even if I marry you, in a corner of my mind I’ll always feel that you have been short-changed. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make you happy.’
Her eyes filled with tears as she turned away, eager to step back from the vision of heaven he had allowed her to glimpse. Her dreams were meant to remain unfulfilled. About to escape into the sanctuary of her bathroom, she was hauled back into Vikram’s embrace.
‘You are not worthless! You are as precious as the Kohinoor! And my fear is that I’m not good enough for you. I don’t deserve your goodness and nobility. You should find a better and worthier man. But I’ll not let you escape. I’ll smother you in so much loving that you will never miss that worthier man or doubt your worth. If you don’t marry me you will make me the most miserable man in the entire universe,’ Vikram declared passionately.
‘You only want to marry me because you … I was a virgin and you feel guilty and responsible. If I hadn’t been a virgin, would you have felt the need?’ Gauri pressed on, anguished.
Vikram held her away from him and his eyes bored into hers. ‘You think what I feel for you is guilt and responsibility. Do you want to know what I feel for you? I cannot name this emotion. Maybe you can name it? Can you tell me—what is this emotion that fills me when I see you smiling? What is this feeling that inundates my being when I hold you in my arms? What is this fury which inflames me when I think of all those who have hurt you? What is this agony which wrenches me when I think of the terrible suffering you have undergone? What is this sublime joy which bathes me when I think of spending all my remaining life with you? Can you tell me if this is guilt or responsibility? Or is this love?’ Vikram said, his eyes wild with emotion, and his voice shaking with suppressed feeling.
Gauri felt goose bumps on her arms. His eloquence rendered her silent. But dread still held her in its thrall.
‘I have loved you ever since I came across you as a six-year-old, my best friend’s younger sister, with a serious and aloof expression on her beautiful face. Maybe, subconsciously, I always knew that you were meant for me but my prejudices shaped my response to you, and I buried this truth deep inside. Maya and you were both Madhav’s younger sisters but she never inspired the emotion in me that you did. It has taken me so many years to realise this truth. And do you think, after having realised this and having grasped a jewel like you, I will give you up? You may be used to acting selflessly but I’m quite selfish. I won’t let you go, ever,’ Vikra
m announced gruffly.
‘Please, Vikram, I’m begging you to reconsider…’ Gauri persisted brokenly.
Vikram gathered her to him and pressed his face into her fragrant hair and said sombrely, ‘When I was little my mother used to tell me that she would find a girl for me who would love me and take care of her. I thought that dream had died with her but yesterday, when you were sitting in the temple, you reminded me of her and suddenly I realised that my life has no meaning without you in it. I have been drifting through life rudderless and anchorless. Here, in your arms, I have found peace and contentment. Don’t take it away from me.’ Tears from his eyes seeped into her hair.
Gauri felt her emotions give way and a huge sob rose in her. Her arms came around him and she sobbed brokenly, ‘I love you. I think I have loved you for a lifetime. I will be honoured to be your wife if you’ll have me.’
They held each other tight for umpteen moments and then looked at each other, joy illuminating their faces. Vikram rained tender kisses on her face, kissing her eyes, her nose and finally her lips, murmuring, ‘You are the noor of my life, the reason I was born, and you are mine for this life and all the lives beyond.’ Gauri seconded these sentiments, kissing him back fervently, and they forged ahead, leaving behind the pain of their past to a joyous future.
Epilogue
EXACTLY TWO MONTHS later Vikram and Gauri were married in a small and private ceremony. The guests were few and they were welcomed heartily by the bride’s father, Maharaj Sambhaji Rao, who had recovered from his comatose state within a week of his beloved daughter’s return. His recovery, seen as the result of Gauri’s prayers and efforts, had been termed by doctors as nothing short of miraculous.
Out of his coma, Gauri’s very presence seemed to have given her father a new lease on life, and he had recuperated swiftly. He had been overjoyed to learn that Gauri was a trained lawyer and had asked for the entire story.
Gauri had prevaricated in a bid to try and shield Maya and her grandmother, but the astute Maharajah had ordered Vikram to recount the entire sequence of events. He had been furious on learning the role played by the women of his family and had taken them severely to task, castigating them and warning them against ever harming Gauri in the future. He reiterated what Vikram had been saying all along about Gauri being his daughter. He had dismissed the birth certificate as a fake, made by his mother in an attempt to get Gauri out of their lives.
Maharaj Sambhaji Rao’s miraculous recovery had been followed by another miracle. Madhav had been found. Following strict orders from Vikram, an intensive search operation had been carried out of the area of the crash and, to everyone’s disbelieving joy, Madhav was found living in a charitable hospital on the outskirts of Pune. He had been thrown clear of the car before it went up in flames but had sustained grievous injuries. He had been brought to the hospital and, having lost his memory and with no identification on him, had remained there since, first as a patient and then as a helper. Vikram and Gauri had rushed to bring him home and, on seeing them, Madhav had regained his memory. There had been tears and laughter and joy all around.
Both Madhav and Maharaj Sambhaji Rao had been ecstatic when Vikram had solemnly asked for Gauri’s hand and had shed tears of joy. They had personally organised the wedding, taking care of each and every minute detail.
She had never imagined she would be so happy, thought Gauri as she sat as a bride next to Vikram, her groom. Resplendent in the traditional royal gear, with a turban and a sword, she had never seen a more handsome or dashing bridegroom. Her breath had caught when she had first seen him, shivers had run through her body, her heart beating hard when she thought of the night ahead. Ever since her Baba had recovered, he had made her move near his room.
The past months had been tough because Vikram insisted on observing propriety and, although Gauri had teasingly tried to tempt him, he had controlled his hungry desire to make love to her and contented himself with passionate kisses.
Vikram looked at Gauri and thought he had never seen a more beautiful bride. All the guests gathered there had gasped at her loveliness when she had first appeared dressed in the traditional red lehenga-choli, a dupatta covering her head and a light veil over her face. He had been filled with deep possessiveness that this vision was his and only his and thoughts of the night ahead had assailed him. They had been long, hard months of abstinence, and he looked forward to lifting her veil and kissing her senseless.
The priest chanted holy verses and solemnised their marriage and then it was time to go around the holy fire seven times. They repeated their vows solemnly and the heartfelt emotion on their faces touched the hearts of the guests and her brother and father shed tears of joy.
Maharaj Sambhaji Rao beamed when they both bent to touch his feet. He pulled them up and hugged them to him, saying, ‘God blessed me when he sent you both into my life. I can rest content now. God bless you!’
Madhav slapped Vikram on the back and, full of emotion, said, ‘You were always the brother of my heart and now we are brothers by blood, too!’ Turning to Gauri, he enfolded her in a hug and said, ‘I owe my life to you and your unshakeable conviction that I was alive. A brother is supposed to look after his sister but here you have looked after all of us. Now, for the rest of our lives I will do the looking after.’
Gauri looked at the joy on the faces of the three men she loved most and knew the circle of love was complete.
ISBN-13: 9781460383698
His Captive Indian Princess
Copyright © 2013 by Tanu Jain
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