Last Man She'd Love

by Summerita Rhayne

What defense she could have offered wasn’t heard. Guy’s mouth curled sardonically. ‘Offering you an opportunity you’d do well to take up. After all, nothing is real in this engagement, is there?’

  He couldn’t have missed reading the shock in her eyes. His gaze remained unrelenting as their glances clashed, his eyes, dark chips of obsidian.

  ‘I have to go, Brijesh.’ A hard lump lodged in her throat. She hurried over to her mother who sat chatting to Savika and somehow acted the part of normalcy. Relieved that she looked more comfortable now, Lyna explained her urgent need to contact her CD to Savika, and then headed to her bedroom, taking the stairs two steps at a time.

  She couldn’t cry over him. She had known all men were fickle. How could she have believed otherwise with Guy? The irony was that she had gone into this with her eyes open. The hurt that arose in her chest and tore it apart told her how much she’d deceived herself. Unconsciously, she’d let herself believe in him. His callous disregard came as a blast of cold water.

  She found the strength to do mundane things. Charging her phone and calling her CD. In the process of winding up the call, she heard a knock and said, ‘Come in!’ The phone almost slipped from her hand as Guy entered, quietly shutting the door behind him.

  ‘I’m on a call,’ she snapped. ‘No, I wasn’t talking to you, Meeta,’ she said into the phone. ‘There’s somebody I’d rather not talk to who’s impinging on my consciousne -’

  She gasped as Guy extracted the phone from her grasp. ‘Meeta, she’ll call you later.’ He said to her recipient, shut the phone and stared at her with an imperious look.

  ‘How dare you! Give me back my phone!’

  ‘Then don’t annoy me by talking about me to people as though I’m not there.’

  ‘Oh! So now I have to toe the line. If you’re like this for a fake engagement, what would you be if it turned real? Thank God, I’m not being subjected to it.’

  ‘I haven’t asked you to really marry me. You forget yourself.’

  His supercilious disdain hit a raw nerve she didn’t know she had.

  ‘I’m forgetting nothing,’ she raged. ‘If you’d asked, you know very well what answer you’d have got. I’d run a mile rather than think of it. I’d rather walk into a cage of – of wasps!’ she tossed at him.

  ‘Oh? You seemed pretty well satisfied by at least one side of what marriage to me would mean.’

  ‘Just because I went to bed with you...one night – and I don’t want to repeat the experience...’

  ‘Nobody’s asking you to.’

  That hurt. ‘Don’t fake it. You’re panting to,’ she flung at him rashly. ‘But now it’s too late. You showed your cards too early.’

  ‘I don’t want you,’ he snarled.

  ‘And I would rather want a – a hyena!’

  ‘How wildly passionate,’ he said with heavy sarcasm.

  ‘You – you – I don’t want to see –’

  Her wish about what she didn’t want evaporated in the air, because with a quick movement, he eliminated the distance between them. In a second, he’d caught her and hauled her flush against him. Her body recorded the hardness of his, confusedly registering the firm yet velvet touch of his hands. Then his mouth was on hers, proving them both liars. His hard kiss turned to persuasive, a seduction, a slow tease of her senses. She moaned softly and let her body exert its will which seemed to be to wrap around him. He groaned as passion stoked to heating point between them.

  His hands stole beneath her top, pulling it up. In seconds, it was off. Anger was replaced by passion. His dark eyes glittered. Making her shiver with the heat the look infused into her blood.

  ‘Oh God, Lyna! I don’t want to fight with you. I don’t understand. You drive me mad.’ Frustration and desire sounded thick in his voice.

  ‘You drive me mad too,’ she confessed, reluctantly. He made a sound of satisfaction and pulled her lower body against his. She closed her eyes as he bent to place his mouth on hers, the contact now more open and totally brazen, not a prelude to desire but a shameless admission, an insistent acknowledgment. Her mouth opened beneath his, tracing the inner margin of his, hiking the response, reveling in it. He unhooked her bra, tossing it away to cup her breasts. She groaned, arching against him. He touched her intimately, making her breath shorten to gasps. Soon she was pulling off his t shirt, working on his jeans. He took her to bed, as they both became naked. The touch of skin against skin, the memory of the night before, the heat already engulfing them precipitated to breaking point. Soon she was urging his possession, scoring her nails on his back, wrapping herself around him and protesting the delay.

  He teased her, but the sweat beading his forehead bore witness to his slipping control. Her body invited him, his loins aching with holding back, till he moved desperately to seek the heat of her.

  She gave in to the cries of elemental want, their union bringing her close to relief, yet also driving her to escalating ache of desire. He drove slowly, then the pace picked. She met him, matching his rhythm, till the elusive pinnacle came nearer and nearer and then was reached as everything broke apart. The world faded and her reality constricted to him, his arms, his body as he broke apart in her arms. They collapsed and lay together in a sated tangle, chests heaving as their breath caught on to more even rhythm.

  He turned onto his elbow after some time. His mouth twisted in a rueful smile.

  His dark liquid gaze turned her knees to mush.

  ‘As far as apologies go, not so bad, was it?’ His eyes danced.

  ‘Not bad at all.’ She sighed. ‘I might even say worth the fight. What got into you downstairs?’

  ‘I just went all shades of green when I saw Talwar here. I sent him the long way to park the car. Told him my driver was incompetent. I didn’t bother to find out anything...why he’s here and instead turned on you.’

  The gaze that had been blazing dark was now melting warm making her defenses go down like rain water in sand. His arms were still holding her close, his scent, a mix of orange and spice, some new cologne weaving its intended effect. Had he worn it to wreak havoc on her? Then found himself prey to jealousy? The thought warmed her, ebbing her anger, and making her toes curl.

  ‘You jealous of Brijesh? That’s a laugh.’

  ‘You’re getting to my head,’ he groaned and kissed her cheek, the gesture oddly sensuous and protective.

  I’d like to get to your heart.

  But for now, this was almost enough.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  They took a quick shower together. Lyna wanted to hurry back to her mother. But Guy persuaded her. Somewhere he knew she was as stymied as he was, to discover that irresistible tug of attraction when they were together.

  ‘It feels so intimate,’ she murmured in protest as much as discovery. He felt a small shock as it hit him that he knew exactly what she meant. She hadn’t been in a physical relationship for quite a while. So it was natural for her to feel this way. But he? While he had indulged in such with other women, it had been play. Sexual play. He’d dated women who knew the score and although sometimes there was a grey area when the lady in question misunderstood his intentions, he was able to set her right by reasoning. The last few years, he’d known something was lacking. At some level, he’d wondered if that was all that relationships meant or if it was he who was destined not to experience more. He’d withheld from getting close and paid the price by meaningless flings. Since he’d met Lyna and then began to work with her, his dating calendar had worn a blank look. He realized the connection only now and the knowledge sent warning bells ringing in his brain.

  Did he want a woman in his life who could occupy his mind so much? This could take a lot getting used to.

  ‘If we intend to do this regularly, we’d have to come to some conclusions about what we want our relationship to be.’

  In a roundabout way, she was asking him to declare his intentions. He didn’t want any ground rules. He had known for a long time, he was attracted to her
. Last night had been a foregone conclusion. But this morning had made him do a double take. He’d seen Brijesh and everything became a red haze. When he heard him offering Lyna the production company deal, he’d almost lost it, because he knew how much she wanted it and feared against all logic that was why she’d asked Brijesh here. Only when Savika let it drop that Brijesh’s presence was a coincidence, had he come back to a more reasoning frame of mind. And then he’d come in here, wanting to make amends, and his elemental instincts had taken their run.

  It wasn’t supposed to be like that. He would woo the lady, his intention obvious. He didn’t go raging about like a juvenile idiot, unclear in his own mind what he wanted, what he was saying.

  For her part, Lyna had done some shouting too. The cool Ms. Perry hadn’t missed a beat.

  In the shower, he’d began to laugh, remembering her colorful descriptions. ‘Would rather walk into a cage of wasps? Want a hyena! Really? I knew you were into ecology but this love of the fauna...’

  She’d pummeled his chest, he caught hold of her hands and took his revenge by soaping her slowly till her skin was burning off the cool water into steam.

  Now she stood waiting. She’d dressed in fresh clothes while he, like an ill prepared idiot, wore his old ones. He couldn’t think what the family was thinking about their whereabouts.

  His brain absorbed what she was saying.

  What I want our relationship to be? I want you, dammit. I want to take this further, see where we’ll go. Be with you every moment I can. To hell with everything else.

  The words stayed locked in his throat. His gaze met hers and he knew she’d seen the reservation in his eyes.

  ‘Maybe it’s too soon to talk about things.’

  She was backing off. He ached to tell her but forced himself to hold back.

  ‘We should take this one thing at a time.’

  He felt like a jerk saying it. Lyna, who’d already told him she didn’t take sex lightly. Lyna, who’d come into his arms so openly and so vulnerably. How could he tell her that making love to her had been a pastime? But as though standing away from himself, he watched himself do it.

  It had been better this afternoon. She’d sought relief in anger. He’d taken her to bed, led her on and now backed off, leaving her without a clue.

  They stood like strangers, caught in the middle of four walls. She ran her tongue over dry lips and said, ‘How’s your foot now?’

  If she’d ranted at him, he could have taken it.

  ‘Better,’ he said tersely and turned and left her.

  All morning Dadu had acted worried. He kept talking about what would happen when he was gone. Guy remained with him throughout the morning and attempted to soothe him down. He got these obsessive thoughts occasionally. Nothing to do but humor him, Savika said. Guy wasn’t really surprised when he called him to his room.

  Downstairs, the hum of the workers carried on. The preparations of the engagement party went on, the hired decorators hanging strands of flowers. The idea had been to get a few neighbors over and have dinner and have people meet Lyna. How it had grown to this proportion, that a total of 500 guests were invited and a formal ceremony arranged, he could only guess.

  The blinds were already drawn in the room when he entered and what light there was, only entered through the chinks. The scent of the balm Dadu used to apply for his headache filled the air, lending a pungent odor.

  He called Guy to the low sitting where he reposed. ‘Jashith, I have something to ask you. Come, sit down.’

  Guy became aware of several thick papers which were placed in neat piles in front of him. A frown gathered at his brow as a presentiment hit him.

  ‘What are you about, Dadu?’ he asked directly.

  ‘Son, I had thought to hold these in readiness for your marriage. But then who knows how long you will like to wait for the occasion? We consider engagement also a significant event and I want you to take the responsibility that is yours.’

  ‘It’s not mine, only yours.’

  He chuckled. ‘Time has come that matters which were put on hold for long time should come to pass. I want to put all the estate, properties, land holdings and this house in your name, Jashith. Nothing will give me peace now till this is done. All the papers are ready. The firm of lawyers, my old munshi’s son is now well established in his company, he would supervise, you can read it all…’

  He sat down, holding the old wrinkled hand in his. ‘Why, Dadu? I have a job, things are going well here –’

  ‘Well? Do you say well? When outsiders walk about like they own the place and the rightful owner can’t even park his car when he wants!’

  ‘They are kids. Don’t be so harsh on them.’

  ‘And is that woman also of their level?’ He looked angry and Guy tried to distract him from going on about the family problems. It seemed to work. He related anecdotes about the TV serials. His new set for the upcoming one. How Lyna was going to introduce a surprise this Friday and end the episode at a high note to maintain viewers’ curiosity over the weekend.

  For a while, it looked like he was succeeding. But soon Dadu shook his head. ‘All this is very well, but Jashith, you have been burnt twice. I’ll not allow it to happen again.’

  He met his grandfather’s gaze and smiled, ‘Worrying about me? That’s a first. Don’t tell me age is getting to you?’

  He didn’t respond to his teasing. ‘I’m an old man now. When I’m gone, I know what you’ll do. You will let that woman have the run of the house and she’ll make it intolerable for you and your wife to live here.’ He shook his head. ‘I know what I and your grandmother taught you. But you know, you cannot let softness rule your thinking always. Already Hina is behaving outrageously. She offered her old sari to Lyna to wear. She took a cheque from me to pay for her dress, but Savika told me Lyna paid her bills herself. And now this!’ He closed his eyes. Jashith gazed at him, compassion in his eyes.

  ‘You are right,’ he said slowly. ‘When I’m here, it has a bad effect on Mummy...’

  ‘It’s not that. It’s not you. What I should have done was set her straight the first time she came here. I took a soft view of her, because she was your mother. I gave her whole family every comfort, even though it wasn’t above two years when she remarried after your father’s passing.’

  ‘You did right, Dadu. I’d do the same... you should let things stand as they are.’

  ‘No, I won’t. You wouldn’t either. Not when you hear what she’s up to now. She’s invited that Reddy girl, Sara, of all people, to your engagement. Everyone thinks I’m old and therefore dumb...that I don’t know what’s happening in this place. She’s exceeding all bounds, doing what she likes. I’ll put the process in motion and I’ll tell her she needs to vacate this place.’

  ‘Vacate? Isn’t that too drastic? And what for? She’s the hostess here –’

  ‘Well, she won’t be for long now. If she was just your mother, I wouldn’t have any objection. I even extended my generosity when she remarried. But she has another family now. She’s not a Pratap Singh. I’ll let her stay a fortnight more...which is what I’ll tell her today.’

  ‘Don’t, Dadu.’

  His head snapped up, he looked at Guy and said more sedately, ‘She isn’t your well-wisher, Jashith. I wish I didn’t have to say that. She has invited Sara. The girl was in love with you and she may not take it as easy, attending your engagement. I feel sure something untoward will happen. You know it was because of Hina’s interference that you left this house three years ago. I’ll not let that happen with Lyna. If she’s making things unpleasant for Lyna, she will think again. I’ll show her who’s the boss. You will now be the sole owner. She should know her place. Tomorrow, I’ll call the lawyer to finalize all this.’

  ‘Don’t you think you’re being too high handed? If I’ve opted not to do anything, I have my own reasons for that. It’s my job to think of the girl I’m going to marry,’ Guy pointed out.

  ‘Yes, but it’s diff
icult for you. You’re her son. I understand, but don’t stop me now, son. I won’t let things go on like this in my house. Once she knows, it all belongs to you, she’ll clear off or learn to value you more.’

  ‘And do you think I’d want to be valued like that?’

  A silence fell. His grandfather had no answer to that. Leaving him to chew on the fact, Guy came out of the room and almost hit Kalyani, standing outside. He reached out just in time to stop the swing of the door.

  ‘Oh, I have brought ginger paste for grandpa,’ she said, flushing slightly. ‘How’s he?’

  ‘See for yourself,’ Guy steadied her and stepped aside to let her pass. He hadn’t gone a few steps when she called to him. ‘Jashith!’

  He turned and she came towards him, a hesitant look in her eyes. ‘I heard part of what he was saying to you. Does he mean what he said? Asking Mummy to go?’ Her voice sank to a whisper.

  He could see the shock in her eyes. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him again.’

  ‘If he takes it into his head…’ She bit her lip. ‘He’s so stubborn. Jashith, I don’t mind telling you, Mahesh’s appointment had a lot to do with who we are…were…oh, what status this house and the Pratap Singh name has. After the last elections, they were reshuffling the party, you know. Blaming this worker and that for the loss, and it was touch and go about Mahesh, until someone vouched for him, taking grandpa’s name. If we are –’

  ‘If you imagine, I’d miss a chance of having those scamps break someone else’s windshield, you wrong me, dear sis!’ Guy caught her upper arms and gave her a little shake. ‘It’s just his headache and a few other things bothering him. I won’t let him do it, Kalyani.’ The determined note in his voice made her quiet. She nodded and turned back.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  Lyna, flushed and breathing fast, took the last of the stairs and ran down the corridor to fling open Guy’s bedroom door.

  ‘Now, this is the limit. Why invite my father? How can Mummy have got hold of his number?