Amrita would be his greatest challenge yet, but one he would rise to and most certainly enjoy….
‘I don’t find you threatening, Miss Piramal. If anything, you are making me wish I had my special speech writer here to help me with the repartee. Tell me, are all society girls as witty as you, Miss Piramal, or is that a trait only reserved for the daughter of the great Reshma Singh?’ He smirked and saw her flinch instantly at the comparison. But she recovered with the grace of an heiress, he noticed, with just dots of pink on her cheeks belying her anger.
‘My mother had many charms I didn’t have the fortune of inheriting, Mr Rathod. But the wittiness is all mine. It just takes a little reading and a lot of practice at fending off unwanted male attention. You wouldn’t understand.’
‘Aww, Miss Piramal, Amrita. You got me there. Fending off unwanted male attention isn’t something I’ve had much practice in. Female attention however, now that’s another matter. Though I can say it’s rarely unwanted. Can I call you Amrita?’ She could just about nod when he said, ‘Well, I like wittiness, and especially when it’s being delivered with such tenacity. And tenacious women just make me want to do things I know your father won’t approve of.’
‘Like what?’ Amrita found herself saying as they walked out onto the verandah and she could feel the eyes of the size-zero gang on her.
Mehtab sensed her discomfort. ‘They are jealous of us,’ he said, and led her around to a secluded part of the balcony. Suddenly, nobody could see them and she felt a strange, unknown tingle go up her spine.
‘Maybe we should go back. My father will be looking for me.’
‘Your father is a busy man, and why do you want to end our conversation when it’s just getting interesting? Am I that bad to talk to, Amrita?’ He smiled softly and for a minute he looked almost like a different man. But then he caught her palm and brought it up to his lips and as he kissed the middle of it she felt the sexy Mehtab return. His lips were soft and his scent was spellbinding. ‘This is what your tenaciousness makes me want to do,’ he said as his hands roamed her back, and when they reached her collarbone she pushed him away.
‘What are you doing?’ she gasped without much conviction.
He just looked at her and smiled. ‘Has anyone told you recently that you can drive a man completely wild?’
Amrita pushed him a little further away and gathered her composure. ‘Not men I hardly know. Until two minutes ago, that is. Is this a habit with you, Mr Rathod, feeling up women you’ve only just met?’
His hand was still behind her waist and now he pulled her back in. ‘It wasn’t until tonight. But you are making it very hard, Amrita.’ As he came closer and his lips hovered over Amrita’s she suddenly felt her resolve melt. It was just a kiss, with a man who was saying all the right things, and maybe she was overthinking things. She closed her eyes and tipped her face towards Mehtab. He nipped at her bottom lip and a moan caught in Amrita’s throat. This was torture. And then he was kissing her—softly at first, and then with a strange passion that was strong, but he took care not to hurt her. She felt herself responding with an ardour that she had never experienced before. Their bodies were now pressed against each other and Amrita found herself melting against him. It was as if she had been kissed for the first time, and Mehtab read her mind when he pulled away for a second and said, ‘This is just the first of many kisses.’
As she drew him back into another sweet kiss Amrita thought, with some amazement, was this even her? But in the moment, she didn’t care.
CHAPTER TWO
AMRITA was feeling a little heady from all the kissing when she suddenly realised where they were. There was a party going on inside, and here she was kissing on the balcony. What if someone saw? ‘We can’t do this here.’ She broke away from Mehtab, who looked as if he didn’t care one bit about who saw.
‘No, we can’t, as much as I hate to say that. I don’t want your father thinking that I seduced his daughter when actually it’s the other way around.’ He laughed. ‘Let’s head back in.’
‘No, you go in first. I will go to the ladies’ room and then join the party. I can’t believe I did this. You know, I don’t usually go around kissing strange men,’ she suddenly found herself saying in a serious tone.
‘Yes, I know, Amrita. I don’t think any less of you, if that’s what you are worried about. I will see you back in the ballroom in a bit.’ His lips brushed her cheek and then he was striding away.
Amrita walked a little unsteadily to the ladies’ room and wondered, was this what love at first sight felt like? Or was it lust? How and why did she do this? Kissing someone she barely knew? What was wrong with her? But she couldn’t deny the fact that she felt good—strangely so, but happy. Yes, she felt happy. She reapplied her lipstick, combed her hair and walked out just in time to see Mehtab go up to her father, shake his hand and whisper something in his ear. Her father looked slightly worried but she saw him nodding away. Mehtab kept patting his hand and saying something softly and she was curious to know what this was about. As she walked up to them they stopped talking and looked at her—her father with a concerned expression, and Mehtab with one of lust.
‘So I will see you two tomorrow?’
‘Yes, Mehtab. Amrita and I will be there at twelve o’clock,’ her father replied.
Amrita was going to ask why when Mehtab took her hand and kissed it. ‘It was so nice meeting you today, Amrita. It was refreshing.’ He smiled and Amrita felt faint. ‘Until tomorrow, then?’ As he walked out Amrita turned to her father.
‘Daddy, what’s happening?’
‘Darling, it’s just business. Mehtab wants to help get the company back on its feet. You will accompany me, won’t you?’
‘Of course I will,’ she said. She had to get to the bottom of this mystery.
Mehtab sat behind his mahogany desk and found himself humming a tune he hadn’t heard for years. It was a lullaby his mother used to sing to him and his five siblings as she tried to put them to sleep after a dinner of a fistful of rice. He used to ask for more every time, and his mother used to gently smile and say, ‘Mehtab, one day you will have all that you want.’ In retrospect, it seemed perfectly natural to him that her prophecy had come true. He had known since he was ten years old that he could make it out of the slum, but there had been many dark days. He never stopped feeling guilty that his family was not here to enjoy his fortune.
He stopped humming and felt a migraine coming on. As he pressed the buzzer for his secretary to get him an aspirin a voiced boomed on his intercom. ‘Sir, your twelve o’clock is here.’
It was Manoj Piramal and his daughter Amrita, and suddenly Mehtab felt his anger melting away. Today his strategy of bagging the Piramal empire and marrying Amrita would come to fruition. He couldn’t think of a better business proposal—Piramal needed someone to rebuild the company, which was a challenge Mehtab was looking forward to, but in return Mehtab would also get a wife. A wife who would bring with her the sophistication that came with old money.
Amrita had it all—class, intelligence, wit and, though Mehtab had not expected it, beauty. She was gorgeous and when he remembered their kiss last night, he couldn’t help but feel his pulse quicken. Unlike the stick-thin women who usually graced his bed, Amrita had curves in all the right places, and it made her seem so much more feminine and delicate. Her outfit suited her perfectly and the
