Married for One Reason Only

by Dani Collins

  “You had my number but didn’t reach out,” he said with a negligent shrug. “I wasn’t sure you would take my call, and this is important.”

  She wanted to say, You gave me the wrong number, but if this card was anything to go by, he’d given her the wrong everything.

  “Why were you working for that hotel in Milan? Were you actually in their security department?”

  He licked his lips, the first sign of him not feeling completely in control of this moment. “We hope that hotel will join our roster of clients. I presented to them while I was there, but no. I was not working for them in any capacity when I met you.”

  “Then why...?” She was growing deeply uneasy, pinching his card so hard her thumbnail went white.

  “I told you the truth when I said I was trying to prove something to my sister.” His detached air cracked enough that his cheek ticked. “As it turns out, she was right and I was wrong.”

  How much did it cost him to admit that? she wondered with a twinge of grim amusement.

  “What is that supposed to mean? What are you doing here? What were you doing there?” She could feel hysteria edging into her psyche. It made her sick that he’d had some sort of ulterior motive when they’d made love. It sullied her memory of a night that was otherwise pure and wonderful. It made her feel used. Not desired for herself.

  Unwanted.

  He flicked open his jacket as if he was overheating.

  Despite how fractious this moment was, she became acutely aware of his flat stomach and had a flashing vision of kissing across his muscled abdomen while her breasts nestled his erection. He’d tangled his hands in her hair and groaned as if she was torturing him in the most exquisite way possible.

  A searing mix of arousal and embarrassment poured through her. She had been utterly shameless with him. It had felt right at the time, as if they were both revealing something no one else had ever reached, but now her gaze pinned itself to the floor, mortified.

  A sudden knock rapped before the door swung open, making her gaze fly up in a panicked What now? One of the ship’s security guards strode in and handed Vijay the passport he’d taken from him a few minutes ago.

  “Thank you for your patience, sir. You’re free to go anytime. Please let me know if I can assist in any way.”

  “Thank you.” Vijay pocketed his passport and nodded at the door in arrogant dismissal. The man left, closing the door behind him.

  Oriel stared at the closed door, wondering if she should be reassured by the deference that man had shown or intimidated. She clung to her elbows.

  “Are my parents okay? Does this have something to do with them?”

  “Not in the way you think. To the best of my knowledge, your mother and father are completely fine. But you should sit down.” Vijay pulled out the chair tucked beneath the built-in desk. “What I’m going to tell you will shock you. It’s about your birth family.”

  Oriel instinctively backed away. She was already against a wall, though. Some kind of knob was trying to puncture her kidney. She barely felt it. Her hair scraped against the wood as she shook her head.

  “I know all I need to about them.”

  His face blanked with shock. “You do?”

  “Yes.” Oriel repeated what she had always known. “They were a mixed race couple, and that was a problem for my birth mother’s family, so she gave me up.” Which cut Oriel to the bone, obviously, but not everyone enjoyed the advantages she and her parents had. She tried not to judge her biological mother too harshly, not when she didn’t have all the facts. “I’ve never wanted to cause problems to resurface for them, so I’ve never tried to find them. Plus, it would hurt my parents if they thought I was looking for my birth family. So, no thank you. Keep whatever you know to yourself.”

  Despite her dignified refusal, her heart pounded so hard she thought her ribs would crack. Her stomach was seriously trying to turn itself inside out.

  Vijay set his hands on his hips. He started to speak a few times before finally saying, “I’ve been thinking about this from every angle, trying to work out how to phrase things. It never once occurred to me you wouldn’t want to hear it. But okay.” He nodded with bewilderment. “That’s your choice.” He rubbed his jaw, casting about the room as though completely at sea. “You have my card if you change your mind.”

  He looked at the card she held. In her agitation, she had twisted it beyond recognition. He removed a fresh one from his pocket and set it on the folded clothes inside her suitcase.

  He stood there a long moment, staring at her.

  A million images flashed into her mind, from his first sexy side-eye when he had entered her suite to his quick smile at the bar. The way the touch of his leg against her own had filled her with melting heat, and with a cocky brow, he declared they were on a date. His kisses and caresses and deeply generous lovemaking and his note that had claimed it had been an amazing night.

  She waited for him to acknowledge any of that, but he only nodded once and said, “Good night.” He started for the door.

  “That’s it?” she cried, panic-stricken that he would walk away so easily. Again. “You can’t just stroll back into my life with a baited hook and dangle it like that! What were you trying to prove?”

  “To my sister? You just said you don’t want to know.”

  She pressed back into the wall again. “If you tell me you and I are related...”

  “No,” he choked out. His mouth twitched, but he added firmly, “Absolutely not.”

  She hugged herself, searching his eyes for clues. Until this moment, she would have sworn that she had no interest in learning about her birth parents. She had long ago made peace with the fact she would never know more about where she came from than she’d always known.

  She suddenly discovered she did have questions, though. Thousands of them, each one making her burn with curiosity. There was a scorch of guilt that came with it. This desire to hear more felt disloyal to the people who had always treated her as though they’d made her themselves.

  “I love my parents,” she blurted.

  “I’m sure you do.” His voice gentled. “This is my mistake, Oriel. It’s been a busy few weeks for my company. I got it into my head that I had to have all of that wrapped up so I could catch you here in Cannes before you went on vacation, but you’re right. This is something you should learn in your own way on your own timeline. It’s just...” His gaze flickered down her silver gown, which was covered in sequins that caught the light. “Well, it was good to see you again. Call if you want to talk to me.”

  “Why didn’t they just write to me? What about an email?” She threw up a flailing arm. “Have they always known where I was?” The thought of that nearly broke her into pieces. Who kept something like that from someone? “Why didn’t you warn me that you were planning to come back into my life with news like this? Why are you the one delivering this news? Mon Dieu, is that why you sought me out in Milan?”

  It was. She knew it as she said it. Her heart hardened into a stony lump in her chest. She had thought she was special, that they had shared something extraordinary. But she had never been special. Not special enough. Not good enough to keep.

  “The situation is delicate.” His cheeks hollowed. “Best handled personally so things can be managed on both ends. I don’t want to say more than that because you’ve just said you don’t want to know.”

  “Who do you think you are?” she cried, charging forward a few steps. “You’ve come all this way. I’m not going to let you torture me with it. Tell me.”

  He stiffened as though bracing for a physical attack. His head went back and he looked down his nose, but otherwise he was very still.

  “Are you sure, Oriel? There’s no going back—”

  “Vijay.” A pulsing charge was running through her, burning painfully in her arteries, throbbing and stinging and
making her stomach swish around and around. She thought she might throw up, but fought it back, glaring at him. Daring him to speak or walk out. She didn’t even know what was worse right now, looking into his eyes knowing he didn’t care about her, or letting him walk away with her deepest secrets still unlocked.

  He seemed to hold every part of her in his wide hand. Did he realize that?

  After an interminable silence, he nodded at the chair. “You look like you’re going to snap in half.”

  Sitting down felt like lowering herself onto a bed of nails. Her whole body was prickling with confusion, wanting to react to something big without knowing what it was. She clutched her hands together and pressed them to her trembling lips, probably most infuriated by the fact he was witnessing her react this nakedly.

  “My adoption is supposed to be my information,” she told him resentfully. “I should decide who I share it with and how much is known. You’re not supposed to come here and tell me things I don’t know about myself. Not things that are so...” the word intimate wasn’t strong enough “...integral to who I am.”

  “You’re right.”

  She instantly hated him for that ultra-reasonable tone. It told her how badly she was betraying herself if he thought she was in danger of a breakdown and had to neutralize her emotions by sounding all calm and agreeable.

  Bitter tears stood in her eyes as she watched him lower to the corner of the bed. He set his elbows on his knees and linked his hands loosely. His expression was very grave.

  “It’s not much of a defense, but I didn’t believe this theory would prove true. It seemed too outrageous. I went to Milan thinking I would prove to my sister she was being fed a fabrication.”

  “Kiran,” she recollected. “You thought someone was trying to take advantage of her.”

  “Yes. Because reuniting lost families isn’t something we even do, but this man had seen your photo and thought you looked like his sister. The timing of your birth matched a trip she’d taken to Europe a few years before she passed away.”

  “She’s dead.” A cold wind buffeted her, pushing her back into her chair. She had to take a measured breath to absorb what a blow that news was. She really had been carrying a lot of unacknowledged maybes and somedays. Tears of grief and loss gathered in her throat.

  Vijay waited until she lifted her gaze.

  “I’m sorry.” He offered his hand. “Do you want me to give you a few minutes?”

  “No,” she choked and tucked her cold, bloodless hands between her knees.

  “I’ll tell you up front that I have no idea who your birth father is. He remains a mystery, but our client saw your photos and recalled some remarks his sister had made. He became convinced you were his biological niece. I thought he was using the mystery to spend time with Kiran, and the sooner I proved him wrong, the sooner he would leave her alone.” He paused as though giving her a chance to brace herself. “I went to your room in Milan so I could steal your toothbrush. I sent it to a DNA lab.”

  “You’re not allowed to do that,” she hissed, sitting up straighter. “You’re supposed to get a person’s consent.”

  “It was expensive,” he allowed with a tilt of his head. “I didn’t attach your name to it. I thought the man was a fraud, Oriel. I thought I would force him to admit he was blowing smoke and make him disappear. Or he’d go through with the test, it wouldn’t match, and I could tell him to go to hell for sending us on a wild goose chase. I didn’t expect it would lead back to you. And I never once took for granted what I was doing was crossing a line. I am sorry.”

  “It matches?” Of course it did, or he wouldn’t be here.

  Her stomach tightened, and she pushed herself deeper into the chair. On some higher plane she was appalled that Vijay had gone behind her back. She would never forgive him for interfering in her life in such an underhanded way, but her eyes were fixated on his mouth, her ears straining for every word.

  “He’s...my uncle?”

  “It came back with a high statistical likelihood that you’re related, yes. You look a lot like his sister, Lakshmi Dalal. She was a very famous Bollywood star around the time you were born.”

  “No.” Oriel dismissed it on reflex. “My birth parents were from Romania and Turkey. I was born at a private clinic in Luxembourg.”

  “Lakshmi went to Europe with her manager about four months before you were born, supposedly to record some songs at a private studio. When she came back, she was different. Her brother could tell she was grieving. He believes her manager pressured her to give up her baby for the sake of her career.”

  “Is he still alive? The manager? Has anyone asked him?”

  “Jalil is being very careful. He’s afraid the manager, Gouresh Bakshi, will attack you and smear Lakshmi’s memory. Or he’ll lie or line his own pockets by selling some version of the story. Jalil would love more answers, but he doesn’t believe he would get the truth from that man. He hoped you or your parents might have some piece of the story. Would you be willing to speak to him?”

  “Go to India?”

  “Or video chat. Take as much time as you need to think about that.”

  “I don’t need to think.” She shook her head and rose. Adrenaline was pouring into her system, and her mind fixated on one thing. “I need to go home. I need to see my parents.”

  She needed to go to ground like a wounded animal. Her mind was too shocked to form any other thought. She began to gather her few items scattered around the room as though she could outrun the crazed hurt and anguish breathing on her neck and sending trickles of apprehension down her spine.

  She couldn’t make sense of what this might mean and wouldn’t even try. Better to carry on with her original plan.

  “Oriel.” Vijay tried to catch her by the hands. “You’re in shock.”

  “Oh, don’t pretend you care!” She shook him off. “Really, Vijay? Really? This is the reason you slept with me? To steal a toothbrush and ruin my life? Go to hell!”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  SHE SWEPT AROUND him with a rustle of her sparkling gown. The graze of her sequined skirt against his leg was an absent caress that wafted a tortuous sensuality through him.

  How had he forgotten how truly beautiful she was? He’d let his memory of her harden and dull, telling himself he was better off because she hadn’t tried to stay in contact. They were too far apart in more ways than geography. If she was the kind who resorted to publicity stunts to advance her career, she wasn’t that different from Wisa. He definitely didn’t need anyone like that in his life again.

  Despite that very sensible conclusion, from the second he had confirmed Jalil was her blood uncle, Vijay had been anticipating seeing Oriel again. Jalil had still been speechless and pale when Vijay had urged him not to make any moves without discussing it with him. He’d confessed to having dinner with Oriel, not the rest, but insisted on being the one to inform her.

  He had told himself he simply wanted to come clean about his part in this discovery, that it was the decent thing to do, but he’d been impatient to see her again. His heart had leaped into his throat when he’d seen her at the end of the passageway. The animal within him had finally scented his mate.

  He didn’t know what he had expected, but not that she would turn and run.

  His gut tightened at that memory of her dress swirling and disappearing up the stairs. It had stung, damn it. But had he really thought she would be happy to see him? She was probably mortified she had slept with a commoner.

  Moments later, when he’d found Duke cornering her, he’d been overcome with rage. The actor was lucky he hadn’t been thrown into the sea.

  That sharp swing of emotions had been so unsettling, he had steeled himself to stick to the facts once they were alone.

  Then she had astonished him by refusing to hear him out. It hadn’t computed when he’d spent weeks thinking, I hav
e to get to her. I have to explain.

  He had expected her to be shocked. Anyone would be, but as someone whose beliefs about his own parents had been shattered when he had least expected it, he should have realized she would be shaken to her core.

  The way she was trembling and seemed greenish-gray beneath her natural tan alarmed him.

  “Will you sit down and give yourself a minute?”

  “No.” She clapped her case closed and thumped it onto the floor, then yanked up the retractable handle with a snap. She scooped up her shoulder bag, checked its contents, then slung it across her body before snagging her case and starting through the door.

  Vijay caught the door and followed her through it.

  “You’re really leaving?” He set his hand on the handle of her suitcase.

  She held on and crashed her furious gaze into his.

  As their knuckles sat against one another’s, a deeply vulnerable glint edged into her eyes. It slid like a knife between his ribs, parting his lips on a sharp inhale. He had made a grave error. She was more than shaken. She was devastated.

  “Oriel.” He didn’t know what else to say.

  Her brow flinched, and she snatched her hand away, saying caustically, “Fine. Be my valet. Saves me the trouble of carrying it.” She swished ahead of him. “But then you can go to hell.”

  “So you already suggested.”

  The throng of party guests in a small bar turned their heads as he and Oriel strode through, trading barbs. Vijay paused to get his bearings, then redirected her down some steps to water level.

  “Transport to shore, please,” Oriel said to the deckhand when they arrived.

  “The tender just left.” The young man nodded at the running lights disappearing toward the glow of the city. “It will be back in thirty or forty minutes.”

  “My boat is right here.” Vijay moved to where his rented speedboat was tied and set her suitcase inside it.

  Oriel was a Victorian queen in that stunning dress with her hair teased up in loops. Earrings like chandeliers dangled, while she was nude from her chin down her long neck to that plunging point between her breasts. She stood with her arms straight at her sides, likely hiding clenched fists in the folds of her skirt while she glared at him in a way that declared, Off with his head.