by Lucy Monroe
Eliza paid close attention to his every reaction, so she learned just what affected him and what did not. By the time she touched his shaft, he felt like he could come with a single stroke, but she showed him otherwise, seemingly to innately understand the pressure that felt the best, the light touch that would excite but not give him completion.
When he came, he was hoarse with the shout, calling out her name as jets of pleasure shot from him.
She got up and he heard water running in the en suite. She returned with a damp cloth, which she used to wipe his excess pleasure from his groin.
"Be careful, or you will get me going again," he warned, not sure if he wanted her to be careful, or not.
"Can we again, that soon?"
"We could, but you still need to catch up on rest."
"You'll sleep with me, in here?"
"If that is what you want."
"I do."
They found a surprisingly easy comfort, his body curved around hers. It felt right in a way he would never have expected.
"This feels good," she said sleepily.
"It does."
"I've never slept with someone before. I thought it would be awkward."
"We fit. Now, go to sleep." But she was right. What should have been awkward was entirely natural.
And Vin found himself going to sleep hours earlier than he ever did, content in a way he had never been.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Eliza ate her breakfast looking everywhere but at the man she had spent the night with. Her fiancé, but more. Her lover.
Were they lovers if they hadn't actually done the deed?
"You seem preoccupied this morning, sonii." Rajvinder's deep masculine tones broke into her reverie. "I would say you were embarrassed if I did not know that was impossible."
Her head jerked around, and she stared at him. "Impossible?"
Because she was so embarrassed by the intimacy they'd shared, she felt like her skin was too tight and she could not meet his eyes without blushing.
Cue heat stealing into her cheeks as their gazes locked.
His espresso orbs were filled with certainty. "We have promised to spend the rest of our lives together. How could you be embarrassed by the natural expression of our joined lives?"
"The promises come later. At the wedding," she pointed out, unabashedly moved by his attitude about intimacy between them.
Entirely natural. Could anything that felt that good be normal, though?
"I disagree. While we will indeed speak vows at our wedding. You and I have already made our promises when we agreed to marry."
"I don't think that's how the world sees engagement."
"It is how we see it."
"You say we like you're sure I agree with you."
"Because I know you do. We are two people who take our commitments very seriously."
He was right. "You're so sure of yourself."
Dark eyes glowed with nothing short of approval. "I am sure of you."
"So then, why didn't we…you know?"
He chuckled warmly, the sound sexy and happy. "We didn't you know because you are not on birth control and you have expressed a desire to wait to have children."
"But the family are expecting an heir nine months from the wedding date."
"Even if we didn't use birth control, there would be no guarantee of such a thing."
"There is," she admitted with another load of embarrassment. "They had both me and Dev tested for fertility."
Grandfather had told her that he'd always regretted not insisting on such for Tabish auntie, which Eliza had thought was too cold.
Rajvinder's jaw went taut, his eyes snapping with unmistakable anger, but all he said was, "Regardless, you and I will have children when we are ready. Our family will grow on our timetable."
"Grandfather will be angry."
"Trisanu's feelings on the matter are of no importance to me."
"I'm not sure that's true. I think you like the idea of making him wait for the next heir."
"He'll get his heir."
"But on our timeline?"
Again, that strange look she'd noticed before. "You said you do not care if your child inherits the title so long as the House of Mahapatras does not die out."
"You're going to name a distant cousin as your heir?" she guessed. Dadaji would be livid.
He'd specifically gone searching for Rajvinder because Grandfather wanted his own descendant to be the Prince in generations to come.
"Answer my question."
"You didn't ask one."
"Don't play word games." Rajvinder's expression turned as serious as she'd ever seen it. "Answer me."
"I still feel the same." No matter how angry the family might become, Eliza had come to see that Grandfather's wishes weren't always what mattered.
Rajvinder would keep his word to Eliza. He would keep the promises he had made to the Singhs, regardless of if it was the way they anticipated.
"So, we wait to have children?"
"You are just starting your career. We have time."
She was so happy she couldn't even smile, relief unlike anything she'd ever known washing over her body. "I would like to wait."
"You are terrified of loving a child."
Eliza didn't bother agreeing. He knew her better than anyone had since her parents' deaths. And he knew parts of her that had not existed until she lost those she loved most so close together. The dark recesses of her heart where terrible fear and old pain lived.
"You will learn it is safe to love me, then you will be willing to risk loving a child."
"You expect us to love each other?"
"I think you are very close to loving me, if you do not already."
"And you? What do you feel for me?" she asked with more emotional honesty and boldness than she thought she had in her.
"Your happiness and wellbeing are my top priority."
It wasn't love, but it was the kind of commitment any woman would kill for. A marriage of convenience to get it? Not a sacrifice.
***
Rajvinder made sure Eliza saw a highly respected doctor to take care of her birth control before they returned to the palace for the days-long wedding celebration.
He spent his nights in her bed, sharing pleasure, but he was waiting until their wedding night for full consummation of their relationship. He always left in the morning before he could be discovered by servants.
He would not have Eliza embarrassed.
***
Vin was in search of his fiancée now. He wanted to see the results of the Henna tattooing ceremony. The idea of the reddish-brown temporary ink staining her delicate skin in the beautiful patterns had him hard and wanting.
Vin certainly didn't mind the traditional kameez and loose-fitting trousers his mother had insisted he wear for all the traditional prewedding events. They were better at hiding his physical reaction to Eliza than a suit.
The sound of Trisanu's voice snapping in irritation stopped Vin. He turned toward the alcove outside the ballroom where he'd been going to search for Eliza. Though it had been updated, Eliza still went there for moments of peace in the hectic days of a traditional Hindu wedding.
His mother and Tabish had spirited Eliza away early that morning and Vin had calls to make, so he'd let it happen.
But he hadn't seen her all day and now the Henna ceremony was over, he had every intention of spending the rest of the evening together.
Trisanu's voice was mixed with the soft tones of Vin's fiancé.
Eliza stood with her back to him, her posture obviously defensive.
"I do not know what you were thinking, disappearing with Rajvinder," Trisanu barked. "You have duties to this family. And they do not include embarrassing us with your behavior."
Vin was ready to jump in and let the old man know just what Vin thought of his opinions on duty when Eliza spoke.
"I'm fully aware of my duty to this family, Dadaji." She sounded more irritated than Vi
n expected, considering her patience with the family, and particularly the old man, to date.
"Adhip would have expected better of you," Trisanu said witheringly, angering Vin further. "Not to mention Dev, the man you planned to marry since you were sixteen."
Eliza drew herself up and Vin could just imagine the look she was giving Trisanu. "The man you all intended me to marry since I was sixteen."
"Naturally. Both of you had a duty to the Mahapatras dynasty."
"I think my willingness to marry not one, but two men to ensure the future of this family shows just how very aware of my duty I am," Eliza replied in clipped, cold accents.
Although Vin was confident she was in fact content to become his wife, he did not like hearing their marriage put in the same category as what she was going to do with Dev.
Trisanu nodded, his expression complacent. "As it should be."
"If that is all, Grandfather." Eliza moved like she was prepared to leave, but Trisanu's hand on her arm stopped her.
"Wait a moment, child."
She tilted her head. "Yes?"
"I am not happy that you ran out on your duties for the wedding preparations and engaged in behavior with such potential to embarrass the family. We are lucky no news outlet ran stories of your nights spent in a hotel with your fiancé in advance of your marriage."
When Eliza made no effort to defend herself, or agree, just stood there staring at the old man, her expression one Vin could only guess at, Trisanu cleared his throat. "Yes, well. You have always been a good daughter to this family."
"Have I?" she asked, like she wasn't sure that was the case.
Vin, his anger on a slow boil at the old man's words, knew better.
"Yes, of course. Which is why I know you will continue to do your duty."
"I have no intention of backing out of the wedding, if that's what you're worried about."
"No, of course not. You have given your word. I would worry that Rajvinder might back out, but we signed all the papers of inheritance this morning. He's too pragmatic to give up all the family can offer him," Trisanu offered in what Vin thought showed a truly ignorant excess of confidence.
"If you say so." Eliza didn't sound entirely convinced.
And Vin smiled despite his anger at the old man.
She knew him better than anyone else, and how that was possible, he wasn't sure. But he knew it to be true.
Even if she didn't know that Vin had far more to offer the family then they could ever offer him, something she had finally come to accept, Eliza would know that what the family could do for him was a negligible consideration for Vin.
"It should go without saying," Trisanu said, his tones pompous. "But your recent aberrative behavior has inclined me to spell the family's expectations out."
"Expectations?" Eliza asked, her tone curiously flat.
"Once you are pregnant with the legitimate heir, you will return here to live at the palace full time."
The wily old bastard. Vin had expected something like this from the old man, but he was surprised he was showing his hand to Eliza before she even got pregnant. Trisanu's overweening arrogance would be his downfall.
Vin had his own plans already set in motion, plans that might not rectify the mistakes of the past, but would definitely make sure they were not repeated.
Now that the inheritance documents had been signed, no machinations on Trisanu's part could stop Vin from following through on his intentions.
"You expect me to take Rajvinder's child from him?" Eliza asked, fury lacing her low tone.
"Of course not."
"Good," the relief in her tone warmed Vin even as his fury at Trisanu mounted.
Because he wasn't fooled. That was exactly what the old man wanted to do, and his next words confirmed it.
"He will visit, as has already been agreed."
"But you want me to raise our child here without him?" Eliza asked, her tone incredulous.
Vin could have told her that Trisanu's ruthlessness was nothing to be surprised by.
"He will be busy with his business. Where you and the child live will not matter to Rajvinder." Trisanu spoke his despicable lies in a tone as if saying it to small child trying to understand. "Besides, I have connections in our judicial system. Once you are here, I have already arranged for a judge to sign full custody papers, giving you legal right to keep the child in India."
Eliza gasped. "You never had any intention of Rajvinder taking over as Prince."
"He is prince. Now the papers are signed, nothing can change that."
And Maharajah Trisanu Abirhaj Mahapatras Singh would learn just how many friends in the judicial system of India and this very province Vin himself had if the old man tried.
"But he's just a means to an end to you."
"I have this family's best interests at heart. Can you say the same?" Trisanu asked with censure.
"Rajvinder will never let you take his child away," Eliza said with conviction, ignoring the other man's question about her loyalty.
"I am not taking his child, merely making sure the legitimate heir is raised within the palace's walls. And I think you overestimate Rajvinder's interest in his child. He's a billionaire business shark, not fatherhood material."
Eliza shook her head. "You don't know him at all, do you?"
"I understand him better than you do, child. He's a man of the world. You're naïve, as it should be."
"Grandfather, I think you have some very outdated ideas about men and women."
"Keep a respectful tongue in your head."
"Expressing my opinion is not being disrespectful."
"Have you forgotten all this family has done for you? How we took you in and raised you as one of our own when your parents died?"
Several seconds of silence reigned, then Eliza drew herself up. "If that is all, Maharajah?"
The old man winced at the formal address, but he nodded.
Eliza spun on her heel and headed toward the doorway outside which Vin stood. Her grandfather left through another doorway, into the ballroom.
Vin made no move to conceal his presence from Eliza.
She stopped when she saw him, her eyes snapping with a fury her calm demeanor with her grandfather would have belied. "Did you hear all that?" she demanded.
"Yes."
She glared up at him, as if Vin had been the one to make the atrocious demands on her. "And?"
"And there's no way in hell you are raising our child without my fulltime participation." But she already knew that.
What Vin was unsure of in that moment was how far Eliza's guilt and sense of duty would take her.
"And you couldn't come in there and say so?" she demanded, clearly incensed.
"You were handling your own just fine. Besides, I wanted to hear what you said."
Her brows drew together, confusion mixing with her anger. "Why? You already know how I feel about that."
"I thought I did."
"Are you doubting it now?" she challenged him, now clearly as hurt as she was angry.
"No."
She jerked her head in angry acknowledgement. "Good."
"Why did you let him believe you would acquiesce then?" He'd been waiting for her unequivocal denial and had been disappointed not to hear it.
"The Maharajah will believe what he wants to believe. He has always been that way. Nothing I say will change that."
It wasn't what Trisanu believed that concerned Vin, but what Eliza would do. But in a flash, he realized those thoughts were ridiculous, born of a heretofore unknown insecurity.
The realization that anything could make him irrationally insecure was both unpleasant and shocking.
She shook her head. And he realized that she had been expecting him to say something, something he obviously had not said.
"I've got things to do for your mother. Excuse me." Eliza turned away.
"Wait."
But she was already heading the way Trisanu had gone, her gorgeous henna cover
ed hand flicking back in a dismissive wave to Rajvinder, the set of her shoulders in no way inviting him to follow.
Hell. He could have handled that whole situation better and now his fiancée was both hurt and angry.
And it wasn't Trisanu's fault.
Even if the old bastard had instigated the situation.
Taking a deep breath and reminding himself that he could handle entire boardrooms filled with hostile people, Vin followed Eliza with trepidation he wasn't about to acknowledge.
He caught up to her in the great hall. He thought he'd heard the vast expanse of marble tile referred to as the Royal Reception Hall. It was a giant foyer with portraits of Maharajas and their wives going back several generations, is what it was, all royal pretensions aside.
Vin reached out and stopped Eliza with a hand on her shoulder. "Wait, sonii. I am sorry I did not step in and express our solidarity in no uncertain terms."
She spun around to face him. "You should have! You heard what he thinks. That you don't care."
"What he thinks has never been important to me."
"But it's important to me," she said with pain filled honesty.
"I will remember that in future."
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"I believe you."
"I like when you say that."
"Because you are so arrogant you want me to think you are larger than life and infallible."
"Well, I do try very hard to be." He wasn't joking entirely. Vin had never been able to settle for average. In anything.
She rolled her eyes. "I know you do. And for the most part, you succeed."
"For the most part?"
"Perfection would be boring."
"I would not like to bore you."
"No worries on that score."
"There you are, the designer is here for the final fitting of your dress." His mother smiled at Eliza warmly.
"I wanted to spend some time with my fiancée," Vin said with a frown.
"Do not whine, son. You'll have plenty of time with her after tomorrow."
Vin drew himself up with dignity. "I do not whine."
"I did tell you I had things to do with your mother," Eliza chided with a teasing lilt to her voice.