The Maharajah's Billionaire Heir Read online

  He was going to protect her? From their families? Dev had never even hinted at such a thing. If the relatives wanted it, he was right there telling Eliza she needed to agree.

  Eliza wasn't sure how she felt about Rajvinder's attitude. "Is this going to be a thing with you?"

  "I'm beginning to believe it is, yes. You need a keeper, sonii. You want to give too much of yourself away."

  Did she? Didn't she owe it to the people who had taken her in during her terrible grief and never given up on her? "Surely that's my decision to make."

  He reached out and touched her face, the barest touch under her eyes where a set of luggage had taken up residence. "I believe there is something about cherishing in our wedding vows. I cannot cherish you, if I do not take care of you. And I cannot take care of you if I do not make sure you take care of yourself."

  "I'm not sure that's in the Hindi vows."

  "It is, in fact, part of the first vow a man makes to the woman promising to be his wife," Rajvinder informed her.

  "Oh."

  He moved into her personal space, taking all the air out of the room. "We will speak all of the seven sacred vows," Rajvinder promised in a tone that was a vow itself.

  "I thought you said you weren't a practicing Hindu." They'd discussed religion and spirituality, along with so many things Eliza had never realized were so important to know about another person, during their daily phone calls.

  "I am not."

  No, like her, he considered himself spiritual, but not at all religious.

  Perhaps because religion condemned his mother's actions and the circumstances of his birth. Just as it had let Eliza down, offering complacent platitudes about God's will in the face of her parents' deaths.

  Neither Eliza, nor Rajvinder had rejected spirituality all together, but she was relieved he was as uninterested in organized religion as she was.

  She found herself smiling, because she knew exactly why they were speaking the seven sacred vows. For the same reason, Eliza had been running herself ragged since returning to India. "It's important to your mother and Tabish auntie that we observe the Hindi wedding traditions."

  "Yes."

  "Those two women are a force to be reckoned with," Eliza said with rueful honesty. One way, or another, they'd been ruling her life with martinet precision, all the while smiling and not raising a single voice.

  And she'd let them have their way completely, to the point of debilitating exhaustion.

  "In their element, yes, they are." One masculine finger played along the edges of her robe's neckline. "But you will be no less so in yours."

  She wasn't sure force was the right word. "I can get lost for days in the lab when I'm chasing an answer. But this wedding stuff is a nightmare."

  "Let the women who see it as fulfillment of their dreams plan it. They can bring in more staff if they need it, but you are off limits to them for the next couple of days."

  "That's okay? I can do that?" Eliza asked, guilt warring with hope.

  "We are going to do that."

  "I've missed reading." she said with a sigh, looking around their beautiful retreat with renewed appreciation. Not a single wedding preparation in sight.

  His frown was more ferocious than even Tabish auntie could manage. "They were supposed to give you two hours a day to yourself."

  "Oh, they let me be alone for two hours a day, addressing invitations, making lists…stuff and more stuff." Eliza felt like she was tattling, but it was the truth and she'd never been any good at lying.

  It was why she'd always told Dev not to confide his secrets in her. She knew she couldn't keep them from his grandfather, or the rest of the family.

  She wished now she had. Eliza was sure there had been things in Dev's life he'd wanted to share and hadn't been able to.

  He made a sound that left no doubt Rajvinder was not happy. "No more, Eliza."

  "But it's our wedding too."

  "Yes, and in all honesty, I want to make those sacred vows every bit as much as my mother wants to hear me make them."

  "You do?"

  "Yes."

  "But…"

  "The trappings aren't as important as the promises themselves. And we both believe in keeping promises."

  "Yes, we do." She realized something she hadn't before. "But you want the trappings too. You want both families to look at you and really see you."

  "Yes." He shrugged. "Their approval doesn't mean much to me, but I find I want them to be faced with the success I've achieved and have to acknowledge it."

  "Which they will do attending a lavish wedding you paid for."

  "Yes."

  "And legally acknowledging you as the heir to the Maharajah adds to that."

  "Yes, it does."

  "I'm glad you are getting what you want out of this."

  "Are you?" he asked, like it mattered, and she was beginning to understand that her feelings did matter to this man others saw as ruthless.

  "Yes, I am." She was keeping a deathbed promise to her best friend, but she also wanted to marry this man. "I would be marrying you today, even if the rest of the family did not consider it my duty."

  Rajvinder stepped back and turned away, toward the amazing view of the Taj Mahal beyond their balcony, taking all that wonderful heated sensuality with him. "What the Singh family knows about responsibility and duty could fit on the head of a pin."

  "That's not true." Eliza reached out to touch Rajvinder this time, laying her hand on his back. "I know they let you down, but they take responsibility to family very seriously."

  Her fiancé shook his head, making a disgusted sound. "I'm not the only family they've been happy to dismiss."

  What was he talking about? "I'm sorry they didn't stand by your mom, but…" She really wasn't sure but what.

  Eliza didn't think Rajvinder would ever forgive Grandfather for rejecting his mother as a potential princess.

  "I'm not talking about my mother."

  Then who was he talking about? "I'm confused."

  Rajvinder shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I am not marrying the Singh clan. I am marrying you."

  "But in a way, you are marrying the clan." Didn't he realize that? Their marriage wasn't only about Eliza and Rajvinder, but about the whole family. "Your child will be the next Maharajah after you."

  "My child will not be the next heir."

  "I thought you said you wanted children." Now she was really confused.

  "And you said you wanted to wait. One has nothing to do with the other."

  "You don't think it matters to me?" she asked more sharply than she'd intended.

  But her opinion mattered.

  Maybe not to Dadaji, who had told her to butt out once they'd returned to India and she'd asked if everything was the way he wanted it to be. He'd said he would take care of the family as he always had done.

  The Maharajah's old-fashioned views of a woman's place were more than a little chauvinistic.

  The idea that her opinion might not matter to Rajvinder didn't sit well with her. At all.

  Rajvinder turned back, his expression intent. "Does it matter to you?" he asked with a seriousness Eliza could not deny. "Do you care if your child grows up to be a prince?"

  She didn't answer immediately, knowing he was asking for truth and consideration, not knee-jerk reaction. Finally, she said the only truth she knew. "I care very much if the Maharajah dies out."

  She didn't care if her child was heir, but some things did matter. A lot.

  Rajvinder's smile was all approval as was his nod. "Good. You don't need to worry; I won't let that happen."

  "Then I don't understand."

  He reeled her body in until his heat pressed around her, sending unfamiliar desire for physical intimacy rolling over her. "You need more days of rest and relaxation before we have this discussion."

  "But we will have it."

  "You do not trust my promise?"

  "Of course I do." She wouldn't be marrying him otherwis
e.

  She did trust him. More than she'd ever trusted anyone since her parents' deaths.

  Suddenly, she didn't want to talk about their child being the next heir, or anything else that heavy. She was just a little terrified that she was already in too deep.

  Rajvinder had said he would not allow the dynasty to die out. Rajvinder had made his commitment and she trusted him, however that played out. Whether he named a distant relative his heir, changed his mind about his own child, or something else, Eliza was keeping her promise to marry the heir.

  She was repaying her debt to the family the best way she knew how by creating a bridge between them and the man they had rejected before birth, but who was their only chance at an heir of direct descent to the Maharajah.

  "Come." He tugged her toward that amazing view. "Breakfast is on the balcony."

  "Let me get dressed and I'll join you."

  He gave a wry twist of his lips. "I would say don't bother, but that robe will be too warm outside of the air conditioning of the hotel."

  She smiled. "You're very thoughtful."

  "Don't tell anyone."

  "That you have a heart?"

  "Exactly."

  She laughed as he left the room and she opened the wardrobe, certain the clothes she'd spoken to his EA about would be inside. She was right.

  Rajvinder's people were nothing if not terribly efficient. Eliza chose a sky blue kameez and complimentary narrow legged pants, trimmed in a dark blue thread that looked almost metallic. She left the accompanying veil on the bed for later, in case they went out.

  She noticed a blanket and pillow on the sofa as she walked through the living area and realized that Rajvinder had slept there. At some point he'd lain beside her on the bed, but the evidence of the blanket and pillow said he hadn't actually slept with her. The suite had only one bedroom and he had given it up to her.

  She kind of wished he hadn't. She'd rather he wasn't so unexpectedly considerate and so obviously concerned for her, despite his ruthless business tycoon nature.

  How could she help but have feelings for such a man?

  Feelings she did not want, but had no nope of dismissing as she had in the past.

  The round table on the balcony was covered with a full English breakfast along with a platter of fruit, juice, coffee and a teapot.

  She went for the coffee before she even began to dish up her plate. While she doctored the liquid ambrosia with fresh cream and real sugar, Rajvinder put a bit of everything on the plate in front of her.

  "Thank you." She smiled at him, inhaling the wonderful scent of her coffee before taking a thoroughly satisfying sip. "Oh, this is good."

  "Don't they let you drink coffee?"

  "Tabish auntie says I don’t need the cream or sugar and I don't like it without."

  "Is she the reason why you are nearly skin and bones?" Rajvinder asked forbiddingly.

  "Hardly that."

  He gave her a look.

  "I doubt I've lost more than ten pounds."

  "In two weeks?" he demanded, clearly unhappy.

  "She wanted me to look my best."

  "She promised she would stop taking food off your plate. And stop haranguing you about dieting."

  "She did."

  "But?"

  "She can say more with a look than most could writing a book."

  "You know, nothing about how she has treated you is endearing that woman to me." Rajvinder shook his head. "My mother likes her."

  "They get along like sisters. It's sweet."

  "You're saying they fight but present a united front to others."

  "Exactly. And they stay up until all hours plotting and planning for the wedding. It's insane."

  "I'm surprised Maan has not called her own family in to help."

  "Tabish auntie asked her if she wanted to, but Barbie said she hadn't been invited to help with any of her nieces or nephews' weddings."

  He smiled, like hearing that pleased him.

  Eliza took a bite of fruit, reveling in the clear bright taste before remarking, "I don't think she's nearly as sanguine about the way her family has treated her as you think she is."

  "I am beginning to see that."

  "She didn't want you to hate your extended family."

  Rajvinder sipped his own coffee, no cream, no sugar. She'd noticed. "I do not hate them."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes. I would have to care about them one way or another to hate any of them. I did despise my father for being weak. I was determined to never be like him."

  "I think in some good ways you are a lot like him."

  Again, that utterly charming, if slightly rueful, smile. "And I guess I'm old enough to hear that and not take it as an insult."

  "I'm glad."

  "However, I would never allow a child to grow up, particularly in this culture, without the benefit of acknowledgement." He said it like a warning.

  "I hope you know that if the choice was mine, I wouldn't either," she assured him.

  "I'm glad to hear you say that."

  "Do you have a child already?" she asked, her brain rushing to conclusions she would never have guessed at.

  He reeled back as if totally repelled by the idea. "No. I have never risked pregnancy."

  "You wouldn't." Not with his background. She'd been foolish to even suggest it.

  "Eat. I know you are enjoying your coffee, but you need food."

  She smiled and did what he suggested, savoring every bite of her forbidden breakfast. If she wasn't careful, the final fitting for her wedding gown wasn't going to go well at all.

  ***

  They spent the day like tourists, shopping the kitschy market stalls, laughing and talking about things that mattered, but weren't important to the upcoming wedding or the deal between Rajvinder and his biological family.

  And there was touching. Oh, he was incredibly subtle. This wasn't a place that PDA would have been smiled upon, but Rajvinder found ways to keep her in a constant state of arousal throughout the day. She was shocked to find she liked the attention, liked feeling excited. It filled her with anticipation for later, even if it was so very far outside her experience.

  To others, she knew Rajvinder was a super successful business tycoon, who could take over companies without breaking a sweat. But to her? The man was a master of seduction.

  Having someone genuinely care about her wellbeing, above what even his mother wanted, that was incredibly sexy. And Eliza liked his take charge vibe, probably because she had absolutely no problem pushing back when she wanted to.

  And he listened to her, like her opinion mattered, like what she wanted out of life mattered.

  That was every bit as sexy as his incredible looks, or his superpower of touching in innocent ways and making it feel anything but innocent.

  ***

  They were back in the hotel room when their conversation turned (surprisingly to Eliza), to her decision to marry Dev.

  "You saw him as a brother?" Rajvinder asked incredulously.

  "Not quite that, or I could never have married him. He was my best friend." She'd let Dev in closer than anyone else, but Eliza had still held back from him.

  And she'd known he had a life she knew nothing about either.

  "I have heard that friends become lovers." Rajvinder sounded doubtful.

  "Haven't you ever had a lover who was a friend first?"

  "No."

  "Oh." She shouldn't be surprised by that.

  "Do you have friends?"

  He shrugged. "I have business associates."

  "No friends from university?" Even she had a couple friends she stayed in touch with from undergraduate school. "No one who isn't related to business?"

  "I have a friend from college. He and his family are coming over for the wedding." Rajvinder looked pensive. "He's never asked me for money."

  And in his position, that was probably a good indicator of genuine friendship.

  Rajvinder kicked off his shoes and sock
s, stacking them neatly to the side of the chair in the suite's living room, but not taking the time to put them away in the bedroom. Eliza found that action somehow endearing and more, the sight of his bare feet more intimate than she would have expected.

  He sat on the sofa, his muscular arms stretched along the back. "So, you and Dev discovered you were attracted to each other?"

  Rajvinder's posture was relaxed, but there was a curiously watchful quality about him.

  Eliza kicked off her own shoes and went toward one of the armchairs, but Rajvinder made a come here motion with his hand.

  She found herself settling on the sofa beside him, her feet curled underneath her. "The family decided we were to marry when I was sixteen. He was only eighteen. Neither one of us really thought about that side of things then."

  "And later?"

  It was her turn to shrug. "We would have made it work."

  "You weren't attracted to him?" Rajvinder's tone was even, almost neutral.

  But she could sense he was shocked, or maybe bothered, by the possibility.

  "No. I'm pretty sure he wasn't attracted to me either." Dev had never indicated otherwise.

  "That would have made for a damn failure of a wedding night." There was no doubting the disgust lacing Rajvinder's tone this time.

  Who that disgust was for, she couldn't be sure, but the way he was softly touching her nape told Eliza it wasn't for her.

  "People who aren't attracted to each other have sex all the time." She felt compelled to point that out.

  He shook his head, something dark in his gaze.

  He'd probably never even considered such a thing. She might be the one without any sexual experience to speak of, but in some ways, Rajvinder was terribly naïve. Especially when considering his wealth and privilege.

  It was like he'd forgotten, or refused to acknowledge, that marriage for love was not the given. Even in the modern world.

  There were still millions of people all over the planet who married for financial, social, or other practical reasons.

  "It can be done quite comfortably with lubricant and taking enough time," she informed him.

  Rajvinder made a sound that was a lot like a growl. "You said you hadn't had sex with Dev."