The Maharajah's Billionaire Heir Read online

  "She was from the Vaishnav caste. While from a respectable and quite wealthy family, she was not born to rule, or marry into royalty."

  "But the royal families haven't reigned since the 1940s." Royalty had been a nominal title since the fight for independence from Britain and they'd lost even their remaining special privileges and income when the Privy Purse was abolished in the 1970s.

  "It is still a different life, as well you know. Our family has a responsibility to lead in politics and the business sector. Our lifestyle is not one you can simply drop into. A woman should be raised to be a princess, to join the dynasty."

  "If that's true then how can Rajvinder take over as prince?" Sometimes the more antiquated views of her surrogate grandfather were very hard for Eliza to understand, much less accept.

  She knew that his remaining son, Veeresh did not necessarily agree with his father, though he rarely did that disagreeing to the Maharajah's face.

  "Sometimes needs must."

  It was such a simple viewpoint for a terribly complicated situation and did not in any way explain why Badriyah, who at least had been raised in a privileged household in India was not acceptable, but her Western raised son was.

  Eliza said none of this however, knowing Grandfather Trisanu's patience would only stretch so far.

  She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see who was walking toward them.

  Rajvinder, taller than any other member of the Mahapatras family at over six feet, crossed the lobby with a confident stride. He wore a different suit than the one in his office, but this one fit him just as perfectly and could be nothing but bespoke. The man might be a business tycoon, but he had the build of someone who spent time working out.

  She shivered a little with the knowledge of what she had to discuss with this perfect specimen of masculinity. She'd never gotten butterflies in her belly over Dev, but Rajvinder reminded her that she was not just a research scientist, she was a woman.

  Espresso brown eyes snapped with annoyance when they landed on Grandfather, Rajvinder's strong jaw looking hewn from rock.

  Grandfather's lips thinned, but he stood and faced his estranged grandson. "Good evening, Rajvinder."

  "I prefer Vin, but since we are not friends, you may call me Acharya." After offering that statement sure to offend Grandfather's sensibilities, Rajvinder…no Vin, inclined his head. "Trisanu." There was no warmth in the business mogul's acknowledgment of the other man.

  "I trust you will not keep Eliza out too late," Dadaji said, making no concession to, and surprisingly no argument against Vin's request to be called Acharya.

  "Is she a child that she requires a curfew?" Vin asked sarcastically.

  Annoyance flashed through Eliza. Why did Rajvinder (she purposefully gave him the name in her head) insist on making every concern Grandfather had for her wellbeing into some kind of insult? Did he have no concept of even trying to meet a person half-way?

  "We are not having a traditional dinner. I'm sure I will not be gone too long," Eliza assured the older man, not wanting him to worry.

  Rajvinder didn't bother to reply to that, but turned to go, leaving Eliza to follow along like an obedient dog. Was he just stressed? After all, he'd just found out his father was dead and the family that had rejected him, now wanted to recognize him as heir.

  Or was Rajvinder just a boor?

  The latter did not bode well for her future.

  Frowning, she turned and offered Grandfather a smile. "Do not worry about me."

  "I cannot help it, Bitiya. This discussion should be happening between his mother and myself. At least part of it, if not all, as you well know."

  "In India, perhaps, but Rajvinder has been raised in America. I doubt he's even once considered the possibility of an arranged marriage. His mother didn't follow that path."

  "She had no prospects once she chose to keep him."

  "Surely it didn't have to be that way."

  Grandfather shrugged and Eliza didn't have the time to press him. She doubted Rajvinder would wait patiently for her, wasn't sure he would wait at all.

  Relief rushed through her when she found the man leaning in his perfectly tailored light grey suit against the wall near the doors to the outside.

  He didn't smile when he saw her, his dark eyes flaring only briefly with something she had no hope of naming. "I thought maybe you had changed your mind about dinner."

  "That's not likely, is it? I was saying goodbye to Dadaji."

  "Implying I should have done so, only he's not my grandfather. He's not yours either, is he?"

  "It's a term of respect." And Trisanu had acted as her dadaji, or grandfather, since the day she'd come to live with the Singh family.

  "If you say so."

  "Are you always this rude?"

  He shrugged, stepping away from the wall. "I do not suffer fools."

  "I am not a fool."

  Surprise reflected in his gorgeous features. "I never said you were."

  "Then perhaps you could extend me some courtesy?"

  "And by you, you mean you and the man you call dadaji."

  "Your mom was from India." Surely he'd heard, and even used, the familiar term or something like it. "You don't need to sound so mocking."

  "I wasn't aware I was." And perhaps his mockery was not for the term, but the man. "My mother was from India. Now, she's an American citizen. She's lived in California since before my birth."

  But although Badriyah had taken on some American traditions, she maintained close ties with the expat India community in San Diego. Eliza had done her homework and she was sure she knew more about Rajvinder and his mother than they knew about her.

  That that would change if he agreed to her proposal caused Eliza a certain amount of disquiet. Rajvinder was not an easy man.

  "That must have been frightening for her," Eliza said, commenting on the move Badriyah had made to California thirty-six years ago.

  "What?" he asked, sounding startled, pausing in handing over a ticket for retrieving his car to the valet.

  She waited for the valet to leave before saying, "Moving to America alone, raising a child without the extended family. I'm surprised your mother chose to do it."

  Especially after being raised sheltered and pampered as Badriyah had been.

  Rajvinder gave Eliza a censorious look. "It wasn't her choice."

  "What do you mean?" Had she been forced to leave India when she wouldn't give up her baby?

  That sounded so draconian, but after living more of her life in the palace than she'd live out of it, Eliza understood that draconian wasn't out of the realm of possibility for families like the Singhs and the Acharyas. Just like everywhere else, some Indian families, lived with one foot in the past.

  "Is that really any of your business?"

  "Probably not. I'm a terribly curious person." It's what made her a good scientist. Eliza cut her gaze away, not because she was embarrassed, but because she thought she maybe was supposed to be. "Tabish auntie is always reminding me to rein it in."

  "Curiosity is not a bad thing," he said like his word was truth and there couldn't be another.

  Eliza smiled a little. He was so arrogant, but she was used to arrogant men. Even Dev, who had a much more laid-back side than other men in his family had carried a certain level of arrogance.

  "That was almost a compliment," she teased, wondering where the confidence to do so came from.

  "Truth is truth." He made a dismissive gesture. "You're a beautiful woman, I’m sure you don't need compliments from me."

  Eliza had never considered herself beautiful. Not even average height at 5'4", she had moderate curves, nothing to write home about. Her hair was a honey blonde now, but she used to dye it a pretty chestnut brown to better fit into the Indian household that made up her surrogate family.

  "I'm hardly beautiful."

  "You're trying to deny that there are plenty of men, and most likely women, in your life as well, that have verbally
appreciated your beauty." He sounded disappointed in her.

  But Eliza could not imagine why. "I look nothing like the princesses who have come before me."

  And Tabish auntie did not believe in swelling a girl's head with praise. From the age of ten, Eliza had been raised to be a princess in the House of Mahapatras, but she had been expected to be a humble one.

  "Anyway, until recently, I was too busy pursuing my doctorate in chemistry to notice how men saw me, much less if any of them liked what they saw."

  Truth be told, Eliza was as introverted as it got. She didn't let people in. She'd lost too many to take the risk, but even developing casual friendships wasn't something she found a comfortable thing to do.

  "None of the men around you even tried to break your academic concentration?" Rajvinder asked with clear disbelief.

  "I was engaged to be married." She'd been promised to Dev since before going to university, but she didn't think that was something she needed to share right then. "I never pretended to be single."

  "To the nephew that died along with my sperm donor?" Rajvinder asked, like he was trying to work something out.

  "Yes."

  Rajvinder touched her arm, his expression solemn. "I am sorry."

  "Thank you. He was my best friend." Eliza surprised herself with how much his genuine offer of sympathy touched her.

  "You said that earlier, I didn't realize there was more to your relationship."

  And this was not a man with a high tolerance for only having half the picture. She was sure of that, which made his ignorance about his father's family odd. The only way he could have not known about his father and cousin's deaths was if he willfully avoided news of the Mahapatras Singhs.

  That would imply that his bitterness toward his father's family ran much more deeply than Eliza would have expected from a man who had made such a success of his life.

  And that did not bode well for her plans.

  "An engagement would not stop all men from pursuing you," he said breaking into her thoughts.

  "What can I say?" she asked, unsure why they were still on this topic. "If they pursued, I wasn't aware."

  "If I had been one of them, you would have noticed," he said with unwavering confidence.

  She had no doubt.

  A meticulously clean, dark blue Tesla Roadster pulled up, the valet jumping out almost immediately.

  "Why are you here?" Rajvinder asked as he opened the door on the passenger side and then indicated she should get in.

  Not sure what to say in answer to that question, Eliza slid into her seat, appreciating the leather interior and high tech, but beautifully designed dashboard and features.

  Dev had loved cars and had wanted one of the limited-edition Roadsters, but Grandfather had said no. He wasn't indulging Dev with a two-hundred-thousand-dollar car, much less the limited edition. The Mahapatras dynastic coffers weren't as full as they once had been.

  Adhip uncle had never pretended that they weren't all looking forward to the infusion of capital her inheritance would bring upon her marriage. Dev hadn’t liked that kind of talk though, telling her she needed have her trustees protect her inheritance.

  But money had never been something Eliza cared about.

  As long as she could pursue her academic endeavors, that had all been that mattered to her. And she'd fought to pursue those interests, unwilling to go to finishing school instead of university.

  "Trisanu is not in need of a nurse, is he?" Rajvinder asked as he settled into the driver's seat, showing he did indeed have his own healthy dose of curiosity, because the question so obviously hadn't been prompted by concern.

  "No." She clicked her seatbelt into place, appreciating the new car smell of the interior. "The family thought I should meet you."

  Which was true, but such a small part of the truth, Eliza felt guilty not offering more.

  Since this whole plan had been her idea, Eliza had insisted on seeing it through. It was always going to be her having this discussion with Rajvinder, despite both Dadaji and Tabish auntie's protests.

  Grandfather had tried to say it should be him discussing Elizah's plan with Badriyah, not even Rajvinder. With what she knew of Rajvinder, Eliza had been sure that was a recipe for disaster. Tabish auntie had tried to say the discussion should be between Grandfather and Rajvinder, but again Eliza had refused.

  She was an adult woman and she would keep her promise to Dev herself.

  She'd thought her statement innocuous enough, but Rajvinder's gaze zeroed in on her like a shark sniffing blood in the water. "Why?" His expression demanded truth.

  And it was clear the car wasn't leaving its spot in front of her five-star hotel until she gave it.

  "Because as the heir to the Mahapatras dynasty, it would be expected that you marry me." The woman raised to be a princess.

  Eliza knew that only with their marriage could she act as the bridge between the rest of the Singhs and the man they hoped would become the next Maharajah. He had not been raised to be prince, but he was a prince. By blood. She was not a blood relative, but she had been raised to be princess.

  In marrying her, Rajvinder became part of the family in a more concrete way than even being made the legal heir could do.

  Regardless of that truth, saying it so bluntly, she hoped she hadn't just destroyed any chance of his cooperation. But subterfuge was not her forte. Clearly.

  Nevertheless, she didn't share Grandfather's certainty that Rajvinder would feel compelled by duty to take up his role as heir, including marrying the woman who was supposed to be his princess.

  "Your fiancé just died a year ago, not to mention the man who acted as your father since you were, what? Ten?" Rajvinder asked, something in his tone she couldn't quite read.

  She nodded and then realized his focus was now on the other cars and taxis filling the covered area in front of the hotel as he maneuvered his Tesla toward the street.

  "Yes." She tried to keep the pain their loss still caused her from her voice.

  She'd tried so hard not to let the family in, but Adhip had been her father for the last seventeen years and Dev had been not only her best friend, but the only friend she trusted with her secret hopes and dreams.

  "And the Singh family expects you to marry a complete stranger." Unmistakable disgust laced Rajvinder's voice now.

  "I probably know you better than you realize." She swallowed and admitted. "And the marriage was my idea."

  Because she'd known that it was necessary. And Eliza had never expected to marry for true love. While Dev had been her best friend, she'd had no romantic feelings toward him. And she'd liked it that way.

  She didn't ever want to love as deeply as she'd loved her family, not in a romantic sense. Not family. No one.

  "You may know about me, but that doesn't mean you know me. I am a stranger to you, a man you met once for a brief moment when you were a child. And you just lost the love of your life," Rajvinder said, like the words didn't just disgust him, they bothered him on some other level too. "It's inhuman, but I should not be surprised. Their treatment of my mother and then me wasn't exactly lathered in compassion."

  She didn't think this man really sought that commodity from anyone, but she didn't want him to think the Singh's were being that insensitive. It was obvious Rajvinder had not believed her assertion the marriage had been her idea.

  "It's not like that." It hadn't occurred to her that Rajvinder might be offended on her behalf, but something moved inside her at the knowledge. "Dev wasn't the love of my life. His parents, my guardians, the grandparents, they all decided we would marry. It was a decision made before I even went away to university," she offered now, thinking maybe knowing that might actually help Rajvinder's perception of the current situation.

  "But he was your best friend. Adhip was as close a thing as you had to a father."

  "Yes." There was no disguising the pain Rajvinder's words were causing her.

  She hadn't wanted to see Adhip uncle as a
father, but he had been so good to her.

  "Let's make one thing clear. Coming after you was my idea. This marriage? Was my idea," she told him again, willing Rajvinder to believe it. "I'm no pawn to the family."

  "Your idea? Really?" he asked with skepticism. "Why?"

  "I'm keeping a promise I made to Dev."

  "To marry a stranger?"

  "To take care of his family."

  "That is not your responsibility."

  "You do not get to tell me what is my responsibility," she informed the man who was way too used to bossing people around. "I am a twenty-seven-year-old woman. I make my own choices."

  "Like you chose to marry Dev."

  "Yes." She might have been sixteen when she'd first agreed to the marriage, but Eliza had never changed her mind about it.

  She'd wanted the peaceful marriage she could have with him, but they'd never even kissed. Neither had particularly wanted to. Now she regretted she didn't even have a tepid memory to hold onto.

  It seemed like a slight against Dev somehow.

  "Dev was not your lover," Rajvinder guessed, showing an uncanny synchronicity with her thoughts.

  "No." She didn't protest how that wouldn't have been expected of them, that the elders would have been very upset at any implication of impropriety.

  Because that would have implied some kind of judgment toward Rajvinder's mother that Eliza did not feel. Honestly? If they'd been attracted like that to each other, Eliza wouldn't have finished her doctorate a single woman.

  Instead, both she and Dev had conspired to use her education as a way to avoid the family sanctioned marriage as long as possible.

  "We would have been happy together," she said more for herself than Rajvinder.

  "And now you think you'll be equally happy with me?" Oh, the sarcasm was thick.

  In that moment, Rajvinder sounded a lot like his father. Adhip did sarcasm better than anyone else Eliza had met, until now.

  "I never said that."

  "But you are willing to go through some kind of farce wedding?" he asked, disbelieving.