Page 40 of Married in Vengeance

Aadhya reared back like he’d slapped her across the face. She would have preferred it if he had. Her hands itched to cover her nakedness, but she forced herself not to. She already felt hurt and angry, but she would be damned if she would let Ram make her feel ashamed of herself too.

Without another word, she stepped away from him, her face averted.

“Well,” she said, her voice remarkably calm for all that was swirling inside her. “This was fun, but I doubt we’ll be doing it again.”

“Aadhya.” Ram’s voice broke on her name. “I-“

“I think you’ve said enough, Ram. I’m done talking to you. Goodnight.”

She shut the door behind her before he could respond, shivering as the chill of the air conditioner hit her wet, nakedbody. She rummaged through her cupboard and pulled out a robe, wrapping it around her. She coiled her wet hair into a thick rope over one shoulder and left the room.

Tonight was not a night for pride. Tonight was for retiring to a quiet corner to lick her wounds. She picked one of the guest rooms at random and shouldered her way in, falling into bed and pulling the comforter over herself.

Huddling under it in the dark of an unfamiliar room, she allowed the tears to come. Curling into a fetal position, she wept silently for her broken heart, her tattered dreams and her crumbling future.

Shivers racked her body as she lay there in the dark wondering where it had all gone wrong. A fortnight ago, she’d had the world at her feet. And now, all she had were ruins. She wiped at her tears, forcing herself to calm down and get a grip. She wouldn’t break. Aadhya Reddy didn’t break. Certainly not for a man.

The bedroom door opened allowing in a sliver of light. Ram’s shadow darkened the slight glow.

“Aadhya, come back to the room,” he said quietly.

She closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. Clearly not doing a very good job since he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. She heard him sigh, a deep, heavy sound.

“Please come back to the room.”

He reached down to place his hand on her shoulder and she instinctively scrunched herself into a tighter ball to avoid his touch. His hand stopped inches away from making contact.

“Please?” he said again.

She kept her back to him, eyes resolutely shut.

“Okay,” he said. “We’ll talk in the morning.” He paused a second, took a deep breath and added, “About everything. It’s time we both laid all our cards on the table.”

Aadhya still said nothing.

Finally, when he realised no response was forthcoming, he exhaled. “I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.”

She heard the door open and shut. She took a deep breath and allowed herself to relax. She’d deal with the morning in the morning. For tonight, she just wanted to close her eyes and shut the world out. For one night. Just one night.

Twenty-Three

RAM

Ram staredat the empty bed. She hadn’t come. He’d spent all night waiting for her to come back to their room. But she hadn’t come.

And why did he care? He should be rejoicing to have the bed to himself again. Instead of sprawling in the king size bed to his heart’s content, he’d spent the night sitting in a chair staring at it.

The first rays of the rising sun filtered in through the curtains, slowly lightening the darkness in the room. He’d never believed in blackout blinds but for the first time in his life he was starting to see the appeal. He would have preferred to stew in the darkness of his soul…room dammit not soul! His soul was fine!

He shifted his gaze to the closed bedroom door, waiting and watching but his new bride didn’t come storming through it. Enough was enough. He was going to haul her back here and they were going to talk. About everything. He wanted to know what the fuck she planned to get out of screwing with him with those emails and that video…and then…and then he didn’t know. But one step at a time.

Ram marched down the corridor to the guest bedroom Aadhya was using and shoved the door open. He stared at the lump huddled under the comforter. She was asleep! He’d spent the whole night stewing over their messed-up lives and she was sleeping! Furious, he strode over to the bed and reached down to wake her up.

Aadhya moaned as he shook her shoulder. Ram froze. That wasn’t a good moan. That was an I’m-in-pain moan.

“Aadhya?” Ram sat down on the side of the bed and tried to wake her, more gently this time.

She didn’t wake up. Instead, Aadhya stirred restlessly and turned into his side. He snatched back the hand that touched her cheek. Pressing the back of his hand to her forehead, Ram swore. She was burning up!

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