Page 40 of Trapped By the Maharaja
They hesitated a moment before bowing and leaving quietly.
Alone at last, Sanjana went to the table, uncovering the aromatic dish, her stomach growling despite her storming mind.
She sat down and ate in silence. But even as she enjoyed the food, her stomach continued to flutter nervously.
Her thoughts remained on the ruthless maharaja who was now her husband.
Would he ignore her again tonight with cold indifference? Or would he claim his rights for the sake of an heir?
The uncertainty made her nervous and angry. Pushing away her thoughts of Ram, she cleared up the eaten dishes and covered the rest before getting up.
She finished her nightly routine. But instead of going to bed, even though she had a long day, she picked up the patient files and went to the sitting area in the corner and sat on the ornately carved, long velvet couch.
She read the files for a long while until the grandfather clock rang somewhere in the grand hall, indicating it was midnight.
Ram hadn’t returned yet.
Was he with someone else? Another woman?
Her chest constricted before she shoved the feeling away.
I don’t care if he is with someone else.
Taking a deep breath, she continued looking at the files. She read by lamplight, clinging to her identity as a doctor, not as the trapped bride of a maharaja.
She kept reading until her eyes blurred, until exhaustion dragged her down. She finally drifted into uneasy sleep on the velvet couch, her files scattered around her.
I hate him.
CHAPTER 18
Sanjana woke up to heat.
The velvet couch felt too hard and hot beneath her cheek. The material felt coarse and ticklish against her nose. Her brow furrowed when she felt the slow, steady rhythm of a heartbeat under her ear.
Feeling confused, she opened her eyes, only for realization to hit her.
She wasn’t on the velvet couch. She was in bed. And her head was resting on Ram’s bare chest.
It was Ram’s chest hair tickling her nose and his heartbeat under her ear.
Her breath caught and she froze as fragments of memory rushed back.
She was sitting on the velvet couch with her files, fighting exhaustion, and eventually drifting into sleep. She must have gotten up at some point in the night and gone to the bed. And because she was a restless sleeper, she must have rolled onto Ram.
Dammit.
Her pulse thundered as she slowly tilted her head upward.
Ram was awake.
His eyes were on hers, dark and unreadable. He hadn’t moved, hadn’t pushed her away, but the weight of his gaze pressed down on her like fire against her skin. For one dizzying heartbeat, she couldn’t look away. The morning light brushed across his features, highlighting the hard line of his jaw, the shadows beneath his eyes, the curve of his mouth that gave nothing away.
Heat rushed to her cheeks. Her entire body flushed.
She jerked upright, scrambling to put space between them. “I—I must have…” Her voice faltered. “I move in my sleep sometimes.”
He didn’t say anything. But there was a flash in his eyes.
