A Scandalous Proposition by MM George Read Free Book Online Page B

Ranbir had this
created for her when he came back from Harvard,” he explained, grinning
impishly. When Tarun opened the door to the large balcony that housed the
garden, waves of perfume from the roses greeted them.
    “Di, just look at it! It’s beautiful!” exclaimed Reema.
    And it was. Thick bushes laden with roses in all kinds of
colors were skirted by lengths of springy green lawn. A swing had been set up
in one corner, while comfortable-looking seats had been placed in particularly
gorgeous nooks.
    “Dadi used to love the garden, but now that she has to use
the wheelchair, she finds it difficult to go up and down, despite the lift. So
Ranbir had this garden created here since this is a floor she uses often,”
Tarun explained before leading them inside once again.
    “Kitchen here,” he said next, “though I don’t think you’ll
need to use it. There’s a bell near the bed in your room. Just ring it if you
want tea, coffee, anything to eat.”
    “Oh no,” said Reema, who had perked up considerably once the
rest of the family had faded away. “We can easily come down and make ourselves
something if we need to.”
    Tarun shook his head at her fondly, and she gazed back at
him shyly. Mira looked at both of them, feeling decidedly de trop .
    “Umm, I think I’ll go up to our room,” she said, and slipped
away without either of them noticing. Once in her room, she sat on the bed,
wondering what to do with herself. It was only 8.30, too early to sleep. She
didn’t feel like fiddling around with the flat-screen TV in the room. And she
was too restless in her new surroundings to relax and read. She stepped out on
to the balcony and climbed up the stairs to the terrace.
    A vague unease continued to nag at her as she strolled up
and down in the cool night. Her thoughts kept turning to Ranbir, her mind
whirring with unanswered questions. Why had he gone to so much trouble to get
her here? He had been so inventive on Tarun’s behalf in getting Reema into the
family home, but surely he needn’t have tossed her into the equation. And then
there was the way he had behaved with her family and the way she was seeing him
behave at home—quiet and unfailingly courteous and caring to everyone around
him. Dhruv, too, had only good things to say about him, and Jasmine, as little
as she had seen of her, seemed to adore him. She could not reconcile this image
of Ranbir with the man she herself had encountered—the arrogant, passionate
playboy who had expected her to fall into his bed at the snap of his fingers.
    “Thinking of me?” Ranbir’s deep voice broke into her
reverie.
    She whirled around. “Of course not! Why are you here?”
    He looked at her quizzically, “It’s my home, you know.”
    Mira blushed. “I’m sorry,” she faltered. “It’s just that I
thought I was alone.”
    Ranbir fell into step with her and they took a few rounds of
the terrace.
    Mira was the first to break the silence. “I hope it works
out for Reema and Tarun,” she said. “He seems a nice boy.”
    She had been quite impressed, in fact, by Tarun, and the way
his eyes softened every time he looked at Reema, but she needed to see more of
him before she would commit herself any further. It was a question of her
sister’s happiness after all.
    Ranbir looked at her intently. “And what about you?” he
asked. “Don’t you have any dreams of your own? Or are you content to help your
younger sister make her way through life?”
    “Reema was very ill when she was a baby,” said Mira softly.
“Since then, it’s become a habit with all of us to look after her, help her
wherever we can.”
    “So much so that you molly-coddle her?”
    Mira looked at him indignantly. “I do not molly-coddle her,”
she said, bristling. “I look after her.”
    “You take over her life,” said Ranbir, studying her flushed
cheeks. “Come on, Mira, you don't even let her answer questions that are posed
directly to her. I’m sure she’s quite a