Twelve Hours of Temptation by Shoma Narayanan Read Free Book Online Page B

and from the sound of it had been at the champagne for a while now. It was difficult to refuse the invitation without sounding completely churlish, and Samir shrugged and smiled as they followed her to where the bride was trying to settle down on a plastic chair without completely ruining her dress.
    Both she and the groom looked so completely happy that for a second Melissa’s breath caught in her throat. This was what she’d hoped for once. Mark even looked a bit like Josh—she hadn’t been completely delusional in the few seconds when she’d mistaken one for the other.
    ‘He proposed when we were in Agra,’ Brenda told them. ‘Right in front of the Taj Mahal.’
    OK, so it wasn’t a very original place to propose, but Melissa couldn’t help feeling touched. She took the glass of champagne Sarah was offering her and smiled. ‘So getting married in India was a spur-of-the-moment thing?’
    ‘Yes—actually, we’ve just exchanged vows. There’ll be a proper legal ceremony when we go back.’
    ‘So how about you two, then—are you a couple?’
    While the question had been addressed to both of them, it was clear by the way Sarah was leaning towards Samir that it was his answer she was interested in.
    ‘No, we just work together,’ he said, but already he was drawing back from her, his expression becoming formal and shuttered off. ‘We should leave,’ he said in an undertone to Melissa.
    ‘Why? You just got here. Have another drink before you go,’ Sarah urged.
    She’d not taken her eyes off Samir, and Melissa felt a second’s atavistic urge to lean across and claw the other woman’s eyes out. The impulse didn’t last for more than a second, but it left her feeling more than a little shaken. Granted, Samir in his current bare-chested state looked like the answer to every single woman’s prayer, but he was still her boss—where had that momentary surge of possessiveness come from? Luckily Samir was too focussed on getting away to notice her temporary confusion.
    ‘D’you want your shirt back?’ she couldn’t help asking wryly as they got away from a visibly disappointed Sarah. ‘I think you’re more of a temptation to the opposite sex than I am.’
    To her surprise, Samir flushed. ‘Is your top dry now?’ was all he said.
    ‘Dry enough. I won’t get arrested for indecent exposure at least,’ she said, pulling his T-shirt off and handing it back to him. They walked on in silence for a bit, and then Melissa said, ‘It was rather sweet, wasn’t it? Those two deciding to exchange vows on the beach?’
    Samir shrugged. ‘I give that marriage one year,’ he said. ‘Proposing at the Taj Mahal, getting married in Goa—its unreal. Once they’re back in Chicago and squabbling about who gets to do the washing up they’ll come back to earth.’ Melissa gave an involuntary little giggle and Samir frowned. ‘Something funny?’
    ‘You’re like the hero of a romance novel,’ she said. ‘Tall, brooding and cynical. All you need is a murky past and a scar on your forehead.’ Like a romance novel hero, he was also sexy as hell—but she prudently didn’t say that.
    ‘Brooding and cynical?’
    He sounded thoughtful, and Melissa gave him an apprehensive look, wondering if she’d gone too far.
    Evidently not, because after a pause he asked, with genuine curiosity, ‘Is that what the heroes in romance novels are like?’
    ‘All of them,’ she assured him. ‘And they don’t believe in love ever —until the very last chapter. My neighbour in the hostel is a romance novel junkie—she buys them by the dozen.’
    ‘And you borrow them from her?’
    ‘Sometimes,’ Melissa said and laughed. ‘No, actually I borrow them often—I’m just trying to pretend that I’m the highbrow type. I used to laugh at the plots at first, but they’re actually quite addictive.’
    ‘Right...’ Samir said.
    His phone pinged and he took it out of his pocket to look at the display.
    ‘Sorry, I need to make