‘Yes,’ she confirmed drowsily.
‘Doesn’t mean I can’t hold you, doesn’t mean I can’t kiss you,’ Jai teased, folding her into his arms regardless. ‘This is the very first time I’ve met with that restriction since my engagement.’
Thinking of all the years he had been free and single, Willow said, ‘How can it be?’
‘After Cecilia the longest I stayed with a woman was a weekend. It was a practical choice for me, selfish too, I’ll admit, but I didn’t want anything deeper or more lasting.’
‘Oh, dear, and here I am planning to last and last and last,’ she whispered playfully. ‘Maybe you’ll eventually love me too because you’re stuck with me.’
His lean, strong physique tensed. ‘No, the love trail isn’t for me. That would be excess, and we don’t need it to be happy or raise Hari together. Be practical, soniyaa. What we’ve got is much more realistic.’
A hollow sensation spread inside Willow’s chest along with a very strong urge to kick the love of her life out of bed. It was early days, though, she reminded herself, and she was being greedy and impatient. In a year’s time she might have grown on him to such an extent that he did love her. Or was that simply a fantasy? If he hadn’t been bowled over by her from the outset, she was unlikely ever to become the sole and most important focus of his wants, logic warned her. Unfortunately for her, her heart didn’t jump at the words, ‘practical’ or ‘realistic.’
CHAPTER NINE
THEY LUNCHED WITH Sher the following day at his family home, which his late father had allowed to fall into rack and ruin.
Only a small part of the ancient Nizam of Tharistan’s palace had so far been made liveable, and they dined in that wing on a shaded terrace overlooking a vast stretch of uncultivated land, which Sher admitted had once been the gardens. At Willow’s request he had gathered old records, paintings and photographs from Victorian times in an effort to provide some evidence of what the gardens had once looked like, for what remained was simply undergrowth with the occasional hint of the shape of a path or flowerbed.
‘It’ll be a massive project,’ she warned him. ‘And hugely expensive.’
‘Not a problem for Sher.’ Jai laughed.
‘Would it be possible for me to take these records and old photos home with me?’ Willow pressed the other man. ‘What you really need is an archaeological garden survey done.’
‘No, I’ll be content with something in the spirit of the original gardens, rather than requiring an exact replica,’ Sher admitted. ‘I’ll bring the old maps over to you tomorrow. I keep them in a climate-controlled environment but as long as you wear gloves handling them, they’ll be fine.’
‘I can’t wait to see them,’ Willow confided, excitement brimming in her sparkling green eyes, all her attention on Sher. ‘Of course, I’ll wear gloves.’
Lunch with two highly creative people was not to be recommended, Jai decided at that point, unless you were of a similar ilk. And Jai wasn’t. A garden was only a green space to him that complemented a building. Books, technology and business alone held his interest.
When they had climbed back into the limo, Jai thought he should warn his wife of the possible pitfalls of what she was planning. ‘As you said, it will be a huge project,’ he reminded her smoothly. ‘Do you really know what you’re taking on?’
Willow straightened her shoulders and turned to him with an eager smile. ‘I can’t wait!’
‘But it will demand a lot of your time.’
‘What else do I have to focus on?’ Willow prompted.
Myself and my son, Jai reckoned. But he was too clever to say it out loud, admitting that it sounded like something his elderly father would have said and inwardly wincing at the comparison. ‘I had been hoping that you would take on some duties with the foundation when you have the time to decide which of our charitable groups would most interest you,’ he commented, and it wasn’t a lie, he reasoned, even if that possibility had only just occurred to him. ‘It would get you out and about more and give you a role of your own.’
‘That’s a wonderful suggestion,’ Willow said warmly. ‘But maybe best saved for when I’ve fully found my feet here.’
‘I thought you already had...found your feet,’ he admitted.
‘Different country, different culture, different languages, different everything,’ she enumerated with quiet emphasis. ‘I love my life here but right now I’m still acclimatising to the changes. I don’t think I’m quite ready yet to step out in a social setting as your Maharani, particularly when everyone will be expecting someone like you, experienced at making speeches and knowledgeable about community work.’
That explanation silenced Jai because he immediately grasped that he had not even considered the changes that her move to India on his behalf had made to her life. Rare discomfiture afflicted him. Had he always been so self-absorbed that he only saw in terms of what best suited him? That disposed to be selfish and arrogant? He gritted his teeth at the suspicion and said no more, quite forgetting the irritation that his best friend had inexplicably evoked in him.
The next morning, Sher brought the maps over and, together, he and Willow pored over the old parchments in the library, Jai soon taking his leave. Searching for evidence of former paths, banks, sunken areas and even small garden buildings, they discovered a wealth of useful facts. Thoroughly enjoying herself, Willow did sketches and made copious notes while Sher talked at length about what he liked to see in a garden. When Jai walked in again, they were trading jokes about what they suspected was the marking for an ancient surprise fountain that had been designed to startle the ladies as they walked past by drenching them.
For a split second, Jai froze on the threshold. Willow and Sher were on a rug on the floor laughing uproariously, one of his friend’s hands on her slim shoulder to steady her as she almost overbalanced in her mirth into the welter of papers that surrounded them.
‘Lunch,’ Jai announced coolly.
‘Oh, my goodness, is it that time already?’ Willow carolled in astonishment, almost as if she hadn’t been camping out in the library for a solid four hours with his best friend, Jai thought in disbelief. Evidently when in Sher’s company time had wings for his wife.
Sher’s entire attention was pinned to Willow’s face. His friend was attracted to her. Jai had already guessed that, for Willow was a classic beauty, but then Sher was attracted to a lot of women and, as a former Bollywood star, he flirted with all of them, be they grandmothers or teenagers, because he was accustomed to playing to admiring crowds. Even so, Jai trusted Sher with his wife, totally trusted him. He was fully aware that his friend would never ever cross a line with a married woman because that same scenario had destroyed Sher’s parents’ marriage.