CHAPTER 42
Morning settled over the mountains.
Snow beyond the cabin window glowed faintly gold. The world outside looked untouched and quiet, as if nothing reckless had happened the night before.
Yamini woke slowly.
Warmth surrounded her.
For a moment, she didn't move. A muscled arm lay across her waist, a calloused palm curved low against her abdomen.
The wool blanket had slipped sometime during the night. Cool air brushed her bare shoulder, but the muscled chest was solid and warm against her back.
She realized that it was the first time she had woken up beside him.
They had been married for over two months. He had come to her nearly every night through the connecting door, but he left before dawn.
Now, he hadn’t left.
She wasn't sure why that realization unsettled her more than finding his arm around her waist.
Her body ached faintly while memories of the night rushed in.
Last night, she had forgotten that he was the man she had accused of orchestrating her divorce. The same man who had agreed to her proposal as if the answer hadn’t already been decided long before she asked.
But now, in the light of day, those things mattered again.
She shifted slightly, intending to slip free before he woke.
His arm tightened immediately, drawing her back before she had moved more than an inch.
“Stay.”
His voice was low and rough with sleep.
Her breath caught.
Outside, the wind moved faintly across the frozen lake below. Inside, the air felt warmer than it should have.
She turned in his arms until she faced him.
In the morning light, he looked different. His sharp, masculine features were softened by sleep, making him look less like the cold, untouchable maharaja the world saw.
“You planned this,” she said.
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation.
She looked at him, searching for guilt or triumph. But she found nothing.
Her jaw tightened. “You planned my life too.”
There was silence.
“You had those photographs sent to me last year,” she said.
“I made sure you saw the truth.”
Her pulse jumped when he didn’t deny it.
“You destroyed Rahul,” she said.
“He deserved it.”
That was probably true, but it didn't make it simpler.
Because it changed nothing about the fact that Bharat had been the one who went after Rahul.
“You interfered in my life,” she said. “You got me hired as the PR photographer for your company.”
“Yes.”
His voice remained calm.
There was no apology or denial. And no attempt to soften any of it.
Anger rose inside her. “You don't get to control my life.”
His gaze settled on hers. “No.”
The single word surprised her. She had expected a command, not agreement.
She inhaled deeply. “Why did you marry me if not for revenge?”
His hand lifted and brushed a strand of hair away from her face.
The gentle gesture shocked her.
“I married the woman I was meant to.”
He said nothing more.
Her breath came out slowly.
She had spent weeks waiting for a confession, an explanation, or proof that everything had been revenge. But she hadn’t expected him to say he married her because he was meant to.
She wasn’t exactly sure what it really meant. Did he think it was his duty to marry her as planned five years ago? To obey his mother’s wishes?
Was it an odd sense of duty and honor? Or simply ego?
She stared at him. “Whatever your reasoning was, you manipulated and controlled the circumstances,” she said. “I don't know if I can forget what you did,” she said.
Something flickered in his golden-brown eyes.
“Then don’t forget,” he said, his thumb stroking her cheek. “Just accept our marriage.”
As if it were that simple.
She felt his hand on her face. The same hand that had sent photographs to end her marriage. The same hand that had held her steady through a factory fire. And the same hand that had stayed at her waist during the announcement when she was nervous.
Her head turned before she fully decided to, pushing her cheek against his palm.
“You are infuriating,” she said.
Something shifted briefly at the corner of his mouth. It vanished before she was certain she had seen it.
Not a smile, but close.
“I know,” he said.
She inhaled deeply.
“If you control my life again, I’ll leave,” she said.
He didn’t say anything. His thumb stilled, and then his mouth covered hers in a kiss.
She still wasn’t sure she should forgive him.
But she knew she could no longer stay away from him.
The troubling part was that a part of her felt right at home in his arms.