Nights of Roshan (6 page)

Roshan had been perfectly content to be alone, especially over the nonsensically expensive holiday, but with Neiri in his kitchen and Christmas carols playing on his system, he was rather pleased with himself. He’d already brought her huge tree from her flat and set it up in the living space. Red, green and white lights twinkled in his candle-bright living room, sparkling through the crystal decorations that hung delicately on every fresh pine branch. Neiri took herself to the kitchen once she’d affirmed that each decoration was set right and the tree was positioned correctly. She said she wanted to cook. She said cook. He said open packets of food and put them in the oven.

“There’s a skill to it,” she argued, pricking the plastic sleeve of a tray of prawns. “And I like nibbles.”

He sent her an appreciative glance. “Yes, you do.”

Neiri frowned at him, then placed a glass of lemon water in front of him. “Where did you even come from? Apart from supposedly answering my
prayer
.”

Roshan stifled his laughter. His Neiri didn’t hold back. “I’m a white Bengal tiger, if that’s what you’re asking. My mother is from Bangladesh and my father is Iranian. They’re both tigers. My father has an insane amount of shares in several oil companies, so we have a little bit of money. I was living in Qatar and had been meditating quietly in the family temple just off the Sundarban mangrove forest when I heard you.” If he closed his eyes, he could see the river, drifting past verdant trees, and the lyrical voice of Neiriouri, beckoning him to protect her… He took a sip of his drink, finding his train of thought once more. “I speak Bengali, Farsi, Arabic, tiger grunts and I’m getting to learn all your little sounds.”

She grinned. “Thank you. Isn’t it weird? Waking up one day with paws and hands the next?”

“Never known anything different for it to be anything less than completely normal. I admit, it’s not like my father was around much to help me understand any… erm, unusual developments. But he’s more of a loner than I am. Didn’t see him for years at a time growing up. My mother did all the rearing. And she’s more invested in my fertility than I suspect yours is.”

“You realise how… Freudian that sounds?”

Roshan shrugged. “Well, we have inbreeding issues.”

She made a face of disgust. “Eww. Is that why you’re a white tiger? Inbreeding?”

“No, no, no! Luck would have it my father sniffed out the gene in my mother. He wanted a cub with white fur and got one. Then buggered off to make more somewhere else, I suppose.”

Neiri blinked at him. “That’s it? That’s the sum of your parents’ relationship?”

He shrugged. “Pretty much. What about you?”

“Oh, arranged marriage.” His head snapped up. “Oh no, my parents, not me. Although they did have a hand in introducing me to my ex.”

“Are they disappointed their plans didn’t meet fruition?”

“Hmm. But it’s my fault, really. I didn’t do the appropriately wifely thing and submit.” He knew what she meant, but immediately he had the stark impression of Neiri on her knees. “My dad hasn’t really spoken to me since I told my parents I was getting divorced. It’s not like we were that close. My mother and brothers came to London before I was born. I’m the only proper Londoner out of the five of us. Dad stayed in Egypt to work.” She sent him a sad little smile. “I understand. Even though every month my dad offered to kill my ex-husband, I knew it was to make up for not being around. But I didn’t want him to turn around and say he had to clean up my mess.”

“Then what would he make of me?”

Neiri reared up from the tray of prawns. “Are you planning on introducing yourself?”

“I’m planning on being around for a while,” he said, edging around the question.

“How long is a while?”

“Long enough. Well?”

She perched a hand on her hip. “I suppose you’d be all right with him for a number of reasons. You’re apparently a good Arab boy, as far as appearances go, you’re successful and you don’t seem to be put off by the fact that I’m a ruined woman.”

Roshan’s eyebrows furled. “He can’t think that.”

She shoved the tray of prawns into the oven. “Believe me, that’s the PG version of what I’ve been told I am.” She added a tray of tartlets and falafel. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Would he be more amenable if you gave him grandchildren? They are a good distraction.”

Neiri whipped around, eyes as round as coins. “I keep telling you, I can’t. Even if I wanted to, I can’t.”

“And I keep telling you, you can. You’re not listening.”

“I thought you were a loner,” she said, sounding increasingly desperate. “Loners don’t want little needy things around.”

Roshan simply took another sip of his water. “You’re always alone until you meet the right person.”

“Oh.” She tucked her hands behind her back. “Oh. That’s a lovely thing to say.” He saw the shimmer of tears in her eyes and got to his feet.

“Come on.” He held out his hand to her and pulled her away from the oven to set the timer. “The food will take about a half hour. Come and sit with me for a bit.”

Not giving her the chance to refuse, he nudged her into the living space. Moonlight spotlighted the whole room, even overpowering the fairy lights on the tree. Roshan sat her down, then wrapped a large, cashmere throw around the both of them. Neiri tucked herself closer and he tightened his arms around her. He’d always thought of Christmas as entirely overrated. With Neiri quiet in his arms, he understood it. Finally.

“When you say grandchildren,” Neiri said into the lull, “you’re serious? Truthfully, deadly serious?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because you barely know me.”

Stubborn female. “What do I need to know about you that would make you a bad person to parent with? And what do you still need to know about me that would make me a terrible father?”

“Well…”

“Is this about you being sneaky around my pool?”

“My pool and no.” She rubbed her face against his neck. “Mmm. You smell nice.”

“Thanks,” he said warily. “Why are you changing the subject?”

“Because it’s getting a bit intense and I really, really want those king prawn tempura bites.”

With a laugh, Roshan placed a kiss on the top of her head. “All right then. We’ll leave it until after you’ve had some food.”

 “Can we go for a swim instead?”

He was in no mind to refuse her just to discuss a direction they’d already taken. Neiri collected a bikini and then they swam for an hour in contentment. Neiri floated on the surface, sunglasses on her face. The pleasure it gave him to be able to change into his beast and swim beside her, seemed endless. She grazed her nails through his fur when he passed by her, and even dived to the bottom of the pool with him.

“Synchronised!” she claimed when they surfaced. He allowed her to wrap her arms around his neck, the length of her body pressed to his arched feline back as he floated through the water, diving every so often with random abandon.

“You’ve got markings on the back of your ears,” she told him, as he rested his paws on the side, and Neiri tickled one ear as she stroked her thumb over it.

“Like a fingerprint,” he replied, eyes closed in delight. “Everyone’s different.”

“You’re a very pretty cat.”

He would have wriggled her from him for such insubordination, but her nails were scratching his G-spot, just underneath his ear. The alarm for the garage entrance sounded, wailing through the pool. Roshan shifted and gently removed Neiri from his back. “Stay here
...
I’ll be back in a moment.”

Roshan strode to the underground garage. He’d told his mother no; under no circumstances were any of those drain-clogging hair fluffs to come anywhere near his building today.

Tapping in the code to open the doors that sealed the garage from the rest of the building, Roshan poked his head through, glancing on either side.

“Come out!” he snapped. One by one, they began to appear from behind concrete pillars. He felt a poke in the chest and looked down. His mother was shorter than him by a scant five inches, but that poke hurt.

“I told you it is our turn.”

“You cannot be here!”

She edged past him. “Nonsense. Come along,
pri
atama
!”

Roshan caught her back. “I have someone here.”

His mother stared at him with suspicion swirling in her charcoal gaze. Perhaps the defensive tone in his voice gave it all away. “A what?”

“Someone.”

“Important if you want me to stay away. Let me look.”

She wriggled out of his grasp and as soon as he turned to follow, the family scampered inside, rushing past in streaks of orange and black. “Stop!” he roared. The shifted tigers all froze, shoulders hunched in anticipation of more shouting. “Wait here. If any of you moves a single claw, I will rip you to pieces and ship you off to the Whiskers factory for cat food. Clear?”

Indiscriminate whines were his response. Assured they’d stay put, Roshan followed his mother’s scent to the pool.

She stood at the side peering into the water. “Your
someone
has been down there for a while. She’s hiding.”

Roshan sighed heavily. “And I don't blame her.”

He kneeled down and trailed his fingers through the water. Neiri’s head began to rise, the water still covering her nose.

“You can come out,
umri
.”

His mother made a sound that sounded like a cross between disgust and shock. “
Your life
? You call a female I’ve never met
your life
?”

“Yes.” He held out his hand to Neiri who took it. With a yank, she slid from the water to stand beside him. “Mother, Neiriouri Halabi. Neiri, this is Samreen Ahsani, my mother. Who has no concept of privacy.”

“You are too rude,” his mother muttered, folding her arms over her chest.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Neiri agreed. “And you’re always telling me I could be nicer.”

“Not in this instance.”

His mother pouted. “We’ve brought everything for the gathering. We could use this space.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Nowhere else is available today for such a large group of us.”

“I did say no.”

His mother fluttered her eyelashes at Neiri.
“Where are you from?” his mother asked.

Neiri’s eyes shaded. Uh oh… “London.”

“Where were you born?”

“London.”

“But where are your parents from?”

“Egypt.”

Roshan tried not to laugh at the exasperation in Neiri’s tone. “Ah. That explains plenty.”

“Such as?”

“Don’t worry yourself, my dear. You just keep rested and let Roshan look after you. We don’t make too much noise to disturb you, but you have to understand, there will be a lot of disappointment when I let the others know that Roshan has finally taken a mate.”

“I’m not a friend, so… Yeah. Thanks.”