Where the Lotus Flowers Grow (15 page)

No.

She had on her bra and knickers.

I crawled on the bed until I reached her. “You’re staying the night with me.”

“Liam, it was…amazing. But I should go.”

We had fucked hard, but I wanted to take my time and make love to her. There was so much more to explore.

I kissed her cheek and worked down to her shoulder. “Stay. Spend the night with me. Let me love you again.”

She leaned against my chest, the struggle inside her evident. I was selfish for her, so I did some more convincing. I cupped her breast and nibbled on her earlobe. I brushed her hair aside and worked my way across her back.

Then I stopped.

She straightened immediately.

The scar right below her neck froze me. It was in a place normally concealed by her hair.

She inhaled sharply. “I have to go.” She pulled away from me.

I tightened my arm around her waist to keep her steady.

“Who did this to you?” My voice was calm, completely at odds with the boiling rage threatening to erupt.

“I burned myself.”

I traced the perfectly symmetrical diamond seared into her flesh. Although it was healed, it shined a dark red welt against her smooth brown skin. “This is not an accident. It looks….” God, I couldn’t even say it. “Someone branded you. Who did this, Mary? Tell me.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know.” Her voice choked with emotion.

She squirmed for a minute. I didn’t want her to run from me. My fear of losing her too soon was stronger than my need to punish the person responsible. I wouldn’t let her go. She went limp in my arms.

“Mary?”

She pulled her legs against her chest and rocked back and forth. She was somewhere else. I had put her there with my demands.

She cried.

I held her tightly. “It’s okay, love. I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me. You’re safe. You’re with me. I won’t let anything happen to you.” I made these promises without any reasoning. I only wanted to pull her away from that place of darkness. I kept whispering reassurances, holding her and wiping her tears. She leaned against me once more. I laid her down on the bed. She turned away from me, her body shaking.

“May I hold you?”

She nodded. I shifted so we were both on our sides. I spooned her, whispering hollow words and promises I couldn’t keep until she fell asleep.

Mary

I scrubbed my face in the bathroom, trying desperately to wash away my shame. Not shame that I’d slept with Liam. That was glorious, and I wouldn’t regret a single second of it. Not shame for the mark on my back. I’d accepted it long ago. No, this was shame for the way I’d reacted. I’d taken all the beautiful and delicious things we shared and transformed them into a horrible, tragic mess.

I had fallen apart in front of him. This…this would be the memory of us. In the moment when he’d seen my scar, I’d disintegrated from a strong, independent woman to a whimpering child. He saw all the weaknesses I’d kept buried for so long. Then again, emotion begets emotion. Liam was a hurricane, flinging all my tightly locked doors wide open.

This wasn’t what I wanted him to remember about me…about us. It wasn’t how I wanted to look back on our time, either.

I walked back to the bed completely naked. He’d shifted to his back. The orange glow of the rising sun captured the chiseled planes of his face. I pulled back the covers and kissed his muscular chest. He had the warmest, hardest body. It made me weak with a lust I could not resist, let alone deny myself. I was no saint, but with him I wanted to become a sinner.

Liam moaned as I took him in my mouth. I pursed my lips tightly around him. My fingers circled his shaft. He sat up and stroked my hair away from my face.

“Oh God, Mary.”

I felt powerful pleasing him this way. His erection grew with every lick of my tongue and every stroke of my hand, making it impossible to take all of him anymore. His moans turned into primal grunts as I moved faster.

“Come here,” he whispered.

I replied by cupping his balls.

“Come here,” he pleaded.

I surged deeper, tasting the hard column sheathed within the soft velvet of his skin.

“Come. Here,” he demanded, pulling me up.

“Why did you stop me?”

He held a golden packet in his hand. “I was going to come.”

I pouted. “That was the idea.”

“We do it together. But no worries, Miss Costa, I’ll yield to your charge and let you fuck me this time.” He put the packet in my palm, closing my fingers over it. “Put it on me.”

He understood my need for the power. I rolled the condom down his length. He guided me, my body settling over all of his inches. I’d never been in this position. At first, it was uncomfortable, until his large hands glided down my sides and settled on my hips. I could have been clay…putty in those hands. Sunlight filtered the room, casting our shadows on the wall. He gripped me, lifting and releasing until I figured out the rhythm. I placed my hands on his broad shoulders for leverage. His eyes darkened with a wicked sparkle.

“Mary…so good, lover. You fuck me so good.”

I relished the compliment and increased the tempo. He kissed me with those crazy, desperate, toe-curling Liam kisses. A trickle of sweat ran down my back as I reached the summit. Shivering, I collapsed on top of him. He put his arms around me and thrust a few more times before he shuddered. I laid against his chest, taking in the sound of his heart as he rubbed my back.

“I’m going to wash up.” He pressed his lips against my temple. “Be here when I get back. That is not a suggestion.”

I watched him stand. He pulled up his boxers. How could a man’s backside be so beautiful? He looked at me, a clear warning in his eyes before heading into the bathroom.

I’d wait for him, but the sun signaled our time was over. At least, I’d ended it the way I wanted, the way we deserved.

I dressed quickly. I made the bed because…well, because it was part of my nature to clean up. I sat at the edge. The bed dipped when he took the seat next to me.

“I have to go, Liam.”

He twisted a strand of my hair over my ear. “Come with me, Mary.”

I blinked in confusion. “Where?”

“To Mumbai and then Goa. It’ll give us a fortnight.” I shook my head, but he silenced my protests with his kiss. “Listen to me. You’re leaving, anyway. Think of this as a holiday, and if anyone deserves one, it’s you. I’ll be working, but I’ll have time for us. I’ll make time for us.”

“I can’t.” Even as I protested, my conviction waned. Because two weeks with Liam sounded almost greedy, but God help me, I was greedy when it came to him. How could he still want me after last night? Clearly, my outburst had done nothing to dissuade him.

He caressed my cheek, his thumb running across my bottom lip.

“Don’t answer yet. My flight leaves in two hours. That gives you one hour to make the decision. Let’s be bold for a bit longer, love.”

Liam

She wasn’t coming. I had shaken everyone’s hand twice and exchanged enough pleasantries to fill an entire Regency novel. But there was no sign of Mary.

“You should go, sir,” Prabhat said, pointing to the car.

It was her choice. I had to let her go, but damn it, not without a fight.

“I’ll stop at the employee lodgings. I wanted to say good-bye to them as well.”

Prabhat’s expression was ripe with disapproval. He, like everyone else here, thought I was using her. Maybe I was. All I knew was I couldn’t get enough of her.

“She left half an hour ago, Mr. Montgomery.”

“Left?”

“She had her bags and said good-bye. It happens a lot in our business. These village girls come and go all the time.”

“I see.”

Now I wanted nothing more than to leave, but he kept talking. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. These girls are more beguiling than they appear. A man has to be careful.”

“I don’t appreciate your tone. I would suggest we end this conversation.”

How could she leave? Was it because of the mark on her back? Was it because I’d taken her to the darkest place? Or did she just not want to stretch our journey a bit longer?

I got into the car. I didn’t look back as it left the gates, only forward. Thank God I did, because I probably would have missed her standing on the side of the road beside a worn-out suitcase.

“Stop the car.”

“Sir?” the driver questioned.

“Stop.”

The poor man didn’t know what was happening. I opened the door and had my foot on the ground before it reached a stop. Cars honked behind us.

“Do a circle,” I told the driver.

“Sir, you might miss your flight.”

“Circle,” I repeated, not taking my eyes off her.

“You just keep killing me, Miss Costa.”

“It was better this way. To leave with you outside the gates.” She nodded toward the hotel. “Instead of in there. The driver will tell everyone, anyway. Like I told you, I don’t care. But I wanted us to leave without all the stares and gossip following us out.”

I nodded, trying and failing to wipe the idiotic grin off my face.

“You ready to spend a fortnight with me?” I asked.

“Yes, I want it. I have a few conditions, though.”

“Are you going to impose rules on us?”

“Just two. Two small rules.”

I gave her my full attention. Even took a step back so I wouldn’t take her in my arms or throw her over my shoulder. The early afternoon streets of Jaipur jostled around us, but we were the only two people in the world as far as I was concerned.

“What is it, love?”

“Don’t ask about my scars again. None of my scars, okay?”

I tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Only one question, then. I need you to answer honestly. Has the danger passed?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Is there danger?”

She shook her head. “No, I would never ask you to put yourself in harm’s way.”

She misunderstood my intent. I had come to the conclusion she was hiding at the hotel from something…someone. And the thought drove me mad. “I wasn’t asking because I’m worried about me. I want to know if there is someone in this world who wants to hurt you. And if there is, I need a name.”

“No. No one.”

I wanted to ask if she had included herself, but I didn’t. Whatever she harbored, I would not make her go to the dark places again.

“And the second rule?”

“When this is over, we end clean. No keeping in touch or anything.”

I wanted to argue this stipulation, but I wouldn’t risk what she was offering. “As you wish, Mary.

Although I made the vow, I doubted I could keep it.

Mary

He’d asked me if I was safe, not because he was worried about the ramifications for himself. His question was as simple and as complicated as that. I replayed it in my head, his expression of concern and his look of relief with my answer.

Liam held my hand through the flight. I hadn’t been on a plane since I was a kid, and never first class. He ordered champagne and told jokes. I had to admit, after two glasses, I wasn’t nervous anymore. It was all new to me, but Liam was a seasoned traveler. When we arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport, though, it was Liam who had the culture shock.

We stared out the window on my side of the car as we passed through the crowded city. Me, sentimental and nervous, searching for pieces of my past in the tall skyscrapers and cramped streets. Liam, wide-eyed and stunned silent, his hand gripping my hip, as he took in the blaring car horns and near-miss collisions.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he said as a family of four pulled up next to us.

“They’re just heading off for the day.”

“On a motorbike? Four people on a motorbike and two of them children.” The father had the helm, two small children behind him, and the mother took up the rear.

“I’m sure you don’t see things like this in New York.”

“Or anywhere. Also, I’ve never seen cars share the road with horses and cows. And why the hell is everyone bloody honking?”

“Welcome to Bombay, Liam.”

Bombay had stayed the same in many ways, but there were even more people than I remembered. The buildings looked grander, more westernized. But other things hadn’t changed. There were churches, temples, and mosques on every corner. Women wore every color and style of clothing, from patterned traditional saris to plain black burkas. There were plenty of jeans and T-shirts in the mix, too.

Children ran up to our car at every intersection with outstretched hands.

“They’re going to get hurt darting through traffic,” he said, his face holding a grim expression.

I didn’t want to tell him that this was probably the safest thing they did all day. “They’ll be fine.”

“How does it feel to come home again?” he asked.

“Strange. I never thought I would return.”

“Are you happy you’re here?”

I snuggled close to him. “I’m happy to be with you.”

“Where did you live?”

“In Bandra. It’s some distance from here. The orphanage was in Navi Bombay.”

“I have an appointment there in a few days. I’m going to check out a piece of property for a new hotel. Would you like to come with me?”

“I don’t know.”

He placed his hand over mine. “I’ll leave a car for you in case you want to visit friends or anything.”

I nodded, unsure if I had any friends to visit.

* * * *

The Mumbai hotel didn’t look like it belonged to the same family as the Rajasthani one. It was a modern, imposing building with a glass and steel façade. It took a while for the car to make its way through the gate.

“Sir, I’m very sorry,” the security guard said. “This will only take a moment.”

“Let it take as long as it needs to. There are no exceptions.”

The man nodded. I watched from the window as he placed the mirror beneath our vehicle, while another man walked a leashed dog around the car.

“What are they doing?”

His mouth stretched into a grim line. “Checking our car.”

“For what?”