Bollywood Fiancé for a Day Read Online Free Page A

do.’
    His face gave nothing away and her bravado began to slip in the face of that impassivity.
    â€˜It was promised,’ she reminded him. She hated sounding so defensive. ‘How…’
How would you feel if you were left waiting for something that never happened?
she meant to say but she stopped, because she didn’t want him feeling sorry for her. She did want to hold him to his commitment, though. She’d just been disregarded by two important people in her life. She had no control over that, but here—Her shoulders squared. She wouldn’t be sidelined for the mere convenience of this actor. And that was that.
    â€˜What. I. Owe. You,’ he said, echoing her earlier words. ‘You do realize the only way for me to accede to your request would be for us to go privately—you know, like a real date?’
    A
dun dun dun
sounded in her head in tandem with his announcement.
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜What else?’ he jibed, standing there looking down at her with thumbs hooked into his belt in a cowboy pose. Every inch the arrogant, soaked-in-confidence male daring her to defy him, with that eyebrow slanted upwards. ‘Everyone’s on a schedule here and I’m not upsetting their applecart. It’s not their fault things got this delayed; in fact they wouldn’t have done so, except for—’ He broke off again and asked, ‘So? Would you come on a real date with me? You have to decide what you want, Vishakha. It’s your prize, after all.’
    Prize.
What a word to use when it was him—six foot odd and with a physique like the Deccan Plateau—they were talking about. What he said filled her unduly with a heady rush and an odd sense of power. She gave herself a mental shake. He could make anyone feel what he wanted them to. It was his business after all. Tweaking the strings in the hearts of the unwary audience sitting in the darkened halls, so that when he said ‘I love you’ on the screen, every riveted girl had the illusion she was his particular target.
    Was he really giving her precedence or just acting that way? Maybe hoping that when given the choice she’d gracefully bow out.
    Maybe she should. But no…not after going on and on about him looking after his own interests. She cringed now how self-righteous she had sounded. Well, she owed it to herself to keep her end up.
    â€˜Very well,’ she conceded.
    â€˜Very well?’ he repeated, obviously surprised. ‘You want to go on a date with me?’ He directed a quizzical glance at her.
    â€˜Isn’t that what you just offered?’
    â€˜I just wonder what you’re offering.’ The overtly sexual innuendo in his deep voice, with that sensual husky emphasis on the last word, made her toes curl in her silver slip-ons. At the same time her breath escaped through her teeth at his brashness.
    Well, she wasn’t going to let him get to her. ‘A real date.’ She dared to say, ‘That’s what you said and that’s what you get.’
    â€˜This evening just got interesting, I think.’ The Zaheer Saxena brand was highlighted by the sexy clefts in his lean cheeks as he smiled slowly. She totally wished she’d missed that. Hazel eyes caught her gaze, the look sinking into hers slowly, like a knife sliding into butter. She felt the effect of it curl to her fingertips. With an effort she dragged her attention away. She knew it was a bad idea to go on this date, the way she felt near him. Or maybe quite a brilliant one if she wanted to seize the opportunity to…
    To what? Lengthen the time she spent with him? Explore why little electrical charges seemed to be running across her skin every time he stepped nearer to her?
    This hadn’t happened to her before. Oh, she had had her share of crushes on handsome resident doctors. But she’d always known her Papa wanted an arranged marriage for her, so she’d stayed away from them.