The Accidental Wife Read Online Free Page B

himself subject to various rituals and customs that frightened him half to death, almost reducing him to tears.
    All his relatives had a field day at his expense. His mother, who along with the rest of his family was caught in a snowstorm in Europe (she’d gone wedding shopping in Paris when every damn thing was available in NYC) seemed to be directing everything by remote control.
    Fortunately, his future wife’s family had come to his rescue. He was relieved when he learned they weren’t much into tradition.
    On the second day after he landed, Rihaan slipped the ring he’d bought in a hurry at Tiffany’s on Deepika’s finger and she had seemed pleased. In truth, she was more ordinary-looking than he had assumed (makeup can do wonders apparently and pictures can be doctored). Nevertheless, he was content when she assured him with a toothy smile that he’d get exactly what he’d bargained for.
    On the third day, she signed her name alongside his in front of a registrar and the deal was official. On the fourth, the whole bloody thing was concluded with a wedding ceremony to please the hearts of all the traditionalists. Unfortunately or fortunately for him, his parents were still missing in action. But they’d watched everything live, thanks to the miracle of high tech and the internet.
    And before he knew, it was all over. Rihaan had joined the ranks of hapless and bemused married men.
    But somehow it all didn’t quite gel for him. Something had gone wrong, yet he couldn’t put his finger on it.
    So when it came time for his wedding night, leaving his cousins and miscellaneous relatives behind to rejoice in drunken revelry, Rihaan headed to the room on the second floor of his uncle’s house specially decorated for the purpose singularly determined to pull the veil off the disquieting mystery—his so-called wife.
    He found her on the balcony. “Deepika?” he ventured tentatively.
    She stepped out of the shadows.
    But the girl who stood in front of him was certainly not the one he thought he’d married, and to make matters even worse, she was definitely not ordinary-looking.
    She was stunning!
    Just as his eyes affixed to her face, the wheels of his brain drew to an abrupt halt. What a face it was. That of an enchantress, no less.
    Bathed in ethereal moonlight, with dark, wavy hair of shimmering black silk that flirted with her smooth and dewy complexion; regular, well-defined features; huge, luminous eyes that sparkled; lustrous lips, full and moist that curved into a mocking smile and… brought him crashing back to earth!
    Goddamnit! This was exactly what he had been guarding himself against! This girl, this stranger, had already knocked him off his moorings when he was least prepared for it. Beautiful creatures like her should not be allowed to roam free on the streets, in particular creep unannounced into unsuspecting men’s bedrooms! What was she doing here?
    He wrenched himself out of the haze. There wasn’t any way he could afford to be unsettled in his well-planned life. He cleared his throat twice before he found his voice. “You aren’t Deepika. Where is she?”
    “Yes, you guessed right,” she spoke in a low soft tone. “I’m not Deepika. She’s gone. I am Naina.” She paused for effect. “Good bye, Rihaan. Nice to have made your acquaintance.”
    She turned to slip past him.
    He stepped up to bar her way; his reflexes getting their act together before his brain did. “No…wait! How…how can you say she’s gone? She’s my wife for crying out loud!”
    She cast a pitiful glance at him. “Yes, she’s gone. And no, she’s not your wife. I was the one sitting in the mandap . Don’t tell me you didn’t know that already.”
    Rihaan closed his eyes. He felt his heart take a free fall to his gut and continue to sink further. What he had fervently hoped to be a delusion of his conscience had turned out to be true. The worm of suspicion had begun to wiggle itself into his psyche as soon as