Chapter 1

"Sir, I can't…" She could not speak further as he stopped, turned and asked her,

"You know very well, that what's mine I never let go!"

She flinched and tried again, "But, I …don't want to!"

He asked her coldly, "Did I ask you for your opinion?"

"But it's my life!" There she said it.

He looked at her and smiled sadly and said, "So you think! What about me? Is my life not involved in it too?"

"You? You never had anything to do with me!" She exclaimed gulping back a big lump in her throat that threatened to clog her throat completely, as she thought, you should never be associated with me for you to be safe!

"No?" He asked her looking at her oddly.

She looked away.

"Only you can say like that Khushi" he said sadly, and she sighed and said, "Please let go off me. I beg of you!" He kept walking.

"Ok! Even if you take me with you I won't…" she started but stopped.

"You won't what?" He asked her, daring her to finish what she wanted to say… Khushi froze in her tracks, and looked at his drawn face and again gulped hard and said, "I need to go home!"

"No!" He said dragging her across the lush fields.

"But I need some stuff of mine at least." She tried to reason it out with him.

"Do you? Since when? I don't remember you carrying anything with you the last time. You always leave everything behind, don't you? You don't carry any luggage with you!" He said, and after a pregnant pause he added, "Not even my feelings!" He sneered at her.

"Maan please!" She said unable to bear the torture.

"Okay! Where is the place?" He asked her, and she showed him the opposite direction. He started walking towards her house and said, "Ten minutes! Leave everything! You will just come as you are! With me…to me!"

They reached a small thatched hut, and he glared at her looking at the way she lived there. As they entered it, he saw that inside, it was very neatly kept, and she immediately went to the kitchen, as he caught her hand by her wrist, and warned her, "Don't try to run away! If you do," he suddenly extricated a gun from his shoulder holster, which was hidden under the jacket he wore and said, "I will shoot myself!" She stared at him stricken, as he said, "Yeah! Coz, you don't fear your life!"

Then he got restless and said, "I say let's go! You don't need anything from here. Just come with me!" He said, and turned and froze, as he saw something in the small shelf by the door. Everything else was empty. Nothing was there in the shelves apart from a plate two glasses and two stainless steel vessels. There was only one packet that was packed in transparent plastic. He went and touched it. It was his white shirt. It was the shirt he wore on that day! That day when she…he jerked back to the present, and caught her by her upper arms and shook her asking, "Why?"

She kept quiet. She could not tell him and for all that she understood, he already knew why! It was the toughest thing she did ever...walking away from him!

Her life was such! Not his fault.

She looked at him then! He was very perturbed. She felt her heart melt for causing pain to him. But pain was sometimes better than certain things in life. She closed her eyes and said, "Let's go!"

He looked at her for a long moment and said, "I am warning you Khushi! If you do anything hanky-panky this time, I swear upon my honour, I will kill myself! And take it as a promise from a Mehraana Rathore!"

******

Khushi settled in the business class seat and looked at the man sitting beside her, and sighed. He wouldn't let her go! Once she could manage somehow and that too coz it was in a different context. Now he made it very clear to her that she belonged to him. She tried her best, and now it was out of her power to stop the man. He had hardened in the last year, she could see that and he now was not the same. So was she in a different way! For once, she wanted to give up on herself and taste the sweetness of togetherness with him-with her love. But every single thing in her life came for a price and this one?

She knew not!

She looked at the clouds that slowly bowed down to the speeding plane and as she looked into nothingness, her life unfolded before her…

A year and a half ago…

It was well over seven months and she was not traced. Not yet at least! She sighed and closed her eyes in gratitude to the goddess she worshipped.

As they said! Thank God for small mercies! She was safe at the Corporal, and it was all that she wanted. She walked into the office that was empty at that time of the day. The huge vintage wall clock behind the reception said it was just past seven in the morning.

She had come three hours early to finish her colleague Raina's work, as Raina was seven months pregnant, and could not afford to take leave. She was saving it to club it with her maternity leave so that she could take care of the baby for an extended period before joining back.

As she walked in, she was only but relieved that her life was now a little better, if not completely out of the shadows cast by her destiny. She shivered involuntarily, even at the thought of her past. It was dark and very harrowing, but now it was in the past and the seven months that she had spent in Mumbai had given her a little courage to live what was left of her life.

Hope? Well there wasn't any left.

She was hopeless!

She smiled, as she opened the door for the cabin of Mukund Dhanjani, one of the Directors of the Corporal, walked in and closed it with a resounding click. She did not want anyone to find out that she was doing Raina's work. Raina was cool about it, but it was she who insisted that Raina should take the credit. She never was the kind of a person to hog the limelight. She was shy and tried to remain in the background. Somehow she never could be like her siblings, who were more forth coming and dynamic. Moreover, in the situation she was in, it was better she stayed away from any kind of limelight, coz one never knew where danger lurked!

As she breezed through, she was unaware of the fact, of the inner cabin being occupied by someone.

Kunwar Thakur Deepthimaan Singh ji Beerendra Singh ji Rathore heard the outer door open and someone enter the outer cabin.

Who could it be? He mused.

Housekeeping had no access to the director's cabin.

May be it was his executive assistant Subhojit.

He must have traced him to Mukund's room, as he alone knew about the overnight work that Deepthimaan was doing, to bail the Corporal out of the mess that Mukund had inadvertently placed it into. But he was due at ten, and it was only seven. Or was it his personal assistant Neha? But she was on leave for the week. He craned his neck to see through the door drill, and he found a long braid…thick dark hair that cascaded down the slender thighs of a lady who was dressed in a sari. Women in his office wore a sari? This was news to him.

The lady moved and so did her long braid, and he found a creamy expanse of her waist as her sari gave way and immediately she tucked it up making him to smile. So she was a prude! From his experience, he only knew such women to be attention mongers. She then turned slightly, and he craned his neck and grimaced, as his shoulders ached with fatigue. He had been working nonstop for the past twenty-two hours, and he was restless and needed a coffee urgently to make him stay alive for finishing the case that he wrested off Mukund, one of their errant whiz kids that his father sired, as the dream of his father-the Corporal would collapse, if he did not interfere. His dad Raja Beerendra would skin him alive if it went off their radar. He smiled and pressed the intercom and waited for the lady to take the call, as it didn't matter to him who it was. She was his staff anyway!

Khushi jumped at the ringing phone, and stared at the buzzer…who could it be at that hour! So early? Anyways…she had to take it. She pushed the relevant button on, and then took the call…

"Good morning? How may I help you?" She said out of habit.

"Get me a coffee with lots of cream and sugar" came the voice that was so rich and vibrant that she for a moment felt it sink into her own self. If a man could sound so, early in the morning, how would he when… her thoughts made her gasp in awe! Khushi did not know what to say…she never expected anyone to be there inside, and she now was a little upset… What would Raina think?

…that she was trying to score brownie points by being extra nice, and then her boss would get to know eventually. She quickly walked to the pantry that was opposite to the cabin and switched on the coffee machine. It was her third month at the Corporal, and she did not know many people except for her immediate boss Mr. Avadhani, a sixty-two-year-old veteran and an auditor by profession, who made her work like a donkey. She knew Raina and a few other assistants and the cleaning staff, as she was the first to come and last to leave the office.

The coffee maker pinged, and she poured the coffee into a coffee jug and set it into a tray, with a cup and some extra sugar sachets. She already made coffee as ordered, but well… she didn't know how he liked it! She then knocked on the door and walked in to the cabin.

"I couldn't! I didn't promise you anything babe! Had I, I would have kept it come what may!" He was talking to someone and she pushed the door with her back, turning around to make place for her to squeeze through…

"I am a Mehraana Rathore and I would never stand up on anyone! If I give my word, that means my life's at stake for keeping it."

Somehow the conviction in his voice made her go still for a second. Her experience in men was something that made her reject everything that was contrary to her experience, which she was trying her best to fight. She shook her head in self-denial and pushed the door further.

"Aweeeee! Bad isn't it! Ok! Tell you what sweetie, let me make up for that one night of pining away …" he drawled, and again his voice drew her attention, as it had some kind of a virile ring to it, that sent shivers down her spine. The man spoke as if every word was a caress!

"Tomorrow?" He was answering obviously.

"Where else? At my farmhouse! Oh no…no!" He said lowering his voice to get that sexy tinge into it, and after a second of banter from the other side, he simply said very quietly, "Do you need a camp fire when I am with you? Seriously?"

Khushi turned towards him and stopped in her tracks as he raised his eyes to look at her just then. And she looked at the man finally!

Sitting before her was one of the most handsome specimens of the male species. Khushi could not believe it that she was looking at a man whose features were as if chiseled to scale with such precision, that she gasped at the sheer beauty of his presence. He was picture perfect handsome. Neither rugged nor soft featured. He had perfect set of eyes, a sharp nose and sensuous lips and a jaw that was set on his shoulders that were an expanse in themselves. His hair was short cropped, from the sides and the back, yet falling on to his broad forehead, all mussed up, making her to feel like running her fingers through his hair, to muss it up a little more. His chin was slightly shadowed by the stubble, indicating that he hadn't been home the night before.

He wore a sky blue linen half-sleeved shirt that was crumpled and his tie hung on the other chair as she walked in gingerly.

"I prefer to be the center of attraction and you know that. And I want to enjoy my woman without any distractions…none! So…" his lips broke into a wry smile, as he looked straight into Khushi's eyes…

Earlier their eyes hadn't met and now that they did, she was in for a shock, as blue sapphires cut through straight into her very being, shooting slivers of electric jolts into her tummy, sending her entire body into jitters.

The tiny shards of awareness unsettled her, making her hands to shake and his voice prompted, "Sure honey! Sleep tight for the day, as you won't be getting any tomorrow! Bye!"

"…And who are you…?" His voice boomed, making her jerk in panic and she tripped on an extension cord as hot liquid sloshed on to her left wrist. Deepthimaan moved quickly, grabbed the tray and set it aside and tried to check her hand but she moved away hiding her hand behind her back, saying "No! I am fine…that's ok."

"You got burnt… let me…" He tried to examine her hand, but she stepped back saying, "No! I said…I am fine."

He did not listen and tried to check her hand, as she yelled loudly, "I said No! Don't touch me!"

He then looked at her, and smarted as standing before him was one of the exquisitely beautiful women he had ever seen, with skin so fragile and features so perfect, as if etched by an expert sculptor. She was petite and was draped in an elegant sari in mauve and off white. She had black hair and beautiful eyes and her nose was pert yet sharp, and he saw what he termed as perfectly shaped lips and shoulders and a body that was proportional.

She turned to leave and he prompted, "Listen! You must get some first aid done."

"No need sir! I shall get you another cup of coffee?" She said without turning, and Deepthimaan was intrigued by her behavior. In his office woman tried to be all over and around him, so much so that he had developed aversion to a few. And here was a lady who did not even care to look at him.

"No you must…" whatever he was about to say was stopped by the lady turning and

telling him off in a very severe tone, "I told you sir! I don't need help."

"Now look here…I…" he wanted to tell her it was up to her. He was only trying to be helpful…

He was not in a position to bother about anyone and worse still, he did not have any intention to play nursemaid to any of his junior staff.

"I don't know who you are sir, but I want to tell you that I am capable of taking care of myself. Thanks for your concern but no thanks, I don't need any help! I am sorry I spilt your coffee… I shall get some more" she vanished making Deepthimaan blow out air saying, "Phew! That was some woman!"

Khushi made the coffee cursing her clumsiness all the time. He was definitely the owner's son. Some fancy name they told her, but everyone referred to him as the Prince or Kunwar. She had heard him saying he was a Rathore. She gulped hard as she recalled how she cast him off saying, I don't know who you are sir! The elders in the company called him as Chotey Thakur while the rest addressed him as Kunwar or Prince.

But what a man he was!

She recollected his features. Thirtyish may be! Perfectly set jaw. Handsome face with straight nose that would put even the Hollywood hunks to shame. He was a six-footer and in excellent health with shoulders that spanned half the executive cabin that made her feel suffocated. Over and above everything, it was the aura that he exuded! It was out of the world! There was an air of integrity in him that appealed to her. And there was this…something that Raina called animal magnetism or being sexy, which he exuded in oodles, which no wonder must be making woman go crazy about him, she thought. Men like him had profound impact on any object labeled female, within a ten-kilometer radius.

She collected the mug, carefully draped her sari around her wrist, noticing the skin peeling off the wound. It hurt like hell! But since when was she susceptible to pain! She smiled to herself! She would deal with it after reaching home and till than her wound had to wait! She grimaced and walked in to give him another cup.

As she entered she saw that he was again on the phone and he smiled at her and she stood mesmerized at his face that got completely transformed by his smile, as it was like a small child's- guileless and pure. Did men like that exist still?

"The doctor will see you at ten Ok?" He was asking her.

"What doctor?" She asked still in a daze.

"Look Ms., that burnt hand needs first aid and attention, as it might get infected…" he said cutting the call, and took the mug staring at the now covered wound, and sipped at the coffee saying, "Ummmm! Just what I wanted!" … And started working again, much to her annoyance.

He just dismissed her!... just like that?

She smarted once and twice and then thought the better off it, and turned to leave when he softly reminded her, "Be ready by ten!"

Khushi was irritated. She did not want any attention. In fact, she just wanted to fade out into the décor if anyone could tell her how. She had been there only for a couple of months at the Corporal and everyone already knew. People did not have any work of their own that they were interested in others and their lives.

"But you are so!" Raina had complained.

"Did you look at yourself in the mirror Khushi? Are you sure you are not some cursed princess from some fairy tale?" She had asked in awe.

She met Raina on the staircase, when the lift had mal-functioned on her second day at work, and Raina was struggling with a tray load of files. Khushi guessed she was pregnant although she didn't show much then, and helped her carry stuff and also made two more trips and was treated to a coffee at their office canteen. That's how their friendship had started and she was wary in the beginning. She could not afford to make any friends or any attachments as a matter of fact. It was not only dangerous but also put her in real soup. After all, life had taught her so many lessons and if she did not learn them, then her life was as good as wasted.

She quickly finished her work, kept everything away and locked the drawers and collected her handbag to go to her place.

Chasing The Rainbow

"You are here?" Raina huffed as she waded into the lady's, with her eyes popping out of their sockets.

"Yeah! What happened?" Khushi looked at her and hoped it was not one of those emergencies, which her boss created artificially! Mr. Avadhani had this flair for checking his staff out once in a while, by putting them into strange rigors of tackling issues that were best left for time, and the Finance Department to handle.

"What happened?" Raina was breathing so hard, that Khushi was sure that if she didn't rush back to her workstation, she might deliver a premature baby.

"Ok. I am going and you just take your time" she squeezed her shoulder and walked up the stairs and realized the hitherto boisterous floor that solely constituted the Corporal's back bone-it's secretarial pool, was absolutely quiet.

Did Mr. Avadhani really get that heart attack which they all thought he would definitely one of these days? She thought, as she walked past Sachin, one of the Executive Assistant's and he just stared at her with his mouth half open.

Khushi politely smiled at him asked him, "Is there a problem?" Sachin smiled weakly and said, "Who knows?"

"What do you mean?" she asked him frowning.

"Well! This is the first time that something like this has happened! So we are not sure." He said looking at the others.

Khushi shrugged and opened the door of her cabin that had her and two more assistants in it, but stopped dead in her tracks, as the cabin wasn't empty. Lounging on her desk with his left leg dangling off it, was Mr. Gorgeous whom she met in the morning and did not get the time to ask Raina about his name. Sitting in front of him was an elderly man, who turned and smiled at her saying, "Come we had been waiting for you."

She frowned and stepped back saying, "For what? I already said I don't need any medical attention."

She remembered that Neha alerted her, a few minutes ago, about the doc's visit and she coolly asked her to convey the same to the doc.

The man who was sitting on the desk said, "I told you Ms. that a doc would be checking you up at ten. Didn't Neha alert you?"

The anger in his voice made her jerk up her chin. She never liked being talked to in that tone.

"And I told you sir that I don't need any help." She growled.

He got down and sauntered across to her, and that's when she realized he was still in the same attire and was on barefoot and he looked just as good. Any other man would have looked unclean and indecent but this man was different! Charm seemed to be his middle name! She smarted as he stood in front of her and said, "Doc! Right hand…almost third degree burns if I am not wrong…"

Khushi closed her eyes. He was right. The coffee was very hot and she got very badly burnt. Skin was peeling off it and she did not let anyone know by winding the free end of her sari stylishly on to it.

"I am alright" she said to herself and realized she had said it out loud.

"You bet you are!" The man said as he suddenly extended his hand and caught her left arm as she winced in pain, and brought it out and swore when he saw the sari wound on it and pulled it free and exclaimed, "Holy@#$%!"

She shut her eyes tightly to ward off pain. He looked at her and then at the doc who had joined them by then, and took her to the desk where he quickly started dressing her wound.

She averted her face as pain stabbed through, as the doctor removed the burnt skin with the peeler and poured some solution on it, which burnt like hell.

Khushi bore the pain. She was now an expert in it. It was like a challenge to bear more and more of it. She smiled to herself as tears stung her eyes out of reflex, and she opened her eyes and looked into a pair of blue eyes that were staring at her with a look of incredulity in them.