She turned slightly.
“Miss Mehta will not interfere with you again,” he said.
Her heartbeat stuttered. It almost sounded like protectiveness. But she wasn’t too sure.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“And do not sit on my lap in public spaces again,” he added.
Once again, annoyance filled her.
She hadn’t planned to sit on his lap ever again. But his command made her raise her chin. “As your wife, and as the Jogra maharani, I absolutely can sit in your lap anytime I want.”
With that parting shot, she stepped out of his office.
CHAPTER 25
It was half past eleven.
Yamini stood by the tall bedroom windows, her arms wrapped around herself, staring at the snow-covered peaks glowing in the pale light. A thick robe was tied securely around her waist, shielding her from the mountain cold that crept through the glass.
The valley below had long disappeared into darkness, while the palace itself had grown quiet hours earlier.
In the dark window glass, the emerald and diamonds from the fish pendant caught the moonlight and reflected back at her in small flashes of green and silver.
Her hand moved up automatically to touch it.
She wore it at all times now.
It belonged to her family and reminded her of home.
But it also reminded her of how Bharat Jogra had placed it beside her breakfast plate with the same expression he wore while discussing security protocols and factory audits.
Her fingers tightened slightly around the pendant.
Infuriating man.
Nothing about their marriage was going the way she had expected.
Their contract marriage was practical, cold, and transactional.
At least that was what she kept telling herself.
Somewhere between midnight visits, breakfast arguments, and sitting on his lap like an absolute fool, she had stopped being able to maintain the clean, uncomplicated anger she had arrived with.
That frightened her more than anything else.
She touched the pendant.
No.
She would not allow herself to fall for a man who didn’t even want her heart.
Once the contract terms were fulfilled, they would separate.
This is just a contract marriage. That’s all.
Just as she reminded herself that, the grandfather clock struck.
