Mallika gave him what she hoped was a sufficiently cool and professional smile.

‘I’ll tell you if I change my mind,’ she managed, as she pulled together her scattered thoughts.

‘The salary is negotiable,’ Darius added, but she shook her head.

‘It’s not about the money,’ she assured him.

Darius knew when not to push—he also knew he wasn’t going to give up so easily.

‘I need to go,’ she said. ‘Thanks for being so nice about everything.’

She put her hand out, and Darius got to his feet as he took it.

‘Nice’ wasn’t the impression he wanted to leave her with. ‘Nice’ suggested she’d forget him the minute she stepped out of the hotel. And he wasn’t going to let that happen.

Dear Reader

This is my sixth book for Harlequin Mills & Boon®, and it was perhaps the most fun to write. The idea popped into my head when I was talking to a colleague who’d taken a few months off to travel around Europe. What if I had a hero who was wildly successful at what he did and had made more than enough money to fulfil his boyhood dream of spending some years just travelling around and discovering more about the world? And what if, just before he left, he met a woman who made him think that perhaps there was more to life than just living out his dream?

It took a while to get my characters just right, but Darius in the book is now exactly as I imagined him—successful, strong-willed and very, very attractive. Mallika is different—she’s been through a lot and she’s always put family ahead of anything else. As a result, while she’s resilient she’s also very risk-averse. She’s instantly attracted to Darius but she fights the attraction, thinking that it can never work between them. Darius, however, has completely different views on the matter!

Happy reading!

Shoma

SHOMA NARAYANAN started reading Mills and Boon® romances at the age of eleven, borrowing them from neighbours and hiding them inside textbooks so that her parents didn’t find out. At that time the thought of writing one herself never entered her head—she was convinced she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. When she was a little older she decided to become an engineer instead, and took a degree in electronics and telecommunications. Then she thought a career in management was probably a better bet, and went off to do an MBA. That was a decision she never regretted, because she met the man of her dreams in the first year of business school—fifteen years later they’re married with two adorable kids, whom they’re raising with the same careful attention to detail that they gave their second-year project on organisational behaviour.

A couple of years ago Shoma took up writing as a hobby—after successively trying her hand at baking, sewing, knitting, crochet and patchwork—and was amazed at how much she enjoyed it. Now she works grimly at her banking job through the week, and tries to balance writing with household chores during weekends. Her family has been unfailingly supportive of her latest hobby, and are also secretly very, very relieved that they don’t have to eat, wear or display the results!

An Offer She Can’t Refuse
Shoma Narayanan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To my family

Table of Contents

Cover

Excerpt

Dear Reader

About the Author

Title Page

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

EPILOGUE

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

DARIUS MISTRY WAS NOT used to taking orders from anyone. And especially not orders that came from a woman he was supposed to be interviewing. The fact that the woman had turned out to be surprisingly attractive was neither here nor there—this was strictly work, and her behaviour right now seemed more than a little strange.

‘Hold my hand,’ she was saying. ‘Come on, she’s almost here.’

Her current boss had just walked into the coffee shop, and Mallika was reacting as if it was a massive disaster. Granted, being caught by your boss while you were being interviewed for another job wasn’t the best start to an interview, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Mallika’s expression suggested a catastrophe on a life-threatening scale—like the Titanic hitting the iceberg or Godzilla stomping into town.

‘Please, Darius?’ she said, and when he didn’t react immediately she reached across the table and took his hand. ‘Look into my eyes,’ she pleaded.

He complied, trying not to notice how soft her skin was, and how her slim and capable-looking hand fitted perfectly into his.

‘At least try to pretend you’re my date,’ she begged despairingly.

He laughed. ‘You’re not doing a great job either,’ he pointed out. ‘The whole “deer caught in headlights” look doesn’t suggest you’re crazy about me.’

She managed to chuckle at that, and her expression was so appealing that he sighed and put on what he hoped was a suitably infatuated look. Actually, after a second he found he was quite enjoying himself. He had a keen sense of humour, and despite his attempts to remain professional when faced with such an attractive interviewee, the situation was so completely ridiculous it was funny.

He was supposed to be evaluating Mallika for an important role in his company, and instead here he was, holding her hand and gazing deeply into her eyes. Rather beautiful eyes, actually—the momentarily helpless Bambi look was gone now, replaced with an apprehensive but intriguingly mischievous little sparkle.

‘My goodness, Mallika, what a surprise!’

The woman who’d stopped by their table was middle-aged and plump and terribly overdressed. Purple silk, loads of fussy jewellery, and make-up that would have put a Bollywood item girl to shame.

‘Hi, Vaishali,’ Mallika looked up with a suitably friendly smile, but she didn’t let go of Darius’s hand.

‘So this was your “urgent personal meeting”, was it?’ Vaishali leaned closer to Darius. ‘Mallika’s kept you a pretty closely guarded secret, I must say.’

‘We … um … met recently,’ Darius said, trying not to gag at the cloud of cloying perfume. It was like being smothered to death by lilies—the woman must have poured an entire bottle of perfume over herself.

‘Ah, well, you deserve to have some fun,’ the woman was saying to Mallika, patting her hand in a surprisingly motherly way. ‘I’ll leave you with your young man, shall I? See you at work tomorrow!’

Her husband had been waiting patiently by her side, and Vaishali tucked her hand in his arm and trotted off with a final wave.

Mallika sighed in relief. ‘Close shave,’ she said as she released Darius’s hand.

Clearly it was no longer of any use to her, but Darius felt absurdly bereft. When he’d first seen her he’d thought Mallika strikingly good-looking, in a natural, outdoorsy kind of way—not his type at all. Now, however, he found himself wishing that she’d held on to his hand just a little bit longer, and the feeling surprised him.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he had lost control of the situation, and why he had not asserted himself in his usual role. He usually went for graceful, ultra-feminine women—the kind who’d learnt ballet when they were young and who dabbled in poetry in their spare time. While she was conservatively dressed, in a business suit, Mallika looked as if she’d spent her youth playing cricket with boys and beating them in every game.

Writing off his reaction to her as a momentary aberration, Darius tried to make sense of what had just happened.

‘Is she that scary?’ Darius asked, and when Mallika didn’t answer, he prompted, ‘Your boss?’

She bit her lip. ‘No, she isn’t,’ she said after a brief pause. ‘She’s actually rather nice.’

He was about to ask her why she’d been so nervous, then, but he held the words back. This was a business meeting, and the fewer personal questions he asked the better. Only he didn’t feel very businesslike right now. When she’d bitten down on her lower lip his eyes had been automatically attracted to her mouth, and now he couldn’t look away. Her lips were full and soft-looking and utterly feminine, and completely in contrast to her direct gaze and the firm lines of her chiselled face …

Okay, this was crazy—sitting and staring at a woman he’d met fifteen minutes ago. One whom he was supposed to be interviewing for a directorship.

‘We didn’t get very far with our discussion,’ he said, trying to sound as if his interest in her was limited to her suitability for the role he’d been telling her about. ‘There’s a decent restaurant on the twenty-first floor. Would you prefer going there? Less chance your boss might pop up again.’

Mallika hesitated. It had seemed so glamorous when someone from the Nidas Group had headhunted her to discuss a director level role. Nidas was big—it had been set up by a bunch of young dotcom entrepreneurs a decade ago, and they’d struck gold in almost every business they’d tried their hand at.

They’d started off with online share trading and investments, but later branched off into venture capital and real estate and done much better than players who’d been in the market for thrice the time. Being considered for a directorship in the firm at the age of twenty-nine was a huge ego-boost—it wouldn’t have been possible in any other firm, but at Nidas the directors were quite young, and they didn’t hold her age against her.

Her first few meetings with Nidas had been preliminary ones, screening her for this final interview with Darius Mistry. For a few days she’d actually thought she could do it—be like any of the other women she’d gone to business school with, take charge of her career, interview with other employers, pretend that she had a normal life like everyone else. Reality was sinking in only now.

She glanced across at Darius. When she’d heard the name she’d imagined a paunchy, cheerful, white-haired man—she’d had a Parsi drama teacher at school who’d also been called Darius, and he’d looked just like Santa Claus minus the beard. Darius Mistry had come as a bit of a surprise.

True, his Persian ancestry showed in his pale colouring and hawklike features, but he was in his early thirties, tall and broad-shouldered, and as unlike her former drama teacher as an eagle from a turkey. Not good-looking in the traditional sense, more disturbingly attractive, and he emanated a quiet power and control that had Mallika caught in its glow.

He was still waiting for her to answer, she realised. ‘No, I’m fine here,’ she said. ‘Actually, I just made up my mind. I don’t think I want to take the interview any further. I’m sorry—I should have thought this through properly.’

Darius frowned. This afternoon really was not going to plan. Mallika had been interviewed by his HR team, as well as by one of his colleagues, and everyone who’d met her had been very impressed. Apparently she’d come across as being sharply intelligent and very, very good at what she did. He’d also looked at the performance of the real estate fund she managed. It had done extremely well, even in a volatile and completely unpredictable market, and before he’d met Mallika he’d built up an image of a hard-nosed, practical businesswoman.

The reality was different enough to be intriguing.

For a few seconds he wondered if she was playing hard to get. People used all kinds of techniques to drive up the benefits package they were offered, but very few started so early in the process. And Mallika looked troubled, a little upset—whatever the reason for her sudden decision to stop the interview process, it definitely wasn’t a hard-nosed or practical one.

‘You’ve spent almost five years with your current firm,’ he said. ‘I know the thought of switching jobs can be a bit overwhelming, but there’s no harm going through with the interview process, is there? Once you hear what we’re offering you can always say no.’

‘I guess …’ she said slowly. ‘I just don’t want to waste your time.’

‘My whole night is dedicated to you,’ he said.

Promptly Mallika thought of all the things they could get up to together. Her cheeks flushed a little and she took a hasty sip of water, hoping he hadn’t noticed her confusion.

‘So, how much has Venkat told you about the job?’ Darius asked.

‘He told me about how you and he set up the share trading division,’ she said. ‘And how you got a real estate fund going, and that you now want to concentrate on the venture capital side and hire someone to manage the fund for you.’

‘That’s right,’ Darius said. ‘The fund was an offshoot of our investments business and it’s been doing well—we’ve consistently outperformed the market.’

She seemed interested, Darius noted as he began telling her more about the role. She was frowning in concentration, and the few questions she asked were focussed and showed that she’d done a good deal of research on the firm and on the job. He asked a few questions in turn, and it was clear that Venkat hadn’t been wrong. Mallika knew pretty much everything there was to know about running a real estate fund.

‘Does it sound like something you’d like to do?’ he asked finally.

It was as if he’d shaken her out of a daydream—her vibrantly alive expression dulled, and her shoulders slumped just a little.

‘I love the sound of the job,’ she said, almost unwillingly. ‘But the timing’s not right for me. I have a lot going on right now, and I think maybe it’s best I stay where I am.’

‘Do you want to take a day to think it over?’

Mallika shook her head. ‘No, I … I think I’m pretty clear that it won’t work out. I’m so sorry—I know you have a busy schedule, and I should have thought this through properly before agreeing to meet you.’

She looked so genuinely contrite that he impulsively leaned across the table to cover her hand with his, making her look up in surprise.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said, masking his disappointment. ‘I’m meeting other people as well, but if you do change your mind let me know.’

Mallika blinked at him, uncharacteristically at a loss for words. It was like being hit by a train, she thought, confused. She’d been so focussed on what he was saying, on trying to stay professional, that she’d forgotten quite how attractive he was. Then he’d smiled and taken her hand, and the feel of his warm skin against hers had sent her long-dormant hormones into overdrive.

We like this man, they were saying excitedly. Where did you find him? Can we keep him? Please?

So much for a dispassionate admiration of his looks, she thought, trying to quell the seriously crazy thoughts racing through her brain. There was good-looking, and there was scorching hot—and Darius definitely fell into the second category. The first time she’d grabbed his hand she’d been too worked up to notice—this time a simple touch had sent her hormones into overdrive.

Gingerly, she slid her hand out from under his and gave him what she hoped was a sufficiently cool and professional smile.

‘I’ll tell you if I change my mind,’ she managed as she pulled together her scattered thoughts.

‘The salary is negotiable,’ he added.

She shook her head. ‘It’s not about the money,’ she assured him. ‘But thanks for letting me know.’

Darius knew when not to push—and he also knew he wasn’t going to give up so easily.

Mallika looked as if she was all set to leave, and he glanced at his watch. ‘It’s almost eight-thirty,’ he said. ‘I’m starving, and I’m sure you are too. D’you have time for a quick bite?’

Perhaps he could get to the bottom of her sudden withdrawal and convince her otherwise.

He was almost sure she was going to say yes, but then her phone pinged and she gave the display a harassed look.

‘I need to go,’ she said, her attention clearly torn between him and whoever had just messaged her. Her expression was distracted as she stood up hurriedly, her short curls swinging around her cheeks. ‘Thanks for being so nice about everything.’

She put her hand out, and Darius got to his feet as he took it. ‘Nice’ wasn’t the impression he wanted to leave her with. ‘Nice’ suggested she’d forget him the minute she stepped out of the hotel. And he wasn’t going to let that happen.

‘I’ll be in touch,’ he said, keeping her hand in his a fraction longer than strictly necessary.

She didn’t reply, but she blinked once, and he realised that she wasn’t quite as unaffected by him as she was pretending to be. It was a cheering thought, and he smiled as she walked away.

He’d found her intriguing—an unusual mix of the ultra-competent and the overcautious. And the attraction between them had been hot and instantaneous—if it hadn’t been a work meeting he would definitely have taken things further. As it was, he was forced to let her walk away with only a tepid assurance of being in touch later.

The smell of freshly baked bread wafted past, reminding Darius of how hungry he was. He glanced around. Eating alone had never appealed to him, and if he stayed Mallika’s boss might see him and come across to ask where Mallika was. He felt strangely protective of the intriguing woman he had only known for a couple of hours.

Mentally he ran through his options. Going home and ordering in. Calling up a friend and heading to a restaurant. Turning up at the excruciatingly boring corporate event he’d earlier declined.

The corporate event was the least appealing, but it would give him an opportunity to network with a bunch of people who could be useful to Nidas in the future. It wasn’t too far away, either, and if he left now he’d be able to get there, hang around for an hour or so and still get home in time to catch the last bulletin on his favourite news channel.

He was handing the attendant his valet parking ticket when he spotted Mallika getting into an expensive-looking chauffeur-driven car. She was talking on the phone, and he caught a few words before the doorman closed the door for her and the car zoomed off.

‘I’ll be home in twenty minutes,’ she was saying. ‘I told you I had a meeting, Aryan. No, I haven’t decided. I’ll talk to you later …’

Whoever Aryan was, he sounded like a possessive control freak. Darius frowned. He hadn’t asked Mallika, but he could have sworn she wasn’t married. No mangalsutra necklace or rings—but lots of married women didn’t wear those. And the way she’d looked at him for that one instant …

Darius shook himself. He was rarely wrong about these things, but meeting Mallika seemed to have seriously addled his brains. He was missing the obvious. She’d hardly have asked him to pretend to be her date if her boss knew that she had a husband.

Restored to his normal confidence once he’d figured that out, he tipped the valet parking attendant lavishly as he got into his car. Not married, and probably not in a serious relationship either. Hopefully this Aryan was her interior decorator, or her tax advisor, or someone equally inconsequential.

‘What d’you mean, she wasn’t interested?’

‘She doesn’t want to change jobs,’ Darius explained patiently.

He and Venkat had joined the Nidas Group on the same day, and had spent the last decade setting up the businesses they now headed. Darius was the stable, intelligent one—the brains behind most of what they’d achieved together. Venkat was a typical sales guy—competitive, pushy, and notoriously impatient. Outside of work he and Darius were close personal friends, but right now Venkat’s expression was that of a bulldog being asked to let go of a particularly juicy bone.

‘Why does she not want to change jobs? Did you tell her how much we’re willing to pay?’

‘I did,’ Darius said. ‘She said she doesn’t need the money.’

‘You need to meet her again,’ Venkat said flatly. ‘I have absolutely no clue about this fund management stuff, and if you’re leaving we’ll go under before you know it. This girl’s really good, and she seemed keen until she met you. I’d have thought it would be the exact opposite—girls usually fall for you on first sight. What in heaven’s name did you do to put her off?’

‘Told her that she’d be working with a bunch of total scumbags,’ Darius said, deadpan. ‘Look, I’m not prepared to let her go, either, but it will be better to give her some time to think things over and change her mind. I’ll make it happen. But in the meantime I’ve got a bunch of other CVs from HR. Some of them with equally impressive track records.’

Venkat grunted. ‘I’ll go through the CVs, but you need to work your magic with this girl. Otherwise you can jolly well put your exciting plans on hold and stay here until you can find someone to replace you. I’m terrible at all this HR sort of stuff—you’re the one who gets everyone eating out of your hand. Make this Mallika an offer she can’t refuse.’

Darius bit back a sigh. Once Venkat decided he wanted something he was like an unstoppable force of nature.

‘I’m a businessman, not a Mafia don,’ he said drily. ‘Let me do it my way. I have an idea on how to win her …’

CHAPTER TWO

THE FLAT WAS DARK when Mallika let herself in, and she felt a familiar pang of loss as she put the lights on and surveyed the empty living room. Nothing was the same without her parents, and having a brother who’d completely retreated into his shell emphasised her loneliness rather than reduced it.

It had been a gruelling week. Her job involved meeting builders and visiting construction sites and then spending hours hunched over her computer, calculating the possible return she’d get from each investment she made for her fund.

The Mumbai property market had been at its volatile best these last few months, and investors were wary. Which meant that there was a risk of projects stalling—which in turn meant that buyers who’d already invested found themselves with large amounts of capital locked up and no hope of returns in the short term. And the fund that Mallika worked for was seriously considering stopping investment in properties that were under construction.

The kitchen was dark as well. The cook would have gone home some hours ago, leaving dinner out in microwaveable dishes for Mallika and Aryan. She wasn’t particularly hungry, but dinner was the only meal she could make sure her brother actually ate.

The lights in his room were on, and she knocked before entering.

‘Aryan? Dinner?’ she asked, her heart twisting as she watched him hunch over his laptop. It was as if he didn’t see the world around him any more, finding reality in the flickering screen of his computer instead.

‘In a minute,’ he said, not even looking up.

‘Did you have lunch?’ she asked, and he shrugged.

‘Lalita gave me something,’ he said. ‘You go ahead and eat—you must be tired.’

It was a measure of how little she expected from him that she actually felt pleased he’d realised how exhausted she was. Leaving him to his computer, she went back to the kitchen—she’d make sure he had something to eat later.

For the last couple of days she’d not been able to get Darius out of her head. The way he’d looked at her, his smile, his voice—it felt as if she’d spent hours with him rather than just a few minutes.

He’d said he’d be in touch, but two days had gone by and he hadn’t called. Maybe he’d found someone else more suitable for the role. Someone who didn’t spot their boss and freak out halfway through a discussion, or run out on him without warning.

Idly she opened the contact list in her phone and stated scrolling down it. Darius Mistry. She had his mobile number and his email ID, and the temptation to drop him a text or a short email was huge. She could apologise once again for running out on him. Or tell him that she’d changed her mind about the job.

When it came to professional communications she was confident and practical, but somehow with Darius she found herself prevaricating. Her shyness prevented her from getting in touch for anything other than strictly business reasons.

She was still mulling things over when her phone rang, and she almost dropped it in surprise.

‘I was just thinking about you,’ she blurted out, and then blushed furiously. Darius was probably already convinced of her weirdness—she didn’t need to make it worse. ‘I mean … I was just thinking over what you said about this being the right stage in my career to change jobs …’

‘Reconsidering, I hope?’ he said smoothly, and went on without waiting for her to answer. ‘Look, I know you’ve said you’re not interested, but I’ve interviewed around a dozen completely unsuitable people and I’d really like a chance to pitch the job to you again. Preferably in a place where your boss isn’t likely to land up and ruin my sales pitch.’

One part of her felt disappointed that he hadn’t called just to speak to her, but she shook herself crossly. Of course his interest in her was purely professional. What had got into her?

‘I’m really not interested in changing jobs, Darius,’ she said, firmly suppressing the little voice in her head that told her to go and meet him anyway. ‘And I’ve wasted your time once already—I wouldn’t want to do it again.’

Darius briefly considered telling Mallika that time spent with her would definitely not be wasted, but he bit the words back. This wasn’t a seduction, and he’d already made it clear that when it came to business he was as determined as she to get what he wanted.

‘It’s part of my job,’ he said lightly. ‘Even if you don’t want to join us now, at least I’ll get to tell you about the company—and who knows? Maybe you’ll want to join at some later time.’

‘All right, then,’ Mallika conceded. ‘When shall I meet you?’

‘Tomorrow,’ he said decisively. ‘Lunch at one of the restaurants in Lower Parel? That’s nearer my office than yours, and hopefully we won’t run into anyone you know.’

Darius was beginning to wonder if he’d been stood up when Mallika finally walked into the restaurant. The first thing that struck him was that there was a strained expression in her lovely eyes. The second was that she looked anything but tomboyish now.

Granted, her hair was still styled for convenience rather than glamour, and her make-up was kept to the bare minimum. But she was wearing a sari today—a dark blue silk affair, with a muted print—and her figure was spectacular in it. And her spontaneous smile when she saw him was the best welcome he could ever have hoped for.

He stood as she walked up to him, and Mallika began to feel ridiculously nervous. It was a Friday and he was dressed casually, in a white open-necked cotton shirt over jeans. His thick hair looked slightly damp from the shower, and she had a second’s insane urge to reach up and run her fingers through it.

To cover her confusion she held out her hand, and he took it, briefly clasping it between both his hands before he let go.

‘Hi,’ she said. ‘I’m not too late, am I?’

He shook his head. That smile had lit up her face, but now the worried expression was back in her eyes.

‘Is everything okay?’ he asked quietly once they were both seated and the waiter had put their menu cards in front of them and retired to a safe distance.

Her eyes flew up to his. ‘Yes, of course,’ she said, sounding just a little defensive.

Aryan was going through a particularly problematic phase, and in the normal course of things she wouldn’t have left him alone at home. But she’d promised Darius, and there were meetings in the office that she couldn’t avoid. Just this once Aryan would have to manage on his own, with just Lalita the cook to check on him.

‘You look tense,’ he said. ‘Like you’re trying to remember whether you locked your front door when you left. Don’t worry about it—burglars are usually deeply suspicious of open doors. If it’s unlocked, there’s absolutely no chance of a break-in.’

She laughed at that. ‘What if I did lock it?’

‘Ah, then I hope you have a good security system.’

‘A simple lock, and a brother who won’t notice if someone puts every single thing in the house into packing cases and carries them away under his nose. As long as they don’t touch his computer.’

He smiled, his eyes crinkling up at the corners in a maddeningly attractive way. ‘Sounds like my kind of guy. Younger brother?’

Mallika nodded. She hardly ever mentioned Aryan in casual conversation, and the ease with which the reference had slipped out surprised her. Darius was beguilingly easy to talk to—she’d need to be on her guard a little.

The waiter was hovering behind her, and she turned her attention to the menu.

‘The fish is good,’ Darius said.

‘It looks delicious,’ Mallika said, glancing at the next table, where another waiter had just deposited two plates of grilled fish. ‘I’m vegetarian, though.’

‘Then the gnocchi?’ he said. ‘Or the spaghetti in pesto sauce?’

Mallika finally chose the spaghetti, and a glass of wine to go with it—Darius, who’d never paid good money for a vegetarian meal before in his life, found himself ordering grilled vegetables and pasta. A lot of strict vegetarians were put off by someone eating meat at the same table, and he definitely didn’t want to risk that. He was on a charm offensive today, and determined to win her over.

‘How’s your boss?’ he asked.

‘She’s miffed I didn’t tell her I was dating someone,’ Mallika said with a sigh. Vaishali was a lovely person, but the concept of personal space was completely alien to her. ‘She wanted to invite both of us to her house for dinner—I had a devil of a time wriggling out of that one.’

‘What did you say to her?’ Darius asked, unable to keep a glint out of his eye.

‘That I’d been wrong about you and you were actually really self-centred,’ Mallika said, delighted she’d managed to keep a poker face. ‘And possessive—and controlling.’

She sounded remarkably cheerful about it, and Darius’s lips twitched.

‘So we aren’t dating any longer?’

‘We are,’ Mallika said. ‘You have a few redeeming qualities, but I’m not as sure about you as I was. We’re dating, but I’m not introducing you to friends and family just yet.’

‘Wouldn’t it have been easier to remove me from the scene altogether?’

‘If I’d written you off she’d have tried setting me up with a perfectly horrible second cousin of hers. She’s spent the last two years trying to palm him off on every unmarried woman she knows.’

‘Maybe he’s not so bad?’ Darius suggested carefully. ‘You should meet him—keep your options open.’

Mallika shuddered. ‘No, thanks. I’ve met him once, and that was once too often. He spent forty-five minutes telling me how rich he is, and how he made his money. And he breathes really heavily.’

‘Hmm …’

Darius’s eyes were dancing wickedly, and Mallika felt a little jolt of awareness go through her. It had been so long since she’d spent any time with an attractive man that she was ridiculously susceptible.

‘Can I ask you something?’

She gave him a wary look. ‘Yes.’

‘Are you atoning for the sins of a past life by working for Vaishali?’

‘She’s been very good to me,’ Mallika said stiltedly, and when he raised an eyebrow she went on in a rush. ‘No, really. She can be a bit overpowering at times, but I owe her a lot. I didn’t mean to make her sound like a nightmare boss.’

She sounded as if it really mattered, and Darius nodded.

‘If you say so.’ He was silent for a few seconds as the waiter put their drinks in front of them. ‘So, should I tell you a bit more about the job and the company? You can make up your mind then.’

She nodded, and listened carefully as he explained again about the company structure and the role that he was offering. Unlike her current company, which invested solely in real estate, the Nidas Group had evolved into a conglomerate of companies that included a brokering house, a consumer lending company and the fund where Darius was offering her a job. Darius himself was moving on—he didn’t give her any details, but she assumed it was to head up a new division—and he didn’t have enough capacity to manage the fund as well.

‘I have a question,’ she said, once he’d finished telling her about the job. ‘Why do you think I’m right for the position?’

‘You have a superb track record,’ Darius said. ‘And Venkat was very impressed after he interviewed you.’

‘But you haven’t interviewed me,’ she pointed out. ‘Or do you trust Venkat that much?’

‘I have every intention of interviewing you,’ Darius said, his brows quirking. ‘The second you tell me that you’re actually interested in the job I’ll start firing questions at you.’

Mallika stared at him for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing.

‘You have a point,’ she said. ‘So—the job sounds perfect. It’s the logical next step in my career and like you said, I’ve been in my current job for five years and I’m beginning to stagnate.’

‘I can see a “but” coming,’ he murmured.

‘Yes … I mean …’

‘It’s not convenient from a personal point of view?’ Darius supplied when she hesitated.

Mallika nodded. ‘That’s it. I can’t tell you the details, but …’

‘I don’t need to know the details,’ Darius said. ‘But if you tell me what exactly it is that your current company is doing to help you maybe I can see if we can work something out.’

Darius could smell victory, and he wasn’t about to let this one go.

‘I don’t have fixed hours,’ she said in a rush. ‘Some days I reach work at eight, and some days I go in only in the afternoon. And I do site visits on my own when it’s convenient to me. Sometimes I work from home, and there are days when I’m not able to work at all.’

She ground to a halt, her eyes wide and a little apprehensive. Clearly whatever was happening on the personal front was very important to her. He wondered what it was. The kind of flexibility she needed was normally required only if an employee had to care for a sick child or an elderly parent. Mallika wasn’t married, and from what she’d said her younger brother sounded responsible. A parent, then, he decided.

The unwelcome thought that she might be going through a messy divorce came to mind, but he pushed it away. A divorce might need her to take time off work, but it wouldn’t need her to work from home. It was far more likely that one of her parents needed to be cared for.

He thought for a while. ‘We might be able to let you do the same,’ he said slowly. ‘Can I work this out and get back to you?’

‘But when I asked Venkat he said you don’t have a flexible working policy!’ she said.

‘It hasn’t been formally approved yet,’ Darius said. ‘We’re still working on it. Yours could be a test case.’

Their food had arrived, and Mallika took a bite of her spaghetti before answering. ‘You know,’ she said conversationally, ‘the job market’s really bad nowadays.’

‘It is,’ Darius agreed, frowning a little.

‘And bonuses are dropping and people are getting fired every day.’

‘Yes.’

‘So you could probably hire anyone you wanted, right? With just as much experience and no complicated conditions. Why are you still trying to convince me to take the job?’

When it came to work, Mallika was sharp and to the point. She was intelligent—obviously she was, or Venkat wouldn’t have considered hiring her. But Darius found himself wondering why exactly he was trying so hard to convince her. He’d never tried to recruit an unwilling candidate before—he’d never had to. And while she was definitely his first choice for the job, there were at least two others who could do the job equally well.

Had this just become about winning? Or perhaps he hadn’t been thinking clearly since taking her hand in that coffee shop several days ago. What was going on?

‘Venkat’s interviewed pretty much everyone in the industry,’ he said. ‘You’re the best fit for the role.’

‘But the second best might end up doing a better job,’ she said. ‘He or she’d be more inclined to take the offer to begin with.’

‘It’s not just about technical skills,’ Darius said. ‘We think you’d adjust well to the organisation’s culture. And we also need to improve the firm’s diversity ratio, now that we’re likely to get some foreign investment into the company. That’s one of the things investors are likely to look at. There are a lot of women at junior levels, but very few at middle or senior management. There weren’t too many CVs that fitted the bill and belonged to women—and other than you none of them made a decent showing at interview.’

‘But I’m sure you have male candidates who’re suitable,’ she said, her brow wrinkling. ‘Surely this diversity thing isn’t so important that you’ve not interviewed men at all?’

‘Venkat’s interviewed quite a few,’ Darius said. ‘Apparently you did better than them as well. Diversity’s not more important than talent—it’s just that now we’ve found you we don’t want to let you go.’

His gaze was direct and unwavering, and Mallika felt herself melting under it. The attraction she’d felt the first time she’d met him was back in full force—if he told her that he wanted her to join a cult that ate nuts and lived in trees she’d probably consider it seriously. Shifting jobs was a no-brainer in comparison—especially when he was guaranteeing a higher salary and no change to her timings.

She was about to tell him that she’d join when a shadow fell across their table.

‘Darius!’ a delighted male voice said. ‘It’s been years, my boy—how are you?’

The speaker was a stalwart-looking man in his early forties, who beamed all over his face as he clapped Darius on his shoulder. The blow would have pitched a weaker man face-down into his grilled vegetables, but Darius hardly winced.

‘Gautam,’ he said, standing up and taking the man’s hand in a firm grip. ‘Long while … I didn’t know you were back in Mumbai.’

‘Just here for a visit. And …? You’re married and everything now? Is this the new Mrs Mistry?’

He looked as if he was about to clap Mallika on the shoulder as well, and Darius intervened hastily.

‘No, Mallika is … a friend.’

‘Aha! A Miss Mystery, then, not a Mrs Mistry—is that right?’ Clearly delighted at his own wit, Gautam smiled even more broadly. ‘I’ll leave you to it, then. Catch you online later—I’m in Mumbai for a week more … we should try and meet.’

‘Yes, I’ll look forward to that.’

Darius waited till the man had moved away before sitting down, shaking his head.

‘It’s fate,’ he said solemnly. ‘Last time it was your boss—this time it was Gautam. We can’t meet without running into someone we know.’

Mallika chuckled. ‘He seemed a cheerful guy. He reminds me of a story I read as a kid—there was a man who smiled so wide that the smile met at the back of his face and the top of his head fell off.’

‘That’s such an awful story,’ Darius said. ‘Were you a bloodthirsty kind of kid?’

‘I was a bit of a tomboy,’ she said, confirming Darius’s first opinion of her. ‘Not bloodthirsty, though.’

She frowned at her plate as she chased the last strand of spaghetti around it. Finally managing to nab it, she raised her fork to her mouth. The spaghetti promptly slithered off and landed on her lap.

‘And that’s why my good clothes never last,’ she said, giving the mark on her sari a resigned look as she picked up the pasta and deposited it back on her plate. ‘I’m as clumsy as a hippopotamus.’

Anything less hippopotamus-like would be hard to find, Darius thought as he watched her dab ineffectually at the stain with a starched table napkin. Her curly hair fell forward to obscure her face, and her pallu slipped off her slim shoulder to reveal a low-cut blouse and more than a hint of cleavage.

Darius averted his eyes hastily—looking down a girl’s blouse was something he should have outgrown in high school. The one glimpse he’d got, however, was enough to make him shift uncomfortably in his chair. Really, Darius was so off-kilter he could hardly understand the effect she was having on him.

‘Here, let me help with that,’ he said, after Mallika had dropped the napkin twice and narrowly missed tipping her plate over. He got up and, taking a handkerchief out of his pocket, wet the corner in a glass of water and came to her side of the table to attend to the sari.

Mallika went very still. He wasn’t touching her—he was holding the stained section of sari away from her body and efficiently getting rid of the stain with the damp handkerchief. But he was close enough for her to inhale the scent of clean male skin and she had to fold her hands tightly in her lap to stop herself from involuntarily reaching out and touching him.

‘Thanks,’ she said stiltedly once he was done.

‘You’re welcome.’ Darius inclined his head slightly as he went back to his side of the table. ‘Dessert?’

‘I should choose something that matches the sari,’ she said ruefully as she recovered her poise. ‘I love chocolate, but I’m not sure I dare!’

‘Blueberry cheesecake?’ he asked, his eyes dancing with amusement again. ‘Or should we live life dangerously and order the sizzling brownie with ice cream?’

‘The brownie, I think …’ she started to say, but just then her phone rang, and her face went tense as she looked at the display. ‘I’m sorry—I’ll need to take this call,’ she said.

‘Haan mausiji,’ he heard her say, and then, ‘Ji. Ji. Nahin, I had some work so I had to go out. Calm down … don’t panic. I can get home in ten minutes—fifteen at the most, depending on the traffic.’

Her face was a picture of guilt and worry as she closed the call, and his heart went out to her.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I need to go. It was a lovely lunch, and thank you so much for putting up with me. I’m really sorry about rushing off again …’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said gently. ‘Do you need a lift anywhere?’

She shook her head. ‘I have a car. Is it okay if I go now? I hate leaving you like this, but I really do need to get home as soon as possible.’

‘It’s not a problem at all,’ he said. ‘Take care, and we’ll talk soon.’

He put enough money on the table to cover the bill plus a hefty tip, and walked her to the door of the restaurant. Her driver took a couple of minutes to bring the car round, and Mallika was clearly on tenterhooks until he arrived.

‘Bye,’ she said as the car pulled up and she slid into the back seat. ‘I’m really, really sorry about this.’

She clasped his hand impulsively before she closed the car door, and Darius was left with the feel of soft, smooth skin on his. The subtle fragrance of her perfume hung in the air for a few seconds after she left.

He gave himself a shake before turning away to walk back to his office. This was not the way he’d planned to end their meal. He’d sensed she was on the point of accepting the role when they’d been interrupted and he could not be more frustrated with his lack of success so far. But it wasn’t over—not when he was this close to getting what he wanted.

CHAPTER THREE

‘WELCOME TO NIDAS,’ Venkat said, giving Mallika a broad smile. ‘I’m so happy you finally decided to join.’

‘Same here,’ Mallika said cautiously as she shook his outstretched hand.

All the old doubts about changing jobs had come flooding back now that she’d actually done the deed. She’d told Vaishali about the job the day after she’d met Darius, feeling like a complete traitor. But Vaishali had been surprisingly nice about the whole thing. Apparently she had been toying with the idea of taking a sabbatical herself, and she wasn’t sure if Mallika’s flexible working hours would be acceptable to her replacement.

Feeling a bit like a fledgling, shoved out of its nest before it could fly, Mallika had emailed Darius, confirming that she’d be able to join Nidas in a month. He’d been travelling, and someone from his HR team had got in touch to figure out her salary structure and joining date. Darius hadn’t even called her, and Mallika couldn’t help feeling a little upset about it. And now that she was actually part of Nidas and about to start work, she was very nervous.

The sight of Venkat wasn’t exactly inspiring either. Short and squat and rather belligerent-looking, Venkat was as different from her previous boss as possible.

‘We’ve set up an orientation for you with the team,’ he was saying now as he ushered her into his room.

‘Darius told me—’ Mallika began, but Venkat interrupted before she could complete her sentence.

‘Oh, Darius is a busy chap—he won’t be able to take you through everything himself.’ He peered at her owlishly. ‘You do know he’s moving out of the firm, right?’

Mallika drew in a sharp breath. A lot of things were suddenly falling into place. Darius’s insistence that she join as soon as she possibly could. His asking Venkat to set up her induction plan instead of doing it himself. The lengthy meetings with the other directors, ostensibly to help her get to know them before she joined.

A black curl of disappointment started up in the pit of her stomach. He’d had multiple opportunities to tell her and he’d consciously decided not to. It felt like a betrayal, unreasonable though that was. Unconsciously, a large part of her decision to take the job had been based on the assumption that Darius would be around and that she’d be working closely with him.

Serve her right—trusting a man she hardly knew, she thought, squaring her shoulders and doing her best to keep Venkat from noticing how upset she was.

‘He didn’t tell me that he was moving out altogether,’ she said crisply. ‘Though I did get the impression that he’d be cutting off from this part of the business in a month or so.’ She was determined to cover her disappointment with cool professionalism.

‘Even less, if he has his way,’ Venkat said, and an expression of bewildered loss crossed his face for an instant. ‘It was a shock when he told me. We’ve worked together for years—we set up this business together—and out of the blue he tells me he’s quitting. I still don’t understand why he’s doing it.’

Strongly tempted to find out more, Mallika bit down on her questions. It shouldn’t matter to her where Darius was going or why.

‘When you interviewed me you didn’t mention that Darius was leaving the firm,’ she reminded Venkat. ‘Why did you assume I’d know now?’

He had the grace to look embarrassed. ‘I couldn’t tell you before you joined,’ he said. ‘Darius is a pretty big shareholder, and the news of his leaving isn’t public yet. I thought he might have told you since—I got the impression you guys are pretty friendly.’

He took in Mallika’s suddenly stormy expression and changed the subject in a hurry. ‘Now, I thought I’d first introduce you to some of the key people in your team, and then you can start going through our current investment strategies. The team’s brilliant—I’ve been working with them pretty closely for the last few months. I’ve put them on to a few good things as well. Of course now you’re here you’ll be in full control, but you can reach out to me whenever you want.’

As the day went by Mallika found herself feeling more and more confident. Venkat evidently valued her input, and his style of working wasn’t as different from hers as she had feared.

She was packing up for the day when there was a knock on the door of her room. Assuming that it was the overzealous tea boy, who’d been popping up every half an hour, she said, ‘Come in!’ and continued stuffing files into her laptop bag.

It was a few seconds before she realised that the man in the room was about twice as large as the tea boy.

‘Darius!’ she said, her brows coming together in an involuntary frown as she saw him. ‘I was wondering if I’d see you today.’

‘I meant to come over in the morning, but I had one meeting after another. How was your day?’

‘Good,’ she said. ‘I think I’m going to like working here.’

‘Did Venkat manage to spend any time with you?’

‘A lot,’ she said drily.

Darius laughed. ‘He believes in throwing people in at the deep end,’ he said. ‘But he’s a great guy to work with. If you’re done for the day d’you want to catch up over coffee? There’s a decent café nearby.’

Mallika hesitated. She really wanted to confront Darius about him leaving, but her upbringing made her shy away from any kind of direct conflict.

Some of her indecision must have shown in her face, because he was beginning to look puzzled.

‘Or some other day if you need to leave,’ he said easily.

Mallika made up her mind.

‘I need to get home, but I have time for a coffee from the machine down the hall,’ she said.

Compromise—that was one thing she’d learnt early in life. And also that attacking issues head-on sometimes made them worse. She got to her feet and Darius followed her down the hall.

‘On second thoughts, I’ll have a soft drink,’ she said, taking a can from the fridge next to the coffee dispenser. ‘You can have that coffee if you want,’ she said, gesturing at the mug Darius had just filled for her.

She picked up a second mug and half filled it with warm water from the machine before putting her unopened can into it.

‘It’s too cold,’ she explained as Darius raised his eyebrows. ‘I’ll leave it in the mug for a bit and then it’ll be just right and I’ll drink it.’

Darius’s lips curved into a smile as he followed Mallika back to her room. She was wearing black trousers, a no-nonsense blue shirt, and extremely sensible shoes. The whole outfit looked as if it had been chosen to downplay her looks, but the most boring clothes in the world couldn’t conceal the narrowness of her waist and the athletic grace of her walk. Quite contrary to the intended effect, the clothes made her more appealing—at least to him.

‘Is Venkat involved in the day-to-day running of the fund?’ she asked, perching herself on the edge of her desk and swinging her legs idly.

‘Not really …’ he said cautiously, and she gave him a quizzical look, ‘Okay, he’s very involved in it—but his area of expertise is sales. You won’t be reporting to him, if that’s your worry—all the directors report straight to the board.’

‘Hmm … no, that isn’t what was bothering me.’

She smiled at him, and Darius felt his heartbeat quicken in response.

‘But tell me—is it true that he’s interfered in some of the investment decisions the team have made in the past?’

It was very likely to be true. Darius had heard rumblings from his team, but he hadn’t paid much attention up till now. Mallika’s pointing it out after being exactly one day in the job, however, hit him on the raw.

‘He’s talked to them about a few deals,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t go so far as to call it interference.’

‘Maybe it wasn’t brought to your attention, then,’ she said, clearly unfazed by the sudden chilliness in his tone. ‘But he’s made some bad calls, and the fund’s asset value has dropped. It’ll take me a while to undo the damage.’

It was her air of knowing exactly what to do that got to him.

‘I’d suggest you take a few days to understand the business properly first,’ he said firmly, though he was feeling uncharacteristically defensive. ‘Before you jump in with both feet and start undoing things.’

Mallika frowned. ‘I thought the whole point of my being here was that I already know the business,’ she said. ‘I researched the fund before I even started interviewing with you guys, and it’s obvious that you have problems. Logically, it makes no sense to wait to fix them.’

‘There’s a lot of stuff you wouldn’t know from the outside,’ Darius insisted. ‘Venkat might have his … quirks, but not all the decisions he’s made have been bad.’

She shrugged. ‘Statistically speaking, even if you made decisions by rolling dice you would end up making some decent ones. But from what I can make out Venkat is superstitious, and his judgement is coloured.’

It had taken Darius months to realise that Venkat’s superstitious side sometimes overruled his normally sharp business brain. Mallika had taken exactly one day to figure it out. She was extraordinarily perceptive and he felt slightly wrong-footed. Again.

What was this woman doing to him?

Mallika was leaning forward a little. ‘Look, you hired me to run this fund,’ she said. ‘Not because you liked my face. So let me get on with my work. If I mess up you can play the hero and come in and rescue me.’

For a second Darius was tempted to tell her exactly how much he liked her face, but hard as it was he bit back the words. Being her colleague meant that he had to keep a certain professional distance. Speaking of which … Darius realised just how close he was to Mallika, and rolled his chair a few paces back. Unfortunately as soon he started to speak again Mallika scooted her shapely butt closer to him once more, robbing him of his train of thought.

‘You’re right about Venkat,’ he said, trying to sound as detached as possible. ‘The whole superstition thing… .’ He hesitated a little while trying to find the right words. ‘It’s a little …’

‘Kooky?’ she supplied, putting her head to one side. ‘Eccentric? Odd?’

‘Unconventional,’ he said. ‘But it’s not uncommon.’

‘And it’s unimportant too, I assume?’ she said before she could stop herself. ‘As far as you’re concerned anyway. Because you’re not planning to be around when the problems kick in.’

If she’d expected him to look guilty she was disappointed, because he threw his head back and laughed. ‘I mightn’t be around, but the fund’s performance is still pretty damn important to me. I have a fair bit of my own money invested in it, and I don’t fancy seeing it go down the tube.’

‘I suppose I should be flattered,’ she said drily. ‘Here I was, thinking you’d given me the fund to run because you didn’t care what happened to it.’

‘And now you know I’ve put my life’s savings in your hands,’ he said. ‘Who told you I was moving out? Venkat?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘It’s not supposed to be public knowledge yet,’ he said. ‘The board has asked me to stay on for a few months, and they felt it best that the rest of the firm be told I’m leaving only when it’s a lot closer to my last day here.’

‘Funny … Venkat assumed you’d already told me,’ she said. ‘Perhaps he thought it was only fair—given that you recruited me and everything.’

Darius leaned a little closer, his brow creasing. ‘Are you annoyed that I didn’t tell you?’ he demanded, putting a hand under her chin to tip her face upwards. ‘Even after what I just said?’

Mallika jerked her head away, trying to ignore the little thrill that went through her at his touch.

‘Not annoyed … just a little … concerned,’ she said, hoping her words would hide how much she longed to work alongside this charismatic man. ‘There might be other things you omitted to mention. I pretty much took everything you said at face value.’

‘Now, wait a minute,’ he said incredulously. ‘Are you suggesting I lied to you about the job? What makes you think that?’

‘You weren’t open at all,’ she said. ‘All this while you’ve let me think that you’d be around—that you were simply taking on something within the firm. If I’d known you were leaving …’

‘You wouldn’t have joined?’ He looked quite genuinely puzzled. ‘Why not? You seem like you have a handle on things already. My being here or not doesn’t make a difference, surely?’

Darius was struggling to keep a smug smile off his face—he wasn’t the only one who felt what was between them then.

Oh, but it does, Mallika almost said. The thought of working at Nidas without Darius was unsettling in a not very nice way, and she had to scramble to think of a logical explanation for her anxiety.

‘I’m just wondering why you’re leaving,’ she said. ‘I something’s going wrong with the company … And I did discuss my working hours with you …’

His brow cleared immediately. ‘Oh, the flexi-time thing?’ he said. ‘Don’t worry about that at all—I’ve cleared it with the board. And give Venkat some time—he’s a great guy to work with once you get past his superstitious streak.’

He was probably right—he’d worked with Venkat for years, after all, and she’d only met the man today. And she hadn’t known Darius for very long either—there was absolutely no reason for the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when she thought about him leaving Nidas.

‘Hmm… .’ she said. ‘I think I’ll get along well with Venkat—I’ll have to. I’ll need a lot of help from him for the first few months.’

‘Will you?’ he asked, feeling oddly jealous.

If Mallika needed help he’d have liked to be the one to provide it. For a few seconds before his rational side had kicked in he’d actually thought that she was upset because she’d miss him. Now he was left with an absurd feeling of being sidelined—just another stepping stone in Mallika’s life.

Their timing was completely off, he thought ruefully. If he’d met her either a couple of years earlier or later he’d have tried to get to know her better—perhaps even acted on the growing attraction between the two of them. Right now it was completely out of the question. By the time they were no longer colleagues he’d be long gone.

‘You still haven’t told me why you’re leaving,’ Mallika said, and he blinked.

‘Personal reasons,’ he said, standing up to leave. ‘Don’t worry—the company’s not about to go under.’

Mallika laughed at that. She had a particularly appealing laugh, Darius thought. It was as happy and uncomplicated as a child’s, but it had a woman’s maturity as well, and a sexy little undertone that was irresistible.

‘That’s reassuring,’ she said, slipping off the desk to land on her feet right next to him.

Darius looked into her eyes and there was an instant of absolute connection that made his earlier thoughts irrelevant. A small part of his brain recognised how clichéd the moment was, and he was even amused. The rest of him was completely overwhelmed, and he kept on looking at her stupidly until she blinked and looked away.

‘Goodness, look at the time!’ she said, her voice slightly more high-pitched than normal. ‘I really need to get going.’

‘You haven’t touched your drink,’ he said, and she blinked at the can as if it had just materialised on her desk. ‘I’ll … um … carry it with me,’ she said. ‘What about your coffee?’

‘I hate that stuff from the machine,’ he said. ‘Next time we’ll go to a proper café.’

The way he said it made it sound like a promise he couldn’t wait to keep.

‘See you around, Darius,’ she managed to squeak, before making a hasty exit.

The next time he saw her was a few days later, with over fifty other people in the same room. Venkat had called for an investor conference, and Mallika was the main presenter.

Darius came in late, slipping into the back of the room. He very rarely attended investor events, but Venkat had been unusually insistent, and he hadn’t been able to resist the thought of seeing Mallika in top professional mode.

She was an impressive speaker—economical with words, but leaving her listeners with no doubt of her grasp over the subject. Slim and graceful in a raw silk printed sari, she exuded an aura of confidence and authority that was strangely attractive. Some people would probably think that it detracted from her femininity but, standing at the back of the room, Darius had to work hard to maintain a professional veneer.

She was quite something.

‘She’s brilliant, isn’t she?’ Venkat said, materialising next to Darius.

Mallika was answering a question raised by a grizzled investor old enough to be her father—and by the way the rest of the audience was nodding they were as impressed as Venkat was.

‘It’s been a while since we’ve held an event of this sort—it’s bloody expensive, paying for the dinner and the booze, but it’s worth it if we get the monies to come in. And people are interested—the market’s looking up. We’ll get a couple of hundred crores of investment after this event.’

‘So does that mean you guys are doing perfectly well without me?’ Darius asked, giving Venkat an amused look.

‘We are,’ Venkat said. ‘Mallika’s probably the best person you could have hired to replace you—in spite of all that flexible working rubbish. But, man, this place isn’t going to be the same without you.’

The event wound to a close, and Mallika stepped off the dais to mingle with the guests. Venkat had been called back for the vote of thanks, and Darius stood alone at the back of the room, watching Mallika as she moved from one group of middle-aged men to the next, her smile firmly in place.

There were only a handful of women in the audience, and Darius noted that she spent longer with them, explaining something at length to one group and patiently allowing a much older woman to peer at the necklace of semi-precious stones she was wearing.

It was a while before the audience dispersed, most of them heading towards the buffet dinner.

Mallika’s shoulders sagged a tiny bit, and the smile left her face as she walked towards the exit. It was as if she’d turnedt off a switch, changing from a confident, sparkling professional to a young woman who was just a little tired with life.

Darius waved to her, and she came across to him.

‘I didn’t see you come in,’ she said. ‘Did you just get here?’

‘A while ago,’ he said. ‘I’m impressed, Mallika. You had everyone eating out of your hands.’

She shrugged. ‘I’ve done this kind of event many times before,’ she said. ‘They’re exhausting, but it’s part of my job.’

‘What do you find exhausting?’ Darius asked.

‘Talking to people,’ she said. ‘It’s a strain. Everyone asks the same questions, and by the end of it I get so sick I could scream. Don’t tell Venkat,’ she added, looking up with a quick smile that lit up her face. ‘He’s planning a whole series of these events.’

‘I was about to tell you that,’ Darius said, a smile tugging at his lips. ‘He’s thrilled with the way you handled this one.’ She made a little grimace, and a spurt of chivalry made Darius ask, ‘Should I talk to him? He can handle the events himself—or one of the other fund managers could speak in your place.’

‘The other fund managers aren’t lucky for Venkat,’ she said drily. ‘I doubt he’ll agree. Anyway, it’s part of why you hired me, right?’

Darius nodded. It had been unprofessional of him to suggest he intervene, and he couldn’t help admire Mallika’s determination to do every part of her job well. Even when she obviously hated what she was doing.

It was intriguing, the way her ultra-professional mask slipped at times to betray her vulnerability. He had a feeling she didn’t let it happen often, and all his protective instincts surged to the forefront whenever it did.

‘Aren’t you having dinner?’ Venkat asked, popping up next to them. ‘Or a drink? Mallika?’

She shook her head. ‘I need to leave,’ she said. ‘My driver’s taken the day off, so I’ve called a cab. The cabbie’s been waiting for half an hour already.’

‘Wouldn’t it have been simpler to drive yourself?’

‘I don’t drive,’ she said. ‘I’ve tried learning a few times, but it’s been an unmitigated disaster.’

‘And you don’t drink either! What a waste,’ Venkat said sorrowfully. In his opinion, the best part of an event of this sort was the company-sponsored alcohol. ‘Darius?’

Darius shook his head. ‘I need to leave as well,’ he said. ‘Got some people coming over. And I’m driving, so I can’t have a drink either.’

Venkat looked ridiculously disappointed, and Darius laughed, clapping him on the shoulder.

‘I’ll take you out for a drink this Friday,’ he promised. ‘Come on, Mallika—I’ll walk you to the lobby.’

Their event had been held in a rather exclusive midtown hotel, and there were several other corporate events in full swing there. The banquet hall next to theirs was hosting an annual party, and the waiting area outside the banquet hall was dotted with entertainers. Jugglers in clown costumes, living statues, and even a magician or two.

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