Harlequin Desire January 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 Maisey Yates (sad books to read .txt) 📖

are not like us, Divya. An Indian boy understands that when he dates a respectable girl, it’s with an eye toward marriage. American men date for sex. You will not cheapen yourself like that,” her mother said matter-of-factly.

She wanted to tell her parents that their views of Indian men were antiquated, and the realities of modern Indian dating were that men and women pretended chastity in front of their parents and enjoyed themselves behind closed doors.

“How about we invite the dude to dinner and find out what he’s thinking? We all know Divya’s a little…” Sameer circled his finger near his head and whistled. “Maybe he finds her just as annoying as we do.”

Divya gave Sameer a grateful smile. Ethan would follow the plan she’d laid out and show her parents that he was serious and respectable.

“I don’t think we should encourage the boy any more than you already have,” her father said coldly.

Divya shot Arjun a desperate look, silently pleading with him. Arjun met her gaze and sighed. “I think we should invite the man to dinner, get a feel for him and sort things out.”

Her mother looked like she was going to explode, but Arjun stood and put his hand on her shoulder. Divya knew that Arjun would talk to their mother and calm her down before dinner.

Divya stood. “I’ll go invite Ethan.”

“You just got here,” her father said quietly. He stood and stepped up to Divya, holding his arms out.

She got up and collapsed into his arms, hugging him tightly. The tears she’d been holding back flowed down her cheeks.

“Please, don’t leave again, beti. Each day you were gone felt like years to me. Like I was missing a piece of my heart, a chunk of my soul.”

Sobs choked through her as she settled onto her father’s chest and he held her tight, running his hand over her head, like he used to do when she was a little girl and had fallen on the playground. All of the emotions, the pent-up stress, bubbled over, and she felt unable to hold herself up. Sameer wrapped his arms around her from behind, and Arjun, Karishma and Naina joined in. They all held each other for a long time, crying. Divya soaked in their love. How did I ever think I could live without them?

When they finally untangled, Divya looked at her mother, who was still seated, drinking her chai. “You must be tired, Divya. Go rest. We will talk tonight at dinner.” The firm set of her mother’s jaw told her that the night wasn’t going to be easy.

“I’m going to go talk to Ethan and let him know about the plans for dinner.”

“No need. Arjun will call him and personally invite him. Your sisters have been crying themselves to sleep, missing you. You can wait a few hours to see your aashiq.” Her mother almost spat out the Hindi word for lover.

“But Ma…”

Her mother held up her hand and cut her eyes to Karishma, who gently took Divya’s arm and led her upstairs. Divya’s feet moved of their own volition, her eyes glued to the look of anger and disappointment on her mother’s face.

They went to the room she’d be sharing with Karishma, who talked nonstop and insisted on getting all the details. Five hundred rooms in this hotel and we all have to stay in the same apartment. But there was an advantage to sharing with Karishma: she could sneak off to go spend the night with Ethan and Karishma would cover for her.

Naina and Sameer joined them, and her siblings filled her in on everything that had happened immediately following her wedding escape.

“I swear, Divya, I thought Dad would have a heart attack when Arjun and Sameer returned without you after you ran out of the hotel gardens,” Naina said. Divya’s stomach soured. “But that was nothing compared to what happened after the social media posts started and they found out who Ethan was. I love that BrideSnatcher hashtag.”

Sameer chimed in. “There were all kinds of conspiracy theories. Somehow the Indian media latched on to the idea that you and Ethan were planning a secret takeover of our family business to overthrow Arjun.”

Divya gasped. Such a thing was unfathomable, but she could see how the media could get out of control. Family feuds were the bedrock of Bollywood movies.

“Arjun and Dad had to fly overnight to India to calm the shareholders,” Sameer said, his voice suddenly quiet.

Divya’s head hurt. How could she have been so irresponsible? If she’d stopped to think about her actions, she would’ve seen all this happening. Arjun hadn’t gone to India for Karishma’s college graduation because he didn’t want to leave Simmi, yet he’d had to leave his wife and baby because of her. Her chest was uncomfortably tight. She barely heard everything else her siblings had to say.

“I should check my email,” Divya said weakly.

Sameer nodded. “That would be good. We’ve had some problems with the contracts for the new hotel in Washington. I could use your help.”

Knowing that she had a lot to catch up on, her siblings left as soon as she opened her laptop. She turned on her regular phone, which Karishma had thoughtfully plugged in. There was no way she could possibly get through all of the text messages, but she sent replies to Hema and her close friends, letting them know that she was okay and promising to talk to them soon.

As she immersed herself in her work email, she didn’t notice the buzzing of the phone Ethan had given her. She’d discovered that Sameer had downplayed the disaster he and Arjun had to deal with. Investors were threatening to pull out of their new project in DC, and several urgent contracts that she had prepared before the wedding remained unsigned. Sameer had been worried about her and hadn’t been able to focus on the work. She’d seen this pattern before: first his work suffered, then the pressure of catching up got to him. If