A secret that could cause scandal!
Jilted at the altar, Shefali Khanna should be humiliated. Instead she takes the opportunity to start again. Top of the priority list: do not tumble headfirst into another relationship!
But even moving from the city to the country canât keep Shefali out of troubleâespecially when she catches the eye of local celeb Neil Mitra! There is no way she can risk a scandal already! He might be gorgeous, but heâs totally off-limitsâ¦right?
And as an extra bonus, included is The Wedding Dress Diaries by Aimee Carson, the prequel to our fabulous new Modern Tempted quartet, The Wedding Season, starting next month!
Secrets & Saris
âI just told youâa serious relationshipâs not something I can deal with right now,â Shefali said.
âBut I do want to live life a little,â she continued. âIâve never dated, never had a boyfriend, never stayed up the whole night dancing, never really had much fun. Thatâs all I want out of this. And if you donât mind my saying, I think itâd do you some good, as well.â
Neil scanned her face, searching for a clue to how she really felt. Something about what she was saying didnât ring true. He was incredibly tempted, thoughâthe years since his daughter was born and his marriage ended had been completely devoid of anything remotely resembling fun with the opposite sex. Nothing that made him feel young and alive the way Shefali did.
âIâm not typical boyfriend material,â he warned finally. âAnd I donât think this is the kind of place you can stay up the whole night dancing.â
âIâm sure we can think of something else to do all night long,â she said huskily, and Neilâs senses immediately sprang to high alert.
About Shoma Narayanan
Shoma started reading Harlequin romances at the age of eleven, borrowing them from neighbors and hiding them inside textbooks so that her parents didnât find out. At that time the thought of writing one herself never entered her headâshe 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 schoolâfifteen years later theyâre married with two adorable kids, whom theyâre raising with the same careful attention to detail that they gave their second-year project on organizational behavior.
A couple of years ago Shoma took up writing as a hobbyâafter successively trying her hand at baking, sewing, knitting, crochet and patchworkâand 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 donât have to eat, wear or display the results!
This and other titles by Shoma Narayanan are available in ebook formatâcheck out www.millsandboon.co.uk.
To Vishpala and Paramita for being my sounding boards
for every book I write, and to Malini for being my sounding board for pretty much everything else!
ONE
âIn the event of a water evacuation...â
The stewardessâs voice droned on and Shefali leaned back in her seat and shut her eyes. Water evacuation, indeed! Unless they crash-landed in a river it was very unlikely they would need life jackets during this flight between one completely land-locked city and another. She winced. If there was only some way to block out all sound. Her head was pounding like crazy, and she had to stop herself from opening her bag and digging out yet another painkiller.
âCabin crew to stations for take-off,â the Captainâs voice said over the planeâs PA system, and Shefaliâs eyes flew open.
She looked out of the window involuntarily. It wasnât the first time sheâd seen Delhi from a plane windowâthere had been trips to Mumbai, to Thailand, even to Parisâbut this time she was leaving for good, and she couldnât help but feel a lump in her throat.
The comfortable-looking matronly woman in the seat next to Shefali gave her a reassuring smile. âFlying for the first time?â she asked.
Shefali shook her head. She didnât want to spend the two-hour flight making polite conversation, and this lady looked the chatty kind. Before Shefali could shut her eyes again, she had started.
âAre you from Delhi or Jabalpur?â
âNeither,â Shefali replied.
But the lady wasnât about to give up. âGoing for a wedding?â she asked, pointing at the henna tattoos that covered Shefaliâs hands.
Shefali pulled the long sleeves of her shirt down a little further to hide the elaborate designs that extended all the way up her forearms. The traditional mehandi ceremony had been held three days before her wedding-that-never-happened, and sheâd had to wait for hours afterwards for the henna paste to dry. The rich black had now faded to orange, but to Shefaliâs paranoid eyes her hands and arms still screamed out jilted bride.