Chapter 10

Ten

“ Y our chariot awaits.”

Ethan bowed and gestured to the rickshaw he’d hired to take them around Keoladeo Ghana National Park—Bharatpur’s famous bird sanctuary—and Tamara smiled at his theatrics.

“Does that make you a charming prince?”

She accepted his hand to step up into the tiny rickshaw, her relief at being sheltered from the relentless sun under an awning instantly evaporating as he swung up beside her and she realised how small the rickshaws was.

His rakish smile had her heart flip-flopping against her will. “Only if you want me to be.”

She ignored the ‘yes’ hovering on her lips. “Let’s get moving. I don’t want to spend too long here, considering we’ve got the Taj this afternoon.”

After instructing the driver, Ethan leaned back, his thigh brushing hers, his arm wedged against hers, and she wished her fickle body would stay with the program. They shared a transient attraction, a natural reaction of her hormones considering she hadn’t been with a man for almost two years. Richard hadn’t touched her during the last year of their marriage and she hadn’t wanted him to. It made her skin crawl thinking about where he’d been at the time; more precisely, who he’d been with.

“The Taj Mahal is the highlight of this trip for you, isn’t it?”

She nodded, grateful to banish her hateful memories and return to much more pleasant surrounds. “My mum always talked about it. About its inception, its history, despite never seeing it in person. This was going to be her first time…”

Her breath hitched at the thought of her mother not being beside her today to share in this momentous occasion. They’d talked about it for so long. Life wasn’t fair sometimes.

Thoughtful as always, Ethan slung his arm across her shoulders and cradled her close. “You’ll get to see it through her eyes, through her stories. You may be the one standing before it today, but she’ll be the one bringing it alive for you.”

She raised her gaze to his, emotion clogging her throat, tears stinging her eyes. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Always know the right thing to say.”

He cupped her cheek briefly, trailing a fingertip down it with a tenderness that took her breath away. “Part of my charming prince persona, I guess.”

Her smile wobbled and before she could second guess the impulse, she broached the short distance between them and brushed a soft kiss on his cheek.

“Thank you.” She lingered for a moment, inhaling the subtle sandalwood scent from the hotel’s complimentary toiletries, savouring the illicit pleasure of being this close to him. “For being the best travel companion a girl could wish for.”

Darkness flickered in his eyes before he blinked, banishing the shadows. “You’re welcome.”

Embarrassed by her impulsive display, she pulled a guidebook from her bag and opened it. Most travellers preferred apps for their sightseeing info these days but she still favoured paperbacks.

“It says here this place is a bird paradise, with over three hundred and eighty species including some rare Siberian cranes.”

Thankfully, Ethan bought her diversion and removed his arm from around her shoulders. Strange, considering he’d been hellbent on pushing her to acknowledge their attraction at the Lake Palace last night. Then again, he’d probably got her message loud and clear after she’d flicked through his Taj Mahal guide, drank her champagne too fast, and practically shoved him out the door of her room.

She should be grateful he hadn’t called her on another distraction technique now, not harbouring a tiny trickle of disappointment.

Leaning over her shoulder, he peered at the map and she held her breath, unprepared for all that hard, male chest to be wedged up against her.

“What other attractions has this place got?”

Forced to breathe in order to answer him, she inhaled a heady lungful of pure male tinged with sandalwood, making her momentarily light-headed.

Her palms were clammy, her body on fire, and her head spun with the implications of reacting to him despite all the self-talk that she shouldn’t.

Peering at the guidebook like it had answers to questions she shouldn’t be contemplating, she cleared her throat. “Hawks, pelicans, geese, and eagles, among countless other species, and they also have golden jackals, jungle cats, striped hyenas, blackbuck and wild boar.”

“Great.”

Yeah, great. He’d hired the rickshaw driver for an hour, and in that time she’d be stuck, wedged tight against him, unable to breathe without his tantalising scent assailing her, unable to move without encountering way too much firm muscle, unable to think without contemplating how much better this could get if she shed her inhibitions.

As a pelican flew at the rickshaw in an indignant rage the driver swerved, throwing her flush against Ethan and all that glorious muscle.

Righting her, he smiled, a warm, toe-curling smile that reached down to her heart, the type of smile that made resistance futile.

“No need to throw yourself at me.”

Her hands splayed against his chest, the rhythmic pounding of his heart proof that their proximity affected him too.

“You wish.”

Holding her gaze, he tipped up her chin. “You have no idea how much.”

She couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe, the distant screech of an eagle as hauntingly piercing and achingly poignant as the yearning to stay like this, touching him, secure in his arms, for more than a brief moment.

His eyes begged her to push him for answers he would be too ready to give. And as much as her foolhardy heart urged her, she couldn’t do it. She’d taken a risk once before and her judgement had been way off. She’d thought Richard had been a safe bet, she’d trusted him, and look how that had turned out.

Trusting Ethan would be tantamount to handing him her heart on a serving platter complete with carving knives.

As she tried to muster a coherent response, he straightened and set her away from him with strong yet gentle hands. “You know what you look like?”

“What?”

“A worm surrounded by the entire population of this bird sanctuary.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, allowing his fingers to linger, brushing the soft skin of her neck. “I’m not going to push you, Tam, so quit looking at me like I’m the big, bad wolf.”

Before she could respond, he ducked his head and captured her mouth in a swift, urgent kiss that barely lasted a second, yet left her dazed and more confused than ever.

Their gazes held for a moment, but when she didn’t say anything, he turned to watch a gaggle of geese take flight, giving her time to reassemble her wits. She braced her feet to stop from rocking against him any more than necessary, stunned speechless, and touching her trembling lips with a shaky hand.

She wanted to be like those geese. Free to take off, free to expand her wings, free to be whoever she wanted to be. She wanted to feel carefree and unburdened for the first time in years, wanted to have the courage to explore outside her comfort zone, to let the winds of chance take her wherever.

Darting a quick glance at Ethan, staring resolutely out the other side of the rickshaw, she knew with the utmost certainty that he was a part of that yearning to explore the unknown, the craving to take a chance.

She’d grown accustomed to repressing her true feelings, so used to playing a part, she didn’t know who she was anymore, let alone how to be the carefree, happy woman she’d once been.

Ethan could help her.

He could help her rediscover her zing, could nurture their spark towards something exciting, something beyond her wildest dreams.

But she had to take a chance.

Was she willing to take a risk for a fleeting happiness that would dissolve when Ethan stepped on a plane bound for Melbourne?

Wow, she had some choice, and as the rickshaw bumped and rocked and swayed through the sanctuary, she knew she’d have to make up her mind and fast.

They had half a day and one night left together. Not a lot of time to make a decision.

Chance. Risk. Gamble. Venture. Things she’d never done when married to Richard, content in the security he provided, when she’d been the dutiful wife so in love with her husband she’d been blinded to his faults until it was too late.

But that part of her life was over, her dreams of happily ever after shattered by a selfish egomaniac, and for the first time in years she could do as she damn well pleased.

Stakes were high. Make a mistake and she’d lose the tentative friendship she’d developed with Ethan, something she’d grown to depend on over the last week. Make it work and they could shoot to the moon and back.

With a heartfelt sigh, she watched the geese fly higher and higher, reaching for the stars.

Maybe she should too.