~Marriage By Manipulation~ Me BACK:Mod note Pg75 - Page 4

CHAPTER 1

Marry Me!!

The room had fallen into a terrible silence. No one moved, no one spoke, the horror that was every young woman's worst nightmare hanging the very air that surrounded them. Geet had dropped into the nearest chair, her face turned white with shock. Her hands were pressed between her knees and half-buried in the soft folds of her red silk lengha. Ice-cold and numb, they were crushing the single sheet of notepaper Maan had just grimly handed to her.

'How could he do it?' Her Chachaji's cry broke into the terrible silence.

Nobody answered him. Geet couldn't, and Maan obviously wasn't prepared to. He stood by the window, effectively disconnected from it all now his part in the dirty deed was done, while downstairs was packed full of guests, all dressed in their wedding finery, waiting for a bride and groom who would not be turning up. By now they would have begun to suspect that something terrible had gone wrong, the fact that Dev and Maan were not in their places was enough to arouse suspicion alone. Her aunt would be jumping all over the place with worry waiting for a bride who was no longer wanted.

'My God! He couldn't have cut it any finer, could he?' her Chachaji said angrily.

Geet didn't so much as move, her eyes not seeing much. They looked inwards into the dark recesses of her mind where horror, hurt and humiliation were waiting to grab hold of her once the numbness of shock had worn off.

Was Maan in shock too? she found herself wondering. She supposed he must be. He certainly looked pale beneath his normally golden olive skin and he was dressed for a wedding in a white and red Sherwani. He could not have suspected Dev was going to do anything quite as stupid as this. Her gaze dropped to her hands, where her fingers curled tightly around the single sheet of notepaper and she started feeling dizzy and sick.

Mamaji broke into sudden movement. 'God, I have to go and warn all those poor people waiting downstairs'.

'There is no need. I need to talk to Geet alone. If you will give me a few moments with her, I may have a solution to the problem,' Maan said grimly.

'Are you sure?' Mamaji said.

'Yes, you need to reassure your family that I will make sure I have sorted this mess out to everyone's satisfaction'. Maan's words came out terse and clipped.

Mamaji left the room in a hurry. Maan just stood there, glaring at Geet's downbent head for a few moments, then suddenly strode over to grasp the red tulle veil she still wore on her head. Careless of the amount of pins holding it in place, he ripped it from her head and threw it aside.

'Sorry,' he muttered tensely. He spun away, pushing clenched fists into his pockets.

Her scalp began to tingle from his rough handling, but Geet didn't mind. If anything she was glad of the feeling because it told her she was at least partly still alive. And she even understood why he'd done it. She must look pathetic sitting here in all her bridal finery while her groom made off in the opposite direction.

Then it really hit her, bringing her staggering to her feet, the letter falling forgotten to the floor as she began a mad clawing at her bridal jewellery to take it off. With fingers trembling and her body shaking her eyes jerked up to his face only to see a shocked expression there.

'I don't know why you of all people are looking at me like that. You've done everything else you could possibly do to ruin today for me!' she demanded in a tight voice thick with condemnation. Maan had openly held her in contempt from the very first moment Dev had introduced her as his fianc. She grabbed the huge diamond ring winking tauntingly back at her, and with an angry tug she wrenched it from her finger and threw it at his feet. 'You can give that back to him when you see him next. I don't ever want to see it again.' Then she felt all her anger and strength drain away from her and sank back down on the chair. She felt humiliated and a fool for ever believing that Maan Singh Khurana would let her marry his brother. She had known from the time she was introduced to him that Maan was going to do everything in his power to break them up. Geet and her family were from a lower middle-class family and therefore, she didn't qualify to be a member of the powerful and wealthy Khurana family. Yet, here he was again, still standing there in front of her and not making good his escape like his brother had done, she noted grimly. He was still there, as always ready to see his responsibilities through to the bitter end.

Maan. The older brother. The more successful one. The head of the great Khurana empire. A man with shoulders more than broad enough to take whatever was thrust upon them. And Dev had certainly thrust her upon Maan today, she thought with a bitter smile.

'After all that he said to me he didn't want me. He didn't really want me' she said dully.

'He wanted you, Geet, but he loved Samira. In all fairness, he had no right to promise any other woman anything while he still loved her.' Maan said.

Yes, Sameera, she thought emptily. Dev's' first and only love - 'And you had to bring her back into his life,' she said accusingly.

'Yes,' he said. She stared up at him through huge black haunted eyes, wondering if that grim look he was wearing hid satisfaction or any guilt at all for what he had done. Maan had warned her - as long as six weeks ago when she was first introduced to him as Dev's fianc, he had warned her he wouldn't just stand aside and let her marry his brother. From the first moment their eyes had met across the elegant width of the Khurana's' luxurious home, his contempt for her and her background had been there. Until that moment she had just been Geet Mohinder Handa, the proud and loving daughter of the late Mohinder and Rano Handa - both parents having died in a car crash when she was 13 years old. Consequently, she had been adopted and raised by her mother's brother and his wife who had been childless until she came into their lives. Now she was a middle-class upstart who wanted to climb up the social ladder by marrying into the great Khurana family. This was the first time in her life that she'd experienced what real prejudice felt like. She'd had to steel herself to actually take the hand that Maan had held out to her in that formal greeting, knowing by sheer instinct that he had no wish to touch her or even be in the same room as her. Yet, oddly, not only had he taken the hand but he had held on to it - the dark, dire expression on his face had managed to chill the blood in her veins. It had been that moment when Maan Singh Khurana had made sure she was aware of her complete unsuitability to become a member of the great Khurana family.

Well, today he had won his battle, she supposed. Lend comfort to the defeated. She glanced at him, seeing the rigid tension in his jaw and in the harsh line of his strong profile. He was nothing like Dev to look at. The two brothers were as different in every way as two men could possibly be. Where Maan had a golden olive skin, Dev was fair, so fair that it hadn't come as a complete surprise to her to find out later that they were only half-brothers. Which also answered the question as to 7 year gap in their ages? Dev had the 'chocolate boy' looks with the uncomplicated smile which went with his uncomplicated character.

Maan, on the other hand, wasn't your average handsome man. The man had everything. Good looks and a great body. He had a rigidly chiselled chin, lean cheeks and a perfectly sculpted full, firm set mouth. He sported short stubble which could easily be described as designer which gave his appearance a rugged attractiveness. But it was his eyes that held your attention the most - they were sharp, intelligent and shrewd. The eyes of a hunter. A stalking hunter, instantly skimming and assessing the situation and his surroundings and looking for a weakness to exploit. It was no wonder then, that he had a legendary reputation as a hard and ruthless businessman.

Maan suddenly walked over to her and sat down in the chair opposite her and looked at her. Geet had a beautiful angelic oval shaped face with high cheekbones and luxurious light brown almond-shaped eyes with full lips that reminded one of an innocent exotic doll. Her skin was as smooth and as pale as milk. That and a combination of thick, straight jet-black long hair that was now pinned up in a plaited bun on top of her head and adorned with jasmine flowers, usually turned people's heads in admiration.

Maan said in a tense voice 'I know you won't believe this, but I knew from the beginning that Dev was not the man for you. All right,' he conceded at her deriding glance, 'I'm relieved he came to his senses before it was too late. But I am not proud of the time he took to do it. Nor will I forgive him easily for dragging the Khurana name and honour into the mud in this way. If it gives you any satisfaction at all to know, I can tell you that he and Sameera are not proud of themselves for what they have done.'

Geet said 'I really don't want to hear it Maan.' After a small silence she said 'I know this has been an ordeal for you, and I thank you for the bother you've taken with me, but I'm going to be all right, and I would like you to leave now.'

But he gave a grim shake of his dark head, not even attempting to get up 'I'm not going yet,' he informed her bluntly. 'I have a proposition to put to you first. And I want you to hear me out before you say anything. I know you're in shock, and I know you can't possibly be capable of making decisions of any kind. But I'm going to force this one on you for the simple reason that I think, if you agree, we can at least save both our families' pride and honour, if nothing else from this mess.'

He paused, then turned and looked directly at her, his eyes very guarded but unwavering as they caught and held her own gaze.

'Will you marry me instead of my brother, Geet?' he requested gravely.