well ekta does not even need to create any story to show that gauri has feelings for him. since day 1 she has strong dislike towards him and later on that turned into an uneasy friendship and finally they became cordial with each other. so its not like she does not have any feelings for him at all (although she has no feelings for sachin for sure. they dont have a story at all except for the one archu started).
hatred and dislike has often turned into love and its not new. so ekta could have gone that way too or that she is already in love wid him (which i strongly suspect) and she is yet to realize that.so akbar's case is concerned, that time was different and so was the situation. akbar was not just any guy. today being educated is considered to be imp but it is not top priority to make a marriage work. marriage works solely based on the qualities of both people and their willingness to make it work.