Lounging on one of the many deck chairs dotted around the pool in a luxury resort in Goa,Maya looked up at the shadow looming above her. The paperback slid from her nerveless fingers and fell down with a soft thump. She closed her eyes and peeked up again. No, she definitely was not hallucinating. She was looking into the stormy golden eyes of Aadith Varma, one of the hottest, rising, young film stars in Bollywood and to say that he was furious was an understatement. Feigning surprised pleasure she remarked "I didn't know you had a shoot planned here.."

"You and I both know why I'm here and a shoot is definitely not it," said Aadith flatly, as he turned around to drag a lounger close to hers.

His luscious mop of black hair was a tad bit overlong and fell sexily across his forehead. Maya unashamedly let her gaze drift across his broad tanned back, lean hips and tightly muscled legs. Every bit of him was bloody droolworthy admitted Maya to herself. Not that he needed her endorsement, she thought wryly. He already had enough and more bimbos around him to boost his ego, she thought savagely. As he turned to face her, Maya sighed and closed her eyes in pain and was grateful she had her sunglasses on. Normally she had a good poker face which was how she had managed to work with him platonically, as his publicist for five long years. But now with her defenses at an all time low she was sure that he would take one look at her and know her deepest and darkest secret.....her unrequited love for him

Aadith pinned her with a stare and asked heatedly," So, why did you get someone else assigned to look after my PR and more importantly why did you run out on me like this?"

Maya shrugged nonchalantly and replied "You have already worked with Sofia on and off whenever I was not available so I thought you wouldn't mind doing it permanently."

His mouth tightened in anger, "Hmmm... Did you really think I wouldn't mind?" " Well I do, so get yourself re-assigned back to me" he bit out curtly.

Maya shook her head mutinously. "I thought we were friends", persisted Aadith.

"Precisely. Which is why I want to get away, before we are not even that. I am sick to death of either confirming or denying you gazillion relationships. I want a life that is not centered around your relationship status. I’m sorry Aadhi, I don’t want to work with you anymore" raged Maya

Aadhi thought back to the time Maya and he had started working together, when he had been just a couple of films old.They had both come a long way since those struggling days. She was painfully forthright and infuriatingly stubborn but she was also incredibly loyal and one of the few people who never expected anything from him. They had hit it off from the beginning and had become firm friends. She was still the only female other than his sister who remained immune to his charm, he thought ruefully. He couldn’t imagine her not being in his life. Aadhi resolved to get her back by any means.

Maya wanted to make her getaway before he could start working his legendary charm on her so she quickly gathered her sun screen and rose to leave, "Don't go, let’s talk about this" reasoned Aadhi.

"No....Don’t talk me into it again" protested Maya. " Is there a chance I could?" queried Aadith with a wicked grin, "over dinner perhaps?"

His smile always did weird things to her but she hardened her resolve and said "Not tonight. I’m meeting someone else for dinner."

Aadith’s face darkened "Are you here with someone?" "Umm.. No, He is someone I met here."replied Maya.

"You should know better than to pick someone up on a holiday" shot Aadhi. "He could be a murderer for all you know."

"Relax Aadhi, its just dinner and it’s not just anybody. I’m meeting Pranav Gupta the famous author."

"Careful you might end up in one of his books," remarked Aadhi tartly. "If I am that interesting a person to be written about then why not?" laughed Maya and made her way back to her room leaving a scowling Aadhi behind.

"Doesn’t she have more sense than that?" thought Aadhi angrily and quickly wondered why he was getting so worked up over it. Oblivious to all the female attention he was garnering, Aadhi walked towards the pool and dived in cleanly.

Watching him from her room window, Maya thought, if only he had been just a pretty face with a fabulous body she could have chalked it up to lust, but he was much more than that. As his publicist she knew how much he gave of himself to so many causes and so many people and not always for publicity. He was extremely loyal, hard working and generous to a fault. He was also maddeningly protective about those he cared about.

His fatal flaw.....his unending string of girlfriends, just when a girl thought she had him she found herself at the receiving end of a heart break. The latest had been a voluptuous married starlet, whom Maya herself had seen sneaking out of his apartment in the wee hours. That had been the straw that had broken the camel’s back - rued Maya. When Aadhi had stooped so low as to indulge in an affair with a married woman, to defile the sanctity of marriage, the scales had fallen from her eyes. To know that fidelity meant nothing to him had shook her up badly and made her realize that she had been wasting her time, waiting for him to return her love.

A shriek from the poolside broke her reverie and she glanced up at the clock guiltily. If she did not hurry up she was going to be late for dinner.

As the night drew near, she opened the door to Pranav who was undeniably handsome, suave and most importantly interested in her. He let out a low whistle as soon as he saw her and Maya knew that she looked her best. The blush pink gauzy dress made her slender body look sensuous when she moved. Her silky dark hair cascaded down her back in soft waves and framed a face that was lovely in its serenity. Her dark eyes glowed vividly above soft full lips.

They had opted to eat outdoors beneath a gazebo that afforded a beautiful view of a velvety star studded sky and the lapping of the waves in the vicinity. Soft music played in discreet speakers. When they had dispensed with their dinner orders, Pranav gazed at her lovely face and enquired "So how come a girl as beautiful as you is here alone?"

Startled by his frankness Maya did not have the heart to fob him off with a flippant reply so she stated truthfully "To cut a long story short I fell for a man who doesn't even realize I’m a woman. A friend is all I will ever be to him."

"So how come a man as handsome as you is here alone?" quipped back Maya. Pranav burst into laughter and said "Touché, actually I’m just out of a messy relationship and disappearing somewhere alone seemed a good idea at the time."

Maya felt as if someone was watching her, so she turned her head discreetly and found Aadhi glowering at her. She ignored him and turned to Pranav to ask him about his work. He was pleasant in an uncomplicated way and dinner would have been nice if not for Aadhi glaring broodingly all the time. When she got up to leave the table she saw a beautiful girl hanging onto Aadhi’s arm adoringly. She painfully turned away and took Pranav’s proffered hand.

An hour later Maya flashed her card at the door to let herself into her room. She opened the door to find Aadhi in a thundering rage.

"Where the hell did you disappear after dinner?" barked Aadhi.

"Not that it is any of your concern, but we went for a stroll along the beach" replied Maya coolly. "What are you doing in my room and don’t you think you are taking this protective bit too far?"

"If you hadn’t behaved like a simpering fool hanging onto his arm I wouldn’t need to check up on you," snapped Aadhi.

"Don’t tell me you’ve never got together with someone you just met!" muttered Maya furiously.

"Everybody knows holiday romances don’t last" said Aadhi bitingly.

"Maybe I don’t want a romance, maybe I just want a fling" exclaimed Maya witheringly.

At that Aadhi strode slowly and purposefully towards her, and when she saw the look in his eyes her heart began to hammer uncontrollably.

"If all you want is an affair then try me," he said chillingly before tugging her to him.

His cold voice was in sharp contrast to his warm lips. The touch of their lips electrified them both. His lips moved hungrily over hers as if he could not get enough of her. Maya surrendered herself to the melting intensity of the kiss.

Maya slid her hands under his loose cotton shirt and felt his muscles contract under her touch. Her tentative caress drove him wild with desire and he caught her hand in his and whispered into her ears " If you want me to stop tell me right now or it will be too late."

She lifted her eyes glazed with passion to look into his heart wrenchingly familiar face. She was beset with an agony of indecision,"If all she could have of him was his desire and his affection should she grab it with both hands or would this just make her eventual heartbreak all the more crushing?" she wondered.

Aadhi’s heart began to race madly as he watched her struggle with her emotions. He had never wanted anyone as much as he wanted Maya now and he was afraid she was going to pull away. He tensed involuntarily when he felt her stirring.

When Maya ducked her head down and pressed a kiss shyly at the open v at his throat Aadhi felt a surge of desire and tenderness well up inside him. He raised her face to his and rained soothing kisses on it.

Whatever the future brought, Maya vowed to enjoy what little time she’d have with Aadhi. Will it be forever or just a fortnight?

A date with a Bollywood star.

Who wouldn’t be excited at the chance? Any girl would dive in headfirst, especially when the date was Zaheer Saxena, the hottest male lead of the year.

Yet Vishakha Sehgal had her smile missing. She tried to fight the fish-out-of-water feeling she’d been having since she’d stepped into the glitzy make-up room someplace in Mumbai. “We’re all done,” the stylist told her, “I’ll go check when you’re being picked up.”

Her stomach felt hollow. If not for the cruel workings of fate she would be getting married today. In a plot twist straight out of the Bollywood movies she thrilled over, her fiancé had fallen for her sister and was marrying her instead.

His parting phone call still rang in her ears. “Sorry Vishakha. I shouldn’t have gone along with my parents choosing you. I knew arranged marriage wasn’t the thing for me. But you being a doctor and all... Anyway, I can’t regret it. Otherwise how could I have met your sister?”

She winced and glanced at the walled mirrors. A slim if busty girl in a svelte midnight blue gown stared back at her. Squinting myopically, she reached for her glasses and slipped them on. Except for her rectangular black frames, she didn’t remotely resemble her usual no-frills appearance.

Winning the Dream Date contest had been exciting. She’d shopped for her engagement dress at a certain designer outlet which offered a questionnaire and happened to answer it correctly, courtesy her addictive interest in Hindi films. She’d however happily put it on the backseat, busy preparing for her more important occasion.

Her wedding.

Her bravado crumbled and she sank into a chair. In front of her family and the gathered relatives, she had kept her chin up, defying their pitying looks. How easily she had assured her mom, “I’ll be fine. Relax. It was only an arranged match. It wasn’t as though I loved him.”

But the blow had been big. She hadn’t loved him but she’d liked him and liked the dream of building a new life. Settling down as her friends said.

If only she’d tried to impress him more. Had she been witty and interesting, with more dress sense...

She knew only to talk shop. Her passion was her work at the children’s ward. Buried in medical books, she had never had time to scour fashion shops or look up the latest trends. Her lively sister might recount how she and her cohorts had pulled a bartender’s leg by pretending to find a bug in her cocktail and getting drinks for free. She talked only of her relief at switching her patient from iv line to oral intake. No contest which a man would find fascinating.

Oh! She gave a silent groan. There she went again. Putting herself down. She needed time to get over this. What she didn’t need was a publicity event to add to her stress levels.

What could a serious-minded doctor say to a film hero? How to spend a whole dinner with him? Two hours when the date would be filmed and clips chosen to be splashed for the public eye.

A mental image of women Zaheer Saxena must date usually cropped in her mind. Sophisticated ladies seen onscreen. Draped in designer labels and saying, “love you all,” with mwahs and dripping confidence.

I have to get out of here. I’d just feel like a crow among swans.

She’d meet Zaheer Saxena at the venue, a posh Mumbai hotel and make suitable apologies.

She was so not up to this today.

“What does she mean she can’t do it?” Zaheer frowned at the event manager, impatiently flicking back a cuff to glance at his broad strap gold watch. He had a script recital at eleven tonight, with a bare two hours for this dinner. And this supposed to be star-struck girl was throwing tantrums?

He’d had it with tantrums. And other wiles females seemed to have in their arsenal for achieving their whims. His leading lady had been giving him hell on the sets, her latest notion being that she wanted them to practice a certain scene in his bedroom.

“Here she is. If you want to talk...” The manager tailed off, leaving the room as a woman entered it.

Zaheer glanced up. A dolled up woman stood there. Glossy mouth. Dusky skin tinted with luster. Eyes seductively darkened. He smelt danger instantly, his bloodhound instincts awakening. Why gear up and then bow out? Definitely some ulterior motive here. Was she looking to ask him for a break in Bollywood? After years of shaking off determined and devious females, their roundabout ways of doing things no longer surprised him.

“Is there a problem?” Impatience laced his voice.

“Er no, Mr. Saxena. I mean yes. But it’s nothing to do with you. It’s all my fault.”

Her voice was breathless and she seemed to be focusing on his shirt button. Disconcerting. Women didn’t avoid looking at him.

His gaze slid on her. The dress fit her to perfection, outlining sensuous curves. He felt awareness jerk up the tension in his body. Sudden and unreasoning. Why this flare of attraction heating his blood? Nothing special about this woman after all. Just another made-up face looking to be in the limelight.

Or not. Why had she refused?

“Why don’t you sit down and we can talk it over?” he suggested.

Vishakha couldn’t believe she’d heard the gentle note in his voice. He’d been so curt before. The moment she’d stepped in here she’d been surrounded by a prickly awareness of him. A raw powerful aura that oozed from him like oil from her mom’s buttered paranthas. He wore a black dinner jacket with a metallic blue sheen and dark trousers that buckled on a lean waist, showing off his superb fitness. His hazel eyes narrowing on her had caused her breath to constrict. He always wowed her on screen but she’d expected it to be cinematic magic. Up close he was more rugged, the laughter lines adding to his charm, making him more real somehow. Dark brown hair, streaked with lighter colour waved low to his collar.

No screen hero this, that she could fantasize about and then safely forget once she was out of theatre.

She kept standing. “Sorry. I shouldn’t back out like this. But you can find someone else. Any girl would be glad to do this event.”

“Your name has been announced. People are waiting to see a doctor interact with me.” He pointed out.

“PR people have talked to me. I just wanted to apologize to you personally. I can’t do this.”

“Why not?”

“Because...I’m not well.”

His gaze swept over her. “You look fine to me.”

“I have a headache.” Vishakha realized suddenly that those who weren’t used to making excuses shouldn’t attempt to lie.

“Oh, really?” His deep voice drawled. Her pulse bounded at the resonance of it. How many times she had delighted in its husky whispers to the heroine.

Now that velvetiness had an edge.

She bit her lip. “I’m not being clever. I am just not prepared to do this. I’ve already told the organizers I am ready to sign away to whoever they pick up. This is for publicity only so it can’t matter much.”

“It does to me. I don’t have the leisure to hang around for the changes and if it’s cancelled, I would have wasted quite a lot of time. What’s eating you anyway? You knew what was planned.”

“I’m really not up to facing cameras.” She held back a sniff.

“You should have thought of that before.”

“I know.” She should have thought of lots of things. Like not opting out of her date with her fiancé when an emergency had popped up at the hospital. Had that night been the one when he’d decided he preferred her sister?

Unbidden tears formed at the corners of her eyes. Great, now she was losing it in front of him.

“If you don’t have a valid reason, you better stop this dithering.”

He hit a nerve. “And just what do you call a valid reason,” she demanded, the threatening tears taking over. “Is losing my fiancé to my sister on the verge of my marriage reason enough?” She felt her vision filling with hot tears that spilled onto her cheeks. Oh, why couldn’t the floor just drop out from under her?

Zaheer stared, for a second nonplussed at the woman crying in front of him.

“Sit down.” he told her. When she didn’t move, he led her to the leather sofa. “Take this”. She was wiping her eyes with her hand and he proffered his hanky. Something about the bowed head and shaking shoulders touched him. Her grief was genuine, not the crocodile shower more usual in his experience. Tears were just another of a woman’s weapons. He knew that. So why was he letting her get to him? “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, “It’s been so awful.”

“What is it, tell me?”

The gentleness in his voice was completely undoing. Vishakha tried to wake herself up from the fantasy. The dream of someone like him sweeping her off her feet belonged to the celluloid, not reality. Surely she knew that by now. “My fiancé ran away with my sister. Oh yes. So dramatic. Only I’m on the other side of the fairy-tale. The dumped girl instead of the heroine.” Oh, how sad that sounded. She shouldn’t pour out her story to him.

But she was. “I just wanted to get away from the wedding. I thought my coming here and looking glamorous would show everyone I wasn’t wallowing over him. Stupid of me. Who would be watching Bollywood current news in the middle of a fat Indian wedding anyway?”

His mouth curved, “And here I was thinking you want me to pave your path into films.”

Despite herself she smiled, “Are you crazy? I feel comfortable around injections and stethoscopes. Not the beauty in bottles stuff. I guess my fiancé didn’t like that.”

“He is a fool.” The light shone on her dark strands and he had the urge to touch them to see if they were as silky as they looked. He did so. Softly stroking, enjoying the texture rich and smooth.

She looked up, a sparkle in the brown eyes. “I don’t want sympathy, Mr. Saxena!”

“Zaheer.” he commanded, softening it with a smile. “For a doctor you aren’t very good at analyzing, are you? This isn’t sympathy but desire.” He leaned down and touched his lips to hers, catching her by surprise. Sensation shot down his nerves, enhancing the tension in his body as he felt her unbridled response. Blood raced through him and he deepened the kiss, letting her upper body mold to his.

Vishakha felt the contact run like wildfire through her veins, the heat of his mouth singeing her lips. She drew away. “What must you think of me?”

“I think you’re beautiful.”

“You’re mistaken. This,” she gestured to herself, “isn’t me. This is what I look like.” She fumbled in her purse and put on her glasses.

“I can see what you look like. There’s nothing wrong with you except” she looked up, startled at his words, “your specs need to be cleaned.” He slid them off and wiped them and put them back. He smiled and her heart flipped in her chest.

She looked down, “I’m sorry to spoil your program but I really can’t face the cameras tonight.”

“We’ll have still shots for the publicity. After all, you did win the contest.” He drawled softly, “You’ll have your date, madam. It will be an intimate dinner for two at my place. If you don’t object?”

Her heart jumped once and started racing as she took in the tenderness in his eyes.

“Not at all.” She said breathlessly, “In fact I think it should be implemented with immediate effect. Or as we medicos say stat”.

The party was on in full swing. The glittering Ball Room at Hilton Hotel was chock-a-block with the beautiful people of New Delhi society. Entrepreneurs and politicos, corporate honchos and models, fashionistas and aspiring social climbers mingled with ease as champagne flowed and a live band played. She sipped her Cabernet Sauvignon and looked around. She saw her own reflection in an ornately carved mirror and almost didn’t recognise herself. Was this uber-confident woman in the sinfully sexy dress the same Maya Shome who was always ribbed in college for her no-nonsense tee-and-jeans uniform?

The men could not keep their eyes off her and the jealous looks of women said it all. She looked the part she had set out to play. That of a seductress. She had her eyes fixed on her target: Kamalkant Dev or KD, as he was known to friends and foes alike. For KD, it was a double celebration – his 50th birthday and coronation as the Chairman of the Dev Group of Enterprises.

The wily businessman had, after a long struggle with his younger brother, grabbed the lion’s share of the family business that spanned multiple enterprises including airliners, automobiles, rice mills, retail outlets, and hotels. Reflected in the mirror, KD glanced at her even as he talked to a clutch of his sycophants. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her black halter dress that dipped dangerously low, revealing acres of her silky smooth skin. She smiled to herself – men were so predictable! She had planned and strategized for months for this moment. Now that she had his attention, it was time to make her move.

“You seem to be in quite a rush?” She turned around to face the owner of the gruff voice. Standing at 6 feet 2 inches, he was good looking in a dark, scruffy sort of way. Dark strands of thick black hair fell over his forehead and his mane brushed down his collar. He gave her a lazy but thorough look-over. A frisson of excitement ran through her even as she tried not to show her annoyance at being stopped from reaching her quarry. She gave him an equally insolent look, taking in his weather-beaten jacket and genuinely worn-out – not fashionably distressed – jeans. “You seem to have wandered into the wrong party,” she said huffily.

Before she could move away, he caught her arm. “Maybe, I am in the wrong party, but I think I have found the right girl,” he purred.

“Excuse me?” She couldn’t quite ignore the way her body was reacting to his touch and voice.

“Call me Krish…”

“Can I have my hand back please?”

“It’s all yours,” he smiled and let go of her arm, which was still tingling from his touch.

“Maybe I should do my good deed for the day and show you the way out?” she offered.

“Nah…” he drawled, sizing her up. “I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy this evening.”

“Well, you will have to do that on your own, Mr. Krish… while I go and find some suitable company,” she countered.

“You know what they say about not judging a book by its cover? The same goes for people, too, Mona Lisa!”

He was indeed annoying but he oozed an easy charm. You better watch out, Maya! she cautioned herself. But her curiosity about this tall, dark and attractive stranger won over her eagerness to walk away.

As a liveried waiter came around with a tray of beverages, Krish chose a glass of fresh pineapple juice. At Maya’s surprised look, Krish reacted with a humorous “I-am-a-saint-don’t-you-see-my-halo?” gesture before giving her a devilish wink. “I am no Saint. More of a Sinner, I would say.” He gulped down the juice and then bore his bedroom eyes into hers before purring into her ear: “But I hate stereotypes.”

Maya’s heart caught at her throat and her toes curled with pleasure. His whispered words were like endearments muttered in the intimacy of a bedroom; his dark-lashed eyes more heady than the Cabernet Sauvignon she was sipping. She shook her silky mane, to get a grip on herself.

“OK, so let me guess. You are a gate-crasher and… oh my god!... you are a terrorist!”

His laughter complemented the foot-tapping Latino beat that the live band had begun to play. He caught her hand, touched his lips to her palm in a feather-soft kiss: “Ready to tango, my gorgeous Mona Lisa?”

Maya’s heart dived into her stomach as his husky voice issued the challenge.

She let loose a laugh that sounded like a beautiful stream gurgling down a mountainside. “You sure you are up to it?” she countered, looking pointedly at his well-worn sports shoes. Krish was at his courteous best, “After you, Ma’m.” Her wild side kicked in. She headed for the dance floor. Krish, a step behind her. She could feel his warm breath on her back; his masculine scent enveloped her making her nerve-ends tingle.

Starting off like a couple of combatants on the dance floor, Krish and Maya moved to the beat of the music, intuitively anticipating and syncing their movements with each other. Maya was soon absorbed into the passionate ritual of doing the tango. Swirling and twirling. Perfectly in tune with each other. Sexy and intimate, the two danced in perfect unison as the crowd watched enthralled. As Maya’s curves fitted into his perfectly lean and muscular body, they looked like they had been practising the tango for years. Not missing a beat. Enjoying every pulsating moment as their bodies twirled as one. The sizzling hot dance ended with a flourish, and Krish planted a kiss on her mouth. Maya’s heart, still thumping from the energetic dance, did a somersault as she pulled herself away amid the thundering applause.

Krish gave her an intimate wink, took her hand and bowed theatrically. “Still wondering how to slot me, Mona Lisa?”

Before Maya could retort, she found herself staring into KD’s grim face. “How like my son to steal his father’s thunder! But at least you are enjoying yourself!”

Maya froze. Omigod! Krish was the son of the man she hated most in the whole wide world! And she thought she had meticulously researched each and every family member in the Dev household. Where did this Krish sprout from? Not only was she totally clueless, worse still, she was dancing with the enemy. And enjoying it!

Now, KD was sizing up Maya. His hostility was perceptible but he had too much savvy to let it affect his demeanour. “Won’t you introduce me to your lovely friend, Krish?”

Maya recovered her poise quickly and flashed a million-watt smile. “Many happy returns of the day, Mr. Dev. I am Maya… Maya Shome…We have not met before but you may be familiar with some of my work. I am Kavita Dayal’s student. She couldn’t make it as she is not keeping well. But she does send you her warmest wishes.”

Krish cut in smoothly before KD could react. “Dad, remember Kavita’s landscaping marvel for the British High Commission? That was based on one of Mona… Maya’s designs.”

Maya looked as if the carpet had been pulled from under her. He seemed to know all about her while she was completely clueless about him! Not only were her emotions overwrought after their sizzling-hot number on the floor; now her mind was buzzing with questions to which she had no answers.

KD’s next words were a polite brush-off: “Hmm…good! You have been monopolising my son, Ms. Shome. I’m afraid he has to attend to other guests as well. But please stay…enjoy the party!”

As if on cue, a girl in her late teens, dressed like a Barbie doll in bridal finery, appeared. “Happy Birthday Uncle! Hope it’s your best ever!” she tinkled, reaching up to kiss his cheek. KD dropped his curt demeanor and hugged the bedecked Barbie: “Thank you Amisha beta!”

Turning to Krish, Barbie batted her eyelids coyly: “I hope you have had enough of romping around in the Himalayas, Krish. Welcome back to civilisation.” Maya tried to pull away from the group but Krish’s strong grip around her waist wouldn’t let her. He smiled at Barbie: “Hullo, Amisha.” And then turning to Maya, “For once, it’s good to be back.”

As KD bristled, Krish said: “Dad, there’s something you need to know about Maya.”

Maya’s heart stopped for a nano-fraction of a second.

“Maya is my fiancée.”

Krish’s words sent shockwaves all around. KD’s face turned stony as he glared at Krish. Barbie stared at Maya, her eyes, deep pools of intense hatred. And a cold dread swept through Maya. Krish was looking at her – a challenge in his eyes.

“Are you out of your mind, Krish?” KD bellowed.

“You should be happy, Dad. I have finally found the girl I want to spend my life with.” His arm around Maya’s waist tightened, pulling her closer to him: “We are getting married next week.”

*************************************