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CHAPTER ONE

IT WAS A dull winter day with laden grey clouds overhead Fine for a funeral as long as the rain held off, Jai conceded grimly

In his opinion, English rain differed froht relief fro away the dust and the gri up everywhere It was a cool, uplifting time of renewal and rebirth

His bodyguards fanned out to check the inalled forward to board his lih it was, irritated him because, much as he knew he needed to take security precautions, he was also uneasily aware that he would be a late arrival at the funeral Unfortunately, it was only that e fro hie should have been treated as urgent

Brian Allerton had been a Classics teacher and houseschool that Jai had attended as a boy For over two hundred years, Jai’s Rajput ancestors had been sending their children to England to be educated, but Jai had been horribly homesick from the moment he’d arrived in London Brian Allerton had been kind and supportive, encouraging the young prince to play sport and focus on his studies A friendship had been born that had crossed both age barriers and distance and had lasted even after Jai went to university and moved on to become an international businessman

Brian’s witty letters had entertained Jai’s father, Rehan as well A shadow crossed Jai’s lean, darkly handsoainst his olive skin, darkening Because his own father had died the year before and Jai’s life had changed radically as a result, with any hope of escaping the sheer weight of his royal heritage gone

On his father’s death he had becoely successful technology billionaire had had to take a back seat while he took control of one of the biggest charitable foundations in the world to continue his father’s sterling work in the saht that tiht and day, he struggled to keep up with all his responsibilities Suppressing that futile thought, he checked his watch and gritted his teeth because the traffic was heavy andslowly

Brian’s only child, Willoould be hit very hard by the older , Jai reflected ruefully, for, like Jai, Willow had grown up in a single-parent fa Jai’s mother, however, had walked out on Jai’s father when Jai was a baby, angrily, bitterly convinced that her cross-culturalher social standing Jai had only seen her once after that and only for long enough to register that he was prettylittle secret in his e in public after re another family

It was ironic that Jai had co his father’s lish socialite He had been hopelessly in love with Cecilia and had lived to regret his susceptibility when she’d ditched hiht years since then, Jai had toughened up He was no longer naive or romantic He didn’t do love any more He didn’t do serious relationships There were countless beautiful wo to share his bed without any promise of a tomorrow and no woman ever left his bed unsatisfied Casual, free and essentially forgettable, he had learned, met his needs best

As the limousine drew up outside the cemetery, Jai idly wondered what Willow looked like now Sadly, it was three years since he had last seen her father, who had turned into a recluse after his ternosed She had been away fro on his last visit, he recalled with an effort He had not regretted her absence because as a teenager she had had a huge crush on hiiven him had made hi though, with that hair of a shade that was neither blond nor red, and the languid green eyes of a cat, startling against her pale skin

Willow stood at the graveside beside her friend, Shelley, listening to the vicar’s booroup of raveside Brian Allerton had had no relatives and, by the ti, even fewer friends because as his illness had progressed he had refused all social invitations Only a couple of old drinking hbour, had continued to call in to ply him with his favourite whiskey and talk

endlessly about football

A slight stir on the road beyond the low cemetery wall momentarily captured Willow’s attention and her breath locked in her throat when she realised that a li into headsets entered the graveyard first, bodyguards spreading out in a classic fors before Jai’s tall, powerful figure, sheathed in a dark suit, appeared Her heart clenched hard because she hadn’t been expecting hie she had left at his London home would arrive too late to be of any use

‘Who on earth is that?’ Shelley stage-whispered in her ear, earning a glance of reproof from the vicar

But no, contrary to Willow’s expectations, Jai, technology billionaire and h he had missed the church service, she was impressed, hopelessly impressed, that he had actuallyhis illness, stopped responding to Jai’s letters and had turned down his invitations, proudly spurning every approach

‘Wowhe’s absolutely spectacular’ Shelley sighed, impervious to hints

‘Talk about him later,’ Willow muttered out of the corner of her mouth, keen to silence her friend Shelley onderfully kind and generous but she wasn’t discreet and she always said exactly what she was thinking

‘He’s really hot,’ Shelley gushed in her ear ‘And he’s so tall and built, isn’t he?’

Jai had been hugely popular at school when Willoas growing up in the little courtyard house that had gone with her father’s live-in euished line of Rajput rulers and warriors, Prince Jai Singh had been an outstanding sportsman and an equally brilliant scholar and Willow had often suspected that Jai had been the son her father would’ve loved to have had in place of the daughter who had, sadly, failed to live up to his exacting academic standards

And even though it had been three years since Willow had seen Jai she still only allowed herself a fleeting glance in his direction and swiftly suppressed the shiver of awareness that gripped her with lance was all it took to confired Jai, the son of an Indian Maharaja and an English duke’s daughter, was drop-dead gorgeous from the crown of his luxuriant blue-black hair to the toes of his very probably hand-stitched shoes Even at a distance she had caught the gliolden skin His eyes were the palest wolf-blue in that lean, darkly handsome face of his, a perfect complement to his superb bone structure, classic nose and perfectly sculpted mouth

Jai, her first crush, her only infatuation, she conceded in exasperation, her flawless skin heating with the never-to-be-forgotten intense eed years as the reet her and she invited them back to the house for an alcoholic drink as specified by her late parent, who had ruled against her providing traditional tea and sandwiches for the occasion Even so, she would have to make exceptions for the vicar and for Jai

As Jai strode towards the saze widened infinitesinised Willow, a tiny fragile figure dressed in black, with an eye-catching waterfall of strawberry-blond waves tureen eyes and a lush pink mouth set in a heart-shaped face The shy, skinny and aard teenager, he registered in surprise, had turned into a ravishing beauty His teeth clenched as hethat last observation as inappropriate in the circumstances

A lean hand closed over hers ‘I apologise for my late arrival My deepest condolences for your loss,’ Jai murmured softly

‘Hi I’e smile

‘Jaithis is my friend, Shelley,’ Willow introduced hastily

Jai grasped Shelley’s hand andpolite