Take One Arranged Marriage… Read Free Page A

hurriedly, and left the room.
    She came back with Tara a few minutes later.
    Vikram blinked. Tara was almost unrecognisable. The day before she’d been dressed in jeans and a loose sweater, with her long hair gathered back in a ponytail. Today she was wearing a pale-pink
salwar-kameez
, and her hair was done up in an elaborate braid. Huge dangly earrings swamped her tiny shell-like ears and she was wearing a
bindi
in the centre of her forehead. His initial impression was a picture of modest womanhood—except for her eyes, which had a little glint in them that hinted at her being less than pleased with the situation she found herself in.
    ‘This is my daughter,’ Mr Sundaram was saying proudly. ‘Very well-educated, MSc in Botany, gold medallist. Tara, you’ve already met Mr and Mrs Krishnan.’
    ‘Namaskaram,’
Tara said, folding her hands in the traditional gesture.
    Both the Krishnans beamed back, clearlyenchanted by her. Vikram could see why—Tara looked the epitome of good daughter-in-law material, and in addition she was vibrant, intelligent and very pretty.
    ‘This is their son, Vikram,’ Mr Sundaram continued. ‘Very successful lawyer.’
    ‘Thirty-three years old, six feet two inches,’ Tara said demurely. ‘Bengaluru-based.’
    Her father glared at her, but Vikram’s parents burst out laughing.
    ‘I told you the ad was a dumb idea,’ Mr Krishnan said to his wife. ‘Vikram’s annoyed we put it in without telling him, and Tara thinks it’s a joke.’
    ‘Of course not, sir. How can you say such a thing?’ Tara’s father said immediately.
    Vikram remembered that his father was Mr Sundaram’s boss. That went a long way towards explaining his overly eager-to-please attitude.
    ‘You can ask Tara what you want,’ he was saying now, the ingratiating smile still in place. ‘She’s been very keen to meet you.’
    The thought of conducting a stilted conversation under the eyes of both sets of parents obviously appealed to Tara as little as it did to him, because she shot him a quick look.
    ‘I’d actually prefer to talk to her alone,’Vikram said crisply, and before anyone could suggest that they move to another room—or, worse, go outside and talk in the garden—he continued, ‘I was thinking of taking her out for dinner tonight.’
    Going by the stunned silence that greeted this, he might have been suggesting that he take her out and rape her in the bushes. Tara’s father was the first person to find his voice.
    He said weakly, ‘But, son, we’ve made dinner. I mean Tara’s made dinner. I thought it would be a good idea for you to sample her cooking …’
    ‘I chop vegetables really well,’ Tara said before she could stop herself.
    She knew she was going to get into trouble with her father later on, but
really!
Sample her cooking, indeed. Not that she couldn’t cook, but for this occasion her mother had done everything—other than chop the vegetables. The whole charade was beginning to irritate Tara intensely—right from the fake smile her father had plastered on his face to the ridiculous earrings she’d been forced to wear.
    ‘I’ll leave my mother to judge her cooking,’ Vikram said, as if Tara hadn’t spoken. ‘I’ll take the car, Dad, I’ll pick you up from here when I drop Tara off after dinner. OK by you, Tara?’
    ‘Can I change first?’ she asked. This time her mother gave her an appealing look, so Tara muttered, ‘Oh, all right. I look like a Christmas tree in this, that’s all.’
    ‘Have a good time!’ Vikram’s mother called after them as they left the room together.
    Tara’s room was at the front of the house, and she stopped to pick up her handbag and a sweater before running outside. Vikram was holding the car door open for her, and she slid in with a muttered thank-you.
    ‘Where do you want to go?’ Vikram asked as he drove out of the lane.
    ‘Mmph,’ Tara said in response, her face obscured by the grey cashmere sweater she was trying to tug down