Incense and Sensibility (The Rajes #3) - Sonali Dev Page 0,69

“and its results are always sweet.”

Yash put the spoon of yogurt in his mouth and India’s shoulders started shaking with laughter. Yash and Tara joined her. Laughter filled the room. Yash spooned more into his mouth with the care and curiosity of a sommelier tasting a note of wine he’d never before encountered, and it was so ludicrous that India couldn’t stop laughing.

He was watching India’s face when she heard her mother’s laughter change, and her own laughter dried up. A breathless coughing fit gripped Tara. India pushed her onto a barstool, trying to keep the worry that gripped her heart from her face, trying to ignore Yash’s immediate alert focus on what she was trying to hide.

Grabbing a glass from a shelf, he filled it with water and brought it to Tara.

“I’m fine. Stop fussing,” Tara said to no one in particular. Her pallor had turned distinctly gray, her breath more labored.

With all the gentle firmness that would set him apart in a crowd of millions, he made Tara drink, and her breathing eased.

“I’m going to get her into bed,” India said, suddenly wanting him gone.

She couldn’t let him get involved in her life. Already, she’d let him in more than she should have. Letting him come up here like this wasn’t just reckless it was irresponsible toward her own well-being.

“Shouldn’t you be taking her to a doctor instead?”

“Oh! Why didn’t we think of that?” India snapped. He could take his imperiousness elsewhere, she didn’t need it. “Thank you, but we got this.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. Is there anything I can do?” He continued to study Tara.

India should have told him to help by leaving. Instead she said, “You can start by fixing the damn health care system, by not making compromises on the policy you’ve drawn up.” It came out exactly as bitterly as she meant it to.

“India!” Her mother sounded horrified. “Thanks for offering to help, Yash. I just need to rest for a moment. I think I might have inhaled too much incense up there.” Mom turned to her. “Walk Yash out. I’ll go lie down.” It was a tone that brokered no argument.

So India didn’t argue, but she followed her mother and threw Yash a look. “Let me get her situated and then I’ll walk you out. Is Brandy waiting downstairs?”

“I’ll text her.”

They were both quiet as he followed her down the long, narrow staircase. He kept his distance, but the sense that he was too close, that she could feel him with her entire body, it made her want to tell him she couldn’t do this. She couldn’t do this.

How could she tell him that without admitting things she had no business feeling? The man had a girlfriend. He’d probably had said girlfriend when he’d spent an entire night emptying his heart out to India. Letting her empty hers out to him.

So many times she’d almost picked up the phone and called him. Why? That’s all she’d wanted to know. Why did you do it? The moment when Ashna and Trisha had returned from Sripore and told her that Yash had a girlfriend was a moment she would always remember.

Isn’t it romantic that he and Naina got together at the wedding reception in Sripore?

Isn’t it romantic that they’ve been best friends since they were little?

Why?

Why?

She could not possibly be that foolish again.

No. She wasn’t being foolish. He needed her help, and she would help a stranger if a stranger needed her. Maybe if she repeated that often enough, she’d remember it.

“Is she going to be okay?” he asked as they reached the front door. His body said he wanted to hold her, comfort her.

Her body wanted that with a force that almost brought her to her knees.

She wrapped her arms around herself and gave him an I-don’t-know-but-I-don’t-want-to-talk-about-it shrug.

“My father is a physician. He knows some of the best doctors in the country.”

Congratulations, she wanted to say, but he was trying to help, so she said, “We’re taking care of it.”

“At least let him or Trisha refer you to the right specialist. A second opinion is never a bad thing.”

“Thank you.”

“India?” he said with some impatience.

“Yash?” she snapped back.

“You’re helping me. Why can’t I help you?” Suddenly he was close. Too close.

“Because you came to me for help. I did not come to you.”

He stepped back as though she’d shoved him, and for a moment she felt awful. It was the truth, though, and it was important for her to remember that it