Leena Varghese's Blog - Posts Tagged "leena-varghese"

EXCERPT

There were dark shadows where there had been laughter once. His face had hardened into an indomitable mask. A long serrated scar, the symbol of courage under fire, was carved on his temple. A thin jagged line cut across an ebony eyebrow to slink into his hairline. But such imperfections only enhanced his tough persona. And nothing could reduce the beauty of his male perfection. His body exuded raw power, an alertness that could only come from having defied Death’s intentions. His thick hair, dark and wavy, was cut short, reminiscent of his days in the Army. Unbidden images came to her mind, of her running her hands through their fuzzy, spiky, texture and the way they felt against her skin as he had laid his head against her breast. Her breath locked in her throat and she crammed down the sudden burst of memories.

Suddenly, Megha understood what had stamped the bleak lines on his face. Everything had changed about him. The cruel sneer was new. He had been a warm, compassionate person once, in spite of being short-tempered. Something had snuffed out all the bright lights in his personality leaving behind a brooding darkness.

“Perhaps it was because your father finally convinced you about dumping me?” Tej was standing in front of her now.

Instinctively sensing that she needed to protect herself from getting hurt again, she turned away.

“Don’t drag my father into this,” she replied, stiff with resentment.

“Oh, yes! Ever the loyal, devoted daughter! Maybe I should just walk out and make it easy for you to continue with that silly lover boy of yours! How much is he worth? Did your Daddy dearest pick him out for you from the exclusive club of rich, pampered brats?” Tej intoned, sarcastically.

Megha swiveled around to glare at him furiously. The movement flung the shawl away from her as her chest heaved in agitation. “How dare you insult me? You don’t know anything about Neel!” she hissed, with her hands clenched at her sides, fury blinding her. She was past caring whether she loved him or not and only wanted to lash out at him. “You dare to stake a claim on something that is not yours anymore! What if I don’t want you?”

Tej watched her with hooded eyes, dark and dangerous. Rage burned incandescent, blinding him to reason. She did not want him. Damn her! He would make her want him! His arms whipped around her in a deft movement and brought her up roughly against his hard chest. Megha was terrified of the black thunderous look on his face.

But her body instantly recognized his, acknowledging its mate joyously, coming awake as if it had been hibernating for years. A series of burning, passionate snapshots, flashed across her mind when they had made love and shared love.

Tej watched her hazel eyes dilate. He knew instinctively what she felt and his body reciprocated with a surge so powerful, and long overdue, that he had no control over it. When his eyes fell on her parted full lips, every resistance blew up in a volcano of suppressed molten heat inside him.

“You don’t want me?” he growled softly. His eyes were hooked on her mouth, his arms holding her captive, tightening around her by inches.

She winced, letting out a pained whimper as she stood crushed against his chest. His mouth descended on her in one swift predatory move that shocked her into complete stillness.

*****

BLURB:

A man who comes home from battle to find that his wife has deserted him...

A woman who thinks her husband pretended to be dead and never cared enough to return home…

Maj. Tejveer Singh is an ex-serviceman from the Indian Army, decorated for his exemplary courage. After resigning from service with near fatal wounds, he returns home to the life-altering news that his wife Megha, has disappeared. A devastated Tej comes to the painful conclusion that she has deserted him for good.

Megha has a different story to tell. The news about Tej’s ‘death’ at the hands of the enemy breaks down her emotional equilibrium. She escapes to London, far away from everything that would remind her of Tej.

Three years later, Megha, now a gourmet writer, returns to India. Life grinds to a halt again, when she comes face-to-face with Tej at a party in Mussourie.

Fired by rage and betrayal they confront each other even as unresolved issues, an unequal power equation, buried suspicions and angst from their troubled marriage hover like phantoms once more.
Both want to know the truth about the other. Pride and mistrust prevents both of them from revealing it first!

Cut off from the world for a week, they become engrossed in a utopia where neither of them talks about the past or the future.However, time is ticking by…and the potent secret between them is waiting to explode.

Will they be able to resolve the deadlock without tearing away from each other?

******

I sometimes compare Life to dandelions. They thrive until the gusts of wind blow them hither and thither, their fragile tufts carrying away potent seeds to fertile grounds of the future. So delicate, and apparently destructible, and yet in the next season they flourish into thousands of new dandelions to be blown about by the vagaries of wind, for uncountable cycle of seasons.

My third book, ‘A Bittersweet Reprieve’, is the story of Tejveer and Megha who are torn apart from each other by the vagaries of Time. Like the seeds of dandelions, the love they had once shared blooms to life the moment they are brought together again. But love is not to be trifled with or taken lightly. It brings with it its own deluge of troubles. Tej’s volatile temperament and Megha’s bitter silence had caused severe damage to their once sweet relationship.

Time changes everything and experiences define people. When they meet again, they realize that everything between them has changed irrevocably…except for the love and passion they share for each other. Inexorably, they start all over again, stumbling and falling and trying to walk together again, making positive changes as they go along.

However, an unspoken truth between them still persists…waiting to be acknowledged and accepted…And neither wishes to bring it up lest it ruin the little reprieve, a bubble in time that they have painstakingly created for themselves.


A Bittersweet Reprieve