Where the Lotus Flowers Grow Read Online Free PDF Page A

attracted to a white person. In fact, I’d say the opposite was true. But what else could explain the wild magnetic draw of Liam Montgomery? I had a stupid, stupid crush.
    “I don’t start for an hour. I was on my way to the market.”
    “I’ll drive you.”
    “You know I cannot ride with you unless Prabhat allows it.”
    “That lazy motherfucker has his lips so far up gora ’s ass he wouldn’t even notice.”
    “Don’t be disgusting.”
    “We need to talk.”
    “We did talk.”
    “No, we didn’t. You walked away from me.”
    “I said what I had to. You chose not to listen. For the last time, I cannot marry you.”
    “Why the fuck not? Do you know how difficult it was to convince Mummy to allow me to propose? And you…you have the nerve to reject me? Someone like me won’t come along again. I am willing to marry a girl far beneath me because I love her, and that should mean something to you.”
    “Just how far beneath you do you think I am?”
    He smirked. “In this world, you’re the floor and I’m the sky. You will not find anyone better. I may not be Christian, but I am capable of taking care of you.”
    “This has nothing to do with religion. I don’t need taking care of. I thought I made it clear to you that we were—”
    “Were what, Mary? Having sex? Fucking on your terms?” He fingered my cross. I smacked his hand away.
    He’d never treated me this way, not until that day last month when he made a spectacle by getting down on his knees. “What the hell has gotten into you?”
    “I don’t know the Bible very well, but aren’t there two Marys? One is wholesome and strong. The other is a whore. This is your time to choose the right path. The one I’m giving to you. Which Mary do you want to be?”
    He curled his fingers against my skin. I stood on my tiptoes, staring into his eyes, my nose almost touching his. “I am a whore? I wasn’t alone those nights, Kishore. I wasn’t pleasuring myself. Then again, you weren’t pleasing me very much either.”
    His eyes widened with fury. The sting wasn’t called for, but his verbal assault put us on the same level. “Don’t talk your filthy rubbish to me.”
    “I don’t want to talk to you at all. Take your hand off me.”
    His eyes softened, his fingers slackened. “Mary…”
    “If you don’t get your hand off me, I’ll yell bloody murder.”
    “Then we’ll both lose our jobs.”
    “But as you’ve pointed out, I’m already close to the ground without much of a fall. It’s you who has the long drop…one that’s likely to crack your neck.” I pulled back once more. “Now, let me go before I break your arm.”
    “ Wah Wah , keep talking your nonsense.”
    My knee jabbed into his groin. “You’re right, I can’t break your arm. I’ll settle for another part of your anatomy you’re not using.”
    His swallowed a scream, his arm dropping. I marched away before he caused any unwanted attention.
    I turned back once. This time I wanted to scream. Liam was standing at the edge of the pool, drops of water rolling down his finely sculpted chest. I forced myself not to watch their descent. Our eyes locked for a brief moment until he turned toward the shrubbery. The planes of his jaw clenched. God, had he heard us? I pivoted and rushed toward the gate. I had walked away from Kishore, anger welling in my chest. But with Liam, I felt a need to run, to escape the intensity of his gaze before it rooted me in place as it had that first meeting.
    Once the gate was closed behind me, I breathed slowly until I could reason again. I would have told Prabhat about the harassment, but I knew how it would play out. Kishore was more valuable than I was. Ironically, the position I’d helped him obtain had changed the scenario. There were tens of me for every one of him. It was that skill that would save him and sack me. But now, Liam Montgomery most likely had heard everything. What would he do?
    Stupid, stupid girl.
    Why would he even care about