Prithvi... [Vol 3]

Chapter 61

Prithvi dipped the strip of cloth in the bowl of water that he had placed on the chair next to the bed, and then gently placed it on the forehead of the sleeping girl. When he began peeling it off after a few minutes, she wriggled and snuggled deeper under the covers. Keeping the cloth aside, he placed his hand against her skin. Her temperature had definitely reduced a lot in the past two hours, he registered with a surge of immense relief.

He looked down searchingly at her with troubled eyes, idly studying her beautiful features in the starlight come in through the window. Her hair had come open from the knot she had tied, and now the black, silken tresses lay lazily across the pillow. With a will of their own, his strong fingers reached out and tenderly stroked a soft cheek that had been damp with tears an hour ago. Tears that he couldn't bear to see in her eyes….tears that always made him very uneasily aware that he had become dangerously vulnerable when it came to her….

Especially since the accident…. 

She moved uncomfortably again, dislodging the pillow from under her head until it was almost falling off the cot. He caught the pillow before it tumbled down, and hesitated for a moment. Then he slid an arm under her shoulders and gently raised her to rearrange the pillow comfortably under her head. He was just beginning to draw back when she stirred again and her eyes fluttered open.

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In sleep-induced confusion, Nandini stared at the handsome face that was just inches away from hers. Suddenly, her gorgeous eyes widened with fright, and she began to push at his broad shoulders with all the strength she could muster. 

"Hey!" he said irately, catching hold of her slim wrists.

"What were you doing?" she asked heatedly.

He drew back and let go of her hands with a grim frown. She immediately shuffled a bit away towards the wall to put more distance between them.

The action stoked the already strong glimmer of anger in his gaze.

"I was adjusting your pillow…..your rape will have to wait for another day," he retorted with plain disgust.

She flinched at his choice of words, and started to sit up, looking around the room uneasily to evade the condemnation in his eyes. Her perplexed gaze fell on the small cloth and bowl of water on the chair.

Guilt swamped her.

She had broken down like an idiot in front of him, talking about her sickness and about missing her family. But he had consoled her and brought her up here and settled her in the bed. And he'd been sitting by her bedside for God knew how long, trying to bring down her fever by applying the damp cloth to her forehead.

"I didn't think that you were….I was just….I'm sorry," she apologised weakly, and then uncertainly asked, "How long have you been sitting here?"

"About 2 hours," he said curtly. "How are you feeling now?"