Cinderella's Forbidden Prince, page 1
He grinned at her.
Her heart seemed to skip a beat at the warmth of his smile. Her reaction was wholly inappropriate for the situation and she had to ignore how attractive the man was. He was her client. Not to mention a prince.
“I felt the same way when I first saw the caves. Come around here, please,” he said, indicating his side of the table where schematics were laid out in front of him. “This shows where the caves are on Adysarina island. My favorite sculpture is in this cave.” He indicated with his finger. “Cave six. It’s a little bit off the beaten path, so if we did open it to the public, we would have to create a new roadway. I think it will be worth it. We could start with it, but I think I’ll build up your anticipation before I take you there.”
“Oh, will you be coming with me?”
Her heart started to race again at the thought of getting to talk with him, hear his ideas and stories about the island, laugh with him, be close to him.
Dear Reader,
One of my favorite parts of being an author is all the research I get to do. I loved exploring Priya’s passion for her work as a conservator. I only wish some of the caves and murals I describe in Cinderella’s Forbidden Prince existed. But the Ajanta and Ellora Caves are fortunately real. I was a teenager when I saw the awe-inspiring paintings and rock-cut sculptures. They really are incredible. A return visit is definitely on my travel list.
I’ve always wanted to write about royalty, so I was really excited to have the chance to write a Cinderella story set on a fictional island kingdom.
With Priya and Rohan’s story, I wanted to fully embrace the fairy tale. Priya has grown up believing she isn’t worthy of being loved. She needs someone open with his feelings to show her that isn’t true. Rohan is the strong, honorable prince ready to do his duty for the improvement of his country. Their connection is instantaneous, but at times it seems as though they aren’t ultimately destined to be together. It takes a strong couple like Priya and Rohan to fight together for the future they deserve.
I hope you enjoy my modern fairy tale.
Love,
Ruby
Cinderella’s Forbidden Prince
Ruby Basu
Ruby Basu lives in the beautiful Chilterns with her husband, two children and the cutest dog in the world. She worked for many years as a lawyer and policy lead in the civil service. As the second of four children, Ruby connected strongly with Little Women’s Jo March and was scribbling down stories from a young age. She loves creating new characters and worlds.
Books by Ruby Basu
Harlequin Romance
Baby Surprise for the Millionaire
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
For Dev and El, who are my world
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM FALLING FOR HER SECRET BILLIONAIRE BY REBECCA WINTERS
CHAPTER ONE
PRIYA SEN REVIEWED her file with the notes detailing the preservation and restoration project for the fourth time that morning. She’d already read them ten times a day since finding out, a week ago, she would be taking over the role of leader of the conservation team working on the murals in the royal palace on Adysara, a little-known island country off the coast of India.
It was safe to say she already had the information committed to memory. But one last look over wouldn’t hurt.
It was barely seven o’clock, but Priya had already been up for two hours. She’d woken to the sounds of unfamiliar bird calls.
It had been late evening when she’d arrived on Adysara the previous day. She’d been exhausted after the fourteen-hour flight from England, followed by a two-hour ferry ride from India. Once she’d finally arrived at the building her co-workers were living in for the duration of the project, she barely had the energy to say hello to the others before flopping onto her bed and falling into a deep sleep.
She woke up refreshed, rejuvenated and earlier than anyone else. She’d got ready, then rushed outside to breathe the island air. She immediately felt the sense of homecoming she always experienced whenever she was in India. Technically, Adysara wasn’t India and, technically, she was a foreigner, having been born and brought up in England, but something about this place claimed her. She felt like she belonged—something she’d never felt growing up.
Now, after a quick breakfast of luchi and eggs, she was desperate to get to the palace and have her first look at the murals she’d pored over in photos.
Her group’s quarters were in a wooded area about a mile’s walk from the palace, no doubt to make sure they were hidden from the view of the royal family. Although the team had a minivan, Priya was too excited to wait an hour until it would depart. Clutching the folder with nervous fingers, she walked towards the palace.
It was only when the path took her out of the woods she saw the palace up close and personal for the first time. Four storeys of carved granite with large arched windows at every level. It was magnificent—and this was only the side view where the staff entered. She’d seen the front in pictures with its large central marble dome covering an indoor courtyard. The eighteenth-century architecture in the front and rear with its archways and turrets could rival Mysore Palace.
She held her breath as she walked through the door, half expecting the security guards to apprehend her immediately and remove her from the premises.
Once inside the palace, Priya could see a wide stone staircase on her right. She knew this would lead up to the back of the ballrooms and reception areas which were usually open to the public. Her team would be in some of those rooms since they wanted to protect the integrity of the murals and were working in situ.
In front of her, there was a rabbit warren of corridors with several doors, and more corridors, leading off them. These must lead to rooms used by the palace workers and somewhere, down one of the passageways would be a room for preparing the chemicals her team would be using, and there would be another room, which would be climate-controlled, where the art restoration was being performed.
She’d done conservation projects in stately homes before but nothing as grand as this. Only in her wildest dreams would she have imagined someone like her working there.
Doubts assailed her. She had no right to be there. She was a fraud. She was only there because her colleague had to return to England for a family emergency.
‘Ah, Priya. There you are.’ Her boss and head conservator, Toby ‘Mac’ MacFarlane came up behind her. ‘I knew you’d want to get here early. Are you ready?’
Priya swallowed. Was she ready? This was the biggest job her company, Courtham Conservation Services, had ever undertaken. If they completed it successfully, they would probably be able to pick and choose what they worked on in future. And where.
If she could stay as team leader or be considered as a lead on future projects around India or the rest of the world, her professional aspirations would be fulfilled.
The role she was replacing was crucial to the project’s success. She may not have been the first choice for it, but she was more than qualified to take over. She knew the details of the project. She could do this.
Couldn’t she?
There was no time for self-doubt to creep in. She had to prove she was capable.
Priya breathed in deeply, straightening her shoulders. ‘I’m ready,’ she said. ‘Lead the way.’
As they walked through the rooms of the palace, Mac pointed out where other teams were working. Members of her company had been working in the palace for months already and had concentrated first on the areas and rooms that would be used extensively for events for a gala taking place in two months. Initially the whole group had worked on the art restoration to ensure the areas were completed in time. Now, although there were still some pieces to finish off, the group had been split into separate project teams and she would be leading the conservation work on the palace murals and stone carved sculptures while other teams dealt with the painting restorations.
Finally, Mac led her to the mural she would be preserving for the next few weeks.
Priya might be an expert in conservation, but the first time she saw a piece of art in person she could never view it with a technical eye. She could only stand and marvel at it.
And the wall painting in front of her, depicting a royal family picnicking in a forest watched by various animals, was more magnificent than any photo or video could do justice with its vibrant colours and detailed brushwork.
But she couldn’t just stand around admiring the piece—there wasn’t any time to waste if her team wanted to get this area completed before the gala.
Priya had a quick meeting with her team, making sure she knew everyone’s activities for the day. She already knew the majority of her colleague
Her predecessor had taken an approach which divided the mural into sections at various stages of preservation. Priya decided to float between the sections during the day so she could observe the flow of work generally, but she could move easily if one section needed her to assist where time was of the essence for the process.
As she worked, she mentally braced herself for signs of upset or hostility. After all, who was she to come in as lead when they’d been doing the work for months already? If her co-workers did feel that way, they gave no outwards signs; all were welcoming and helped her settle into a groove.
After a few hours, the whole group stopped for a long break. They went downstairs back through the maze of corridors where drinks and food had been laid out in a room for them. Since they weren’t permitted to have any liquids, not even water, where they were working, having this room for their comfort was an unexpected perk.
Mac came over to ask her how her morning had been. Although he was in overall charge of the palace conservation and restoration project, during the day he worked as a team leader on painting restoration—available to the other leaders whenever needed but letting them get on with the work at other times.
Priya appreciated his management style. Hopefully, it would give her an opportunity to show what she was capable of—she’d never been leader of such a large team before.
‘If your team can spare you for a few minutes, why don’t you take a look around the palace and some of the areas we’ll be working on next,’ he suggested. ‘Leo only started outlining the next wall painting so let me have your thoughts on how you think we should proceed with it as soon as you can.’
Priya nodded. ‘Of course. Can I wander round on my own or should I find someone from the palace to guide me?’
Mac grinned. ‘There are so many people working in the palace at the moment, with everyone getting ready for the gala, we’ve been allowed to come and go as we need. Believe me, if you stray too close to the royal family’s private wing, you’ll know.’
‘They’re not worried we’re going to steal their crown jewels then,’ Priya joked.
‘Most of these rooms are open to the public anyway so anything of worth has been safely stored away. More so now the gala preparations and our restoration work is going on. Just walk around on your own, get a feel of the place. Look at the scope of the work we have ahead. You have the site plan, don’t you?’
‘I do. I may as well go now. I’ll just let my team know.’
Priya spoke to her team then left the room to start exploring the palace. She wandered along corridors with walls covered in huge paintings, showing the island and the palace in different seasons and time periods. It was obvious which paintings had already been restored and she took a vicarious pride in the quality of work her company did. She only hoped she would meet the same thresholds of excellence.
She entered one ballroom where a large wall mosaic of a blue-grey elephant carrying a gold-and-purple howdah glinted in the sunlight coming from the floor-to-ceiling-length arched windows.
Her mother would have loved this. She’d passed away when Priya was eleven, but before then Priya had often gone to visit art galleries and stately homes in Britain with her when she was younger. Her mother had handed down her love of art and architecture. They’d already planned a trip to see the Taj Mahal, Red Fort and the Golden City of Jaisalmer in the summer before Priya started secondary school, which was when her father would be in England for a brief stint before his next posting.
But her mother got sick in Priya’s last year of primary school.
Instead of spending time with her vibrant, loving mother, Priya had been sent to boarding school where her father seemed to forget about her existence. She barely saw him after her mother died; she begged to go abroad with him on his postings, but he had always refused. Her only bright moments were holidays she spent with her maternal grandparents who travelled from India to look after her and took her to the places her mum had wanted to show her.
But after a few years, her dadu and didima stopped coming over, so apart from the occasional week with her paternal grandparents who lived in England, she spent holidays at her boarding school.
She never knew why her dadu and didima stopped visiting her. They never replied to her letters or emails or answered her phone calls. After a couple of years she stopped trying. When she lived in India doing fieldwork as part of her master’s degree course, she had tried to get in touch again but without success. She briefly considered trying to get in contact now again. Her didima grew up in Adysara; Priya thought she might want to know her granddaughter was working in the palace she used to tell stories about.
Priya grimaced. What was the point of trying to make contact? She would just be inviting further rejection.
Suddenly, the walls of the palace were closing in on her. She was no longer experiencing the awe and joy of exploring. She needed fresh air. She was some distance from the palace exits but she’d passed a ballroom which had open balcony windows.
She retraced her footsteps back to the room.
She walked onto the balcony and breathed in the scent of Adysara, so evocative of India. She tried to find somewhere safe to stand as people were bustling round tidying and decorating. She almost bumped into a platform which was supporting a ladder balanced against a pillar. Luckily she managed to avoid it since someone was perched on the top rung, holding a string of lights.
She lifted her gaze from the man to the top of the pillar. The sun was bright, but she was certain she could see shadows around the edge. Was that...?
‘Stop!’ she called out. The man tottered slightly on the ladder. Priya held her breath until he regained his balance.
A lady strode up. ‘Can I help you? I’m Zivah Chetty, I’m part of the event organiser team at the palace. What is the problem? Who are you?’
Priya introduced herself then explained she’d noticed a hollow relief on the external pillars which hadn’t been mentioned in the files.
‘Why is it an issue?’ Zivah asked.
‘It hasn’t been assessed yet. We don’t know what materials were used. And importantly in this situation, what effect the heat from the lights could have on it. Have these external pillars been assessed for the effects of stringing the lights? I don’t see them referenced in my notes.’
‘They’re pillars.’ Her tone was condescending, suggesting Priya was making a fuss over nothing.
‘Which are hundreds of years old,’ Priya replied.
‘If there was a problem your boss and Mr Blake would have pointed it out.’
Priya bit her lip. Zivah Chetty was right. They should have pointed it out. Why wasn’t it in the report? Regardless of whether there were actual issues related to the pillars, the hollow relief should have been noted. Perhaps it was a clerical error and the information hadn’t been transposed from Leo Blake’s notes but she didn’t have time to look into it right now. She needed to do an assessment before they went further with the illuminations.
Priya straightened her shoulders, she didn’t enjoy arguing with people, but stone art was also an area she specialised in. She did know what she was talking about. As team leader, these were the exact situations she was expected to handle. She had to stand her ground. The potential to damage historical art was too important for her to doubt her abilities.
She needed to get up the ladder.
* * *
‘Are my parents in their quarters?’ Rohan Varma asked as he strode through the halls of the palace to his suite of rooms.
‘The Maharaja is in meetings and the Maharani is visiting the children’s hospital with Rajkumari Varasi,’ his assistant replied.
‘Varasi is here?’ he asked, surprised his sister had already arrived on Adysara. ‘I presume she and my mother will be out for lunch then?’ His assistant nodded. His father wouldn’t be stopping for lunch then. Rohan would meet his family for the evening meal, but they had a rule not to discuss business or politics at the dining table. ‘Please find me ten minutes to speak to my father this afternoon.’
