Page 2 of Reckless Hate

“Is that so?” His eyes swept over her, raising her body temperature. She once again became annoyed feeling the strange heat because of her enemy.

His eyes rose to hers again, and there was a devilish spark. His mouth twisted, flashing one of his dimples.

“So, you are saying nothing I do would ever embarrass you?” he drawled.

“No.”

“Not even if I were to drop my towel and change in front of you?”

“No. There’s nothing that would interest or shock me.”

There was a long moment of silence. And then, his towel dropped.

CHAPTER 1

“Bon voyage, Miss Samantha. Hope you have a wonderful time at your new university.”

Samantha Roy absolutely hated going to the new university. But since there was nothing, she could do to stop from going, she simply nodded at the nanny.

“Thank you, Maria.”

The middle-aged French nanny smiled. “MonsieurSohan will miss you so much… and… and your mamma andMonsieurVohra too.” Ronak Vohra was her stepfather.

Samantha knew the second part was added for the sake of politeness.

It was close to midnight and she was leaving home to fly to a university on another continent, but her mother and stepfather were not back from their party to see her off. And even if they happened to return any time before three in the morning, they would be either too drunk or high to even notice or care that she was leaving.

“Take care of Sohan, Maria,” she instructed softly. “I’ll send you my new phone number in a few days. Call me if there is a problem.”

The nanny nodded. “Sure, Miss Samantha.” There was a hesitant look on the woman’s face. “Are you sure you don’t want to say goodbye toMonsieurSohan?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I don’t want to wake him up. Let him sleep.”

She had booked a flight well after midnight for that very reason. She didn’t want to say goodbye to her baby stepbrother. He wouldn’t let her go and would cry while clinging to her. And she might do something crazy like staying back, risking everything. He was barely four years old, but he could be very persuasive.

Nodding once again at the nanny and hoping the nanny wouldn’t be fired or driven away in the next few months, Samantha stepped out of the house to the taxi waiting outside.

The taxi driver had already loaded the four oversized suitcases she would be carrying with her to the university. Only one of them was filled with clothes and accessories, but the rest held her passion and past.

Her mother’s disparaging words played in her mind.

“My daughter is a strange little thing. Most kids want cell phones or something cool like that on their thirteenth birthday, but Samantha asked for a sewing machine and pieces of cloth.”

Clothes were her passion, but lately she wanted to do more than just design them. She wanted to create them. She had picked textile engineering as her major for that reason.

“To the airport,mademoiselle?” the taxi driver asked.

“Yes.”

She sat in the taxi and looked ahead while the taxi drove away from the house onto the streets of Paris.

She recalled how intimidating and unfamiliar she had found the city when she came with her mother eight years ago. She had hated the place and begged her mother to send her back to India.

But now, it was the opposite.

“Where are you flying to,mademoiselle?” the taxi driver asked, cutting into her thoughts.

“To India.”

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