A Whisper of Disgrace(50)

‘Rosa,’ he said in a voice she’d never heard him use before. ‘What an unexpected pleasure.’

‘I want to talk to you.’

‘Can’t this wait until later?’ he questioned. ‘Because as you can see, I’m in the middle of a meeting which has taken some time and trouble to organise.’

‘No, it can’t wait!’ she flared, hearing the onlookers draw in a collective shocked breath and she recognised then that people spent their lives appeasing Kulal and giving him exactly what he wanted. And how could that be good for him? ‘So either you get rid of them now, or we’re going to have an audience while I put to you a few very pertinent questions!’

‘Gentlemen, looks like we’re done here,’ said Kulal, but Rosa couldn’t miss the unmistakable glint of anger in his eyes.

They stood in silence while all the men filed out, and when the door had been closed, Kulal looked at her and she saw that the glint had become a quietly smouldering blaze.

‘So, are you going to give me some sort of explanation for this unwarranted intrusion?’

‘Are you?’ she retorted.

‘I’m not in the mood for riddles, Rosa!’

‘Aren’t you? Well then, let me spell this one out for you! Did you …’ She gripped on to the back of a chair to steady herself, aware that her voice sounded all croaky. Kulal gestured towards the water jug on the table but she shook her head furiously, as if he was offering her a beaker of poison. ‘Did you put a stop to my weather slot?’

There was a moment of silence.

‘I want the truth, Kulal! Did you?’

He shrugged. ‘I’m no television executive,’ he said. ‘It’s not within my power to do something like that.’

‘But it’s certainly within your power to threaten to withdraw permission for filming to begin in Zahrastan, isn’t it? And it’s certainly within your power to lean heavily on investors, if that’s what it takes. Is that what you did, Kulal?’

He looked at her for a long moment and then he gave a curt nod, as if he had just come to a decision. ‘Yes, I did it—and you want to know why? Because I don’t think it’s such a heinous crime for a husband to want to see more of his wife. A wife who is only mine for a year! Why should I wish to share her with millions of viewers and the people who read those dreadful magazines?’

Rosa’s throat was so tight that it felt as if it had an invisible cord clenched around it and it took a moment or two before she could respond with any degree of clarity. ‘So you just stormed in and took control? You decided that because you didn’t like it, that you would change it. Because even if it is only for a year, you don’t really want a wife, do you, Kulal? What you want is a doll—a doll you can play with whenever you want. Someone that you can dress and undress and put to bed. Something you can walk away from in the morning, knowing exactly where your little doll has been all day, because one of your damned bodyguards has been tracking her.’

At this moment, an urgent-sounding buzzer on his desk began to go off and Kulal leaned over to press his finger on it. ‘Yes …?’

Rosa recognised the frantic tones of the bodyguard who had been assigned to her that day. ‘Boss, I’ve lost the princess.’

‘Don’t worry, I’ve found her.’

‘You see!’ She glared at him as he clicked off the connection. ‘You even make me sound like a doll—or a package which has inadvertently gone missing.’

‘As my wife you require a security issue!’ he flared. ‘You cannot deny that, Rosa!’

‘I’m not here to talk about my security!’ she flared back. ‘I’m here to talk about the fact that you heavy-handedly put an end to my burgeoning TV career and you didn’t even have the courtesy to tell me!’

His mouth tightened. ‘And is this television slot really so important to you?’

She shook her head as hot, infuriating tears began to spring to her eyes. ‘You’re missing the point,’ she said. ‘I left one life because people expected me to behave a certain way. I was trapped and controlled and told what to do every minute of the day. And you’re doing exactly the same thing! You promised me freedom and independence and you’ve given me the opposite.’

‘You’ll get your freedom and independence when the marriage is over,’ he said, his hands clenching into tight fists.