Who Wants to Marry A Billionaire?(21)
Kennedy swatted her behind. “Stop that. You are one smoking hot mama right now.”
Nina held up her arms and listened to the tinkling of all the gold bangles, then admired the delicate floral tracings the henna artist had applied to the top of her hands and going up her forearms. There hadn’t been time to go crazy, but Nina thought in this case, perhaps less was more.
The doorbell to the suite rang, and Kennedy went to answer it. Daniel was dressed in a black silk shalmar kameez, a long tunic with silver embroidery across the shoulders and around the slight “V” of the neckline. His skinny pants were a cream silk that picked up on the cream of Nina’s sari, and he wore silver slippers. He looked, Nina thought, like the prince from a fairytale. He held out his arm for Nina to take, told Kennedy to go have a nice dinner with Boris, and off they went.
The sun was setting, and the Oboroi was lighting up, adding to the magical fairytale effect, but nothing quite prepared Nina for the sight of an elephant. Nina looked at Daniel, and he merely smiled mischievously, and a few moments later, she found herself somehow gracefully arranged with Daniel on a pillowed seat atop an elephant draped with embroidered velvet and flowers. The little bells on Nina’s ankles jingled each time the great beast took a step. Then Nina realized that they were heading for the Taj Mahal.
The last of the tourists had been shooed out for the day as darkness descended, but the elephant majestically strolled through the gate as the nighttime lights began turning on. For one moment Nina thought that Daniel must have paid a fortune to do this, but then she just completely forgot. She was having a once in a lifetime experience.
Daniel thought Nina looked ravishing. He finally was getting more than a peek at her voluptuous cleavage, but it was the expression in her eyes that made him the happiest. She had the innocent wonder of a child, the regard of someone who hadn’t become jaded with the world. The joy in her face was, Daniel thought, perhaps one of the most beautiful things he’d ever experienced.
The elephant came to a stop at the end of the famous reflecting pool, the white marble monument to love directly in front of them. Daniel slipped his arm around Nina. He wanted to share in her delight. He whispered in her ear, “So, do you like it?”
She turned, looking into his eyes, a tear starting to well up in her eye. “It’s incredible Daniel, I’m…speechless.”
“Good then.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead.
The elephant’s minder asked the elephant to kneel, and Daniel helped Nina down. He drew her by the hand to a small silken awning; underneath a low table had been set with all kinds of food and drink. There were sumptuous rugs covering the ground and cushions piled everywhere. A discreet distance away, a trio of traditional Indian musicians began to play.
Daniel could feel something stir in his heart as he looked at Nina. It wasn’t just that she was beautiful and sexy in her completely unique way; it was the fact that she was a good person.
If only she could see that in him he thought, if only she could recognize him as more than just a stupid jerk.
They talked and laughed and ate and told stories as the elephant and his minder snoozed, and the musicians played. The moon came up over the Taj Mahal and Nina told herself, now she knew how Cinderella felt, only this was just a bet, a dare to experience what money could do. But more and more, she found she genuinely cared about Daniel.
The night grew late, and Daniel reached into an unseen pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. “There’s just one last thing Nina.” He opened the box, “You have to pretend to agree to marry me.” Daniel’s heart fell just a little bit, as he produced the box. There was a part of him that he didn’t want to admit that wished he could save it for a real proposal. But he thought about his Dad, he thought about the deal, and he thought about what Elsa had told him. Business is business. It was okay to have fun, but he had to keep real emotions out of it.
Nina’s throat burned. So it was back to business. Why did a five-carat emerald surrounded by diamonds have to ruin everything?
When they returned to the hotel, the paparazzi were waiting. Someone had ‘leaked’ the marriage proposal. The next day there were shots in every paper and on every online gossip site of them on the elephant, the two of them in their amazing clothes with the Taj Mahal in the background, close-up shots of the ring on Nina’s hand. Nina felt sad and furious at the same time that she had thought any of it could be more than a publicity stunt, but she also reminded herself that she and Daniel had a deal. They had one more day in India, and he had to do what she wanted him to do. And she was going to be a good friend and give him the medicine he needed.
The next morning she forced Boris to make Daniel roll out for a quick 7am breakfast. Then she pushed him into an auto rickshaw, one of the three-wheeled open to the air cheap taxis that plied every Indian street. They whined noisily and smelled of diesel, and sometimes seemed only slightly faster than walking, but most people couldn’t afford an air-conditioned car with chauffeur and for many, even an auto rickshaw was a luxury.
Nina did her best to keep her voice matter of fact, and just gave Daniel the facts as she directed the rickshaw driver to take them to one of the nearby slums. “Agra has 215 registered slums, and another 100 unregistered ones. The government actually tries to keep track of where vulnerable populations are gathering. Half of the city’s 1.6 million people live in these slums, and half of those don’t have access to toilets.” People were living in rudimentary one-room mud houses, under tents, and some just under bits of plastic patched together. Children were taking care of even smaller children as adults engaged in hard and dirty labor. The common areas were filthy. Daniel had no choice but to see what life was like for these people.