Pooja had got up and dragged herself in the house after Karan had left. Her body ached all over. She looked in the mirror; she had a good black eye going on. Pooja was used to Karan's beatings, but this one had been pretty bad. She hadn't thought he would ever stop hitting her. She looked at the time. Oh no, it was after 5:00PM. She would never have dinner ready on time. She went back out to the truck and brought the groceries in. She rushed around to get dinner started. Her body protested but she ignored it. She got the pork chops going and started peeling potatoes. Hopefully Kabir wouldn't have to wait to long for dinner; she didn't want him to be mad at her.

Kabir walked in the door a few minutes later. It had been a long day and he wanted nothing more than to have a hot bath and eat. The first thing he noticed is the house looked and smelled clean. Kabir guessed you didn't notice dirt and dust till ya cleaned it up. Kabir headed into the kitchen. Pooja was over at the stove dumping potatoes in a pot.

"Dinner's going to be a few minutes late." Pooja said.

Kabir grabbed a beer out of the fridge. He was leaning against the counter.

"Lose track of the time shopping?" Kabir asked.

Pooja hadn't turned around yet. She knew it Kabir was mad. Tears came to her eyes.

"I'm sorry Kabir, it won't happen again." Pooja said her voice choking up with tears.

Kabir frowned, damn was she that scared of him, she acted like he was going to beat her or something. Kabir grabbed her arm and spun her around. Pooja gasped in pain, she was still sore from her father's beating.

"Pooja..." Kabir started and then stopped when he seen her eye.

"What the hell happened to ya?" Kabir bellowed.

"My father, he tried to make me go with him, but I wouldn't and he hit me." Pooja said quietly.

Kabir was enraged. He turned and headed for the door.

"Kabir, where are you going?" Pooja asked following him.

Kabir didn't answer and slammed out the front door. Pooja sighed and wiped the tears from her eyes. She went back and finished getting dinner started. She hoped Kabir didn't find him, from the look on his face he would kill him if he did.

Kabir drove to Karan's house, but all he found was a sold sign up, looks like he sold the house and split. Kabir wasn't without resources. He would call a private investigator tomorrow and have him tracked down. There was no way Kabir was going to let him get away with this. He swung by the airport just to take a look around, but he found no sign of him. Kabir then started to realize he had left Pooja alone, vulnerable, and hurt. He had been so angry he hadn't been thinking. He hadn't even checked to see if she was okay. He hit the steering wheel with his hand. And after everything she had been through, she had been worried about his dinner being late. She must think he was a cold hearted bastard. Well wasn't he, that's how he acted. Kabir hurried home; he wanted to make sure Pooja was okay.

Kabir walked in the house. He went to the kitchen. She had finished dinner and cleaned up. His plate was sitting covered on the table.

"Pooja!" Kabir bellowed but there was no answer.

Now he was starting to panic. Where the hell was she? He rushed upstairs. She wasn't in the bedroom or bathroom. He checked every room upstairs. What if Karan had come back? He swore he would rip the man limb to limb if he touched Pooja again. He went back downstairs tearing through the house. He opened the door to the den and stopped short breathing a sigh of relief. Pooja was curled up on the couch fast asleep. He walked to the couch and knelt down beside her. Her hair had fallen in her face. He reached out and pushed her hair back gently. He seen the black eye and had the urge to kill something, mainly Karan. Pooja's eyes fluttered open. She found Kabir's intense green eyes staring into hers.

"Are you okay?" Pooja asked.

Kabir just shook his head, she was worried about him. She was something else.

"You need a bath." Pooja said smiling.

Kabir looked down and realized he was still covered in grease from work.

"Pooja I'm going to find him and make him pay, I'm sorry. I should have figured he would pull some shit like this. I should have been protecting ya." Kabir said.

"It's not your fault." Pooja said.

"Let me go run your bath and I'll heat your dinner up." Pooja said.

Kabir put a hand on her arm to still her.

"I don't think so." Kabir said.

He swept Pooja up in his arms being careful not to hurt her.

"What are you doing Kabir?" Pooja asked.

"You can take a bath with me. I want to check ya out see how bad you're hurt?" Kabir said heading up the stairs.

"I'm fine Kabir." Pooja protested.

"Hush." Kabir ordered.

Kabir walked in their room and went straight into the bathroom. He set Pooja down and began running a bath. Kabir turned and made quick work of removing her clothes. Kabir was angry all over again when he seen the welts from her latest beating. She was going to have some awful bruises. Pooja hung her head in shame she knew she looked awful. Kabir checked her from head to toe. He saw the awful scar on her right leg that must be from the dog attack. He lifted her gently and set her in the tub. Kabir stripped his clothes off and climbed in behind her. He turned on the hot tub. This tub was both that's what he liked about it. He gently washed Pooja from head to toe taking care not to hurt her. Then he washed himself. He got through and pulled Pooja against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. Pooja leaned back against him and rubbed his arms with her small hands. Kabir knew he was breaking his own rules. He was holding her, but the little thing had been through so much. He figured she needed some comfort. As long as he kept things in prospective he could keep a clear head about him, at least that's what he kept telling himself.

Kabir had lifted Pooja from the tub and dried her off. He took her in the bedroom and dressed her like she was a child. He put one of his t-shirts on her which fell down to her knees. He then lifted her and carried her downstairs to the den where he laid her on the couch. Pooja thought about telling him she was fine, but she was enjoying his attention too much. She felt a pang of guilt as she lay there, she wasn't hurt that bad and she was using it as an excuse to lay around letting Kabir wait on her. Kabir came back in carrying the plate she had left for him. He set it on the coffee table and turned on the TV. He picked up Pooja and sat down on the floor and settled her on his lap. Pooja laid her head on his shoulder. Kabir ate a few bites and then offered her one. Pooja shook her head.

"We're going to have a little talk about your eating habits if they don't improve." Kabir said giving her a look.

Pooja didn't like the sound of that so she opened her mouth and took a bite.

"Kabir." Pooja said.

"Mmmm?" Kabir said.

"I'm not really hurt, I'm sort of taking advantage of you letting you wait on me." Pooja said looking down ashamed of her self.

Kabir burst out laughing. Pooja looked up in surprise. She hadn't seen him laugh before.

"Pooja you're not taking advantage of me, ya silly girl." Kabir said.

Kabir couldn't hold back. He set the fork down and pulled Pooja into a hug holding her close to him. He patted her on the back and kissed her forehead.

"Now quit worrying so much." Kabir said.

"Tell me about you're day." Kabir said.

Pooja told him about her shopping trip and everything she had got done.

"Sounds like you had a busy day. You must be exhausted." Kabir said.

"A little." Pooja said yawning.

"Come on, off to bed with ya." Kabir said picking her up and carrying her upstairs.

He took her to their bedroom and laid her in the bed and tucked the covers around her. Pooja gazed at him in complete adoration. For every kindness he showed she fell deeper and deeper under his spell.

"Get some sleep." Kabir said and turned and left.

Pooja closed her eyes and was almost immediately asleep.

Kabir went in the den and picked up the phone. He called a private investigator he knew.

"Hi Shail." Kabir said.

He had known Shail since he had hired him to follow his now ex-wife around to see if she was cheating on him. She had been and Kabir had promptly filed for divorce.

"Hey Kabir, what's up?" Shail said.

"I need you to find some one for me. His name is Karan Deveraux." Kabir said.

Kabir gave him all the information he had.

"What do you want me to do when I find him?" Shail said.

"Call me and let me know where he's at." Kabir said.

"Okay, I call you back when I got something." Shail said.

Kabir hung up the phone. When he found Karan, he was going to make sure he never hurt Pooja again.

Pooja awoke in the middle of the night. She turned to see Kabir laying on his back sound asleep. Pooja smiled as she watched him sleep. He was so gorgeous. His hair was starting to get a little long and grow over his neck and it was tousled by sleep. He looked so cute. Pooja giggled at what Kabir would think of being called cute. She slid over next to him. She leaned up on one elbow and watched him sleep. She reached out with one hand and pushed a lock of hair off his forehead. Once she had touched him she couldn't stop. She ran her fingers gently through Kabir's hair. She couldn't really touch him the way she wanted to when he was awake. He was always busy putting up walls between them. But with him lying here asleep she could touch him and lavish him with affection the way she longed too. Kabir awoke at her first touch but kept his eyes closed. He could enjoy her gentle touch since she thought him to be asleep. He felt her fingers in his hair gently stroking. He felt her warm lips on his forehead. Pooja had placed a kiss on his head and pulled back and lay back down. She put her hand on his arm and left it there and drifted back to sleep. Kabir opened his eyes and looked at her lying there with her hand resting on his arm. Kabir felt himself melting more and more everyday with her. This wasn't good. Women would use your emotions against you, better not to let your feeling become involved. He would protect Pooja and take care of her because she was his wife, but if she was expecting love she would have to forget it. He wouldn't ever let himself love another woman again. Kabir turned over away from her and went back to sleep.