His Irresistible Darling (24 page)

She sat up, popping the book on the floor and repositioning herself to curl up in his lap. “Crikey Jumal, you make it sound like you’re about to kick the bucket or something. You’re only thirty-four.” She suddenly grabbed his face between her palms. “Christ you’re not sick are you?!” she asked, desperately, worry imprinted on her face.

“No, no,” he reassured her, putting his hands over hers. “Nothing like that. It’s just, having you here with me has made me look again at my life. I know I’m technically not middle-aged but I might as well be. I’m tied here to the business, to Dubain.” He raised her hands and planted a kiss on her knuckles. “I never got to have my
gap year
.”

“You’ve still got time to do it,” she nodded at him. “You do give yourself holidays,
don’t you
?” she checked, narrowing her eyes.

He chuckled. “I’ve been known to give myself time off for good behaviour occasionally but never without my mobile, laptop and a 3G card.”

“So what would be on your bucket list?” She squealed as he squeezed the funny bone either side of her knee. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry—stop please,” she begged giggling, “but seriously, what would you want to do?”

He dropped his head back against the sofa and pursed his lips before he continued. “Well I always wanted to go and see the Pinnawala orphaned elephant sanctuary in Sri Lanka, the tea plantations of India, drive a tourist bus in Tasmania—what?” he asked wide-eyed and shrugged his shoulders at her questioning look. “I had a friend who did it one summer at university. He loved it.”

“Jumal honey, not that I wish to rain on your parade but maybe you should at least learn how to change that tyre before you go driving members of the public around an island
on the other side of the road—the correct side
,” she baited.

He thinned his lips in deep thought. “Maybe you’re right. Okay replace that with surfing in Hawaii and sleeping out on the beach under the stars drinking ice-cold beer and then maybe getting well and truly lost in South America.”

“You know, I did some travelling in Peru after I finished my A levels.”

“Really?” He cocked his head to the side as he brought his fingers to her face. He traced over her cheekbones towards her ears, and then down her sides of her neck and slowly brushed her hair back over her shoulders.

“Hmm-hmm, did the whole Machu Picchu climb with my friend Ruth. Ended up running into some guerrillas.”

“WOW! That’s amazing. Did you get any photos?”

She thinned her lips. “Not that kind of gorilla, Jumal. The kind with large guns and even larger knives,” she explained, shaking her head as the reality of her comment dawned on him and he’d no doubt paled visibly. “They held us on our bus for a while but eventually let us continue.” She brought her hand to rest against his chest. “Oh, best not mention that to Matt either,” she said, wrinkling her cute button nose and cocking her head to one side. “I let my family make the same assumption you just made.”

“Okkaayy, maybe I’ll give South America a miss too then. Crazy woman.” He gave her a humourless laugh. “Christ you amaze me, Pippa Darling,” he added, longingly.

She waved her hand dismissively. “So anyway, back to Hawaii—
you
surf?”

“No,” he admitted, sadly, “but I would have liked to learn.”

She slumped a little in his arms. “I’ll teach you sometime if you like. You should have told me sooner and I could have taught you here on your fabulous beaches. Well, before your fall of course. What’s that face for?”

“Nothing.”
Was there anything this girl couldn’t turn her hand to?

“So how long would you have bummed around the world had you ever started?”

He took a deep breath and leaned forward, planting a kiss on her forehead this time. “I’m not sure I’d have ever come back, Pippa,” he confessed, honestly, for the first time in his life.

***

“What’s the matter?” she asked, looking down at his hand, which was gripping her arm, pulling her to a stop.

“People are staring at me like they want to cause me bodily harm,” he said through gritted teeth. “Okay, more than usual,” he amended at her dubious look.

“Hmm, yes well—”

He stopped abruptly and pulled back on her arm to stop her forward momentum. He rolled his eyes. “Do I even want to know what that means, Pippa?”

“Well, I had to make sure that people were thrown off any scent—” she lowered her eyes sheepishly “—so I might have exaggerated how awful you are to live with.”

He sighed heavily, letting out a breath and looking up the ceiling. “Pippa.”

“What?” she challenged. “I thought it would make sure people knew I wasn’t
happy
being made to live with you. That it was a bind. I thought I was doing the right thing. You don’t care what people think of you anyway,” she reminded him with a shrug of her shoulders. “Right?”

He simply stared at her for a few moments before shaking his head and walking towards his office mumbling, “
And it would show everyone who hates you that you are in fact human.
” He quoted her initial desperate pleas to come and work for him and mimicked her voice quite well actually. “Great job, Pippa. Brilliant.”

Over lunch, whilst Jumal was taking a meeting with Malik and the other directors, Pippa spent her time shopping on the Internet and spying on Jumal through the soundproof glass-fronted conference room. He was standing up at the end of the room, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled back, no tie. He looked hot…in a good way. He looked to be in complete control of the group of businessmen who seemed to hang on his every word as he motioned towards a screen behind him. He was unflappable, she mused whilst tapping her pen against her chin. She looked around the almost deserted open-plan room. Her colleagues had escaped for a short time to bask in the sunshine and fresh air—well, air outside.

She reached for her phone and watched as Jumal looked over at the ringing conference phone in the corner. She chuckled as she saw him huff and speak to Malik, presumably to take over the meeting. Malik rose and approached the front of the large oval table while Jumal stalked over to the ringing phone.

“I said I didn’t want to be interrupted,” he growled.

She giggled to herself, covering the phone. “Sorry, sir, but I have a
really
important question,” she stressed.

“Pippa,” he sighed, dropping his voice. “What is it? What’s the matter?” Ah bless, he sounded worried. Fool.

“So I’m looking on the Victoria’s Secret website—”

She heard his breath hitch. “Hmm-mm, and…?”

“Well, as it’s entirely for your benefit I felt it needed your invaluable input, sir.”

She watched him turn around slowly to face towards her and away from the group of important businessmen who appeared to be focused on Malik.

“How can I help?” he teased back and she smiled at him widely. She crossed her legs and swivelled from side to side in her chair using her foot.

Despite the distance between them, she could see Jumal’s eyes focus intently on her movement as his tongue licked his bottom lip.

“Well, easy part first: black, white, red or purple?” She twisted the phone cord with her fingers and twirled in the chair.

“All of them,” he gushed.

“Nah-ah-ah, naughty boy—” wagging her index finger at him “—you have to choose just one colour, sir.”

Finally he said, “Purple.” His voice was hushed and she saw him look around at the men to make sure no one was listening.

“Purple hey, good choice, sir,” she congratulated him and turned back to the computer briefly and tapped away before twirling back to him.

“Okay, next question but equally as important,” she stressed.

“Hit me.”

“Well, maybe we’ll try that later, but not yet, sir.” She thrilled at his responsive blush.

Surely someone in there would notice…

“Okay, so silk, satin or lace?”

“Silk—no wait,” he said, a little too loudly as she saw some of the men look towards him, but Jumal didn’t seem to have noticed as he hummed to himself and tapped his finger on his chin. “Lace. Yes lace. Go for lace,” he replied decisively like he was answering the final question on
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

“Another excellent choice,” she agreed, disappointed that the group had turned their attention back to the facts and figures Malik was likely presenting.

He beamed at her through the glass like a child getting his maths homework correct on the first go. She stopped her chair spinning. Despite the distance she noticed how young and carefree he looked at that moment, no stress etched on his face, no family burdens carried on his back. Just Jumal, enjoying some light-hearted fun with her. How had she never spotted the stress and strain he carted around all the time like a demon?

“Hmm, next up is thong, G-string or shorties?”

“Thong.” No second-guessing this time.

“Very good.” She tapped away again on the laptop she’d moved to her lap.

“Finally…” she paused.

“Yes?” he asked breathlessly.

“Nippleage or no nippleage?”

Jumal’s mouth dropped open and then he turned his back on her and the gathered cronies to look out of the window. She could see him cup his hand around the phone.

He mumbled into the phone.

“Sorry, sir, what was that?”

He tried again, but slightly louder.

“Nope, not getting it, sorry,” she teased, leaning back in her chair.

She heard him sigh heavily. “Nippleage,” he stated louder than he’d intended judging by the quick turn of heads towards him. Not that
he
had noticed that yet, but Malik had definitely spotted what was going on as his head flicked comically between her and Jumal like he was umpiring a tennis match. Suddenly he looked straight ahead and dropped his head…along with the penny. She saw the disbelieving wide smile spread across his face.

“I’ll get those ordered straight away, sir. Shall I get express delivery?”

Jumal finally turned around to face her slowly and noticed the peanut gallery. “Yes,” he growled sexily and she felt herself grow moist between her legs. His eyes tracked back to her swinging legs. The fine hairs on her forearms stood up and she shivered as if electricity pulsed through her body.

Job done, she closed her laptop and blew him a cheeky kiss.

Suddenly Jumal was grinning like at her like an idiot. Hmmm. She tilted her head to the side. Not an entirely successful outcome to her plan to tease him in front of his business cronies. Huh.

She hung up and turned back to her desk to face a pissed-off Melina standing at the side of her desk with her arms crossed over her chest, tapping her foot impatiently. “Something you’d like to share with me, Miss Darling?”

“Errrrrr…”

Busted.

Chapter Eleven

“So you’re not bothered that Malik and Melina know about us?” she asked Jumal as they walked hand in hand along the picturesque, busy seafront near the office—the soft sandy beach on one side and shops on the other. “And I think Reeta on reception saw you hold my hand,” she added, shaking her head. “It’s likely the whole office will know when we get back.”

He smiled down at her. “You finished?”

She pulled them to a halt. “I’m serious, Jumal.”

“So am I. I’m not bothered. You told me, quite frankly if I recall, that you didn’t want to be my—and I quote ‘dirty little secret’.”

“Yes but—”

He cut her off, raising her chin slightly and planting a quick kiss on her lips before giving her a wolfish grin. “No buts.” He looked over his shoulder. “I need caffeine if you’re going to carry on arguing with me. Do you want anything?”

She sighed. “Skinny latte and a chocolate brownie but—”

“Yeah, yeah, not the one with nuts in,” Jumal predicted. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he promised before dodging through the dawdling shoppers and beach goers into the well-known coffee store.

Pip leaned against the metal barrier separating the beach from the shoppers and gazed out to the sea, loving the smell of salt, sand and sun cream and something sweet in the air like toffee apples or popcorn. She closed her eyes and inhaled the smells; they were reminiscent of her childhood holidays with her parents in Devon. She opened her eyes and smiled at the memory of Matt sulking when he was told to make sandcastles with her. But she knew he secretly loved it, especially when she let him put the flag in the top turret. She spotted the children here making sandcastles and chasing each other into the sea, filling buckets with water and hurling them at each other excitedly. She’d miss this, she thought. Yorkshire would always be her home, but
this
she would miss.

She turned her back on the sand to try to spot Jumal in the shop. It looked packed so he would likely be a while. She dug around in her bag for her sunglasses, exchanged them for her normal glasses, closed her eyes and allowed her head to drop back to soak up the sunshine. Was the developing ache in her heart because it was Jumal or Dubain that she would miss? The countdown had officially started—two weeks until she was due to return to England.

***

Jumal decided that it was a conspiracy against him. That everyone had decided that they wanted caffeine precisely two minutes before he did. The queue had started out the door but he was now within striking distance of the barista. He finally placed his order, paid and joined his fellow patrons in another queue to pick up his order.

He caught glimpses of Pippa as she took in the sunshine and leant forward against the railing. Two weeks. That was all the time she had left in Dubain. How had nine months passed so quickly and why had he wasted the first few months she’d been here? Ah yeah, he’d been engaged! He stayed the panic that threatened to overtake him at the thought that she was leaving. Yes, his employees were likely aware of the fact that they were having a relationship but that was never an issue for him really. He just wanted to keep Pippa to himself as much as possible.

His parents and Matt—they were the insurmountable hurdles that would have to be overcome if they were to ever have a chance at a relationship…along with Pippa of course. She had made no mention of any longer term commitment. He thought she’d enjoyed her time with him but he’d never gotten the impression that she was so charmed by him that she’d give up her life in Yorkshire to stay with him, and it wasn’t as though he could simply pack up and join her. He had a business to run and people who depended on him right here. Not to mention his horses.