His Irresistible Darling (28 page)

“Okay, okay,” Pip agreed. “Sounds like fun.” God she hated that word.
FUN.

She leaned over to grab another tissue as her bedroom door was edged open again and George, the family Labrador, popped his head in before sensing he was needed and jumping up on the bed, acting as a comforter. Pip petted his head before grabbing the remote to turn off the film.

“It will get easier, Pip,” her sister-in-law promised earnestly, leaning over to rub George’s head. He switched his head between the two of them as if fully understanding their conversation. “Just give it some time. I—” Ana dropped her head but had clearly been about to say something else.

“What?” Pip encouraged.

“I should have said something to you at the time or at least before you left for Dubain. I mean, back when Jumal visited that December.”

“About what?” Pip asked, confused.
Had Jumal said something to her?

“I don’t mean this as it sounds, but…” She paused again, as if giving careful thought to her next words, and finally looked up again before continuing. “I saw the way he looked at you.”

“Who? When?”

“Jumal. The way he looked at you when we went to meet them in the stable, you know,” she said, nodding at her, “when the foal had been born and Jumal went to see him with Matt.”

“Yeah,” Pip replied, nodding. “So?”

“Well, I’m used to men staring at me, my body. It was just part of the job and all. But with Jumal, I saw him watching you and I’d like to think I can tell the difference between a look of lust and—”

“And what?” Pip was now kneeling up on her bed—almost screaming at Ana.

“Love, adoration, like you were the air he needed to breathe, whatever. Just more than simple lust,” Ana clarified.

Pip stared back at Ana, before tilting her head to the side. “Really?” she asked. “Are you joking?”

Ana shook her head emphatically. “No, no, seriously, Pip. I mean, well, apart from Matt—” she waved her hand dismissively “—he was just playing hard to get. I remember seeing vividly the way Jumal looked at you. I do, because I remember thinking that I hoped Matt would look at me like that someday.”

“Yeah, well,” she huffed, slumping back down on the bed against the piles of pillows and scattered cushions, “he must have changed his mind pretty damn quick. I mean, the man was engaged. Oh no, I’m sorry.” She stopped herself and held hand up. “Let me remember it correctly. He had a ‘mutually convenient and beneficial arrangement’ in place by the time I arrived on Dubain a few months later. He must have practically asked her as soon as he left Yorkshire.” She shook her head and waved her hand. “And then, even after he dumps her and more or less has me move in—” she let out a short laugh “—well, let’s just say that I clearly wasn’t enough for him. Not sophisticated enough to be a sheik’s girlfriend.” She took a deep breath. “And you know what,” she asked, turning her head to face Ana who had joined her lying down on the bed. “I hate that I feel like this.” She clutched her hand to her chest. “This isn’t me—sitting around moping about a man. I don’t do pining!” she said emphatically. “I’d be telling him what an idiot he was for letting a catch like me go,” she chided sardonically.

Her sister-in-law smiled over at her, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear, before leaning over and popping a kiss on her cheek.

“You
are
a catch, honey, and if Jumal is too short-sighted to see it and too caught up in family politics then well, **** him.”

Pip gasped at Ana’s crude curse as George raised his ears and tilted his head to one side.

“Wow, Mrs Darling. You’re learning some new words from my brother—and you,” she said, tutting, “a new mother,” she teased.

“I know,” Ana said, giggling like a schoolgirl as she covered her mouth.

I missed this
, Pip thought.

“Come on,” Ana said, grabbing Pip’s hand and pulling her up. “Mrs H has just taken some shortbreads and scones out of the oven, and then I think we deserve a trip to the pub.”

***

The pub was packed to its low rafters with the usual odd box of regulars. A folk band played in the back room. The delicious smell of pub meals wafted throughout the small nooks and crannies, which made up the popular country pub.

Pip jumped as someone came up behind her at the bar and squeezed around her waist. “Hey Pip Squeak.” James.

She turned and gave him a friendly hug before he held her away at arm’s length and ran his eyes over her face like he was examining one of his patients.

“What?” she blurted out. “I’m fine,” she insisted, somewhat unconvincingly even to her ears.

“Huh,” he mumbled.

“Evening James, son. What’ll it be?” Bob, the owner of the pub, asked from behind the bar.

“Pint please, Bob, and whatever Pip’s having.” He nodded over and then noticed the two drinks on the bar in front of her.

“What? They’re not both mine. One’s Ana’s,” she explained. “She’s just popped to the loo.”

Bob placed a pint of bitter on the bar in front of James and a bottle of lager for Pip. She watched as James took a long drink from his glass, and she chuckled as he ended up with a frothy moustache around his top lip.

“Ah, that’s just the ticket after the day I’ve had,” he mumbled, licking the froth from his lips.
Shame he noticed
, Pip thought. He placed his glass on the bar and leaned forward, turning his head to the side to speak to her. “I still can’t believe he let you leave,” he said, shaking his head slightly.

“What do you mean ‘let me leave’? I finished my academic year there. It was time to come home. I had to graduate. Simple as that,” she stated, sipping from her bottle.

“Well,” he started and turned his body to face her, leaning his left hip against the bar. “It’s just like I said when I was out there, he has a thing for you and I just assumed that he’d eventually tell you and you’d end up staying out there, marrying him, being his queen or whatever.” He waved his right hand dismissively. “And I’d never see you again.” He took another long drink from his pint.

“Aaggh,” she moaned, dropping her head back to stare at the low ceiling. “Not you too.” She brought her head back to look at him. “He doesn’t have a thing for me,” she insisted, shaking her head. “He had a
fling
with me. Big difference,” she added holding her arms out wide before grabbing her bottle of beer from the bar and treating herself to a long, satisfying swig. God she just wished everyone would stop telling her what Jumal
should
have been feeling. The fact was, he didn’t want her—
simple.

“So, have you heard from Mel since you got back?” James asked, trying to keep his tone light but missing the mark by a mile. He was definitely still interested.

“Er, yeah. She’s okay. Apparently that secret admirer who sent her the flowers and chocolates has recently made his identity known,” she told him, sipping on her drink as she watched James’s eyes widen in shock.

“Who?” he demanded. His earlier attempt at nonchalance vanished.

“Malik. I think you met him at my party briefly.”

“Jumal’s friend? The finance guy? She’s getting it together with an
accountant
?”

“Hmm-hmm. Apparently he’s had a thing for her for years but not done anything about it. Seeing you with her must have pushed him into action I guess. See, I do have matchmaking skills—just not for both people I was originally aiming for. I thought perhaps you might be ready for something more serious.”

He gave her a mirthless smile before raising his half-filled pint to his lips and downing it in one before slamming the glass back on the bar and shrugging his shoulders. “It’s complicated, Pip Squeak.”

Ain’t that the truth,
she thought.

***

He’d miss this view, Jumal thought as he rocked tentatively in his chair, but he missed Pippa more. Hid body ached for her presence—her laugh, her smile, even her cooking. He’d been living in his very own private hell in the week since she’d been gone. Every morning he’d wake up on her side of the bed, clutching at her pillow like it was some sort of life vest. She’d been right about him seeking her body out at night. He was still drawn to her lingering scent and had ignored Maria’s confused look as he’d asked her not to wash that pillowcase. His housekeeper likely thought he was crazy. He simply didn’t care. He was desperate to cling on to whatever part of Pippa he had, knowing that eventually he would no longer be able to bury his head in her pillow and simply breathe her in, her scent setting off memories he would treasure for a lifetime.

“What’s so urgent?” Malik complained as Jumal turned slowly in his chair. His watched his friend stride over to his large desk.

“Thanks for coming, Malik.” He gestured to the seat opposite as he added, “You’d better take a seat.”

Malik lowered himself into the chair slowly. “Bloody hell, Jumal. This sounds ominous.”

Jumal leaned forward in his chair and rested his chin on his steepled hands. He saw the precise moment Malik noticed the leather bracelet on his wrist and the brief knowing smile and nod before he said, “I have a proposal for you, Malik.”

Chapter Fourteen

“You’re gonna ask her to do
what
?!” Matt yelled at him, understandably shell-shocked by what Jumal had just told him and clearly still trying to deal with the fact that Jumal had feelings for his little sister. Apparently Pippa hadn’t told him anything about their time together in Dubain. Good sign or bad?

“I’m not here for your permission, Matt,” Jumal stated, holding his hands up to his friend. “Pippa will make her own decisions as ever but—” he took a deep breath “—I know how close you are to her after everything you two have been through. I’m simply telling you as a matter of courtesy. Not because I think we need your approval. Okay?”

“If you so much as hurt a hair on her head, Jumal, I swear I’ll take you down,” his friend promised grimly, his eyes darkened with genuine menace.

“Understood.”

“Hell,” Matt said, dropping his head and shaking it. “I can’t believe this has been going on and I didn’t know about it. I hope she kicks your sorry arse.”

“Again. Understood.”

His friend stared back at him, one arm crossed over this chest, the other rubbing at his chin. “Fine,” Matt eventually conceded, pushing away from the barn wall, a wicked smile on his face. “But there’s someone else you need to convince before you get anywhere near Pip, my friend.” Jumal followed Matt from the stables. Matt called back over his shoulder, “Oh and just for the record, she hasn’t come close to catching
me
yet with her broomstick.”

Jumal swallowed, knowing exactly who he was about to face… He’d stand a better chance with a firing squad.

***

“Now I hope you aren’t here to upset my girl, sonny,” the housekeeper challenged whilst wiping her hands on her bright apron. She’d turned on him immediately at his entrance into the kitchen with Matt, who now stood back behind the older woman, smiling cockily, arms crossed over his chest again. “I won’t have her crying any more,” she continued, now waving her finger at him for added emphasis. “She’s cried quite enough, thank you. There’ll be no more of that nonsense.” He watched in silence as she turned her back to him briefly and swatted Matt’s hand, which had reached for a home-baked scone set out on a wire rack. “Oh no you don’t. They’re still cooling.”

Jumal breathed a sigh of relief at the brief respite. This matriarch had always had the ability to bring men to their knees and make them feel like naughty schoolboys, caught with their hands in the sweetie jar before dinner.

He quickly dropped his smile at Matt’s obvious embarrassment at the chastisement as she returned her death-ray stare back on Jumal. She eyed him closely as he spotted the infamous broomstick behind her shoulder as Matt pointed it out, ominously, barely able to contain his laughter.
Would she catch him?!
he thought.
Without a doubt,
he conceded.

Then Jumal realised what Mrs H had said. Pip had been crying—over him? Sensations flooded his body. Was that hope he dared to allow himself to feel?

“No, Mrs Henderson. I promise you on my honour that I am not here to upset Pippa. I simply need to speak with her,” he assured her, reverently.

She continued to eye him suspiciously and Jumal had the crazy thought she might use that broom on him regardless. He’d yet to face such harsh scrutiny from any business mogul or government. The old woman was like a snarling lioness protecting her cubs from a rogue hyena. Enough time passed that Jumal shifted uneasily from foot to foot.

“Hmm.” She narrowed her wise eyes on him. “You’ve grown into a fine man, Jumal. You had such sadness around you when you used to visit. There’s a kinda lightness to you now and I know who’s given you that gift.” The woman pursed her lips before finally adding, “Okay.” She nodded, apparently satisfied with her decision. “She’s gone on down to the lake house with the dogs. Took her horse along too. Matt, saddle up a horse for him.”

Jumal breathed a sigh of relief. The family boathouse and lake were about a mile or so away at the back of the main house. He remembered fishing there with Matt and his dad when he’d been visiting from university one summer and he couldn’t wait to get there.

“What? That’s it?” Matt gasped, the smile falling from his lips. “You’re letting him off that easy?”

“Oh hush up, you,” she admonished him, with a wave of her hand.

She turned back to Jumal, smiling warmly, and offered him a side plate and the wire rack. “Scone?”

***

The sun broke through the canopy of trees after he cantered the mile or so along the track to Melville Lake on the horse Matt had recommended. He prayed he’d just faced the hardest part of his visit but feared the worst was yet to come…

Jumal jumped down from the handsome stallion and secured the reins next to Pippa’s mare, which was already munching on the grass under the shade of a large oak tree at the side of the lake. Was it an omen that the mare didn’t even bother to look up at him?

He wasn’t sure if Pippa was unaware of his presence or choosing to ignore him, but he was grateful that she still sat on the wooden pier in the distance, her back to him, stroking the family Labrador, George, whilst throwing something to the resident ducks and ducklings. It gave him a chance to gather his thoughts and compose himself. He was never more aware that the next few minutes were going to be his most defining. He prayed that he wouldn’t be walking back to the mount having been immediately dismissed. He just needed her to let him speak…to convince her.