has never been so lively. The rest of your staff love her, my friend.”
He met his friend’s gaze while considering how much to admit. “She drives me crazy, Malik. It’s not funny. I can’t concentrate.” He cursed inwardly. He hadn’t meant to say that last part and be quite so open about the effect Miss Darling had on him. He never showed weakness and Miss Darling was starting to be a weakness. He reached for his glass of water.
Malik raised a brow. “Annnd that would be a bad thing?”
“Of course.”
“Well, it’s only a few more months and then she will be leaving. Unless…”
He straightened in his chair. “Unless what?” he asked, coolly.
Malik shrugged his shoulders. “Well, if she’s that…” his friend paused and waved his hand as if looking for the right word “…distracting, you could always send her home early. I’m sure you could come up with some excuse that sounded legitimate.”
Jumal swallowed hard. The thought of Pippa leaving Dubain and returning to England made him nauseous.
“No,” he said, immediately dismissing the suggestion. “I promised her brother and, well… Just no.”
In actual fact he’d made a few promises to Matt. Firstly, look after her. Secondly, to keep his hands off. He’d never found it so hard to keep a promise in his life. The fact that she often made him want to strangle her one minute and kiss her senseless the next was beside the point. Matt wouldn’t differentiate.
“Anyway,” he said, clapping his hands together, needing to distract his childhood friend and himself from the topic of Pippa Darling. “Where are we up to with the Ansari deal? Miss Darling, PA extraordinaire, has made him an appointment to see me later today. Have you completed the due diligence checks? What’s his financial position?”
“Hmm, well it’s interesting. It’s a good deal and certainly worth going ahead with. His company is financially stable and there’s no evidence of him cooking the books. The fact he’s a local contractor is good for our public relations and local employment, but it’s certainly nothing on the scale of the Dubai government deal. When the ink is dry on that contract your company is going to be recognised as the world’s leading naval shipbuilding company. We’re going to go global. Although I think we should be prepared for the backlash from the Dubai builders. They aren’t going to take it lying down, Jumal. They thought they had that contract in the bag and they’re used to getting their own way. We should expect a backlash.”
“Let them come at me. It’s not like we haven’t dealt with it before. As for going global—” he shrugged his shoulders, nonchalantly “—something for my father to finally be proud of, but I want to ensure that we keep up the investment here, in Dubain. Build on what we’ve already started. That’s my priority now,” he stated, unable to keep the bitterness from his voice, knowing that Malik knew exactly what his father was like.
As childhood friends, Jumal had spent as much time at his friend’s home as his own and he was warmly welcomed. During their early teenage years Jumal’s home life was never openly discussed between the friends. Malik just seemed to know that his friend needed somewhere to have some downtime away from the pressures of an impossibly pushy father with aspirations for his son, which were demanded and never merely suggested. Since returning to Dubain after completing his Oxford University education, Jumal and Malik had re-formed their close bond and Jumal knew he was lucky to have such a confidant as both friend and trusted advisor. In his line of work, his enemies were never far away and the people he could rely on were few.
Feeling somewhat melancholy about his past, he cleared the lump in his throat before continuing. “By the way, Faridah called earlier. She’s received the first draft of the contract and has been working on it over the last few days, ironing out some of the usual discrepancies, so it’s moving along nicely. She’s going to come by and drop it in shortly,” he explained to Malik, gently rocking his chair from side to side.
“Only you would end up with a fiancée who is also a company lawyer.” Malik winked at him. “Some guys have all the luck,” he teased, rising from his chair. “We still on for a workout tomorrow night before hitting the hammam?”
“Sure,” Jumal replied, only partly listening.
“Okay good. I’ll bring down the due diligence report on Ansari when