His Irresistible Darling - Sarah Randall Page 0,68

She was heartbroken and I felt awful. I mean, it was me who kinda set them up but I thought she’d be happy to just have some fun too. Seems she was hoping for more. Anyway, I think she’s getting over it now. Someone sent her some flowers and chocolates, and I called James to make sure it wasn’t him. It wasn’t, although I must have woken him up or caught him at a bad time ‘coz he was a bit offhand with me, which is unusual. So now Melina is trying to solve the mystery of her new admirer. I reckon it’s Conrad in accounts,” she told him.

So Malik had a romantic side… Good for him. Shame he hadn’t put his name on his gift.

Satisfied with his enquiry on his friend’s behalf, he changed topic. “Wait until you see the house,” he teased. “You’ll love it. There’s a veranda and it’s lovely to sit out there at night and look up at the stars. Out here in the desert, you see constellations that you never get to see in the city. My mother used to teach me all about the stars when I was a little boy.”

He looked over at her quizzically. “What are you grinning at?”

She shook her head. “Just imagining you as a little boy; bet you were gorgeous then too. So is this where you grew up?” she asked as the desert lunar landscape flew past the window as he stared out.

“Hmm-hm.”

“So, how does it work exactly?” she asked before adding. “The sheik thing, I mean. I always thought a sheik was some old, dodger chap.”

He let out a sharp huff. “Well it’s really just a tradition now I suppose, although there are still Bedouin communities a little way into the desert. It’s really now just a title handed down from my father, although I do still help resolve internal problems and issues. If you’re really interested, we could visit one not too far from here.”

She looked over at him briefly. “Wow, I mean, yes. I’d love to see that,” she said enthusiastically before focusing her attention back on the long straight road ahead.

“My father was the local sheik until, as you know, he handed that title over to me. Although we have made lots of progress with the culture—religious diversity, infrastructure and lifestyles in the city—things out here are pretty much as they have been for hundreds of years. I was worried about how the two worlds would gel and exist together but they just do. We kept our heritage but support the camps. We provide access to education for the children right through to university level, and we give them any business support that they might need to sell their wares to the increasing numbers of tourists and in the bigger towns. That’s where I come in and help. Here,” Jumal said, pointing towards a dirt track coming up on the right-hand side. “Turn up there.”

Pip narrowed her eyes. “Up there” she checked, pointing with her index finger. “Will the car get up there?”

“She’ll be fine,” he assured her. Pip turned off as directed and tentatively steered the car up the track.

“Oh my goodness,” Pip exclaimed as they reached the crest of the hill and the home came into view. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.” She gestured widely with her hand.

Jumal furrowed his brow as he looked down at her. “What were you expecting?”

“Just something—I don’t know—more modern. Just another version of your apartment, but out here and in a house, I guess,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

The ranch-style home was widespread and featured lots of greenery. Jumal explained that it was only possible through some state-of-the-art irrigation system and something about desalination and solar panels, but she’d zoned out when he was trying to explain how it all worked. White wooden fences surrounded the property and she could see several horses scattered throughout the fields. As they entered through the prerequisite security-guarded gates to ensure the safety and protection of his world-class horses, she noticed the wraparound porch.

“There’s a saltwater swimming pool out the back too if you’re interested.” Jumal added, “But I’ll give you the full tour. I have staff in residence to make dinner but I’d really like to take you out somewhere tonight if you’re not too tired. We can do that visit to the Bedouin on the way as well,” he suggested eagerly.

“Sure.”

They spent the next hour or so touring the grounds and