His Irresistible Darling - Sarah Randall Page 0,72
but she seemed to have it all under control.
She threw him an “Are you kidding?” look back over her shoulder and shielded the light from her eyes before confirming her thoughts with a shake of the head.
“So how come you can do this?” he dared to ask again.
She shrugged as she continued to pump her foot. “Dad showed me. The farm’s trucks were always getting flats and I insisted on knowing how to change one. People have underestimated me most of my life,” she said, matter-of-factly.
“How so?”
“I guess it started because I had attentive parents who spoilt me rotten, an old brother who doted on me and who I could twist around my finger, as you correctly guessed, and I had Mrs H who was always there for me too. People just wanted to look after me my whole life and I grew up seeing the best of the world and completely naïve to the reality. My first real taste was the bullying and then later my parents dying so quickly after each other. Even Matt mollycoddled me and pulled me out of university for a while so he could keep his eye on me after their deaths. Although as you know, my head was all over the place and I guess that did give me the chance to set him up with Ana.”
Jumal didn’t want to interrupt with any questions whilst she was happy to talk, although his mind was whirling with them…
“I saw this opportunity as another chance to do something on my own, for me, to be independent and show that I can get by just fine on my own.”
He couldn’t hold back any more. “But you’re amazingly independent, Pippa. I’ll admit that when you first started I had my concerns about all the teasing and pranks, but you’ve gone over and above my expectations. You’ve done more than you’ll ever know for my company.”
She paused briefly at his earnest statement before continuing with her task.
Eventually she appraised her hard work, seemingly pleased that the car was sufficiently raised, and took the wheel nut thing from his hand and attached it to the flat tyre. She attached a longer straight implement she’d gotten from the car along with the spare. Her dress was ruined with stains from the spare wheel and sand, and he made plans to take her shopping for a replacement.
“Okay. This is the bit where we pray that these weren’t put on with a pneumatic drill or else we’re screwed…”
She eventually, somewhat begrudgingly, turned to him after several unsuccessful attempts to turn the long instrument, including jumping up and down on it. She seemed slightly peeved that his greater weight managed to do the trick and it finally gave under his weight. She seemed satisfied by his assurances that she had loosened it for him. After what seemed like an eternity all the nuts were loosened and Pippa managed to pull off the old tyre, replace it and retighten all the nuts, putting her entire body weight into tightening each one. She declined his offer of assistance, knowing that his left hand alone would be next to useless.
Finally, job done, she sat back on the ground, dwarfed by the car and clearly exhausted as she wiped a hand over her brow. He bent down at her side and took off the agal, using his headdress to wipe her brow, cheeks and sore hands, and planting a kiss on her reddened palms. “My hero,” he murmured between kisses.
As she steered the car towards the ranch house down the long drive, Pip noticed a new car parked on the circular drive. She felt Jumal’s body stiffen slightly and his grip on her hand tighten.
“Who is it?” she asked, both confused and concerned by his reaction.
She heard him take a deep breath and pause before answering her through gritted teeth. “My parents.”
She stepped out of the car, having parked, and Jumal came to her side quickly and took her hand to help her. She offered him a smile in the hope he would return it. He didn’t and she was now officially worried.
He gripped her hand tightly as he escorted her back into the house and into the large living room, featuring floor-to-ceiling tinted glass doors, which opened up fully. She loved it.
Mr and Mrs Aldabbagh were seated on the large sofa in front of the unlit circular fireplace and fancy extraction hood, which was the centrepiece of the large room with its natural wooden flooring.