His Irresistible Darling - Sarah Randall Page 0,73

Jumal greeted them coolly, bending to plant a kiss on his mother’s cheek before offering his hand to his father. “This is Pippa Darling. Pippa, this is my mother, Madeleine, and my father, Taymuller.”

His father was staring icily at her and then started speaking in Arabic.

“English, Father,” Jumal demanded, presumably for her benefit. Really she would rather not hear what they were about to talk about.

“Where is Faridah?” his father demanded, standing up. “Her father called me to say that you called off the engagement. What is all this nonsense about, Jumal? We ended our tour of the Far East to come back and find out what’s been happening and why you have embarrassed the family.”

“I have called the engagement off,” he informed them unemotionally.

Pip heard his mother take a sharp intake of breath. Oh God, she hoped she wasn’t going to faint. Maybe she had better just leave them to it. She started to slowly back away but Jumal gripped her hand tightly to stop her escape. “You stay with me,” he told her firmly, before glancing down at her and offering her a reassuring smile, running a finger over her cheek. “I missed a spot.” Apparently he hadn’t managed to clear all the oil and dirt smudges from her face. God how embarrassing.

His father laughed bitterly. “Is she the reason you called off the engagement?” he accused pointing his index finger at her. “This girl,” he spat, and Pip winced inwardly as she shifted her body slightly behind Jumal’s. She just wished that he’d let her slink away to their room.

Pip could no longer see Jumal’s face but by the look on his father’s face, it wasn’t friendly. “Not that it is any of your business, but no, Pippa—” he emphasised her name “—is not the reason that I called the engagement off and I will not explain myself. Faridah was your choice, not mine, and I will not apologise.” His voice was perfectly controlled and even.

“Just as I thought,” his father said looking at his wife. “It’s a good job we came back to talk some sense into him.” Pip was offended on Jumal’s behalf as they spoke as if he wasn’t even in the room.

Jumal’s body tensed. “Well, you have wasted your time then,” Jumal informed them brusquely.

His father started pacing around the room. “You are going to throw away everything, all our plans for your future, for Dubain’s future—” he spun on his heels to face them and pointed at Pippa menacingly; the older man’s lips twisted “—for her. Just look at the state of her.” He shook his head. “Foolish,” she thought she head him add.

Pip rubbed her cheeks subconsciously but she knew the grease and dirt from the tyre would just smudge. She wanted to disappear and thankfully Jumal loosened his grip on her hand and nodded as she slipped from the room.

“Nice to meet you, Mr Aldabbagh. If you’ll excuse me, my mother always told me that if I didn’t have anything kind to say then I shouldn’t say anything at all,” she managed to state, before nodding more politely at his mother and making her escape to the smaller snug room as her eyes filled with hot tears.

Jumal was fighting for control. He flexed his fingers and took a couple of deep breaths. As ever, his father was pushing him, testing him, and he was almost at breaking point.

“Don’t push me on this, Father. You won’t like the decision I make,” Jumal threatened.

“You can’t be serious about her,” his father continued and Jumal was relieved that he had let Pippa leave the room.

“Let me make myself perfectly clear, Father,” he parried, harshly. “If I thought for one minute that Pippa would actually stay here, in Dubain with me, agree to marry me, she would be your daughter-in-law faster than you could blink and, with good blessing, the mother of my children, your grandchildren,” he said directly to his mother who was almost crying now and strangely hadn’t said a word yet. “I would be honoured if she’d agree to any of that, but she won’t,” he admitted quietly. “And anyway, I’m not enough for her—”

“Oh Jumal—” His mother turned and tried to interrupt, tears now falling freely down her cheeks, but she had a warm smile on her face. She reached for her clutch bag and dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief.

“Please, Mother, let me get this out,” he begged, placing a calming hand on her shoulder from the back