His Irresistible Darling - Sarah Randall Page 0,77
tyre before you go driving members of the public around an island on the other side of the road—the correct side,” she baited.
He thinned his lips in deep thought. “Maybe you’re right. Okay replace that with surfing in Hawaii and sleeping out on the beach under the stars drinking ice-cold beer and then maybe getting well and truly lost in South America.”
“You know, I did some travelling in Peru after I finished my A levels.”
“Really?” He cocked his head to the side as he brought his fingers to her face. He traced over her cheekbones towards her ears, and then down her sides of her neck and slowly brushed her hair back over her shoulders.
“Hmm-hmm, did the whole Machu Picchu climb with my friend Ruth. Ended up running into some guerrillas.”
“WOW! That’s amazing. Did you get any photos?”
She thinned her lips. “Not that kind of gorilla, Jumal. The kind with large guns and even larger knives,” she explained, shaking her head as the reality of her comment dawned on him and he’d no doubt paled visibly. “They held us on our bus for a while but eventually let us continue.” She brought her hand to rest against his chest. “Oh, best not mention that to Matt either,” she said, wrinkling her cute button nose and cocking her head to one side. “I let my family make the same assumption you just made.”
“Okkaayy, maybe I’ll give South America a miss too then. Crazy woman.” He gave her a humourless laugh. “Christ you amaze me, Pippa Darling,” he added, longingly.
She waved her hand dismissively. “So anyway, back to Hawaii—you surf?”
“No,” he admitted, sadly, “but I would have liked to learn.”
She slumped a little in his arms. “I’ll teach you sometime if you like. You should have told me sooner and I could have taught you here on your fabulous beaches. Well, before your fall of course. What’s that face for?”
“Nothing.” Was there anything this girl couldn’t turn her hand to?
“So how long would you have bummed around the world had you ever started?”
He took a deep breath and leaned forward, planting a kiss on her forehead this time. “I’m not sure I’d have ever come back, Pippa,” he confessed, honestly, for the first time in his life.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, looking down at his hand, which was gripping her arm, pulling her to a stop.
“People are staring at me like they want to cause me bodily harm,” he said through gritted teeth. “Okay, more than usual,” he amended at her dubious look.
“Hmm, yes well—”
He stopped abruptly and pulled back on her arm to stop her forward momentum. He rolled his eyes. “Do I even want to know what that means, Pippa?”
“Well, I had to make sure that people were thrown off any scent—” she lowered her eyes sheepishly “—so I might have exaggerated how awful you are to live with.”
He sighed heavily, letting out a breath and looking up the ceiling. “Pippa.”
“What?” she challenged. “I thought it would make sure people knew I wasn’t happy being made to live with you. That it was a bind. I thought I was doing the right thing. You don’t care what people think of you anyway,” she reminded him with a shrug of her shoulders. “Right?”
He simply stared at her for a few moments before shaking his head and walking towards his office mumbling, “And it would show everyone who hates you that you are in fact human.” He quoted her initial desperate pleas to come and work for him and mimicked her voice quite well actually. “Great job, Pippa. Brilliant.”
Over lunch, whilst Jumal was taking a meeting with Malik and the other directors, Pippa spent her time shopping on the Internet and spying on Jumal through the soundproof glass-fronted conference room. He was standing up at the end of the room, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled back, no tie. He looked hot…in a good way. He looked to be in complete control of the group of businessmen who seemed to hang on his every word as he motioned towards a screen behind him. He was unflappable, she mused whilst tapping her pen against her chin. She looked around the almost deserted open-plan room. Her colleagues had escaped for a short time to bask in the sunshine and fresh air—well, air outside.
She reached for her phone and watched as Jumal looked over at the ringing conference phone in the corner. She chuckled as she saw him huff and speak to Malik, presumably