His Irresistible Darling - Sarah Randall Page 0,91

hug before he held her away at arm’s length and ran his eyes over her face like he was examining one of his patients.

“What?” she blurted out. “I’m fine,” she insisted, somewhat unconvincingly even to her ears.

“Huh,” he mumbled.

“Evening James, son. What’ll it be?” Bob, the owner of the pub, asked from behind the bar.

“Pint please, Bob, and whatever Pip’s having.” He nodded over and then noticed the two drinks on the bar in front of her.

“What? They’re not both mine. One’s Ana’s,” she explained. “She’s just popped to the loo.”

Bob placed a pint of bitter on the bar in front of James and a bottle of lager for Pip. She watched as James took a long drink from his glass, and she chuckled as he ended up with a frothy moustache around his top lip.

“Ah, that’s just the ticket after the day I’ve had,” he mumbled, licking the froth from his lips. Shame he noticed, Pip thought. He placed his glass on the bar and leaned forward, turning his head to the side to speak to her. “I still can’t believe he let you leave,” he said, shaking his head slightly.

“What do you mean ‘let me leave’? I finished my academic year there. It was time to come home. I had to graduate. Simple as that,” she stated, sipping from her bottle.

“Well,” he started and turned his body to face her, leaning his left hip against the bar. “It’s just like I said when I was out there, he has a thing for you and I just assumed that he’d eventually tell you and you’d end up staying out there, marrying him, being his queen or whatever.” He waved his right hand dismissively. “And I’d never see you again.” He took another long drink from his pint.

“Aaggh,” she moaned, dropping her head back to stare at the low ceiling. “Not you too.” She brought her head back to look at him. “He doesn’t have a thing for me,” she insisted, shaking her head. “He had a fling with me. Big difference,” she added holding her arms out wide before grabbing her bottle of beer from the bar and treating herself to a long, satisfying swig. God she just wished everyone would stop telling her what Jumal should have been feeling. The fact was, he didn’t want her—simple.

“So, have you heard from Mel since you got back?” James asked, trying to keep his tone light but missing the mark by a mile. He was definitely still interested.

“Er, yeah. She’s okay. Apparently that secret admirer who sent her the flowers and chocolates has recently made his identity known,” she told him, sipping on her drink as she watched James’s eyes widen in shock.

“Who?” he demanded. His earlier attempt at nonchalance vanished.

“Malik. I think you met him at my party briefly.”

“Jumal’s friend? The finance guy? She’s getting it together with an accountant?”

“Hmm-hmm. Apparently he’s had a thing for her for years but not done anything about it. Seeing you with her must have pushed him into action I guess. See, I do have matchmaking skills—just not for both people I was originally aiming for. I thought perhaps you might be ready for something more serious.”

He gave her a mirthless smile before raising his half-filled pint to his lips and downing it in one before slamming the glass back on the bar and shrugging his shoulders. “It’s complicated, Pip Squeak.”

Ain’t that the truth, she thought.

He’d miss this view, Jumal thought as he rocked tentatively in his chair, but he missed Pippa more. Hid body ached for her presence—her laugh, her smile, even her cooking. He’d been living in his very own private hell in the week since she’d been gone. Every morning he’d wake up on her side of the bed, clutching at her pillow like it was some sort of life vest. She’d been right about him seeking her body out at night. He was still drawn to her lingering scent and had ignored Maria’s confused look as he’d asked her not to wash that pillowcase. His housekeeper likely thought he was crazy. He simply didn’t care. He was desperate to cling on to whatever part of Pippa he had, knowing that eventually he would no longer be able to bury his head in her pillow and simply breathe her in, her scent setting off memories he would treasure for a lifetime.

“What’s so urgent?” Malik complained as Jumal turned slowly in his chair. His watched his friend stride over to his large