Royally Promoted

Chapter Eight

MALIKGLANCEDATLUCY, who was staring out of the window of the four-by-four with a rapt expression.

‘What’s going through your head?’

Lucy dragged her attention away from the rolling sand dunes surrounding them. The sky was ablaze with the vibrant colours of twilight: oranges, indigos and silver. In half an hour, all those colours would be consumed by the sort of blackness she was only now becoming accustomed to.

Half an hour before, as Malik had driven away from the city and its outskirts into uninhabited terrain, she had glimpsed a group of camels lounging around under the shade of a clump of sparse, oddly shaped trees.

‘I’m thinking that this is a one-off for me. Honestly, five days at an all-inclusive in Tenerife pales in comparison.’

‘Was that your last holiday?’

‘Last family holiday that we all took together? That was a couple of years ago. Rose was tying the knot and we wanted to do something together one last time. Do you remember I told you all about it afterwards?’

‘How could I forget the bridesmaid falling in the fountain?’ Malik quipped drily. ‘Not to mention the pink dress with the frills you said you were made to wear against your better judgement but then ended up loving it when you saw the photos afterwards. Wasn’t there also a last-minute panic about the weather...which turned out all right because the sun shone at all the right times?’

‘You have an incredible memory, Malik.’

‘So it would seem.’ He slid a dark glance across to her and then tore them away with difficulty to focus on the hazardous road winding through the dunes.

‘To be fair, I talk quite a bit, so it’d be impossible not to pick things up along the way. But, yes, that was the last big family thing.’

‘Busy.’

‘Like you wouldn’t believe. When most parents were finding out that their adult kids don’t fancy going on holiday with them, my parents were making hectic plans so that we could all be together. In fairness, they’re always fantastic fun. We all contribute according to what we can afford and then pull straws to find out who’s sharing a room with who.’

‘Sounds like a nightmare.’

‘Slow down, Malik! I can just about spot some more camels over there!’

She tapped him reprovingly on the arm. Malik half-smiled at the absent-minded gesture and obeyed.

Things had changed between them and it wasn’t just because they were now lovers. Since he and Lucy had climbed into bed, free to enjoy one another in the most perfect, no-strings-attached situation he could ever have dreamt possible, everyone and everything that had been in the way of him touching her had been hard to bear.

Three days of having to go into the office to oversee complex transference of duties between various CEOs had been a pain. Looking at her as she’d dutifully done her job, head down, ignoring him, had made him fidget with impatience. He had found himself glancing at his watch even more than usual on his visits to his parents, counting the seconds until he could get back to his palace and bury himself in her body. He’d sit there, barely taking in things his mother was saying, surfacing only when it was time to go.

Right now, Lucy was waxing lyrical about camels.

‘Have you ever ridden one?’ she was asking.

Malik could feel her eager blue eyes on him. ‘When you grow up with desert all around, it ends up being inevitable.’ He smiled and glanced at her, wanting to let that glance linger, but the driving conditions were too hostile for that indulgence.

‘Very exciting.’

‘And occasionally smelly.’

She laughed and his smile widened. He enjoyed the sound of her laugh. Out of the blue, he wondered whether this was normal. Was it? Was it normal to miss someone the way he missed her whenever she happened to be somewhere else? Was it normal to think about her—not always think about the great sex they shared but instead to think about the pleasure of hearing her laugh?

Was he missing a trick here? Should alarm bells be sounding? No, surely not? She was as relaxed as he was, and no mention was ever made of when things would end between them. They were both living in the moment and of course there was nothing disturbing about that. He was accustomed to laying down ground rules with the women he dated. It was his comfort zone.

He decided that there was no cause for unease in this situation. Plans for the upcoming ball were moving quickly ahead. Malik knew that it was a subject he would have to raise with Lucy pretty soon but the back burner, for the moment, seemed a pretty good place on which to park those good intentions.

It was much more satisfying listening to her chat about this, that and nothing in particular while eagerly drinking in all the sights he showed her.

Such as right now: twilight, camels and sand dunes; what better? And she had no idea where he was taking her, so she was in for a pleasant surprise, and he couldn’t wait to see her face when they got there.

‘You still haven’t told me where we’re going.’

‘I want to surprise you.’

‘Who says you haven’t done that already?’

‘Have I?’ There was a wicked smile in his voice. ‘How? No...don’t tell me. I can guess. Your body tells me how much I surprise you every time I touch it.’

‘There’s more to life than pleasant surprises between the sheets.’

Malik burst out laughing.

‘You’re right and we’re heading to one of them right now. Look ahead—see those lights in the distance?’

Lucy followed his hand as the four-by-four gently contoured the dunes to approach the lights. They looked like stars twinkling against the black velvet of the night. Actually her mind was only half on the approaching sight which, as they got nearer, she realised was an elaborate set-up: a billowing tent, a small building and people busily tending to food, a table with white starched linen set for two.

An extravagant dining experience for the two of them. She should be fizzing with excitement but, somewhere inside, she felt flat. When she had told him how much he surprised her, she hadn’t been talking about the fantastic things he did to her body, the wonderful way he had of making it come to life under his skilful touch.

No, she had been talking about small stuff. He surprised her in the little confidences he shared without realising, such as when he’d told her about going to see the headmaster at his uber-expensive boarding school because one of his friends had been so desperately homesick Malik had been worried about his mental health. Or when he’d said wistfully that he’d always wanted a dog, but that had been comprehensively banned. Or the way he had of always making sure she was okay, always slowing down to accommodate her so that he never, ever strode ahead. In a thousand ways, he was so much more the man she had only ever glimpsed during office hours.

Her heartbeat quickened. She’d gone into this with her eyes wide open, knowing what she wanted and needed from it, and determined not to let the past determine the present.

But, now, she was in deep. One minute she’d been happily paddling around in the shallow end, the next minute she couldn’t see the bottom of the pool and, when she looked over her shoulder, there was nowhere safe to head to. The sides of the pool had disappeared, and she was floundering in an ocean of disaster. She’d fallen for this guy and just admitting it to herself made her whole body tingle with suffocating panic.

She was barely aware of the car rounding to a stop or the door being held open for her by one of the many staff there who were all dressed in identical white robes and sandals.

Malik joined her, neatly hooking her hand into the crook of his arm. ‘Tonight you’re going to be treated to the finest cuisine my country can offer, prepared and cooked by one of the top chefs in the kingdom.’

‘Dining under the stars,’ Lucy said, dutifully impressed, ‘I hope they won’t mind me taking a thousand pictures to send to my family. This is just the sort of thing they’d love.’

When had that happened and what was she going to do now?

‘Sit. Tonight is your night and I want you to savour every second of it.’

She was wearing a light pashmina over her dress and Malik scooped it off her and handed it to someone who appeared from nowhere to relieve him of it. Despite the number of people all there to make this evening memorable, it still felt incredibly private and intimate.

Lucy was frantically thinking while she rustled up a smile and gazed around her appreciatively. Okay, we’re here and there’s no going back. The main thing is...keep your feelings to yourself. They’d laid their respective cards on the table and no way was she going to suddenly kid herself into thinking that anything more would come of this than what he’d said from the start.

‘You’re the first person I’ve ever done this with,’ Malik confided.

‘That’s a shame. It’s so beautiful out here. If I could think of anywhere comparable, then I’d say, but I honestly can’t. In fairness, as you know, I don’t have much credit in my holiday destination account. A few places in Europe, and here and there in England and Wales—nothing like this. The only sand I’ve ever experienced has been on a beach filled with people getting lobster-red.’

She loved him and she wanted him and, short of making up some excuse to leave the country, she was here for another couple of weeks. She’d always known that it wasn’t going to last. She’d set the deadline herself!

‘Can I say something?’

‘Sure.’

Plates of nibbles were brought to them, along with iced water and iced champagne in a silver bucket. The cork popped, the bubbles fizzed and she took a sip and looked at Malik over the rim of her glass.

He was devastatingly handsome, in a white shirt and grey linen trousers. She tingled when she looked at him, couldn’t bear to tear her eyes away.

‘When you return to London, I think you should consider going to university.’

‘Huh?’

‘You’ve explained why you didn’t go all those years ago and, when I think about that, I see red. But that was then. Now, you could climb any ladder you wanted with the right ducks in a row.’

‘You mean a ladder up the money tree?’

‘Nothing wrong with that.’

‘Not really who I am,’ Lucy said truthfully.

God, he was so beautiful. Her heart was already breaking but at the same time she was already deciding that a broken heart now was going to be the same as a broken heart in a couple of weeks’ time, so why not enjoy what she had? Why not live in this moment and feast on what was on offer instead of trying to find ways to make a martyr of herself?

She relaxed. It was under-cover love... But, while she remained here, yes, she would have her fill of this beautiful man.

‘Can I hold your hand?’ she whispered, and looked furtively over her shoulder. ‘Or is that kind of thing out of bounds for VIPs like you?’

‘Of course you can,’ Malik said gently.

‘Good.’ She briefly linked her fingers with his and squeezed his hand. ‘Great nibbles, by the way. Honestly, I’m going to return to London a thousand pounds heavier than when I came here.’ She thought that reminding herself frequently about London and returning to it would be a good idea, would keep things a little in perspective and would stop her daydreaming about stuff that was never going to happen.

‘Promise me you’ll never go on a diet,’ Malik said seriously. ‘I like your curves.’ He shot her a wolfish smile that made her go hot with a sudden urge to hold more than his hand.

‘I’ll have to see how that stacks up with the hunk waiting to meet me in a few months’ time.’

‘What hunk?’

‘Haven’t found him yet,’ Lucy said airily, mentally crossing her fingers at the lie. ‘But the search will definitely be on when I get back to cold, wet London. Maybe I’ll set one of my sisters on it. They all fancy themselves as matchmakers.’

‘Doesn’t do to rush into anything.’

Lucy looked at him with an amused expression whilst thinking that that was rich coming from the guy who was about to rush into marriage with a woman he didn’t know from Adam.

‘I’m not getting any younger! Last thing I want is to end up playing Fun Aunty at the age of sixty to a thousand nephews and nieces.’

‘I’m going to miss your talent for exaggeration.’

Then hold on to me!

Lucy killed that treacherous thought and sat back as more food was brought and glasses were refilled.

‘I could help you.’

‘Sorry?’

‘You say you’re not interested in money but who doesn’t want to make the most of their potential? And you’ve got bags of that, Lucy. I would be honoured to fund you for whatever it costs for you to get back into the maths degree you walked away from. That could be returning to university or, more than that, I could easily sponsor you to work in a company while you do it so that you earn as you go with a guarantee of a brilliant job afterwards. What do you say?’

Lucy stuck one hand on her lap, balled it into a fist and focused on the food in front of her while she fought off a tidal wave of hurt. He meant well, and that was the worst of it. He wasn’t going to be happy having her leave, but he’d already resigned himself to it, and was now wiping his conscience clean of any unwelcome post-affair stains by lending her a helping hand financially.

‘What a tempting offer, Malik. I actually haven’t given much thought to what I’ll do once I get back to London, but once I leave here I don’t think we should have any sort of continuing arrangement with one another.’

‘Continuing arrangement?’

‘You sponsor me to do something I’m not interested in doing... I keep in touch to fill you in on how it’s going because you’re the paymaster... You give me pep talks now and again... No; clean break when I leave.’

Malik flushed darkly. ‘I would never want anything back from you. I would never consider myself your “paymaster”.’

‘I’m sorry. That was unfair of me. I guess all I’m saying is I don’t think applying for a university place is going to be on the agenda.’

‘Can I at least ask why?’

Lucy sighed. ‘Those days have come and gone. I’m not bothered by getting a degree. I should be able to get by just fine with a good reference from you and my own ability to work hard. Remind me why we’re wasting time talking about this?’ She tried a wolfish smile of her own, but wasn’t sure she quite managed to pull it off, because he certainly wasn’t looking like a guy on the brink of dragging her off to the nearest secluded spot so that he could have his deliciously wicked way with her.

‘Because it’s something that needs to be discussed.’

‘Why?’

She watched, eyebrows raised, as he raked his fingers through his hair and scowled.

‘This isn’t about lots of chat.’ She purred, giving him a taste of his own medicine and taking perverse pleasure in it. ‘This is about other, more interesting things...’ She sat back and looked around her. ‘Like me enjoying this incredible scenery because I probably will never set eyes on it again...and tasting every morsel of this food, even if it turns me into a beached whale after I’ve eaten the lot... And of course, when we get back to the bedroom, well...’

‘Forgive me for trying to do what’s good for you,’ Malik responded tersely.

‘Don’t you worry your head about what happens to me when I leave Sarastan. What’s good for me is for us to just have some fun with what time we have left.’ There was enough sincerity in that remark for her voice to husk over with genuine emotion, and in return Malik sighed and shook his head, as though fighting against the need to dismiss a conversation he wanted to have.

She was stuffed by the end of the evening. They had enjoyed an array of starters, letting the darkness soak them up, and appreciating the studded starry sky above. For the various desserts and coffee, they retired under an elaborate tent that was complete with all mod cons.

Lucy was beginning to feel tired. It had been a long day, and there was something a little exhausting about being presented with spectacular sights, one on top the other, from the wide-open dunes to the roaring twilight, from the camels and the emptiness to the wonderful finale he had arranged for her. Everything felt like a memory in the making and, as they slowly drifted back to the car, which was to be driven back for them, she suddenly had to know how much time was left to them.

She was determined to enjoy what was left, determined not to let their last few moments be blighted by anxiety and trepidation about a future without him. She wanted to be in charge of her own narrative. Wasn’t it a fact that the only stuff you ever regretted was the stuff you wanted to do but never did? She had embarked on this crazy, whirlwind, beautiful, invigorating affair because she would have regretted having walked away from it.

She wasn’t going to regret a single minute of what they had shared, even if it left her with a broken heart. There was something to be said for that old chestnut about it being better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Which wasn’t to say that a little mental preparation for departure wasn’t going to be in order.

‘So...’

‘I’m beginning to dread when you open a sentence with so...’

Lucy ignored the interruption. It was good that Malik wasn’t doing the driving. She had his full attention.

‘We’ve had our chat,’ she said, ‘about what happens once I return to London—and many thanks, incidentally, for the kind offer of giving me a leg up the career ladder.’

‘You should seriously think about it. A maths degree could open a lot more doors for you.’

‘Like I said, I’m perfectly happy living with those doors shut. But what I’d really like to know now is when I can start planning my return. I want to make sure everything is okay with my place for when I get back. I can arrange for one of my sisters to nip in and have a look and make sure that the fridge is stocked for when I get in.’

‘You need notice to get someone to buy some milk for when you return?’

‘It’s not a joke, Malik. I might want to start arranging interviews for when I’m back in London, and I can’t do that if I have no idea when that’s going to be, can I?’

‘There’s really no need for you to start job-hunting immediately,’ Malik ground out with a sudden, darkening frown. ‘I’m not rushing you out of the door.’

‘I know you’re not,’ Lucy returned equably. ‘I know you’d never do that, but I don’t see any value in hanging around with nothing much to do once I’m back in London. It’s just not in my nature.’

‘We really don’t have to have this conversation at the moment. Do we?’

‘I can’t believe you’re saying that, Malik,’ Lucy said with a wry smile, ‘when you’re the guy who’s said more than once that only fools put off for tomorrow what has to be done today.’

‘Remind me to avoid sharing pearls of wisdom with you from now on,’ he drawled, lounging against the seat and looking so sinfully sexy that Lucy was very tempted to do just as asked and ditch the uncomfortable conversation in favour of shamelessly staring at him.

‘I won’t be around for you to share them with,’ she returned more sharply than she’d intended. ‘So...’

‘A week and a half, if I’m forced to put a timeline on it. As you know, the brunt of the work transferring responsibility to various other people within the company has gone better than expected, and thankfully my father has agreed to return on a limited basis because his recovery is going well, so any remaining transfers of duty can be handled by him.’

‘Less time than I thought. Fair enough.’ She breathed in thinly and forced a smile. ‘Maybe your father thinks that he might end up bored stiff if he decides to stay at home, pruning the roses and playing golf.’

Malik burst out laughing and looked at her with warm, dark appreciation.

She was flushed and her blonde hair curled over her shoulders, a tangle of vanilla that always gave her an untamed, raw sexiness he knew she wasn’t aware of. There’d been moments during the evening when he’d barely been able to restrain himself from cutting short the meal so that he could get her back to the palace and make love to her. He just had to think about the feel of her breasts in his hands and his pulses went into freefall.

He didn’t want to talk about her returning to London, even though it had been on his mind. Of course, everything she’d said had made perfect sense, and he should have been grateful that she was adopting such a pragmatic approach to a future that wasn’t going to conveniently disappear just because he wasn’t quite ready for it to overtake him. Not just yet. Not when he still burned for her.

Malik was accustomed to taking the lead when it came to ending relationships. This time, he’d found himself acquiescing to someone else’s common sense and he was finding that he had to grit his teeth through it. Was it selfish of him to want more of her? He had to remind himself that his life was now going down a different road, the only road he was prepared to go down.

He would marry a suitable woman. The time had come, and he would step up to the plate and do his duty without flinching.

Lucy was a ship passing in the night and, as they’d both admitted, what she wanted was out of reach with him, so all he could do was wish her well in her search for Mr Right.

It was annoying that a part of him was a little piqued at her easy acceptance of the situation. He was ashamed to think that that might just be his ego talking. The shoe was on the other foot and he didn’t like it.

‘I don’t think my father would recognise a golf club if I put one in front of him,’ Malik mused, feasting on her prettiness and feeling the stir of his body responding. He noted the way her eyes darkened as they tangled with his. When he lowered his gaze to her thighs, she blushed but didn’t look away. ‘Once upon a distant time, he used to be quite passable at polo.’

‘Really? Isn’t that said to be the sport of kings?’

‘Not kings in their sixties who are recuperating from heart problems.’

‘You can be pretty funny when you put your mind to it.’

‘I do my best.’

‘How will he spend all the free time he’ll be finding himself with?’

‘Both my parents do a considerable amount of charity work with various other countries and kingdoms in the area. They’re very much into promoting clean drinking water, irrigation and schooling for outposts that are located far from the cities.’

‘That’s amazing.’

‘Yes. Yes, it is.’

‘Will you and your wife...er...continue with that tradition?’

‘Lucy, I haven’t even met this so-called woman who will be entering my life. How on earth could I have had discussions with her about what she would or wouldn’t like to do?’

‘Just asking.’

‘This isn’t how I envisaged the evening ending up.’

‘That’s because when you’re with me all you think about is sex.’

‘That’s not true!’ Malik said in a low, outraged voice. ‘You and I have a hell of a lot more between us than just sex.’

‘Do we?’

‘What’s going on with you, Lucy? Why are you suddenly determined to pick an argument with me after the fantastic evening we’ve just had?’

‘It’s not unreasonable to ask a few questions. I’m not going to just live in a vacuum until I wake up one morning to find that my suitcase has been pulled out of the wardrobe and my airline ticket is on the dressing table. A week and a half isn’t very long. I can start putting things in place, if that’s a definite timeline.’

Malik flung his hands in the air in an exasperated gesture and glared at her. ‘How is it possible to be one hundred perfect definite in this? How much time will your sister need to get to the corner shop for the pint of milk?’ He looked at her with brooding intensity. ‘Maybe I won’t find anyone. Maybe this thing we have between us...isn’t...’

‘Isn’t what?’

‘You look at me and I burn for you,’ Malik muttered, every word sounding as though it was being dragged out of him. ‘When we first... I didn’t expect the ferocity of this. Maybe I can delay the whole marriage thing for a while...’

‘I don’t think so, Malik.’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘This isn’t going to play out on your terms and your terms only.’

‘Did I ever say that it would?’

‘You know, growing up in a big family, you had to make yourself heard; you had to be able to stand up for yourself and not let other people make decisions for you. So, now?’ Lucy sighed. ‘I can’t just hang around until you get me out of your system.’

Malik flushed darkly.

‘I don’t like the way that makes me sound.’

‘But,’ she said gently, ‘you are a guy who’s accustomed to getting his own way, aren’t you? With women...in business...in life in general. You mentioned a ball; is there a date set for it?’

‘It’s next Saturday.’

‘Hence the week and a half guideline,’ Lucy said. ‘Is that what tonight was all about?’

‘What do you mean?’ There was genuine bewilderment in his voice.

‘Tonight...it really was wonderful, Malik, and something I’ll remember for ever...but was it your last hurrah?’

‘No idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Was this the last big gesture before we wrap things up?’

‘That’s not why I did tonight. I... I wanted to show you my country...what it’s like in the desert at night...and I wanted to do it in style.’

Malik stilled as he looked back at the evening they had spent together. He had arranged the whole thing himself, including arranging which chefs should prepare the food. The whole thing had smacked of romance, and for a few seconds he’d been taken aback by the sheer pleasure that afforded him.

Him, the guy who didn’t do romance.

And now he was here, wanting more.

Habits conditioned over a lifetime kicked in with force, because he could remember the bitterness of realising the truth about life—that allowing emotions free rein was a recipe for disaster. Especially for a man in his position, where duty to his country and the responsibilities of his blood line were vital. He was a guy who, at all times, needed to put his head above emotion. But what he felt here, sitting in the back seat of his car, caught up in this conversation with a woman he couldn’t get enough of... It made him vulnerable and that was not going to do. Just contemplating that sign of weakness was enough to make his blood run cold.

‘But of course you’re right,’ he said coolly, back in a place of control. ‘You need a deadline. My parents are expecting you at the ball. It will be a grand affair and a good opportunity for you to meet a lot of people who have considerable financial concerns in London. A great chance to network. I will do my bit, and you can put it in the bracket of giving you a good reference. Day after, I’ll make sure that you’re booked first class to return to London.’

They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds that seemed to go on for ever.

‘Sounds good,’ Lucy murmured, the first to look away. ‘That will give my sister plenty of time to get the pint of milk in.’