His Irresistible Darling (3 page)

Melina screwed up her face before asking, “Who’s George and why is he licking Harry’s face?”

“Oh sorry, he’s our Labrador. Part of the Darling family, and he’s eager to protect the newest member of his pack.”

“Ah right. But your friend, er, James was it? He’s still coming out here, right?” Melina practically demanded.

Pip chuckled. “Yeah, bless him. He’s got some holidays coming up and hasn’t travelled around this part of the world so I invited him over for a few days.”

“Great. So remind me why he’s not your boyfriend? If I remember rightly, his Facebook photo shows he’s a real looker and a vet no less. I like a man who works with his hands,” she joked.

“Oh yes, he’s utterly gorgeous but we’re just friends. He’s a brilliant vet too and the only one that Matt trusts to look after the horses and their babies.” She tsked herself and rolled her eyes. “I mean foals.”

“So what you’re saying is that he’s single?” Melina checked, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

Pip smiled at the mischievous glint in her friend’s deep brown eyes. “Well he was when we last spoke, so unless someone has popped up on his radar in the last couple of weeks then yes, he’s still single. Why? You planning on trying to change his Facebook status while he’s here?” she teased.

“Well, no harm in a girl trying now is there?” Melina winked at her as she bit into her apple and Pip couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Ladies. Do you think you might actually do some work today? You’re paid to work, not gossip.”

Both Pip and Melina looked up in surprise as Faridah Omar sailed past their desks swiftly followed by the scent of her expensive perfume
.
Bloody hell, did she bathe in it?

“And hold Jumal’s calls,” Faridah called, not bothering to look back.

Pip waited for her to get out of earshot before whispering, “God I hate that woman and her new-season Chanel handbag.” She watched Faridah stalk towards Jumal’s office…correction, her fiancé’s office, in her tight black business suit and heels, swinging her briefcase with confidence. “Whenever I see her I think of Cruella de Vil. The woman is a bully,” she continued solemnly, “and I hate bullies.”

Faridah was just so full of her own self-importance, Pip thought. Her feelings towards Miss High and Mighty had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she was also Jumal’s fiancée. Nope, nothing at all to do with that little gem.

What the hell did Jumal see in that tall, beautiful, intelligent woman? Height was so overrated in her opinion. Good things came in
small
packages…right? Or had her mother just been talking a load of rubbish? God she missed her mother.

***

“I have a charity polo match in a couple of weeks. Can you make it?”

“Oh no, sorry, Jumal. The next few weekends are going to be a real pain for me. I need to travel out to Dubai.”

He watched her sigh as she tilted her head to the side. She looked genuinely sorry that she couldn’t make it but Jumal had been hearing similar excuses for some time now, and he was beginning to think Faridah was having second thoughts about their engagement.

He got the feeling that her heart wasn’t in their relationship any more and possibly lay somewhere else. Not that he had any proof, just a gut feeling. It was strange, though, that this wasn’t what caused him to toss and turn in bed at night. Nope, someone else not a million miles away was the sole cause of that frustration…

“Here’s the contract,” she said, passing the file of papers over the desk and into his hand. “I’ve gone over it and liaised with my opposite number in the Dubai government and hashed out the details. This is the final version ready for signature. No need to check it. I’ll set up a joint meeting for it to be signed,” she told him as she fiddled with her Blackberry. “How’s your diary for a visit to Dubai the week after next?”

“Yeah that’s fine. Speak to Pippa about my availability,” he agreed as he flicked through the file.

“What?” she gasped, looking up from her Blackberry, surprised. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather I just access your diary to make the arrangements? You know how flighty Miss Darling can be and I really—”

Jumal looked up from the papers to see her flick her long straight black hair over her shoulder and pop one hip forward.

Jumal felt his hackles rise. It was one thing for
him
to criticise Pippa but another for someone else to do it, even if that someone was his fiancée. In reality, he kind of enjoyed Pippa’s feisty attitude. She was the polar opposite to Faridah, who was always calm, cool and collected
in everything
. He was sure nothing could get under her skin and in the short time that they’d been engaged she hadn’t once caused him to drop his head into his hands and curse like a sailor.

“No,” he interrupted. “It’s Pippa’s job to sort out such things. You can liaise with her. She’ll be fine.”

Faridah huffed at him and waved her hand. “Fine. Whatever. I’ll see you at your parents’ place tonight for dinner. Your mother called me earlier. Eight o’clock sharp. Wear your grey pinstripe suit and pale blue dress shirt,” she ordered as she turned away from him.

He narrowed his eyes and watched her stride purposefully towards the door.

“And for pity’s sake put on a tie,” she called over her shoulder before closing the door.

He hadn’t missed the fact that she’d come and gone without so much as a kiss or embrace. Hell, they’d barely made eye contact during their entire conversation…and he wasn’t placing the blame for the lack of intensity entirely on her slim shoulders.

Jumal hated being told about such arrangements third-hand and at the last minute. He’d had it with people making decisions about his personal life for him. The rebellious part of his character challenged him to get on his motorbike and head out to his home in the desert with his horses, leaving his fiancée and parents to enjoy their evening on their own. It was likely they wouldn’t even miss him. They could try to organise his personal life better if he wasn’t actually there to pass comment or offer an opinion. That was precisely how he’d acquired his social-climbing fiancée… He was the sixth in line to find out about it after both sets of parents and Faridah had decided his future without him over dinner one evening. At the time though, just after he’d returned from his visit to Melville House and being reintroduced to Pippa, it had suited him. A fool proof distraction from where his real interest lay…thousands of miles away in the middle of nowhere in the North Yorkshire moors. Sod it, he thought, and brought up his email account.

***

Pippa scowled at Faridah’s back as she stood waiting for the lift to arrive at the fiftieth floor. She leaned forward in her chair, resting her elbows on her desk and dropping her chin into her hands, pondering if she could get away with
accidentally
throwing her pen at Miss Tall and Gorgeous’s back. Her devilish scheming was interrupted by the ping of her email.

To: Pippa Darling

From: Jumal Aldabbagh

Subject: Tonight

Pippa,

Lots on with the Dubai deal. Need you to work late tonight. If you have plans you’ll have to cancel. I also need you to call my mother and tell her I can’t make dinner tonight.

Jumal

CEO, JAA Enterprises

Great, just great. She was already convinced that his mother didn’t like her and no doubt she’d somehow be blamed for his cancelling dinner.

She penned her reply.

To: Jumal Aldabbagh

From: Pippa Darling

Subject: Re: Tonight

Yeah sure, no problem about tonight, sir. I’ll just cancel all my plans
. (Heavy sarcasm intended.)

Are you happy for me to come up with an appropriate excuse for your mother as to why her only son can’t make dinner?

Pip

Personal Assistant to Jumal Aldabbagh

JAA Enterprises

Having received his positive reply, she picked up her phone and placed it between her shoulder and ear whilst looking over at Melina with a wicked glint in her eye.

“Oh no, I know that look. Whatever you’re thinking
isn’t
a good idea, Pip. Stop baiting the tiger. He’s gonna turn and bite you,” her friend warned whilst shaking her head.

“What?” she asked, innocently. “He shouldn’t make me do all his dirty work.”

She ignored Melina’s soft reply reminding her that that was actually part of her job description.

Eventually, the butler connected her call to Mrs Aldabbagh.

“Yes, sorry, Mrs Aldabbagh, I know it’s late notice and Jumal is just so sorry but he can’t make dinner tonight. The doctor could only offer him an emergency appointment tonight and of course he needed to get it seen to as quickly as possible. I think Jumal said something about some oozing and all. Yuck.”

Pip had to hold the phone away from her ear at his mother’s retort.

“What was that?” she checked, gingerly returning the phone to her ear. “Oh yes of course you can speak to him, I’ll just put you through. Nice speaking to you again, Mrs Aldabbagh.”

She punched in his extension number.

“What?” Jumal growled at her.

“Your mother would like a quick word, sir,” she said as she connected him.

She leaned back in her chair, spinning it around slowly with her feet, her hands steepled together under her chin as she counted to herself. One, two, three…

“PIPPAAAAA!!”

Chapter Two

“Here you go.”

Pip yelped and jumped in surprise as the large file of papers landed squarely on her desk and scattered her yellow paper notes. She shot a glance up at Jumal’s dark eyes. “Some light bedtime reading. Enough to keep even
you
out of trouble.”

“What is it?” she asked, looking back briefly at the ominous large file.

“The Dubai contract. Faridah dropped it in earlier and she’ll be contacting you tomorrow to set up the meetings.”

“Joy,” she mumbled under her breath.

“Sorry, what was that?” Jumal pressed.

“Nothing,” she replied, waving her hand dismissively. “So what do you need me to do?”

He paused briefly as if considering his next words. “I want a summary of the salient points on my desk tomorrow morning.”

Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t stop her mouth from dropping open goldfish style as she discreetly tried to glance at her watch. It was already ten o’clock at night.

“Wha—” She shut her mouth—even she knew when to quit and this was clearly punishment for her earlier joke. The man obviously had no sense of humour. In fact, come to think of it, she hadn’t even seen him crack a smile with a colleague in the few months she’d been here. He was so serious—a prime candidate for a stress-induced heart attack.

“Fine,” she said, putting her hands up as she accepted defeat. “I always struggle to get to sleep. This is just the ticket.”

“Good. You ready to go home? I think we’ve worked late enough. Looks like we’re the last ones here,” he noticed, glancing around the empty office. “I’ll drop you at home on the way.”

“Oh, don’t put yourself out,” she mumbled not even trying to hide her sarcasm but then winced at his ice-cold stare.

“Okay, okay, thanks,” she conceded shutting down her laptop.

“Here.” She was startled as Jumal took hold of her jacket and held it open for her arms. She quickly grabbed her bag and the file.

“Lead on, chauffeur
,
” she added, mischievously.

He simply shook his head at her and headed over to the lifts to press the call button. She finally joined him, muttering under her breath about his lack of a sense of humour but trying to keep her distance and stare down at the floor. Hmm, funny she’d never really noticed the colour of the flooring before and she’d never been more grateful for the soft ping announcing the arrival of the lift.

“After you,” Jumal said, standing back and holding out his arm before following her in and pressing the button for the underground car park.

Pip huddled up against the mirrored wall at the back of the lift and took a deep breath. She hated lifts—hated being enclosed anywhere she couldn’t easily get out of but especially when said enclosed coffin was fifty floors up.

“Are you okay?”

She looked up at Jumal’s question, momentarily surprised by his concern.

“Yeah. I just don’t like small, enclosed places. Childhood trauma caused entirely by your friend aka my brother.” She dropped her head to stare again at the floor.

“Why, what—?” Jumal’s query was suddenly interrupted by the lift plunging into darkness and coming to an abrupt halt.

“Jumal!?” She couldn’t hide the distress from her voice as she fumbled in the dark and dropped her bag and the file to the floor; her hands reached out desperately towards him.

She suddenly felt his hand clasp hers and pull her body towards him.

“Hey, it’s okay. We’re fine. The emergency lighting will—ah, there you go. See?” he assured her as the dim overhead emergency lighting came on.

“Look at me,” he demanded, still holding one of her hands and reaching for her chin with his other, gently raising it to meet his eyes.

“Really, we’re fine. They’ll have us out of here in no time,” he said, clearly trying to calm his hysterical employee and rubbing her hand, which she knew was shaking.

She nodded but couldn’t speak or bring herself to let go of his hand as he reached over with his other hand to push the emergency contact button on the brass panel. She looked down at his hand holding hers; she’d never touched his hand so intimately and was surprised at the hard feel of his hands. Where would a man who spent his life in offices and meetings manage to get calluses?

A few moments later a male voice acknowledged their call and assured them that the engineer would be dispatched immediately.

“I guess we wait then.” Her voice still trembled slightly.

“Hmm, better make ourselves comfortable.”

She gulped as he dropped her hand and pulled off his suit jacket to spread it out onto the floor and gestured for her to sit.

He joined her on the floor of the lift and rolled up his sleeves, revealing his tanned, toned forearms and a vintage watch with a black alligator leather strap.