Page 52 of Royally Promoted

Watch and wait...? See what happened when she opened that box...? No, that felt a little too voyeuristic, although it was cravenly tempting.

He pushed open the door, cleared his throat and then they were looking at one another. Her face was a picture of open-mouthed shock. Her big, blue eyes were wide with absolute astonishment.

‘Lucy...’

‘What are you doing here?’

‘I... Why don’t you sit down? Before you fall down.’ He moved forward quickly, dragged her leather chair out from behind her desk and rolled it over to where she hadn’t moved a muscle since she’d entered the room.

‘What are you doing here?’ she again demanded shrilly, ignoring the chair. ‘Why have you come here? You knew I’d be here collecting my stuff, Malik! Why have you picked now to show up?’

‘Because...’ He faltered to a stop but then nodded to the box on her desk. ‘Lucy, would you open the box? It’s...something I bought for you...’

‘Tripped up at the last minute by a guilty conscience, Malik?’ she asked with dripping sarcasm.

Galvanised into action, she strode over to her desk, ignoring both him and the chair, and yanked open the drawers to begin the process of stuffing her belongings into one of the bin bags.

‘No need to feel guilty,’ she muttered in a driven undertone. ‘No need to feel sorry for me. I’m quite capable of moving on from you, whatever you might think.’

‘What you said...’

‘What about it?’ She stopped to glare at him but even in mid-glare she noted that he looked haggard. ‘And how the heck did you manage to get here so fast?’ she demanded accusingly. ‘Last time I saw you, you were about to disappear back into your “find a bride” party.’

Her eyes blurred with tears.

‘I didn’t disappear back into it for long,’ Malik admitted roughly. ‘You left me...you walked away... I went to my place in the city centre. You asked how I got here? Private jet. I didn’t have the patience to go through the usual channels. I had to get here...had to see you...’

‘And now you have. So, you can disappear back to Sarastan in your private jet and pick up where you left off there!’

She was being horrible but how could she help it? How could she be expected to hang on to her self-control when he was standing in the room like her very worst nightmare come to life.

‘Did you mean it? What you said...about loving me...’

Lucy stared, livid that he had asked that, livid that he was here and yet unable to deny the truth of what she had told him.

‘What does it matter?’

‘A lot. The box...it’s not a guilt gift, Lucy. Please...would you open it?’

So, she did. She reckoned that she might as well, because the faster she could leave, the better. She couldn’t do this. Couldn’t be in the same room as Malik.

It was an enormous box and she wondered whether he’d thoughtlessly decided to get her a farewell gift of a new laptop for whatever new job she managed to find. She began tearing off the paper—thick, expensive paper, she couldn’t help but notice en passant. The bow got chucked on the ground. She could feel his dark eyes on her and, when she quickly glanced up at him, she shivered because she couldn’t read what he was thinking, not at all.

And she’d always been half-decent at doing that.

The paper kept coming off, layer upon layer upon layer, and then, just when she was about to give up in tearful, angry frustration and misery, there it was—a little black velvet box which she stared down at without touching.

‘What’s this?’ she asked suspiciously.

‘Open it.’

‘Tell me.’ But she was already flipping open the little box, and there it was—a ring...with a diamond on it. The purest, most beautiful diamond she had ever seen in her life. Not that she’d seen very many, actually.

‘What’s this?’ she repeated, but her voice was hesitant, although she couldn’t staunch the rush of excitement that threaded its way through her.

She trembled as he took a few steps towards her until he was right next to her, so close to her that she could reach out and touch him.

‘Will you marry me, Lucy?’

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