Page 14 of Royally Promoted

‘Best of everything—I’m getting the message. But still...there’s more to recuperation than the best of everything.’

‘Indeed there is,’ he replied gravely, dark eyes flicking across her face, still flushed from the heat outside.

His eyes dropped to her mouth, which had a perfect Cupid’s bow. And then drifted lower, to the cling of her dress across her full breasts. Something kicked in and his mouth tightened as he quickly looked away from a sight that was suddenly a little too tempting for his own good.

‘Sticking to business, however...part of the reason I came here is to fill you in on anything you might want to find out now that you’re actually here.’

Lucy would rather have delved into a few more questions about his family. It had been such a huge and presumably traumatic event and she marvelled that he could remain as cool as a cucumber. One of her sisters had broken her leg three years previously and Lucy had been distraught. She paled when she thought of either of her parents going into hospital.

‘It’s hotter than I expected,’ she said, focusing on the guy looking at her with brooding attention.

‘It shouldn’t be. I sent an encyclopaedia worth of information, including details about the weather.’

‘And that was extremely helpful.’ She’d tied her hair back into something that should have been a bun, but it had gradually unravelled over the course of the day, and she helped things along now by yanking off the elastic tie and shaking her head.

The car was beautifully cool and her hair wasn’t accustomed to being restricted. She failed to notice the sudden tension that rippled through Malik’s body as he took in her carefree gesture. Failed to notice the way his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared before he controlled his expression.

‘Questions?’ he reminded her, voice terser than intended.

‘Here’s one. Should I have my hair chopped off? I’m not sure this heat is going to agree with it. English heat is very different to this.’

‘Up to you. Not the sort of question I had in mind, however.’

Lucy rested her head back, half-closed her eyes and dimpled at him.

‘I know. I was just thinking out loud.’

‘Well?’

‘Are you happy to be back here?’

‘Yet another question I didn’t have in mind.’

Lucy half-opened her eyes and looked at him in silence for a few seconds.

She was tempted to probe. He was a very private guy. She knew that: knew it from the way he never, ever gave any hint of a life outside the walls of his very expensive office in London. The place was stuffed with other super-bright, highly ambitious and driven individuals, and yet even these bright and driven men occasionally talked about their partners. Some even went so far as to daringly have a few photos on their desks, which always made her smile.

But Malik was a closed book and now, out here in these circumstances, she realised that he was even more closed a book than she had imagined.

What stirred under that ridiculously gorgeous, utterly impenetrable exterior? she wondered. And not for the first time. Although sitting in this car, with him so close to her, her curiosity felt sharper. Was it because just being here, in the place where he’d been born, opened a door to the background she knew nothing about?

‘Questions, questions, questions...’ she mused, while her mind threatened to break its leash and run off.

‘Focus, Lucy,’ Malik said drily. ‘You look as though you’re a million miles away.’

‘It’s been a long day,’ she said, not untruthfully. ‘If I think about practical stuff, Malik, I do have a few questions, as it happens.’

‘Spit them out.’

‘Eating.’

‘Come again?’

‘I know my working hours are going to be the same as they are in London, but I’m not going to be heading back on the Tube for dinner in my box.’

‘Your box?’

Malik frowned and inclined his head.

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