Page 21 of Royally Promoted

Along had come Lucy and drawn something out of his mother that he had never quite managed to get hold of and now Malik frowned, uncomfortable with that thought.

‘You told me that your parents were extremely reserved.’

‘They are.’

‘I suppose when you said traditional that I was expecting something else.’

‘Where is this conversation going, Lucy?’

‘Does it have to go anywhere? I’m just saying how lovely I thought your mother was and not at all as I thought she was going to be. First off, she’s really beautiful. I mean really beautiful. What does your father look like?’

‘My father looks like a man recuperating after major heart surgery.’

‘I can tell that your mother’s worried sick about him and misses him—something in her eyes whenever she talks about him. But I have to admire her restraint, her poise. I suppose,’ she said pensively, staring at Malik but not really seeing him, and definitely missing his frowning disapproval of the conversation, ‘That’s the sort of thing you would be looking for in this woman you’ll be interviewing for the role of wife. I’d really love to meet your dad some time—’

‘Enough, Lucy!’

Lucy blinked, focused and then frowned.

‘Sorry?’

‘I introduced you to my mother as an act of courtesy. You’re staying with me at the palace, and of course there would come a time when it would be appropriate for you to meet her. That’s now been done and dusted.’

‘Done and dusted?’

Malik looked at her in brooding silence, lips thinned, wondering how to steer this conversation away from choppy waters. At any rate, choppy waters for him, because he was unsettled by what was beginning to feel like an invasion of his privacy.

This didn’t happen. No woman had ever been introduced to any family member before and he had never been tempted to go there. Family introductions fell into the category of the sort of cosy arrangements that led to unrealistic expectations of the kind he didn’t want. Whatever ground rules he’d laid down with the women he’d dated in the past, there had always been some who’d wanted more than he was ever prepared to give.

Of course, Lucy was in a different category, and meeting his mother had been a matter of courtesy more than anything else, but even so...

His reaction was an automatic, ingrained response to anyone trying to trespass into his private terrain, which was what this felt like. He reminded himself that Lucy was Lucy, that her interest was to be expected and that he had never tried to dampen down her natural exuberance or her intellectual curiosity, so why would he start now?

She would be confused. He’d introduced her to his mother, so why would he suddenly be tense at her responding to the visit with her usual outspoken candour?

‘Of course, you may meet my father in due course.’ He reined in his natural instinct to shut her down and protect a slice of private life that, he decided, honestly didn’t need protecting from a woman who wasn’t after anything. ‘But, like I said, he’s still very frail after his operation. He tires easily and spends much of the day resting. I hear from him in sound bites because it’s vital I find out certain things on the business front.’

Sudden silence gathered between them and Malik shifted, annoyed with himself for being short with her, making a mountain out of a molehill.

She wasn’t looking at him. She was staring straight ahead, and the angle of her head was proudly defiant, her expression tight-lipped. Something placatory seemed required. That said, it was important that he conveyed the important message that she shouldn’t overstep his boundary lines, even inadvertently. That message was more important to him than smoothing ruffled feathers. Ruffled feathers would smooth over perfectly fine in due course.

‘Lucy,’ he said gently, ‘as with my “interviewing a wife”, as you insist on calling it, my family life is not a place you will be frequenting. Maybe, in passing, you might meet my father before you go but—’

‘I get it.’

She swung round so that she was staring at him. Their eyes tangled and neither looked away.

She did get it, and she wanted to shout at him exactly what it was she got. She’d been so pleased when they’d left his mother’s palace because all her apprehensions about meeting his mother had proved unfounded. It had been a fantastic visit and it had left her wanting more. She’d been greedy to see more of the life that had shaped her charismatic boss and that was a mistake. He’d obviously sensed something behind her effervescent responses and he’d backed off at speed.

Duty visit to meet the mother? Tick.

Any kind of encore? Not on the cards.

He was reminding her of her place in his life: an employee who was paid for doing a job and not someone who should get it into her head that she might be anything more just because she’d met his mother.

The Bentley slowed to circle the enormous courtyard, stopping in front of the magnificent palace.

‘Tell me what you get,’ Malik murmured. He circled his hand around her arm to stop her leaping out of the car as soon as it stopped and it was as hot as a branding iron. Lucy’s thoughts scattered and she breathed in deeply, finding the will power from somewhere to manage a reply.

---