Page 32 of Royally Promoted

‘She is.’

‘So why do you have to do something you don’t want to do?’

Malik smiled wryly. ‘You’re mixing me up for someone who allows other people to run his life for him. If I didn’t want this arranged marriage, I wouldn’t be doing it. I can’t remember saying that marriage to a suitable woman was something I didn’t want to do, do you?’

‘I suppose not...’

‘Were you really taken aback to see me?’

‘It’s your castle. You can come and go as you please.’

‘Palace. It’s my palace...and that’s a non-answer.’

‘A man’s home is his castle. I admit you took me by surprise. I would have... I probably would have...’

‘Been hiding away in your rooms? Admit it, I make you uncomfortable.’

‘Don’t be silly. Of course you don’t. Since when have you ever known me to hide away from anything? Since when have I ever been uncomfortable around you? We work perfectly together. Perfectly.’

‘We did. Until that kiss interrupted the smooth flow of things.’

‘We weren’t going to bring that up!’

‘My apologies.’

‘You don’t sound very sorry. Malik...’

‘Maybe I’m finding out that I’m no good when it comes to make-believe.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about—and what has this got to do with you settling down with someone who ticks all the right boxes anyway?’

Danger threaded between them.

The silence stretched. Her mouth remained half-open, on the cusp of saying something, something that refused to be said.

‘You’re getting married, Malik...’ Lucy reminded him jerkily. ‘This shouldn’t be happening between us!’

‘Jesus, you think I don’t know that? But... I’m finding it very hard to fight my attraction. The past three days have been torture.’ His dark eyes pinned her to the spot, burning with hot intensity. ‘Is it just me?’

He didn’t move an inch closer to her, and yet Lucy felt his words as forcibly as if he’d reached out and touched her.

‘I can’t believe you’re lost for words, Lucy, but on this occasion I think I like it,’ he murmured and the effect was devastating.

She trembled, her eyelids fluttered and the breath caught in her throat.

He was getting married!

To let anything come of this searing desire to sleep with a guy on the cusp of...whatever you wanted to call it...wouldn’t do.

But this was different...wasn’t it? There was no woman in his life, not even a name or a face, just a possibility. Yes, he would marry, and he would be out of her reach for ever, but right now this man was very much within her reach...

In an instant, Lucy’s mind flew ahead and a series of events unravelled at supersonic speed.

A wedded Malik would mean the end of her job, whatever he said. He would surely have to spend a lot more time in Sarastan and how would she fit into that scenario on a long-term basis? There was even a chance that he might emigrate completely because, if he married an aristocrat from there, would she want to up sticks and move to London?

She was facing the end of her career as she knew it, whether that end happened in a week, in a month or in agonisingly slow motion over a period of time.

And then...she would never see this man again.

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