Page 10 of Royally Promoted

Malik finally picked up the thread of the conversation as he dug into the food on his plate. ‘I think I’ll use one of the family properties to house us.’

‘Sorry?’ Fork on the way to her mouth, Lucy froze as she digested this.

‘It would make sense.’

‘On what planet would it make sense?’ The words were out before she could take time to think about it. ‘Malik, I’m not sharing a house with you!’

‘Why not?’

‘Because...because I’m not!’

‘You shock me,’ Malik murmured, looking down as he calmly carried on eating. ‘What’s there not to like about the idea? We’ll be working together, and it would certainly do away with the aggravating chore of making our way into the capital every day.’

‘That’s not going to work, Malik. No way.’

‘I’m very well trained in all domestic settings,’ Malik told her mildly. ‘Despite my privileged background, I find I’m generally capable of tidying up after myself in the absence of anyone else to do it for me and, at a push, have actually created one or two edible meals for myself.’

‘Forget it!’

Her cheeks were hot and her pulses were racing. Disturbing images were flying through her head at dizzying speed. They involved the two of them in close quarters, bumping into one another in search of the kitchen late at night for a glass of water, sharing dinners, lunches and breakfasts, settling down to watch telly in the living room...

Her heart was on the verge of packing up altogether when she slowly noticed that he was finding it hard to control his laughter.

‘What?’ Lucy snapped, blinking her way back to reality.

‘Calm down, Lucy,’ he said gently. ‘I know what’s going through your head, and there’s nothing to get over-excited about here. The family residence is a palace of quite sizeable proportions. It’ll be convenient, because it’s close enough to my parents’ place for me to visit regularly to check my father’s progress as and when. It’ll also be big enough for you to have your own quarters, which will be in a completely different wing to where I will be staying. You’ll even have your own garden where you can relax any time you want. I already have various rooms kitted out for office purposes, and naturally there will be staff on hand to take care of all our daily requirements. You’ll find that you won’t have to lift a finger.

‘If it’s any consolation, I’ve used the place hundreds of times for conferences that have involved people from different countries having to power-work on something and needing a place to stay for a few days at a time.’

Lucy stared at him and tried to sift through this baffling array of information, finally settling on, ‘Palace? We’ll be staying in a palace? When you say palace...?’

‘You’ll get the picture soon enough.’

‘And when you say staff...?’

‘You won’t have to cook or clean or generally think about doing anything aside from working and relaxing.’

‘I can’t see myself relaxing in a place where I won’t know anyone.’

‘You’ll know me.’

‘You’re my boss, Malik. It’s completely different.’

‘Is this your way of telling me that you’re having second thoughts?’

‘No. I said I’d come and I will. I’m just voicing a few perfectly valid concerns. A girl has to be prepared...’

‘I could introduce you to some of my relatives who are your age.’

‘You have brothers? Sisters?’

‘I have cousins.’

‘But no siblings.’

‘We seem to be going a little off-piste here,’ Malik murmured.

‘No wonder you’re eaten up with anxiety,’ Lucy said sympathetically. ‘Must be awful having to bear the burden of this on your own.’

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