‘It was.’
‘But you are here now,’ he said in a low voice. ‘I want you to seize this opportunity to relax and allow yourself to be looked after. Your every need will be unhesitatingly met.’
Having conjured up the memory of how it had felt to struggle on her own and how wrenching it had been to leave Tilly in a nursery when she was only a baby, Georgie found that every word from his mouth tasted like manna from heaven. His voice was calm and soothing and she sighed in pleasure.
‘I have arranged for us to have dinner with my father tomorrow evening. He is keen to meet you both.’
Georgie nodded drowsily.
‘You don’t have to be apprehensive,’ he said, correctly sensing her hesitation. ‘He...he hasn’t been the same since his heart attack but for the first time I saw real pleasure on his face when I broke the news to him about Tilly...’
He feathered her cheek with his finger and she breathed in sharply and closed her eyes. She knew that this would pass, that she was feeling vulnerable and out of her depth and yet...never had she wanted anything more in her life than to touch him. He’d hurt her so much when he’d walked away and had hurt her again when she’d seen him again and realised just how fleeting a reference point she’d been in his life. Not even much of a footnote.
Yet right here and right now, she felt safe with him. How was that possible? She could remember every touch, the feel of his body and the way he’d madeherbody feel. She shut the door on those thoughts but she could feel them pressing to get out.
‘Your father,’ she whispered, ‘I know you say that he’s looking forward to meeting us and that he’s overjoyed, but he must be disappointed that you’ve ended up in this situation.’
‘I see that you’ve decided that an in-depth conversation trumps going to sleep.’
He grinned and Georgie smiled back at him. For a moment he was shorn of the aura of power that made him seem so formidable. For a moment, he was the same guy she had fallen for four years ago.
‘Well, it feels weird being here, Abe. I’ve never known anything like this in my life before. A week ago, I was taking public transport to get to work and spending weekends with Tilly at the park, and now... I’m in a palace with nannies round every corner and sitting on a bed that’s as big as my entire flat.’
‘Bit of an exaggeration there.’
‘I wasn’t prepared for something like this.’
‘Sometimes, life throws you curve balls.’
‘This is more than just a curve ball, Abe.’ She sighed. ‘Your father would have expected you to marry someone who was raised for this sort of lifestyle.’
‘You need to stop worrying about that.’
‘Easier said than done.’ She looked at him. ‘I wish you’d be honest with me. This can’t truly be what you wanted for yourself. Me and Tilly on your doorstep...’
‘I think she’s going to enjoy being here.’ He could feel the conversation drifting into territory best avoided right now, especially when her eyes were closing and sleep was taking over. She was nervous and out of her depth and he wanted to reassure her but it was a delicate balancing act.
Fear of the unknown was driving her towards a maudlin interpretation of what she could expect here. He put himself in her position, tried to imagine what it must have been like for her when she found out that she was pregnant.
He tallied the image with his memory of the girl he had left behind, the one who, as he now knew, had just lost her father and been left all alone in the world.
When he’d met her, she’d been shy, hesitant to start any kind of relationship with him. That, in itself, had been a pleasing novelty. With or without his regal status, Abe had never had trouble when it came to attracting women. Any women. All of them. The feeling of having to work to seduce a woman was a concept as alien to him as commandeering a rocket and flying to the moon.
So when she had politely turned down his offer for dinner, he had been intrigued but he had never thought that something begun so casually would end up consuming his interest with such power.
He’d been there to buy a hotel. Serious business for someone intent, not only on eventually running the country when his father retired, but investing in businesses that could bring recognition to Qaram and provide additional wealth to help his people.
Staying with just one bodyguard at one of the most expensive hotels on the island had meant there had been no shortage of women interested in finding out more about him. Having a bodyguard in tow was always guaranteed to engender lots of attention from the opposite sex and he had turned a blind eye to every curious glance slanted in his direction.
Craving a bit of normality, he had ditched the bodyguard for one evening and sauntered into the town to breathe in an atmosphere that wasn’t as suffocatingly rarefied as the one where he had been staying.
And there she had been, working in a restaurant.
She had emerged flushed and blushing from the kitchen, anxiously awaiting his verdict on her food and braced for something disparaging. He had seen it written on her face.
And when he had complimented her, she had lowered her eyes and smiled and it had made him feel ten feet tall.
He’d immediately asked her out. Of course he had! He hadn’t been going to be hanging around for long and he’d been consumed with an urgent need to see her, to go out with her, to sleep with her.
