She would need to remember that, whatever his position and whoever he was, he didn’t get to have the last word on their daughter. She was Tilly’s mother and she had been a damn good parent for the past three years, so she was sure her rights would always trump his in any court of law.
She dressed in a pair of cut-off jeans and a tee shirt and wished she’d thought a bit harder about the sort of clothing that might have been appropriate to wear in a palace, but then she shrugged and decided that she didn’t care.
They both looked up as she returned to the huge sitting area, Tilly with a broad smile and Abe smiling as well but his dark eyes rather more guarded.
‘Are you playing tea party, Tills?’ Georgie ignored the towering alpha male lounging on the ground next to his daughter, his long, muscular legs stretched out in front of him, his body language loose and relaxed.
She could feel his eyes on her, though, as she stooped down and ruffled her daughter’s hair.
She was so smooth and soft, her baby skin pale gold and her eyes as dramatic and dark as her father’s. When she smiled, there were dimples in her cheeks and she was smiling now.
‘Mummy, there’s a toy shop here.’
‘Is there, baby? Where?’
‘I’ll show you.’
Georgie looked at Abe, who flushed and looked ever so slightly uncomfortable.
He uncoiled his long body and gracefully stood up, reaching out to tug Georgie to her feet and releasing her as soon as she was standing next to him.
A moment of physical contact quickly withdrawn.
‘Well?’ she asked as they headed down a marbled corridor wide enough to house sitting areas on either side. Impressive chandeliers interrupted the fresco painting that snaked along the ceiling.
‘Perhaps,’ Abe said as Tilly skipped along ahead, pausing now and again to make sure she was on the right track and that they were right behind her, ‘I should first tell you the sequence of events for today?’
Georgie tensed. ‘I know. We need to talk about the whole marriage thing you threw at me before you returned to Qaram.’
Abe winced.
One step forward, two back, he thought with an internal sigh.
Every word she had just spoken indicated that this was not going to be anywhere near as straightforward as he’d hoped. Ha! Who was he kidding? He’d known it was never going to be anything like straightforward persuading this woman to marry him. She really was like no other he’d ever met. He tried to gather his patience, knowing that if he wanted to bring this to a successful outcome, to ensure his child would be safe with both parents to support her, he would have to tread extremely gently.
But he couldn’t help feeling it was a frustrating setback after what had felt like a pivotal conversation the day before. He’d thought that they had connected, but now he could feel the tension radiating from her in waves.
Would there ever be an end to her fighting him? To him, it felt as if their marriage was inevitable, but he was clearly dealing with a one-of-a-kind woman who was blind to all the material advantages that would be gained that way.
‘We will leave Tilly with Fatima, one of her very enthusiastic nannies.’
‘And does she know who Tilly really is?’
‘I expect she has made an educated guess,’ Abe said wryly. ‘Of course, she will breathe nothing of her thoughts until an official announcement is made.’
‘Of course not,’ Georgie muttered.
Casting a sideways look at her, Abe smiled. He’d always appreciated the way she’d spoken her mind, gentle as she was, and, despite his frustration with her stubbornness, he was glad to see that the years had done nothing to alter that trait. It showed her spirit was just as strong as it had always been.
She could be truthful with him that he was a father because she had a keen sense of what was right and decent, and yet she could argue with him till the cows came home about a marriage proposal that, from his point of view, was as right and as decent as her admission had been. Healmostrolled his eyes...
‘We will have brunch together in the sun room. I have issued instructions. We can then discuss...’
Georgie straightened and stared directly ahead. Tilly had disappeared through one of the doors. ‘The Proposal,’ she filled in for him.
‘Indeed,’ Abe said with a smile. He could practically hear the capital letters.
They were at the entrance to yet another massive space and Georgie stared, mouth dropping open, because when Tilly had said there was atoy shopin the palace, she hadn’t been kidding.
