Abe laughed. He should be heading down to his offices so that he could get some work done before he headed over to his father’s palace with Tilly, but when Georgie looked at him the way she was looking at him now, with a mixture of gravity, calm and just a touch of apprehension and self-doubt, he found that all he wanted to do was remain where he was, lying here in bed with her at a crazy time in the middle of the afternoon.
It struck him that whatever advantages he had assumed would be conferred had he married a woman versed in the way of royalty, he could very well have ended up with someone who wouldn’t have given a damn about making sure a child of theirs kept their feet firmly adhered to the ground. With vast wealth at their disposal, there would have been the temptation to raise their child to assume automatic superiority and that would have been a serious error of judgement.
‘Plus,’ Georgie now interjected into the silence, frowning thoughtfully, ‘I can’t just sit around snapping my fingers and being waited on hand and foot.’
‘We have a long conversation ahead of us.’ Abe regretfully braced himself to face an hour of work. ‘Too long to start now.’
‘But we’re going to have to have the conversation,’ she insisted, squirming into a sitting position against the pillows and watching as he heaved himself off the bed to stare down at her for a few seconds.
The intimacy between them filled her with joy but she realised that being filled with joy because the guy she loved was standing in front of her naked, because he was going to be her husband, wasn’t a reason for her to be lulled into following his dictates without question. That would be the start of a very slippery slope.
‘Of course we will.’ Abe returned her gaze with one equally serious. He moved to perch on the side of the bed. ‘You have done an amazing job with Tilly. Do you really think I would stop you from carrying on with that amazing job once we are married? And as for your not sitting around snapping your fingers...’ He grinned. ‘I can’t imagine anyone less likely to be happy doing that.’ He stood up, eyebrows raised, but still smiling. ‘I can put a time in my diary for us to have this conversation if you like,’ he teased. ‘Because the expression on your face is telling me that you think it is a conversation I may try to evade.’
‘The expression on my face,’ Georgie said, ‘should be telling you that I am going to be the one giving up everything I’ve ever known to start a life out here with you, for Tilly’s sake. I don’t want to think that I’m going to end up floundering because everything I know has been whipped away from under my feet and there are no plans in place for me to have anything at all to call my own or to help me to...adjust to what’s going to be a very, very different life.’
‘I get that, Georgie.’ He raked his fingers through his hair. ‘Leave this with me. It will be sorted. There is nothing for you to worry about.’
She nodded but there was a sour taste in her mouth as she remained in the bed as he had a shower, returned to the room, got dressed.
He was so breathtakingly beautiful that she could feel her reserves of willpower slipping away as she watched him.
How easy it would be to fall completely under his spell all over again, but she would do well to remember that leaving it up to him because he would sort everything and there would be nothing to worry about was much, much easier said than done.
Hehad nothing to lose. She was in love with him and that was a weakness in itself because it made her susceptible to dreams and hopes that might or might not materialise. The unvarnished truth was that once they were married, she would be vulnerable in a way she wasn’t now and, if she had no support network at all, she might end up lost, even if he didn’t intend for it to go that way. He would have got everything that he wanted and could she trust him not to sideline her once that happened?
There was a lot inside her that stupidlydidtrust him but, for someone who craved stability, she needed to find a place for herself here, some sort of anchor to hold onto.
Dressed in dark jeans and a white tee shirt, Abe strolled to stand over her. ‘You will be fetched when my driver arrives,’ he said. ‘And you have my cell number. Call if you want anything at all. Shall I get Fatima to bring Tilly in to you? She will need to be introduced to the fact that you and I will now be sharing a bedroom and, no later than tomorrow, we will explain the situation to her, who I am and the way forward.’
Georgie nodded her agreement, dismissing her unsettling thoughts because they weren’t going to get her anywhere.
Tomorrow the way forward he had mentioned would begin, but for now she would meet his father and think optimistically about the future even though the comfort zone she had always clung to had been well and truly left behind.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LIFECHANGEDFASTfor Georgie. In short order, she met Abe’s father, who welcomed her warmly. She thought that again Tilly was a passport to immediate acceptance here, but she refused to dwell on the downsides of that.
If she started dwelling on too many things, then she would quickly reach the conclusion that she was little more than a spare part and she didn’t want to question the choices she had made.
The truth was that Tilly was beyond happy. She adored the space, the vast acres of garden, being able to run around, and, more than that, she adored Abe.
They had told her who he was and she had accepted that she now had a dad with the joyful alacrity of a three-year-old too young to really ask any questions.
It was only a matter of days since Georgie had accepted his marriage proposal but the wheels were already turning quickly. Before long, she would meet the team who would be co-ordinating the extravagant wedding. She had also already been introduced to a select number of family members. That number would grow because she would be expected to immerse herself in Abe’s world, which was one in which his company seemed to always be in demand.
She had been given a guided tour of the palace by a member of his staff, who had walked several paces behind her as she was shown into every room and the provenance of all the tapestries and mosaic walls and paintings were explained. It had been a slightly unnerving experience.
And, of course, she now had help with Tilly. Plenty of it. More than she actually wanted or needed. She and Tilly still spent time together, but time was no longer something snatched on weekends or after a day working at the hotel. Now, their time together could meander for as little or as long as Georgie liked and then, when she wanted to disappear indoors to cool down by the swimming pool or else read a book or send emails, she could because Fatima or the other nanny would be there to take Tilly off her hands.
There was an eerie sense of limbo about her life and in this limbo, Abe had become her anchor.
He was an attentive partner, a dedicated father and an amazing lover and she knew that being at sea in a different country was playing a part in deepening her love for him.
She thought of him and the feeling of being slightly adrift dissipated.
She couldn’t rely on him to sort her life out completely, but he had introduced her to people, and if she still felt lost wandering in his vast palace, then she would get used to it in due course.
The most important thing was her daughter’s happiness.
