His Irresistible Darling (30 page)

Jumal watched dumbfounded as items of clothing began to fall to the pier at his side—sunglasses, barely legal shorts, strappy T-shirt, and oh yes, he gulped, there went the knickers. Ah the black and purple ones—his favourites. Bra? He thought looking up at her nakedness, swallowing. Oh, so no bra. He licked his lips and shielded his eyes from the low afternoon sun and slowly ran his eyes up her gloriously naked body. Heat flooded his groin. She was a vision. No, he corrected, a goddess—standing above him, the sun acting like a halo surrounding her body.

“Outdoor sex?” he enquired hopefully, smirking up at her, still shielding his eyes with one hand whilst reaching with the other to run a finger up her bare, smooth leg. “Think I’m gonna like this lesson, Miss Darling,” he added eagerly with a roguish grin.

She tsked at him before jumping back from his touch, slapping his hand away painlessly and setting off running down the wooden pier, performing a perfect swan dive into the cool deep waters of the lake.

Jumal grinned widely as she broke back up from beneath the surface. A flock of startled ducks took off in flight. She brushed back her long hair from her shoulders and waved at him. “Skinny-dipping one-oh-one,” she shouted, flipping onto her back and starting to float, gently kicking her legs.

He chuckled as he bent down to pick up the tube of Smarties, placing it carefully under her messy pile of clothes. Losing the flawless, two-carat blue diamond—the exact colour of her eyes, which he’d hidden in it, wouldn’t be a good start to their long engagement. He’d let her find it safely later and choose whether she wanted to wear it on her finger or on a delicate chain around her neck—without the risk of choking on the exquisitely rare gem this time!

Looking over at the French poodle and Labrador still cuddled up together on the pier, he made a clicking noise with his tongue. “Whatta you say, you two? You up for a swim?”

George lifted his sleepy head and panted. Mimi ignored him as Pip shouted playfully, “I’m getting cold, Jumal! If you aren’t in here warming me up in ten seconds you’re gonna fail your first lesson!”

No doubt disturbed by the noise, Mimi stood up, stretched and gave them both a look indicating that she thought them both to be idiots before trotting over towards the Scandinavian-style wooden lake house.

Jumal bent down and stroked George’s strong head and was rewarded with a playful bark. Smiling back he started to strip off his own clothes, mixing them with Pippa’s, before taking his Blackberry out of his pocket and saying, “Looks like it’s just you and me then, boy. Come on. Last one in’s a loser.” Getting the message, George leapt up and took off running and barking down the pier before performing a perfectly ungraceful doggie flop, soaking Pippa.

Jumal tossed the phone up once in the air before taking one last look at the liberty-sucking object and launching it into the lake.

Not to be outdone by George, Jumal streaked down the short wooden pier, naked as the day he was born, never happier, hearing the joyful screams and whoops of encouragement from his fiancée and preparing to perform the perfect six point zero bomb, screaming at the top of his lungs,
“WOO-HOO, PIPPAAAA!!!!!”

Turn the page to read the first two chapters from Sarah Randall’s

Forever His Darling

Out now!

Chapter One

“You’ve done what!? Tell me you’re joking!” Matt yelled, spinning around to face his younger sister., burning his tongue and dropping the spoon on the floor.

Pip glanced up at him from her laptop as she sat at the large table in the middle of the kitchen. Her eyes were wide with innocence behind the modern thick framed glasses but that old trick wasn’t going to work on him this time. She’d gone too far and he was angry; Tired and angry.

“Here,” Mrs Henderson thrust a glass of water into his hands; expertly maneuvering him away from the Aga and her bubbling stew. “I agreed to let them use Melville House to do a fashion shoot. It’s for Alix Anderson, the famous designer. He’s launching his new country wear range and using Anastacia as the model. It’s a no brainer Matt, it’s so exciting, I thought you’d be really pleased. I know I am!”

He bit on his lip hard, putting a halt to his planned volatile response as he watched Pip do a little jig in her chair. It had been a long time since his little sister had seemed happy and excited about anything. Since the summer, she’d agreed to take on more responsibility and assist Henry with the stud farm and house management. In reality Matt was still making all of the important day to day decisions, but he felt that Pip needed something to fill her time until she decided whether or not she was going back to university in Leeds to finish her business course. Which of course she was, she just needed to come to that conclusion on her own..

Clearly, he’d missed out on making this decision. It would certainly have been a “no brainer” to him…”No way in hell” would’ve been his standard reply to such an enquiry to use the house. Peace and tranquility were all he was interested in nowadays. He wasn’t about to let himself or his family become the focus of village tittle-tattle ever again.

Such requests weren’t unique. He’d frequently received pleas from film companies and the like to use the house and its grounds for film sets depicting a romantic, bygone era… films which were utter twaddle.Their mother had always put them off with one excuse or another, fearing upheaval to the house and village, and he’d simply followed her sensible stance. Generous financial enticement didn’t sway Matt; he didn’t need the money.

“Why the hell would you agree to it?” Matt held his arms out wide in question, accidentally spilling some of the water on the floor in the process and muttering a curse.

“Well duh, it’s Anastacia for goodness sake. And I did try to speak to you about it.” Pip rolled her eyes at him as she reached for a tube of Smarties next to her computer. “And I told them that they’d have to make a huge donation to your charity, so you see, you can’t possibly object, can you Matt?” she said, a pleading look on her face.

He narrowed his eyes; bemused as she tipped the Smarties out on the table and proceeded to pick out all the orange ones and pop them one by one into her mouth.

He shook his head at her weirdness before continuing. “But it’s our home, Pip, and when the hell did you try to tell me about it—wait, just wait,” he added with his hand in the air, “who’s coming?” He moved towards Pip and tried to dislodge George from beneath his feet. “George, bed,” he demanded, pleased that at least someone was listening to what he had to say as George trotted off to his bed obediently.

“Anastacia Harper, the top model,” both women giddily exclaimed in unison and laughed at each other.

Matt turned to Mrs Henderson. The woman had been the housekeeper at Melville since before he was born and liked to think of herself as his second mother
.
She was just as important to him.

“
You
know who this woman is?” raising his eyebrow at her.

“Of course sweetie, who doesn’t?” she responded, before turning back to the Aga and busying herself seasoning her stew. “Well, apart from you,” she called back over her shoulder.

Pip mumbled around the rest of the Smarties she was munching her way through, “Honestly Matt, you need to get your head out from those horses’ butts and keep up to date with what’s going on in the world. Here, catch.” Pip threw him the fashion magazine perched on the kitchen table. “I tried to talk to you about it a couple of weeks ago but you and Henry were in with the horses so I made an executive decision.”

“Pip, I hardly think that keeping up with fashion and the celebrity gossip can be classed as—”

Matt caught sight of a tumbling waterfall of vibrant red wavy hair framing a stunning pale oval face with a smattering of cute freckles on a pert nose, , vivid eyes as green as the fir trees in the forest surrounding Melville staring straight at him from the page of the magazine. A detached but beautifully refined look on the temptress’s face. It was a heady combination. He swallowed and paused for breath, acknowledging that perhaps he
should
pay more attention to the celebrity news.

He allowed his eyes to trace further down the page and acknowledge the rest of the photograph. It was obvious that this woman was not the traditional stick thin model usually favoured. No, this photograph showed off an hourglass figure through the black evening dress. She definitely had curves in all the right places, reminiscent of a Hollywood starlet from the 1950’s. Curves a man could no doubt spend hours worshipping and wow, that hair. He tentatively touched the page, running his fingers over her shoulders, imagining what it would feel like to run his hands through that hair and then grab a fist-full at the nape of her neck, forcing her to look up into his eyes, before seeking the comfort of her lips. He would later try to convince himself that the action had been entirely subconscious, but it was an argument even he wasn’t claiming to win. What it would feel like to make this woman lose control and scream out in ecstasy? He felt a long-forgotten stirring in his groin and quickly slammed the door to that emotional rollercoaster firmly shut. Getting involved or even interested in another woman was so not in his plan, but perhaps he did need to start thinking about satisfying his more basic needs, which had apparently decided to come out of hibernation, stretch languidly, and show interest in a certain Jessica Rabbit like redhead.

He suddenly became conscious of the fact he’d been staring at the page for a while and quickly cleared his throat and nonchalantly dropped the magazine back on the kitchen table. Christ, he hoped neither of them had seen him trailing his finger over the magazine. He hadn’t had such a reaction to a woman in a magazine since his father had given him some interesting reading in his mid-teens…and he was embarrassed now by his reaction. In his defence, he decided that the photo was most likely cleverly edited as was the norm nowadays. No-one would look that good in real life.

“Besides,” Pip continued, seemingly unaware of his peculiar interest in the magazine, “it will be exciting for the village and excellent PR for the Stud and your children’s charity. Things could do with being shaken up around here, don’t you agree Mrs H? You need to come out of that hibernation or whatever it is you’ve been in since what happened with Emily I—”

Matt’s head shot up and Pip cut herself off at the no doubt thunderous scowl on his face. “Don’t
ever
mention her name in this house again Pip,” he growled at her, but he winced inwardly as he saw his sister flinch and it angered him even more that
that woman
still had the power over him to warrant that reaction.

Thankfully Mrs Henderson swept away the lingering tension.

“Oh yes dear. I was telling Beatrice and Phyllis at the shops the other day all about it and you know how they like to spread the news. The whole village knows about it by now. Maybe that designer chap would donate something for us to raffle off at the charity ball on Saturday night.”

Matt choked, spitting out the last gulp of water he had just taken to quell his burning tongue. “What do you mean? How long are they going to be here!?” he gasped, still coughing up his lungs.

Mrs Henderson slapped him on the back and mopped at him with a towel whilst tutting something about his manners. He wasn’t listening.

“Erm well,” Pip stuttered, casting her eyes down to her computer. “They said that they needed to stay for a couple of days, you know to, erm, make sure that they get all the photos they need and go out on location around the grounds, and it was all dependent on the light and weather and what not, I wasn’t really listening, so I, you know, said that they could all stay at the house overnight. It’s not as though we haven’t got the rooms,” she rushed nervously.

“Here, taste again,” said Mrs Henderson, bringing a spoon filled with her stew up to his mouth. “Better?”

Matt sipped at the spoon. “Hmm, yeah, that’s delicious.” he agreed, handing the spoon back and turning his attention to Pip, crossing his arms over his chest, but bringing one to rub at sore eyes; gritty from lack of sleep.

“You do remember that Jumal will be here any day. His foal is due in the next couple of days’. What the hell is he going to think is going on with a fashion designer and his posse running wild at the house?” He dropped his hand back to his chest and let out a sharp breath before continuing. “We’re the most prestigious Stud farm in England and he’s going to think he’s landed at some sort of celebrity house party. I know he’s a mate but he’s still a bloody Sheik, Pip. I just can’t believe—!” He shook his head and rubbed at his temples to try to stave off the headache which was developing at a fast pace.

“Jumal is coming? When? Why didn’t you say?” Pip asked anxiously.’

Matt smirked at her. “Oops, I must have forgotten to mention it. Not nice, is it?” he tormented, raising a brow.

“Ha bloody ha. Anyway, stop stressing Matt, Alix and Anastacia will have left before Jumal arrives to view his baby horse.”

“Foal, Pip, it’s called a foal, not a baby horse,” he said, shaking his head again in exasperation.

“Anyway, you need to get her from the airport because she lands in just under an hour, and take that picture with you so you recognise her”.

Matt didn’t think he could forget that face. She’d be the one surrounded by a group of suck-ups dangling on her every word while she pouted and posed for pictures, no doubt flicking that wild hair around her shoulders as she soaked up all the adoration. He briefly pondered whether this model would be the stereotypical spirited redhead with fire in her belly…? His brain finally decided to re-engage and take control over his wandering thoughts.

“What? Why?” His attempt to grab a freshly baked shortbread biscuit from the table was foiled by Mrs Henderson as she smacked his hand away.

“You’ll spoil your tea.” The woman was as swift as a ninja, quicker than his judo instructor!

He pointed at Pip. “But she’s just worked her way through a whole tube of sweets!”

She tutted at him. “Now, now Matt, you’re not a child, although you are as grumpy as a teething toddler at the moment.”