His head was spinning.
Everything he had done, he had seemingly done wrong. From the gaudy over-the-top engagement to the passionate kiss the other night.
No.
Leila was right—why the hell would he apologise for the best night of their lives?
He looked at the dark shadows under Leila’s eyes as she lay on the examination table—it was her mother who had put them there, not he.
James was sure of that, just not quite sure enough.
He could almost feel himself being smacked upside the head for thinking he might have got something right as Leila walked out to the street with him.
‘Are you disappointed that it is a girl?’ Leila asked as they stepped outside.
‘Disappointed?’ James said. ‘No, of course I’m not. I’m thrilled that we’re having a girl.’
‘Because if you wanted a boy...’
‘Leila.’ He picked up her hand and he watched her fingers close around his and he listened to his heart. He was sick of all the schools of thought and words of wisdom as to the unsuitability of them.
He was going to go back now and tell Manu thanks very much but he’d got this now.
‘I have to go, Leila,’ James said. ‘Go home and have your rest. I won’t be gone long and when I’m back we’ll have a proper talk.’
‘About?’
‘Us,’ James said. He gave her his smile but he did not take her into his arms. He would discuss what was appropriate with Leila later, but he squeezed her hand. ‘Leila, I’m thrilled that it’s a girl. I’m stunned. I never thought we’d get to see her as clearly as we did.’
James saw her into the car and Leila sat there. She turned her head and watched him walk briskly off.
As his driver headed towards his home, Leila’s head too was spinning. Her mother had got into her head again and simply would not leave. Those seeds of doubt that James had had when he had dined at his parents that night were in Leila’s head now. They hadn’t just been given a decent soaking though—noxious weeds were flourishing and Leila would not wait till the master returned to find out what it was that he cared to discuss with her.
Instead it was time to be brave.
She did what she hadn’t had the courage to on the first night she had arrived in New York.
When the car pulled up at James’s home, instead of getting out she remained seated and spoke to the driver.
‘Take me to The Chatsfield.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MANU WAS THERE when James returned. She was waiting for him in reception, and speaking with some of the staff that she knew.
‘I’m just waiting on a call from the Dubai hotel,’ Manu said, and James nodded.
Spencer was passing through and came over and asked James if he’d made any plans for the wedding.
‘I’ll let you know,’ James said, while privately deciding he’d perhaps tell his family well after the event.
Once Manu was ready they took the elevator in silence up to the suite. James had no issue with letting her go but, given how he might want to keep her onside, he was working out how best to tell her that her services were, for now, not required.
He might need her to speak with Zayn after all.
‘I’m going to go home now and talk with Leila,’ James said.
‘I thought you wanted to work on this,’ Manu said. ‘I have to go back to Dubai tonight.’
‘I know that,’ James said, ‘and while I do appreciate all your help, I need to discuss things with Leila.’
‘You need my help, James. How is your Arabic going?’
‘Absolutely terrible.’ James told her a few of the phrases that he had learned and Manu laughed at his attempts to speak from the back of his throat, just as James expected her to, just as his father would too.
‘Well, I’m glad it amuses you so much,’ James said.
‘You’ve got a very long way to go.’ Manu could not stop laughing but James did not feel smacked upside the head this time. He was sick of the lot of them. ‘Oh, James, thank you for the laugh. I needed it.’
Leila wouldn’t laugh.
He knew that now.
What he didn’t know though was that at this very moment he was breaking the heart of the woman he loved.
* * *
Leila had walked into the reception unseen by James and Manu. She had watched them walk over to the elevators and had hoped upon hope that this was not what it looked like.
Leila tried to trust him, tried to tell herself that he wouldn’t take another woman to a bed that they had shared.
She watched the light on the elevator stop at the seventeenth floor instead of the top one and she pressed it and watched in dismay as the elevator came straight down and opened empty.