He had today.
It was a relief not to have to justify himself.
‘How was lunch?’ Mikael asked instead.
‘I had a burger with the lot and it was fantastic. Wendy isn’t much fun, though, is she?’
‘Wendy is an incredibly busy woman and it was nice of her to give up her lunch for you.’
‘Give up her lunch?’ Layla frowned. ‘But she ate more than I did.’
She looked at Mikael; he was so very handsome. and she liked it when he smiled—which he was now. Layla knew it was rare, and that he was not a very happy person, and she loved the light it brought to his eyes.
‘So what now?’ she asked.
‘We wait for the verdict.’
‘I mean what happens now?’
‘Do you want to go out for dinner?’
‘Pardon?’ Layla smiled.
‘Would you like to go out somewhere nice for dinner.’
‘Somewhere romantic,’ Layla corrected. ‘Yes, please, Mikael.’
He took her to a waterside restaurant. Yes, the view was to die for, and usually he would have asked for a table outside, but tonight their only view would be of each other, and he asked for their most intimate table.
‘This is lovely,’ Layla said as she slipped in to her side of a velvet booth. ‘Oh, our knees are touching!’
‘Better?’ Mikael asked, moving his.
‘No,’ she said, because she’d liked the feel of his knees near hers. When he moved them back she smiled. ‘That’s better.’
‘Do you want wine?’
‘I want champagne,’ Layla said. ‘The best one.’
‘Of course you do.’
‘Do you have any cigarettes?’
‘I don’t smoke,’ Mikael said, reading the menu, ‘and neither do you.’
‘I’d like to try a joint.’
‘Layla!’
‘Zahid nearly got expelled from school when one was found in his locker, and since then I have wanted to try. Just one time.’
‘It’s illegal.’
‘I know a very good defence lawyer!’ Layla said, and her knees nudged his.
‘You do!’
‘Do you have a girlfriend?’ Layla asked as the champagne was poured. Mikael declined; he only drank water when he was in the midst of a trial.
‘I have girlfriends.’
‘Anyone serious?’
‘If there was then she wouldn’t be very pleased right now.’
‘It’s just a romantic dinner,’ Layla said, and closed her eyes in bliss as she tasted her first champagne.
‘If you wanted romance then you chose the wrong man.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I’m not interested in romance,’ he said, and then changed the subject. ‘So, apart from drunken debauchery, what else is on your list?’
‘I just want to kiss, to flirt, to be sent flowers—and then I will return and marry and be content that I had one magical week.’
He stared at her. It didn’t seem an awful lot to ask, and he loathed the lengths she had had to go to and the very real trouble she might find herself in.
Serious trouble.
‘I would like to spend a day in bed.’
‘Layla,’ he said. ‘You can’t go around saying that.’
‘I’m only saying it to you…’ She frowned at his concern. ‘Always I have duties, and if I don’t have duties then I am to join my father for breakfast or have my hair braided. I just want one day where there is nothing planned.’
He rolled his eyes as he realised her statement had been completely innocent. ‘I apologise,’ Mikael said. ‘I thought when you said a day in bed…’
She thought that completely hilarious. ‘I wasn’t talking about sex! Don’t worry, Mikael, I’m not going to do anything reckless—I know I have to return to Ishla intact…’