She glared at him despite the raging headache that was brewing. “I am not ‘yours’, Tamir. You have to disabuse yourself of this ridiculous notion that you can own and control another human.”
“I don’t want to own or control you,” he said quietly. A knock sounded at the door. “Come,” Tamir answered, without looking away from Olivia. A servant bustled in with a plate of fruit, breads and two black coffees. Tamir took the tray and dismissed the servant.
“Eat something,” he ordered quietly, placing the tray down beside Olivia.
She looked at the food and shook her head. “I can’t.”
He picked up a bagel and passed it to her. “Eat this.”
She scowled at him, but took the bread. She pinched a piece loose and lifted it to her lips. She was hungry, she realised. She hadn’t eaten the night before, so that made sense.
She finished more than half of it, then placed it onto the tray. “I should go.”
She swung her legs gingerly over the side of the bed, and slid her feet to the carpet.
“No, Olivia. Sit back down.”
She turned slowly, to face him. “Why are you here?” It came out as a plea. A sad, desperate plea for answers.
“Because you didn’t respond to my email, and I know you miss me.”
She straightened her shoulders, and forced herself to meet his eyes. “Why would you say that?”
His smile was wistful. “Because I miss you.” He walked around the bed, so that he was standing right in front of her. “Every moment, since you left Talidar, I have missed you, and I have longed for you.”
She opened her mouth in surprise. But it all came crashing back to her. She shook her head. “You miss Marni.”
He bit back the urge to snap. Just. “Marni was not important to me, Olivia. You must understand. When we were dating, I was young. I had just become Sultan. I liked her company…”
“A euphemism for sex?” Olivia interrupted angrily.
He nodded. “Yes. It was just sex between us.”
“Like it was between us.”
“No,” he responded emphatically. “Stop comparing yourself to her. Marni knew we were just sex. She might have hoped for more, but that was not because I encouraged her.” He sucked in a breath, and released it slowly. “But I do carry a burden of guilt over my treatment of her. I do regret what happened.”
“Do you?”
“Of course.” He reached down and laced his fingers through hers. “Marni was depressed, Olivia. I only realised it with hindsight, but I should have noticed sooner. At the time, I was too wrapped up in myself to care.”
“Then you met me, and you thought you could undo the past,” Olivia prompted angrily, ripping her hand free. “That’s not fair on me, Tamir. In the same way you weren’t fair to Marni.”
He groaned softly. “I know that. I know I haven’t been fair to you. But that’s not because I wanted to replace Marni. It’s because I saw you and I lost my mind.”
Olivia shook her head from side to side. “I can’t deal with this, Tamir. We’re over. This post-mortem isn’t helping.”
“I don’t want this to be a post-mortem.”
“No?” She yelled, lancing him with her angry stare. “What do you want it to be?”
“A prelude,” he responded seriously, putting his hands on her hips, and holding her in front of him.
“A prelude to what?” She was angry and she was tired and she was hungover as hell.
“To the rest of our lives,” he said, as though it were the simplest thing in the world. He wrapped his hands around her back, holding her to the hard planes of his body.
“No,” she shook her head. “I’ve already told you. I can’t do it. I won’t live in a loveless marriage. I can’t.”
Tamir felt the bitter swell of defeat, but he couldn’t heed it. Not yet. “You do not love me now, but over time, you might learn to. I believe I can make you happy, Azeezi, if you give me the chance.”
“You’re wrong,” she muttered. “You’re misunderstanding me.”
“How so?”
She shrugged away from him and sat down on the edge of the bed. “The problem isn’t me not loving you. It’s that I love you too much.” She looked up at him slowly, her eyes loaded with fear. “It terrifies me that I can feel this way about someone. And someone like you.” She jabbed a finger into the hard wall of his chest. “This will only end badly for me, unless you let me go.” She looked down at her knees. “In time, I’ll get over you.”
Tamir was perfectly still. He stared at her for a very long time, and then walked across the room to retrieve his suit jacket. He brought it with him, and sat beside her. “I don’t want you to get over me, Olivia.”
“That’s just cruel,” she said, only half-joking.
“I had no place in my life for love or marriage.” He put a hand on her knee, simply because he had to touch her. “Selena wanted children, and Saf is from an excellent family. Their union made sense, and their child is a safe heir. Until I saw you, I had no idea that any part of me could want marriage.”
Her heart turned over. “You didn’t want marriage; you wanted my body. And that will change.”
“No.” He padded his thumb over her lip. “I might have told us both that, but in my heart of hearts, I knew that meeting you had set off a chain reaction inside of me. The thought of losing you filled me with abject terror. A sense of desperate panic that I have never known. If Jack hadn’t made things easier for me, I would still have kidnapped you.” His laugh was self-deprecating. “Or I would have given up my throne to live with you here.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it softly. “I can’t explain it. It makes no sense. But I fell in love with you the first moment I saw you, and I’ve never fallen out of it. I’ve been living in hope – hope that you would come to love me.”
She swallowed. Her mouth was dry. Her stomach felt odd. But now, she suspected it had far less to do with the tequila shots and more to do with Tamir’s impassioned declaration.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
His lips twisted in a half smile. “You would have thought me crazy, if I’d said this the first night we met. I told myself I would buy time. That I would slowly convince you of our rightness. But then, I fell even more in love, and I discovered I could not go slowly with you.”
“But I loved you almost all along.” She frowned. “This whole time I’ve been stealing myself for the fact that we wouldn’t last! That month in Talidar, I told myself that so long as you didn’t know how I felt, I would be able to walk away, and get on with my life.” She shook her head. “I would have guessed if you’d loved me, Tamir.”
“How did you not see it?” He asked softly, his eyes staring into the depths of her soul.
She shrugged, causing him to laugh.
“Olivia, I could hardly keep my hands from you.”
“That’s sex,” she reminded him.
“And I cleared my schedule for you, day after day, in the end. I wanted to live and breathe only you.” He pulled her against his chest, and stroked her hair. “When I heard what Selena had said to you, I was in the most violent rage of my life. I could almost not believe how furious I was with my own flesh and blood. Had it not been for Saf, I would have written her out of the royal line of succession.” He shook his head. “She loved Marni like a sister, and has always blamed me for her death. In truth, Marni had dark demons that no one could save her from. I didn’t help matters, but there were many other issues at play. And your physical similarities were not apparent to me, until they were pointed out. I promise, Olivia, this is, and always has been, about you.”
She bit down on her lip. “What a waste it was getting divorced then,” she said shakily, unable to believe the conversation they were having.
“Actually,” he pulled away from her, to reach for his jacket. “I have a confession to make.”
Olivia looked up at him, but she was no longer worried. He loved her. Everything else was ju
st details. With his love, nothing could bother her again. “Oh?” A smile spread across her face. “Can it wait? I just want to sit here and digest this for a moment.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’m afraid I need to lock down this discussion.”
She arched a brow. “Kidnapping me again?”
“Not this time.” His brow was knit together as he searched for the right words. “Our marriage was, apparently, an exaggeration.”
She frowned, not completely comprehending. “What do you mean?”
“Kalil failed to formalise matters.” His lips were compressed. Then he shook his head and smiled at her. “And, if I’m honest, I’m glad.”
Olivia’s heart slowed and thudded. “You are?” Had she misunderstood? He did love her, didn’t he? “Why?”
He lowered himself from the bed, to kneel before her. “Because, my beautiful, wonderful Olivia, it means I get to do things properly this time around. As you deserve. I remember you saying that I’d robbed you of your perfect proposal. And a ring you would look at with happiness for the rest of your days. So let me give you those things.” He lifted a velvet box to her, and clicked the top open. She lowered her gaze to the ring – it was not the one she’d worn previously. In the centre was a large green diamond, and it was surrounded by a circlet of bright white diamonds. The band was platinum, and encased with more diamonds. She gasped at its beauty. “The time I believed myself to be married to you was truly the most joyous of my life. I had never imagined I would want a wife, simply because I always thought I was complete. But I’m not. Not without you. Everything I want in life now means nothing if you are not by my side. Olivia Anderson, will you allow me the privilege of making you my wife for all time?”
Olivia’s eyes filled with tears and she dashed them away desperately. She didn’t want to cry. She wanted to laugh and scream and jump. She nodded, and said, “Yes, yes, yes,” as she slid to her knees, so that they were at eye level and she could kiss him. Her arms wrapped around his neck, holding him to her, and her body pressed to his. “For the rest of my life, yes. For real this time.”
He laughed softly as he reached behind himself and pulled one of her hands down, so that he could slide the ring onto her finger. Olivia stared at it, her mouth beaming across her face. “I love it.”
“And I love you.”
He grinned at his bride-to-be. His future had been planned from birth, but no one could ever have predicted the happiness he would find for himself. King or not, Olivia had given him a Kingdom of pleasure, and he would always strive to deserve her.
Epilogue
“What do you think? Are you enjoying yourself, Azeezi?”
Olivia turned to her husband, the man she’d barely been able to speak to all day, and let her happiness show through the beaming smile she gifted him. “Enjoying myself?” She murmured, blinking up at him with a small shake of her head. “This is quite possibly the most elaborate first birthday party in the history of humankind.” Her eyes drifted to the two high chairs that were set up across the garden. The team of nannies that were a Talidarian necessity for royal babies hovered needlessly, seeing to spilled food and drinks.
“They are our little prince and princess,” he said with a nonchalant shrug. “What fuss do they not deserve?”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “But a party for a thousand delegates, more food than we could ever eat. It’s a little extreme.”
“It is barely the size of our wedding,” he pointed out logically.
“I know,” she laughed. “But our wedding was insane. Honestly, Tamir, sometimes I think you forgot that you married common ol’ me.”
His expression sobered instantly. “I haven’t forgotten. And I have never forgotten, either, how fortunate I am that you loved me enough to forgive me my obstinate treatment of you.”
Olivia linked her fingers through his, and squeezed his hands. “Forgiven and forgotten, a thousand times over, my love.”
He shook his head. “The children look happy.”
Their twins, Ali and Liane, had chubby little smiles despite the enormous day of adoration they’d endured. As the festivities continued to swirl, the children sat as marvellous little matching centrepieces. Still dressed in their finest hand-made outfits, which they’d worn for the official first birthday photographs, they looked as adorable as they were cheeky.
“They are showing a far greater predilection for public life than I feel, even now,” Tamir agreed.
“It’s just been such an extravagant party,” Olivia remarked, encompassing the formal topiaried garden that had been transformed into a fairy lit paradise for the occasion. “I think you should have taken my suggestion and taken us all to the beach for a quiet weekend of relaxing family time.”
Tamir’s laugh was a gentle caress, and somehow, despite the number of well-dressed guests in their midst, Olivia felt almost completely alone with him. “We will do that too, Azeezi. I have made arrangements for us to leave first thing tomorrow.”
“Oh, Tamir,” she squeezed his hand even tighter. “You have?”
“You said it was your wish, and so of course.”
“Oh, I’m so glad!” Her smile lit up her whole face. “The days have been so hot. I would have thought that two years in Talidar would have cured my English tolerance for heat – or lack thereof. But I find these summers as hard as ever to manage.”
“Then we shall move to the beach,” he teased, whispering in her ear. His nearness sent her pulse tingling, rushing like fire through her veins.
“The palace is here,” she pointed out logically.
“Yes.” He nodded. “But I can fly back whenever I need to.”
Olivia’s smile almost fell from her face. “You’re joking, aren’t you?”
Tamir felt his heart turn over. “No. The house is built. It has taken over two years, but it is finally ready for us.”
“I don’t understand,” Olivia exhaled in surprise. “You are suggesting we leave Liya?”
He nodded. “From the moment we first travelled to the beach that day, and I saw the way your whole mood shifted, I have known it would suit you. I know I promised to talk to you about important things, but I wanted this to be a surprise.”
Olivia’s heart was racing. “I had no idea it was even an option.” She gripped his arms, scanning his face. “You have to be here. You’re the Sultan.”
His laugh was thick with affection. “And you are my wife, and your happiness is the most important thing to me. Many of my meetings can take place at our new palace. And I will travel as necessary. But you will be happy, and the children will grow up with more freedom than the capital allows them. Please allow me to do this for you, Olivia. I need to.”
She shook her head slowly. “Why do you say that?”
“Atonement?” He said with a small shrug.
“Atonement? Oh, Tamir. You have nothing to atone for. You have given me a future so much brighter than I could ever have hoped for.”
“Yes, but I will always regret the way our future came about.”
“Don’t.” She lifted a finger to his lips, and her smile was overbright. “For the rest of our lives, which I hope are long and splendid, I never want to hear another word of regret. I married you because I loved you. I love you because I realised I couldn’t live without you. And here we are.”
“Yes, here we are.” He looked around the room, still swarming with guests. With one small nod, he laid the groundwork for his next surprise. “There is one last part of the birthday celebrations.”
“Oh, no.” She closed her eyes. “The twins will be getting tired.”
“And the nannies will take them inside shortly,” he promised. “This is for you. The woman who brought them into being.”
She frowned. “What is for me?”
A curtain lifted, revealing a small orchestra, and at its front, Liam Marsh himself.
“Oh, Tamir, what have you done?” She asked, askance.
He put a hand beneath her elb
ow, and began to lead her to two chairs at the front of the lawn. “I missed the entire concert because I could not keep my eyes off you. I would rather like to enjoy it with you, this time. I want to enjoy it with you by my side.”
She shook her head on a small laugh. “It’s too much.”
“Nothing for you is too much.” He waited until she’d sat down, then moved to the seat beside her. He leaned closer so that he could whisper, “You do not know how jealous I was of Jack that night. The way you laughed at him and smiled at him. I wanted to be the only man who could bring that level of happiness to you.”
Her chest thumped with sensation. “You are.”
“I know.” He grinned, and laced his fingers through hers. “And you are the only woman who has ever driven me almost crazy with love. What do you think, Azeezi? Are we a good match?”
She nodded wordlessly. “A perfect match.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
The music played, and they enjoyed it together. But it was not the brilliant songs that made her smile shine with the power of ten thousand stars. No, only the man next to her could do that. She smiled, as she knew she would, for the rest of her life.
THE END
Bartered to the Sheikh
Chapter One
Her fiancé’s eyes watched her as she entered the stateroom, but he didn’t move.
Sally tried to remember the hasty training she’d been given. The instructions were clear. Walk quietly and sedately to the empty throne and take her seat. After all, in two short weeks, she would be taking her place as the Crown Princess of Tari’ell, and it was her duty to act as though she was ready.
Even though her knees were knocking together and the valley between her small breasts was filled with perspiration, it was imperative that, outwardly at least, she appear calm. Even though she’d had only a month to adjust to the idea that she would be going through with the betrothal contract. Even though she wasn’t ready to be a princess and might never be.
Don’t overthink it, she reminded herself. Sit in the chair. It was the first step. After that, she would speak to her husband-to-be for the first time in her life. An important threshold to cross, she knew she would feel better once they’d passed that awkward introduction.
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