Secrets of the Oasis
Page 16
He looked at her so intently she felt dizzy.
‘I told him I’d have to think about it, and discuss it with someone.’
‘Who?’
‘You.’
Jamilah shook her head, and tried to stifle the flame of hope burning in her heart. ‘But what do I have to do with it?’
Salman quirked a smile. ‘Everything. Because there’s no other woman on the planet I would contemplate having children with—only you.’
‘What are you saying?’ Jamilah wasn’t even sure she’d got the words out, and somehow Salman was even closer, both her hands in his now.
‘I’m saying that I’ve finally got it through my thick skull that I love you. I think I’ve always loved you. I can’t live without you.’ His smile faded then, and he looked more serious than she’d ever seen him. ‘But with everything that’s happened between us I won’t be surprised if you don’t want anything to do with me.’ He took a breath. ‘But…if you could give me a second chance…I vow to spend my life making you happy, showing you how much I love you and need you… You’re the only one who can possibly redeem my soul…’
Salman let her go and reached down to take something out of his jeans pocket. It was a small velvet box, and he brought it up and opened it. Jamilah looked down to see a gloriously simple sapphire ring twinkling up at her.
‘Jamilah, you would do me the greatest honour in the world if you would be my wife.’
For a second she couldn’t breathe. She looked at Salman, and then reached out to touch his face with a shaking hand.
‘This is a dream. You’re not real.’
He grimaced slightly. ‘I am real, and very flawed—as you well know… But you’re the only one who has the power to make me even half-human again. Even though I know that I don’t deserve this…you.’
Jamilah finally took a chance that this was real, and stepped into the unknown. She put aside the ring and took Salman’s hand. She placed it over her still flat belly and said, with a quiver in her voice, ‘You deserve it all. We both do. And it’s already started… A new life is growing in my belly—a tiny part of me and you…proof that there is a future for us.’
Salman looked awed, shocked. His hand tightened on her belly. ‘But…how? I mean…when?’
Jamilah shrugged and smiled tremulously. ‘Who knows? When we were careless that time in Paris?’
For a moment Jamilah saw joy and wonder mixed with fear and trepidation in Salman’s eyes, and brought his hand to her mouth to kiss it. Her heart ached, and she said with husky remorse, ‘I didn’t mean what I said that day at the oasis, about you being a terrible father, and my not wanting the baby. Losing the baby devastated me, and I always feared I wouldn’t have another chance. I think you would be the best father in the world… I was angry and I took it out on you.’
Salman groaned softly. ‘I deserved it—and so much more. But perhaps this really is our second chance.’
Jamilah sat up straight and took Salman’s face in her hands. ‘You’ve paid enough dues to last a lifetime, my love. You have just as much a right to happiness as the next man—more. You’ve done your best to heal your own wounds and have helped countless others to heal theirs. Don’t you think it’s your turn now?’
Salman looked tortured for a moment. ‘But I hurt you so badly—the one person I should never have hurt.’
Fervently Jamilah declared, ‘It was worth it, Salman. Every heartbreaking second was worth it if it’s brought us here now.’
‘Where is here?’
Jamilah could have cried at the doubt still lingering in his eyes. ‘It’s brought me to you, my darling. I love you, Salman. I always have and I always will. You and our baby. All I want is to spend the rest of my life being happy and in love. And, yes, I’ll marry you…’
He kissed her long and deeply until she moved against him, seeking more intimate contact. Then he pulled back for a moment and declared softly, ‘I vow to spend the rest of my life loving you and trying to be a good father to our child and, God willing, to any more children we may have…’
Jamilah put a tender hand on his jaw and said with quiet conviction, ‘You will be a good father, Salman. Don’t doubt it for a second.’
Neither one of them noticed when Iseult knocked softly and entered a few seconds later. They were too engrossed in each other. They also didn’t notice when Nadim appeared, and grinned, before pulling his open-mouthed wife back from the door and shutting it softly behind them.
Two months later, in a flowing strapless ivory gown that cleverly disguised her growing bump, Jamilah was married to Salman in a small, private civil ceremony on one of the rooftop terraces of the Merkazad castle.
Nadim and Iseult stood witness, with their newborn son asleep in a carrycot beside them, sharing their own private looks of love. Salman and Jamilah had wanted to wait to marry until after the birth and christening of baby Kamil Sean.
And when the ceremony was over, just as the stars were beginning to come alive in the skies, Jamilah and Salman went off for a quiet moment by themselves, before they went down to greet the guests who were waiting to congratulate them in the castle’s lavishly decorated ballroom for the formal celebration.
Salman stood behind Jamilah, his arms crossed firmly around her belly, her hands tangled with his. She sighed happily and leant back into his embrace as they looked out over the view of the magical Arabian city. In the far distance it was possible to make out the construction crane which marked the spot where they were building a huge children’s fairground.
Salman had taken the brave decision to come forward as the public face of his charity, and share something of his own painful experiences—which he’d never thought he’d be able to do.
He kissed her head at that moment, and Jamilah smiled. They didn’t need words. They were together, and that was all they needed—for ever.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459219267
Copyright © 2011 by Abby Green
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com