Sheikh Surgeon
Page 16
He stood up and walked away, down the sloping face of the sand hill—not towards the car but away from it.
Then he turned and raised his arms towards the night sky.
‘What do we do when words are not enough?’ he said, asking not her but the stars and moon. ‘Here we see the magnitude of nature, but how to show the magnitude of love?’
He turned around, the white robe whirling around his body, then he walked back towards her and knelt in front of her.
‘Yes, it’s an obsession, but I don’t want a cure, Nell. Because it’s love as well. A love so deep and strong and all-consuming you might call it an obsession. But however it’s labelled, I hope it will remain with me for the rest of my life.’ He took her hands and lifted them to his lips.
‘As I hope you will remain with me for the rest of my life…’
Her heart tap-tapping against her rib cage and hope tap-tapping in her head, Nell spoke his name, knowing her uncertainty and disbelief would be echoing through the word.
‘Kal?’
He drew her closer, and silenced any further questions with the lightest of butterfly kisses.
‘I love you, Nell,’ he said, his voice gravely deep—desperately sincere.
‘I was really sure all along. Right from when I saw you again at the airport,’ he added quietly. ‘But some stubborn streak kept getting in the way of admitting it. Yet the more I denied love, and derided it, the more certain I was inside that it was what I felt for you.’
He cupped her face in his hands and looked deep into her eyes.
‘I’m a man who is used to being in control,’ he said, ‘but with you I lose it completely, and that’s a very scary thing for an al Kalada.’
‘So you’ll stay scared for as long as we’re together?’ Nell teased, high on happiness now she was certain that the miracle of love had embraced her once again. Embraced her and Kal and, within that magic circle, Patrick.
‘I imagine so,’ Kal said gloomily.
‘Well, that’s good,’ Nell told him. ‘Because one of the good things about love is that you can hold tight to each other when you’re scared.’
She moved closer and kissed him on the lips, then held him very tightly indeed.
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Chapter 1