‘Karim?’ She smiled at last, remembering the suppressed air of excitement that had surrounded his younger brother earlier. ‘That’s what your father’s going to announce tonight?’
‘Yes, but he’s also hoping to make another announcement—that of the marriage of his first-born son to the woman he loves.’
‘Dita,’ she said dully, her heart suddenly a leaden lump in her chest again.
‘No, not Dita, you stubborn woman!’ he exclaimed, striding towards her impatiently. ‘If you had ever let me get close enough to explain I would have told you that Dita and I have never loved each other as anything other than friends. It is Karim she has always loved, as he loves her.’
Karim? ‘But the betrothal?’
‘That crazy betrothal—and my mother’s insistence that it should be honoured—has caused many problems for all of us. Dita and her family have no problem with the fact that she will be marrying Karim instead, especially now he is to be my father’s heir. And I have no problem releasing her from the arrangement because my heart has belonged to someone else ever since the first day she walked into my department and I saw those serious grey-blue eyes.’
‘You…? W-what?’ she stammered, as her knees once more threatened to let her down.
‘Ah, Lily, sometimes I thought you must be the only person who did not know how I feel about you,’ he said, as he finally took that last step that separated them and took her in his arms. ‘After the disastrous ending to that night, you were so determined not to let me get near you that all I could do was honour your wishes. But that didn’t mean that I didn’t want to spend as much time with you as possible, so I devised a plan to court you by giving you what you did want from me…the benefit of my experience as an orthopaedic surgeon to help you with your own career.’
‘Courtship among the blood and bones,’ she said on a shaky chuckle. ‘But that still doesn’t explain why…If you say you…you cared for me—’
‘Loved you,’ he corrected firmly.
‘Then why did you reject me like that when you discovered—?’
‘I did not reject you,’ he refuted heatedly, cupping both hands around her face and tilting it up to his.
Those dark eyes were so close that she could have counted every one of his equally dark eyelashes, but she was also close enough to know that there was no trace of evasion in them as he continued. ‘I was so amazed and delighted and possessive in a totally primitive way and…there were all these thoughts in my head and all I could be certain of was that I wanted to be married to you before I truly made you mine.’
‘Married?’ she gasped, wide-eyed, that word leaping out at her even as the months of hurt disappeared without trace. ‘You want to marry me?’
‘Yes, I want to marry you,’ he said, and brushed a tender kiss across her lips. ‘I want to marry you in a dress the same rich colour of pearls as your skin, with traditional embroidery to decorate it and buttons all the way down the front that will make me want to scream with frustration as I try to undo them to get my first look at my bride in the privacy of our bedroom.
‘I want to make our vows of forever in front of my family and yours, with all our colleagues there to wish us well and Chloe as your bridesmaid and—’
‘Razak?’ She put her fingers over his mouth to silence him for a moment as a giddy sense of unreality swept over her. He couldn’t possibly mean what this sounded like—that he wanted them to marry today?
She didn’t even have to put her question into words. Once more it was as if he’d read her mind.
‘Say yes, my love,’ he whispered with his heart in his eyes. ‘I have taken the biggest gamble of my life and have invited them all here in the hope that you might love me enough to accept.’
‘They’re all here?’ she gasped. ‘You brought my family here, too? But I spoke to Iris yesterday and she never said a word. And Chloe?’
‘You are not angry that they…we have kept secrets from you?’
She was having difficulty grasping the enormity of what had been going on without her knowledge, not least the lengths this wonderful man would go to in order to prove his love.
‘No.’ She shook her head, staring up at his handsome face in the realisation that everything she wanted was actually right in front of her. ‘I’m amazed, but not angry.’
‘And…you will marry me? Please? If I promise that I will never keep secrets from you again?’
‘You only have to promise to love me,’ she said with a shaky smile as her heart overflowed.
‘Is that a yes?’ he prompted. ‘I promise I will love you for ever but you have to say the word.’
‘Yes, Razak,’ she said, feeling a wide smile of joy spread across her face. ‘Yes, I love you and, yes, I will marry you.’
‘Then let us not waste another moment,’ he said fervently, ushering her towards the door. ‘My father is waiting to hear whether there is to be a second wedding today, our guests are waiting to know that they have not travelled all this way for nothing and I have waited the longest of all, dreaming of this day when you will finally be mine.’
‘As you will be mine,’ she reminded him gently, her feet barely seeming to touch the floor as they hurried along the corridor towards their destiny.
‘A true partnership,’ he agreed several moments later, as he paused briefly outside the enormous doors that separated them from the hubbub of voices waiting for them on the other side. ‘In the operating theatre, in our marriage bed and in every other part of our lives, you are the only wife I will ever need.’
He bent his head to give her a kiss to seal their promises then swung the doors open for them to step into their future together.
‘They look so happy,’ Lily said from the secluded corner they’d found as she and Razak watched Karim and Dita circle the room to greet each of their guests. The marble column threw a shadow substantial enough to hide both of them from most eyes amid the aftermath of the feast and supported his shoulders as he cradled her against his chest.
‘They will be good for each other and for our country,’ Razak said seriously. ‘Not that my mother will ever entirely agree.’ Lily’s eyes were drawn to where her parents were speaking to Razak’s father and mother, relieved to see them both laugh aloud at something her father had said. After her solitary conversation with his mother, she’d been convinced that such a happy scene would never be possible. Her sisters, too, were obviously enjoying every moment of their stay in such luxurious surroundings and were openly delighted that she’d married a man she truly loved.
‘You are happy, my jasmine flower?’ he murmured for her ears alone, the words hidden under the happy sounds of the gathering in front of them. Lily looked up into those dark, dark eyes that now revealed openly how much she was loved by this special man. The glimpses she’d caught when he’d been watching her over his surgical mask were nothing when compared to the blaze that warmed her now.
‘Completely happy,’ she said as she rested her head against his shoulder. ‘I just can’t believe how you managed to organise everything without anyone letting me know what was going on.’
‘They were very understanding of my need for secrecy—I told each of them that my ego would never recover if it were ever known that I went to so much trouble only to have the woman of my dreams turn me down,’ he said with a gleam in his eye, then returned a more serious answer. ‘Mostly it was Karim and Dita’s doing. When they went to her father and mine to tell them they wanted to be married, it left me free to choose my own bride. And then it was just a matter of finding an excuse to get everybody from work over here. As for your family…’ He smiled reminiscently. ‘One day you must ask your father about the day I came to ask for your hand in marriage. He told me that he appreciated the gesture, but that your hand belonged to you, and if I wanted it I was going to have to ask the owner in person.’
Lily chuckled, more relieved than she would ever admit that this day had turned out so differently from the way she’d feared it would
. She’d honestly believed that she would have to sit there with her heart breaking, watching Razak and Dita…
‘Lily?’ said a voice at her elbow, and she couldn’t help stiffening when she turned to see Razak’s mother standing there. ‘This is not what I wanted for my son,’ she said, her heavy accent making the words seem very blunt. ‘All his life I expected…hoped—’
‘Mother…’ Razak interrupted with a warning tone, but she threw him a quelling glance before fixing those dark eyes on Lily again.
‘In all his life, not even on the day he became a doctor, have I ever seen my son look so happy as he does today,’ she declared, and Lily was stunned to see the glitter of tears in her eyes. ‘And I am glad that he has found the wife to suit him even better than the one we found for him. I just hope…’ She paused uncertainly for a second before continuing in a rush. ‘I just hope that the two of you won’t be too busy working at the hospital to give me some grandchildren.’
Lily felt a blush work its way up her throat and into her cheeks and desperately wanted to hide her face. Luckily Razak was answering for them both.
‘Actually, Mother, Lily and I urgently need to have a conversation about that,’ he said with a wicked gleam in his dark eyes just for her. ‘You will make our apologies to everyone and thank them all for making this such a memorable day, won’t you?’
‘But, Razak, you can’t just leave…’ the elegant woman remonstrated, clearly scandalised by such a breach of protocol.
‘Mother, relax,’ he said gently, and kissed her cheek. ‘I don’t think anyone will really mind and I’ve waited long enough. I need to be alone with Lily.’ And he wrapped his arm around Lily’s shoulders and urged her towards the small door hidden in the corner.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked, when his hurried pace almost had her running to keep up with him.
‘To hide ourselves away from everyone and everything,’ he said, as he led her along what were probably the back stairs and corridors that helped the staff to remain largely invisible as they went about their duties. And then he was opening to door to the suite in which she’d prepared for what had unexpectedly become the happiest day of her life.
This time the bedroom was softly lit by candles that scented the air around them with the smell of jasmine as he turned the key in the lock. Somewhere in the background her favourite jazz was playing as he took her in his arms.
‘Is it time for us to talk about those grandchildren your mother wants?’ she asked, as every nerve in her body quivered in a mixture of uncertainty and anticipation. She had imagined this day so often, believing that it was only a hopeless dream.
‘I have a much better idea,’ he said, his voice rich with desire as his long agile fingers toyed with the first of the many buttons fastening the front of her dress before slipping the pearl smoothly through the embroidered hole. ‘If you agree, I think we should just let our hearts and desires take us where they will.’
Lily knew exactly where her heart and her desires wanted to take her, though her fingers were trembling when they reached for the first of Razak’s buttons.
‘I think that the time for talking is over,’ she whispered, surprised to hear how husky and inviting her voice sounded. ‘You have always been so good at demonstrating new techniques to me in the operating theatre. I think now is a perfect time for a practical demonstration…or two.’
She gasped when he growled in response and swept her off her feet to stride over to the sumptuous bed she’d imagined sharing with him, then smiled with delight when he proceeded to make all her dreams come true.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5904-4
SHEIKH SURGEON, SURPRISE BRIDE
First North American Publication 2007
Copyright © 2007 by Josie Metcalfe
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