by Annie West
Emotion clotted in Lina’s throat as she read the truth in his eyes. She barely had time to register it before he was bending, slipping down onto his knees before her.
‘Sayid?’ She looked into his face and saw nothing but joy and fierce determination. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Proving as best I can that I love you. That whatever society says, I will never, can never be superior to you. You’re stronger and better than me in so many ways. Besides—’ he paused, a smile kinking the corner of his mouth ‘—I believe this is the customary pose for a man proposing marriage to the woman he loves.’
The woman he loves. Lina told herself it wasn’t possible, yet truth resonated in his words. It was there in his expression, and his fierce grip on her hands.
Over his head she caught movement. On the far side of the huge chamber a courtier stopped to stare. Then two more figures emerged and came to a halt, their faces turning towards Sayid and Lina.
‘But you’re the supreme ruler. You can’t do this here. People will see and talk and—’
‘Let them. I’m a man before I’m the Emir and I’m proud of my feelings for you. I love you, Lina. I want you to marry me because I love you and I’m hoping that perhaps you care for me enough to agree.’
A thrill coursed through her. Sayid loved her, genuinely loved her.
His fingers tightened on hers. ‘Have you nothing to say?’ It wasn’t a demand but a plea and Lina’s heart rolled over.
‘Get up first.’
‘But I—’
‘Please, Sayid. I don’t want you on your knees before me. I want us to be equals.’
He rose, hands sliding to her elbows, drawing her in. ‘And are we?’ There was such tension in him as he waited for her reply, for a moment it stole her voice.
Silently she nodded. ‘I’ve loved you since I was seventeen. I can’t stop now, no matter how I try.’
Strong arms curved around her. ‘I don’t want you to stop. Ever. I want you as my lover, my partner, my wife, always.’
He released one of her hands and reached into his pocket. Then he withdrew a fistful of gleaming pearls, huge and, she guessed, priceless. He lifted his hand, offering it to her. Lina realised he held a double string of pearls, a necklace with a faceted pendant of rich amethyst.
Her breath caught. ‘From the royal treasury?’ She’d heard of its fabled wealth.
‘The pendant is. I went there looking for something specifically for you. This was the closest I came to matching your beautiful eyes. But the pearls aren’t royal treasure.’
‘They look it.’ She lifted her gaze to his face, seeing her own wonder and excitement mirrored there.
‘These mean far more. They aren’t booty from some ancient war, or a present designed to flatter and appease a powerful sheikh. They were the betrothal gift my father gave my mother. They are a symbol of love, gratitude and fidelity.’
Lina’s throat worked at the timbre of his voice, the hope and uncertainty that feathered across her skin.
‘Will you accept me as your one true love? For that’s what you are to me—the only woman I’ll ever love. The only woman I could possibly share my life with.’
Lina’s vision misted but it didn’t stop her smiling as she looked up into his eyes. ‘I will, my heart. Always.’
Then Sayid, with a complete disregard for royal protocol, did something that had never before been done in that echoing, magnificent room. He lifted her in his arms and swung her round and round with a shout of triumph and jubilation.
Then he lowered her gently to her feet and kissed her with all the tenderness and love a woman could desire.
* * * * *
Coming next month
MARRIAGE MADE IN BLACKMAIL
Michelle Smart
‘You want me to move?’
‘Yes.’
A gleam pulsed in his eyes. ‘Make me.’
Instead of closing her hand into a fist and aiming it at his nose as he deserved, Chloe placed it flat on his cheek.
An unwitting sigh escaped from her lips as she drank in the ruggedly handsome features she had dreamed about for so long. The texture of his skin was so different from her own, smooth but with the bristles of his stubble breaking through…had he not shaved? She had never seen him anything other than clean-shaven.
His face was close enough for her to catch the faint trace of coffee and the more potent scent of his cologne.
Luis was the cause of all this chaos rampaging through her. She hated him so much but the feelings she’d carried for him for all these years were still there, refusing to die, making her doubt herself and what she’d believed to be the truth.
Her lips tingled, yearning to feel his mouth on hers again, all her senses springing to life and waving surrender flags at her.
Just kiss him…
Closing her eyes tightly, Chloe gathered all her wits about her, wriggled out from under him and sat up.
Her lungs didn’t want to work properly and she had to force air into them.
She shifted to the side, needing physical distance, suddenly terrified of what would happen if she were to brush against him or touch him in any form again.
Fighting to clear her head of the fog clouding it, she blinked rapidly and said, ‘Do I have your word that your feud with Benjamin ends with our marriage?’
Things had gone far enough. It was time to put an end to it.
‘Sí. Marry me and it ends.’
Continue reading
MARRIAGE MADE IN BLACKMAIL
Michelle Smart
Available next month
Copyright ©2018 by Michelle Smart
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