by Maisey Yates
“What is that?”
“My wedding ring. It doesn’t come off, which, I thought might make for a nice line about why you actually have to stay married to me.”
“Alik…”
She took his hand in hers and ran her finger over the band. “What does it say?” She looked up at him. “It’s in Russian.”
“Jada. And Leena. My family. I am committed to you, always.”
“What if I would have told you I didn’t want to be married to you?”
“Are you going to tell me that?”
“No.”
“Then it’s moot. But that was when I figured I would redraft a strategy and start working on ways to exploit your vulnerabilities.”
“My vulnerabilities?”
“Yes. For one, I thought I could take you to the opera and get you alone in a private royal box.”
“You are shameless.”
“Always. But now…only for you. I have tasted every empty, meaningless pleasure life has to offer and I’ve come to the conclusion that those things are only there to distract us from the real meaning in life. A man can get lost in the fleeting things and forget to look for anything real. I am so thankful you brought something real into my life.”
“Alik, I want you to marry me again,” she said, thinking back to their wedding day. To the dress that she didn’t like. To the lack of music. To her sadness. “And this time, I want to take your name. So we all have the same name. So I have your name.”
“But what about…”
“The past is the past. I have good memories there. But now I’m not afraid to simply let memories be memories. Not anymore. I have too much ahead of me to keep looking back. You are my future. My heart. My love.”
“And you have brought me love. For the first time, Jada. It’s like seeing the sun, seeing color, when before there was only darkness. Only gray.”
“Like waking up,” she said, and she realized that it was true for her, too.
“Yes. Like that.”
“I’m glad I woke up,” she said. “Because this is so much better than dreaming.”
“So much.”
“So, will you marry me again?” she asked.
Alik looked at Jada, at his wife, at his heart. He had spent his life not feeling, not caring. And now that he did, he loved with all of himself. “No one ever loved me,” he said. “And now, I have an embarrassment of riches. You and Leena? I am the luckiest man on earth. There are so many broken things in our lives and now…we get a chance to make something new. Something perfect.”
She arched one brow and gave him an impish smile. “So, will you marry me, then?”
“Nothing could stop me.”
“Don’t go challenging fate, Alik.”
“When I look at how things have played out, how I found Leena, how I found you, I think fate is on our side, don’t you?”
“I think you’re right.”
EPILOGUE
JADA AdJusted her red Veil and held her arms out in front of her, examining the intricate designs that had been painted onto her skin during the henna ceremony the night before. Sayid’s wife, Chloe, had helped with that and Jada was pleased that she’d found a friend in the other woman. Sayid was the closest thing Alik had to a brother. And now they were all family.
She could hear the music coming from the courtyard and her heart swelled, the smile that had been on her face since she’d woken up that morning spreading wider. She grabbed her bouquet from the dressing table and lifted her heavy skirt, adorned with gold fabric that caught fire when the midday Attari sun caught a hold of it. Bright, vibrant. Happy.
She ran down the stairs, her fingers skimming the stone balustrade. Two attendants opened the double doors for her, and she saw Alik, waiting for her at the head of the aisle, Leena in a red dress that matched Jada’s, resting in his arms.
She nearly laughed, her heart taking flight. She looked up into the bleached sky and smiled. The heaviness that had been inside her for so long was gone, burned away by the sun, by the heat of Alik’s love. She felt light again. She felt new.
Then she started to walk down the aisle. Toward her family, her husband. Her future.
Alik took her hand and she looked down at where they were joined, her hand small and dark in his. “I searched for this moment all my life,” he said, his voice low. “What a gift to have finally reached it.”
“I didn’t realize I was searching for this moment,” she said. “But I was. Out of grief came the most beautiful path. And it was taking me toward you, Alik.”
“I’m so glad you followed it.”
“So am I, Alik. So am I.”
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
First published in Great Britain 2013
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Maisey Yates 2013
eISBN: 978-1-472-00199-3
Table of Contents
Excerpt
About the Author
Title Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Copyright
