LITMIR.BIZ

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forward and kissed the top of Nadeena’s head as he played with her jumped into her consciousness and her heart lurched inside her chest. It had been identical to the thousands of kisses she had deposited on her daughter’s head herself—an instinctive and unconscious gesture of love. Was it possible she was wrong about Nadir? Was it possible he might one day love their daughter as deeply as she did?

      Feeling confused and out of her depth, her steps faltered as they entered a grand atrium with exquisite inlaid arabesque carvings on the ceilings and walls and highly polished bronze flooring. Six elaborately dressed Bakaani guards stood to attention with guns strapped to their hips. One of the men glanced briefly at Nadir and stepped forward, his hand poised on a gilt-edged doorknob.

      Imogen swallowed heavily, aware that she had no experience of this kind of thing, and insecurity and a deep sense of inadequacy fought it out for top position in her mind.

      Stopping beside her, Nadir delved into a hidden pocket in his robe, muttering something about ‘earlier’ under his breath. Then he turned towards her and held out a ring with a stone the size of a small grapefruit—an oval-shaped diamond grapefruit that was exquisitely hand-crafted and the most divine piece of jewellery Imogen had ever seen. Both her heart and her mind did a double-take.

      ‘Before we go in you’ll need to put this on.’

      Momentarily blank, she stared at it.

      ‘It’s an engagement ring.’

      She knew what it was. Sometimes as a young girl she had imagined receiving one from a man she loved. She and her friends had even gone engagement ring shopping once when they had been bored after school. They had then dreamed up elaborate ways their future beaus might pop what had felt like the biggest question of their lives back then. At no time had any of them come up with the man of their dreams saying, ‘You’ll need to put this on.’

      And how many times was she going to get her hopes up over this man only to have them dashed by the reality that he was here because she was the mother of his baby and for no other reason?

      ‘That’s not necessary,’ she said huskily, instinctively snatching her hands behind her back.

      A frown drew down his brows as if her reluctance hadn’t occurred to him. ‘Of course it is. Many of the guests at the dinner are Western. They will expect to see you wearing my ring.’

      A sickening sense of inevitability crept over Imogen and made her feel incredibly vulnerable. Incredibly exposed. ‘I can say I lost it if anyone asks.’

      His frown turned into a scowl. ‘If it’s the fact that you didn’t choose it yourself that’s the problem you can swap it at a later date.’

      That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that she didn’t want to swap it. The problem was that the ring was exactly what she would have chosen had he given her the choice. But he never would. The ruthless way he kept sweeping aside her insistence that she would not marry him as if it was nothing more than an empty spider’s web dangling in a doorway was evidence of that alone.

      ‘You have no idea, do you?’ she tossed at him, wanting to somehow hurt him the way he was currently hurting her. ‘I don’t want to wear your ring because it will ruin it when someone who really loves me wants to give me one.’

      Swearing under his breath, Nadir’s expression grew stormy. ‘Damn it, Imogen, there won’t be anyone else putting a ring on your finger. So you can get that out of your mind right now.’

      She shook her head, aware that they were studiously not being watched by the guards who stood to attention around them. As if sensing her discomfort, or uncomfortable himself, Nadir drew her to the side of the room in what probably looked like a loving gesture.

      ‘I thought I had explained how important tonight was.’

      ‘You don’t explain things, Nadir, you talk until you get what you want.’

      ‘I have explained.’ His tone was marked with frustration. ‘I was supposed to renounce the throne today but Zach didn’t show up. Now I have to host a dinner.’

      ‘But why don’t you want to be King? Zach said it was your birthright.’

      He shut down. She saw it instantly in the set of his jaw. ‘The why is not important. It’s the intention that counts. I don’t want the job. Zach does. I suppose you intend to be difficult about this as well.’

      Hurt by the implication that she was being difficult just for the sake of it, she flinched. ‘I’d like to understand it.’

      ‘Do you want to be Queen—is that it?’

      ‘No, that’s not it. I didn’t even think about that until just then.’

      He looked at her.

      ‘I didn’t. Why would I when I haven’t even agreed to marry you?’

      She’d be flattered at his insistence on marrying her if she thought there was any deep sentiment behind it. Basically, it was because of Nadeena with great sex thrown in as a side order.

      Without warning, Nadir reached out and raised her chin so that her eyes met his. Instead of looking fierce and commanding he looked frustrated and weary and her heart lurched.

      ‘I need you to cut me some slack here, Imogen. I feel like I’m holding on by a thread.’

      The raw words and his pained expression gave her pause but she was loath to let her heart soften towards him because he’d likely trample on it without even noticing.

      Of course the traitorous organ didn’t listen to her head. It never did when he was around. When he was this close to her that his scent wound its way inside her and made her ache to lean in and press her face into his neck.

      ‘What is it, Imogen?’ His thumb drew light circles across her chin, the gesture more comforting than sexual. ‘What are you thinking?’

      The width of his broad shoulders blocking the soldiers from her view established a feeling of intense intimacy between them and it was as if the dinner guests on the other side of the large doorway didn’t exist. ‘Honestly, Nadir, I don’t know what to think.’ She looked up at him and knew that her expression was troubled. ‘I don’t know what to feel or what to do any more. This is all so confusing and unexpected. One minute I’m alone with Nadeena and then... And what we had in Paris.’ She swallowed heavily and his frown deepened. ‘It was so...so...’ She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t say that it was so special. That she had counted the minutes from Monday to Friday during that month they had been together and prayed that he would fly in and rap on her front door and kiss her even before he said hello. ‘And now I’m scared because everything feels so broken.’

      Broken like her own home life had been. Like her heart had been after he had left Paris and like she feared it would be again if she let her guard down and agreed to marry him.

      Nadir cupped her face, gently smoothing his fingers along her jaw line, stroking the velvety skin beneath her earlobes.

      ‘Imogen, look at me.’ The whispered words were fierce and oh, so close to her ear she could feel his warm breath stirring her hair. She could feel the tips of her breasts pressed lightly against the front of his robes. She stopped breathing as his voice washed over her in deep, melodic waves, her eyes riveted to his as her emotions surged to the surface. ‘Do not be scared. I promise you that I will take care of everything. You...Nadeena. I will protect you and provide for you.’ He tilted her chin up with the tip of his finger when her eyes fell away from his. ‘You will want for nothing, habibi. Not clothing or food or shelter.’ He searched her face. ‘Not diamonds or holidays or palaces. Whatever your heart desires I will give to you. What more is there?’

      Love, Imogen thought achingly. Trust. Companionship. Friendship. And while she could see that he meant what he said, she knew that he was unlikely to feel those things for her and she was so afraid that she already did for him.

      Imogen looked up and found that his silvery-blue

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