‘Before what?’ she demanded. ‘Before last night? You think that what happened last night changes anything?’
His eyebrows lifted. ‘Doesn’t it?’
‘We had sex, Khaled,’ she said. ‘People do it all the time and then they walk away. End of story.’ She shrugged. ‘It changes nothing.’ She turned her head, before he could see the lie in her eyes. Before he could see how her own words tore at her heart. She couldn’t let him see what it meant to her, not when she was so vulnerable and afraid and desperate to escape.
‘Sex?’ The word erupted from him like a cannonball as her forearm was grabbed in his iron-like grasp, pulling her back around to face him. ‘Is that what we had? And all the time I thought we were making love.’
‘Call it whatever you like,’ she said more shakily than she wished. ‘You promised to take me to the airport.’ She looked up at him, her eyes pleading for him to understand. ‘And I’m holding you to it.’
He let go of her arm, wheeling away, raking one clawed hand through his hair.
‘I don’t want you to go.’
She squeezed her eyes shut, clamping back on the stinging dampness behind her lids. ‘We’ve been through this.’
He spun around to face her. ‘No, we haven’t.’
‘Khaled—’
‘No!’ he shouted. ‘When I made that promise I thought I could let you walk out of my life if you wanted to. I really believed it. But I thought it wouldn’t come to that—I thought I would change your mind about leaving—that you would decide to stay here in Jebbai with me.’
She laughed, the sound coming brittle and harsh. ‘You thought one night with you would change my mind? You really must fancy yourself as some sort of Arab stud.’
His eyes flashed with danger, his jaw rigid as concrete, and she stepped back, fearing she had gone too far.
‘Listen to me,’ he hissed, his teeth clenched, his eyes rapier sharp. ‘No one has ever felt so right in my bed, such liquid fire in my arms. That perfect moment when we two became one—you could not help but feel that. I know you felt it too. You can’t deny it.’
There was no oxygen left in the room, otherwise why was it so difficult to breathe? So difficult to think?
‘Khaled, I…’
‘I don’t want you to go, Sapphire. Even if last night changed nothing for you, it changed the world for me. After last night I know I could never live without you. The last thing I want to do in the world is to take you to the airport never to see you again. I can’t lose you now. I want you to stay here and become my wife.’
‘No,’ she protested, vehemently shaking her head as she tried to dislodge his hand on her arm. ‘That’s crazy. That’s exactly why you brought me here in the first place! Why should this time be any different?’
His free hand cupped her cheek. She flinched, trying to pull away, but his hand remained, and against her own better judgement she found herself nestling into the warm strength of his palm. His face hovered just inches from her own, his eyes suddenly more tender than she’d ever seen.
‘Something happened to me last night, while I was out there in that desert tent with you. I discovered something momentous that I should have realised long, long ago.’
She was afraid to blink, afraid to breathe, afraid the sound of her pumping heart would drown out his words.
‘Zafeerah…’ The way he said her name fed into her soul, he might have been worshipping her. ‘I’m not good at showing these things, but can’t you feel it? I love you.’
Her pulse quickened, thumping in her chest as his words hit home. He loved her? How could it be possible, after all that had happened?
‘You don’t believe me,’ he said, ‘but you must. I think I loved you from the very first time I saw you in the salon. I wanted you back then but it has taken me all this time to see the truth of what was staring me in the face all along.
‘I love you. And that’s why I cannot bear the thought of your leaving. I want you to stay and be by my side forever. I am asking you to become my wife.’
His mouth slanted over hers and she felt his lips, heated, filled with promise and expectation, moving over hers.
She felt her resolve to leave wavering, losing balance in a world she was less and less sure of. So much was changing and all too fast. Her heart sang with his revelation yet at the same time her mind reeled.
She couldn’t think straight before he’d made his announcement. How
could she possibly think straight now?
He lifted his head, his hands taking hers in his. ‘Will you stay then? Will you stay, and become my wife?’