‘If I came to you of my own free will…’ Her thoughts shifted her back to the desert tent, where she’d been the one to initiate lovemaking. She’d been the one to make the decision. The one to decide. She could have let him pull away from his kiss and leave the tent but no, she’d been the one to take that fateful step.
‘I told you—I’ve treated you so badly.’
‘And I have something to tell you.’ She looped her arms around his neck. ‘Paolo and I weren’t getting married. Certainly not lately and neither, I believe, in the future.’
‘But—’
‘I know,’ she said, ‘we were touted as the next great love interest and for a time there I thought that’s where we were headed, and while it hurt—a lot—that he’d never told me he already had a wife, us getting married wouldn’t have happened, whether or not you intervened. He’ll always be a good friend but he just wasn’t the one.’
He looked at her strangely. ‘You mean, after all my planning, I still didn’t get to steal Paolo’s bride?’
She shook her head. ‘No. Does that mean you need to go steal someone else to satisfy your need for revenge?’
‘No.’ He broke into a broad grin. ‘I ended up with something much better than revenge. I ended up with you.’
‘Oh, I love you, Khaled,’ she said, pulling him close. ‘I love you more than you could ever know.’
He pushed her away and for a moment she resisted. Until she saw his eyes and the love that shone there, deep and true.
‘You do? After everything that has happened?’
She nodded, exhilarated at having the truth revealed at last—all of it. ‘And things will be different from now on. No more talk of revenge and retribution. The past is gone and buried. From now on it will be love that drives the future.’
‘Oh, yes,’ he said, ‘love for you, my dazzling Sapphire; love between us.’
He broke off the kiss that followed suddenly—much too suddenly, confusing her with his sudden withdrawal. She blinked her eyes open to find his studying hers, their darkness bright with excitement.
‘You would not have to give up your work if you stay,’ he said, his words coming almost too fast for her to keep up with. ‘You mentioned you wanted your own salon. Would you consider having one here, in Hebra?’
She drew in a breath. She hadn’t thought about it, hadn’t thought through the ramifications of revealing her love, the thrill of finding it reciprocated, the surprise that he wouldn’t expect her to give up the career she loved.
But why not Hebra? It was time she branched out on her own and there was nothing now to tie her to Milan. From what she’d learnt, Hebra was a thriving city, its women as proud and as fashion conscious as any in Paris or Milan.
She started nodding, her excitement building, thinking of the stock still in the workroom at the palace and the excellent seamstresses she knew were available. It would be almost too easy.
And it was almost too much to take in—the prospect of having both her own salon and the love of the man beside her. Who said you couldn’t have it all?
She smiled and kept on nodding. ‘It could work, yes.’
‘I knew it!’ His words exploded from him in a rush. ‘Then so be it. You shall have your own salon and your designs will be world famous.’
‘I don’t need to be world famous,’ she said as his lips moved closer to hers, ‘so long as I have your love.’
His mouth turned into a smile, the darkness of his eyes melting to warm velvet. ‘Oh, you have my love. You hold my heart and soul forever.’
Sheer bliss welled up inside as his mouth slanted across hers and he kissed her, slowly, languorously, thoroughly, in both a confirmation and a celebration of their love. Finally he drew back his head. ‘After all that’s happened, I wonder—is this too soon to ask you if you’d do me the honour of becoming my wife?’
‘It’s not too soon at all,’ she answered, unable to restrain the bubbling joy from her voice. ‘So why don’t you go ahead and ask me?’
He smiled and then his eyes glittered and the smile dropped away to something entirely more purposeful. ‘Marry me, Sapphire. Make me the happiest and luckiest man in the world by agreeing to become my wife.’
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I will marry you!’ her laughter welling up with love and certainty, her face pressed brow to brow against his as his lips closed in for another kiss.
‘After all, I already have the perfect dress.’