‘Oh, sorry. Yes, Penny, I’m fine. He won’t hurt me.’
At least he wouldn’t intentionally hurt her, but looking at him, being this close to him... Her chest felt tight with the strain of holding her emotions inside.
‘I’ll call you,’ Penny promised before slipping out of the door. When it clicked closed behind her Regan had to place her hand over her chest to keep her emotions back. It was only then that she noticed how dishevelled and tired he looked.
‘Look, I know you feel responsible about the paparazzi,’ she began, ‘but I don’t know how you can fix it. I don’t want to walk around town swamped by security guards. It will only make things worse. Did you release the press statement yet? Penny thinks that will make it easier.’ She pulled a face. ‘Even without the ring, they refuse to believe we’re not still together. They think I’m trying to play coy.’
She plonked herself down on her favourite armchair and remembered the shelling of questions she’d received ever since landing back in New York.
‘Where’s the King? When is he planning to visit you?’
‘Have you set a wedding date yet?’
‘Give us a smile, Regan. Tell us how you met.’
She’d even been invited on a talk show.
‘I didn’t release the statement,’ he said, pacing around her small flat and dwarfing it with his superior size.
‘Why not? And what do you mean, you’re changing the terms of our deal? Why would you want to do that?’
‘Because I was wrong, and that’s not easy for me to admit.’ He came to stand in front of her. ‘You were right when you said that Milen
a didn’t want to marry the Prince of Toran. She doesn’t. At least, she doesn’t yet. You’ll be happy to know that I spoke to her on my way over here and the wedding has been postponed for a year. I’ve also agreed that she can resume her job at GeoTech and keep working with your brother.’
‘That’s really nice of you. But you know you’re not responsible for Milena’s actions, don’t you?’
‘Not completely no, but after her health scare a few years back I stopped listening to what she wanted and thought I knew best. A mistake I don’t want to make with you.’
‘How could you make that mistake with me?’
‘By presuming you want the same thing that I do.’ He squatted down in front of her so they were at eye level.
Regan’s heart leapt into her throat. ‘What is it you want?’
‘You.’
‘Me?’
He gave her a small smile. ‘When you left, habiba, you took a part of me with you. A part of me I wasn’t even aware existed.’
The bleak look in his eyes made her feel suddenly hot and cold all over. ‘What did I take?’
‘My heart, habiba; you took my heart.’
A bubble of something that felt faintly like hope swelled inside her chest. ‘What are you saying?’
He released a heavy sigh, his eyes full of emotion when they met hers. ‘I’m saying that I love you.’
‘But that’s impossible.’
‘You doubt it?’ He gave a self-deprecating laugh. ‘I detained you. I bound you to my side by making you my fiancée.’
‘For your sister.’
‘I told myself that too, but the truth is you got under my skin from the first moment I saw you in that shisha bar, and every decision I made from then on defied logic and reason. That should have been my first clue.’
Regan felt dazed. Dizzy. ‘But you don’t believe in love.’