Saying something to the other women, Annalisa passed the baby over and rose, a shimmering vision in her wedding dress. Late sun caught the golden lights in her hair as she walked towards him. Her gown sparkled with embroidered gems. Her jewelled chandelier earrings swayed against her pale neck, accentuating its slender curve.
Slowly she approached. Their gazes meshed.
He heard voices beside him and realised his companions were moving away, leaving him alone with his bride. His family showed the good sense to know when a man needed to be alone with his wife.
Then she was before him. Velvet eyes gazed up with a stunned delight he knew matched his own expression.
‘You look like an impatient bridegroom,’ she said, her voice husky.
‘I am.’ He claimed her, wrapping his hand around hers and drawing her close. ‘I want you so badly it hurts to breathe.’
Her lips curved in an enchanting smile, even as her eyes gleamed with excitement. ‘Then perhaps we should leave everyone to their celebrations, so I can…tend your hurts.’
Tahir sucked in a deep breath at the image her words conjured.
‘Soon,’ he promised, ‘when I’m capable of walking.’ He pulled her to him and turned her round so she stood, like him, looking out over the colourful scene. She fitted against his body, into his arms, as if made for him.
‘No regrets about becoming my Queen?’
‘Of course not.’ She shook her head and the delicate scent of cinnamon and wild honey teased his nostrils.
Beneath the finery she was still the woman he’d met in the desert. Capable, loving, wonderful. His arms closed round her tenderly.
‘I love you,’ he whispered against her hair.
‘And I love you, Tahir. Always.’ She wrapped her hands over his encompassing arms and sank against him.
He and Annalisa would be together for the rest of their lives.
He’d never known such happiness.