He suddenly sank with her in front of the extinguished fireplace where they’d shared such ecstasies, his face trembling, his eyes filling. “You did far less than what I deserved. And your family made up for everything they’d ever done by having you. I might even love them for it.”
A laugh of incredulity burst through the upheaval. “Now don’t go overboard. But whatever you do, I will never forgive them.”
He held her face between those callused hands that embodied tenderness and cherishing. “I need you to believe that one touch, one smile, one moment with you has atoned for all their crimes, has healed all my injuries. All I want now is for you to forget this and be at peace. If I have you, I have everything, past, present and future. I want only to be your lover and husband and father of our child.”
“And king of Azmahar,” she blurted out.
“Azmahar deserves someone unscarred inside and out.”
“Azmahar needs you. And it’s your destiny to rule the kingdom you defended and almost died for, the kingdom you’ve taken back from the brink of destruction and will now lead to prosperity. And that kingdom chose you. Like I did. Because you are the absolute best. Even your rivals think that. Hell, even Amjad thinks that. You must take your throne.”
“On my life and honor, I will do anything you ever demand. But why not wait and see if I am the best choice for Azmahar?”
As she started to launch into another argument, he kissed her, silenced everything but the need to merge with him.
Not knowing how, she found herself where he’d first made her his as he came on top of her on the mattress she’d made him return after she’d found it far superior to any bed.
The next forever was consumed in finding their way back to each other, body, heart and soul.
What felt like a lifetime of bliss later, he moved her sweat- and pleasure-drenched body on top of his, caressed her all over, paying special attention to the belly that was starting to round.
“About the throne...” she began.
He cut her off. “About the honeymoon we never had. How about you tell me where you want to have it?”
She dove deeper into his embrace. “Right here. But...”
“There are too many reasons not to think of the throne now.”
“Your PTSD flared up on my account. It should subside now.”
“Even if it does, I can’t be king. I need to be with you through your pregnancy and during our baby’s birth and first months. I will make up for both of our lifetimes of alienation.”
She ran adoring hands and eyes down his beloved face. “Then you’ll consider taking the throne?”
“How about we take this one day at a time?” He gave her back the words she’d given him in what felt like another life. “Let’s just savor this. What’s the rush?”
“Uh...a kingdom with no king?”
He waved it away. “Haidar and Jalal will hold down the fort. It’s good training in case one of them ends up on the throne.”
As she opened her mouth, everything inside her stopped. At a sight she’d thought she’d never see.
Rashid’s first full smile.
“How’s that?” He tickled her out of her swooning. “Am I doing it right?”
She melted even more. “If I thought your scowl heart-stopping, your smile is possibly life-threatening.”
And he treated her to another first, his unbridled guffaw.
“Ahh...” She lost all cohesion. “I’m gonna die!”
Still exposing her to the incomparable beauty of his grin, he countered, “You’re gonna live. To love me and be loved by me.”
Joy inundated her, that true ease had finally entered his heart and made his smile ready and laughter possible.
Deciding not to push for the throne for now, she grinned widely back. “All I ever wanted is to be yours, and for you to be mine.”
He illuminated her whole world and being with his delight and devotion. “Done. And done.”
Epilogue
Haidar and Jalal scowled at Rashid.
He only raised serene eyes to them, grinning, delighted at how that still fazed them.
Haidar blinked, as if to clear his eyes from a burst of light, and bit off the words, “You said a couple of months.”
“And when was six months ever ‘a couple’?” Jalal added, folding his arms over his chest, looking as unsettled at seeing him smile.
“You were both once intent on taking on the job permanently. What’s so difficult about doing so for half a year?”
Haidar huffed. “Since you landed the bid, we rearranged our lives accordingly, and you ran and left us holding the baby.”
He shrugged. “I did so I can hold my and Laylah’s baby. And I’m not holding anything else until I do.”
“Just give us a straight answer, damn you,” Haidar growled before sitting next to him, grabbing his shoulder, looking deeply into his eyes. “Are you really okay now?”
“Far better than you can imagine.” Rashid smiled at him, an act that came so easily to him now. “I have my own miracle. And she’s providing me with another one...in about a week’s time.”
Jalal sat on his other side. “Then we can be allowed to have a piece of you? You can be a husband, a father and a friend, too, you know. We’ve tried it and it works.”
Rashid grinned at him. “If I don’t expire of happiness when our baby boy is born, I’ll squeeze you, and the throne, onto my list of priorities.”
Haidar rolled his eyes. “Once we could never get you to crack a joke, now you’re almost rivaling Amjad, your biggest fan and our biggest pain in the ass, in being irreverent. Laylah isn’t a miracle worker, she’s a saboteur.”
“You found out my true agenda!”
As Haidar and Jalal turned whimsical gazes to their ribbing cousin, Rashid filled his sight with Laylah as she waddled down the stairs of their loft. She became more beautiful with every passing day.
Firelight beamed off the brooch she almost always wore. His mahr. What he considered his mother’s gift to her.
He had another gift for her now. One from her mother.
He rose, looking at Haidar and Jalal. “It’s a good thing you’re here to hear this. I just learned this moments before you barged in.” His arms went around Laylah, the one being who encompassed the world to him. “I’ve been reinvestigating this ever since you came back to me. And today I made sure. Your mother had nothing to do with my kidnapping.”