Page 108 of Hired Husband

“Yeah.”

I glanced at him, smiling. “I thought you were going to say that it’s not as beautiful as me.”

He chuckled. “Well, it’s not, but it’s still pretty spectacular. I can’t believe you have exclusive access to places like this. It’s incredible.”

“My family donates to just about every historical and cultural preservation society in Egypt,” I explained. “As soon as my dad started making his money, he pushed a lot of it back into the country that allowed him to become what he is. It’s important to him that our heritage is preserved. Over the years, I’ve met a lot of the people in charge of these sites, so it’s not that hard to arrange a special visit.”

I pushed away from the wall, already turning to carry on with the tour, but Isaac remained still. He faced me, but he wasn’t walking. “Can we talk yet?”

My heart skipped, but I stopped moving and held his gaze. “Do you really want to have the big talk here?”

“I literally can’t think of any place that could possibly be better,” he said, his gaze drifting away from mine to take in the city lights twinkling across the skyline and the temple stretching out all around us. “This is magic, being here with you. I never thought we’d get to explore another ancient site together, but here we are.”

“Here we are,” I agreed quietly. “Alright, Isaac. Let’s talk.”

Honestly, I didn’t know what to say. I’d been grappling with coming to terms with the fact that he’d shown up when I’d least expected him to and taken me away from a party that had felt like it would crush my soul. While I’d finally realized that I had a say over my future again, I was nowhere near figuring out what the heck to do with it.

“Personally, I thought we’d just be taking things day by day for now,” I admitted. “There’s so much we still don’t know and it won’t help to make any plans when right now, we don’t even know when we’ll be able to go back to Cairo.”

“True, but there are a few things I do know.” He closed the distance between us in a few long strides and took my hands, holding them in his firm, warm grip. “I know that I meant everything I said back at that party, but that I’d like to say it again, only to you this time.”

Tears pressed at the backs of my eyes and I nodded. “I can’t promise that I’m going to have anything to say in response. Not yet, but okay. Go ahead.”

“I won’t be able to give you the lifestyle you’re accustomed to, Jasmine,” he said softly, and even though he’d said this exact same thing before, it was more meaningful and a lot more passionate now. “It doesn’t matter how hard I work, I don’t have a trust fund to fall back on anymore. Thayer Steelworks is recovering, but it’ll be a while before it owns a jet. And in the meantime, we’re going to have to fly commercial.”

I smiled through the tears. “I’ll survive.”

“Will you?” he asked, and I couldn’t quite tell if he was serious. “I know how much you hate even first class.”

“I won’t hate anything if I’m doing it with you,” I said, squeezing his fingers with my own. “Besides, I’ll get used to it.”

“That’s the thing, though. You don’t have to.” He looked right into my eyes and inhaled a deep breath. “If you don’t want the future I can offer, I’ll understand, Jasmine. Joseph said your father is still trying to push the contract through and maybe something will come of it, but maybe not. At this point, I don’t even know if I’ll be able to stay in Egypt or if I’ll have to go to work at Thayer in the States.”

“We’ll figure it out.”

He smiled, but it only lasted for a moment before he grew serious again. “I honestly don’t know what my future looks like right now. I can’t promise you that I’ll ever be able to charter a private yacht or make donations to historical or cultural societies. I probably won’t ever own more than one property and I’m not even sure that you’ll never have to worry about money. There’s my brothers and their student loans, and⁠—”

“I don’t care about any of those things,” I murmured, my eyes fixed on his. “We’ll build together, Isaac. We’ll grow together. We’ll figure it out. Together.”

He brushed his thumb gently across my knuckles. “God, I love you. I just hope that’s enough while I rebuild my life.”

I let go of his hands and wrapped my arms around his neck, pushing up on my tiptoes to go for a kiss, but at the very last second, Isaac ducked out of the way and I frowned. “Did you just dodge me?”

“Yeah, but it’s not what you think. This is only temporary.”

Before I could ask what that meant, he took a step backward and lowered himself down on one knee, those eyes shining in the soft light of the lanterns as he looked up at me. “I didn’t exactly plan to do this here, so you’ll have to bear with me, but it feels right and I don’t want to wait any longer.”

My heart tripped and started pounding like crazy, those tears that’d been pressing at the backs of my eyes all along now welling on my lids. As I watched, he slid his hand into his pocket and came out with a ring box, the velvet a little scuffed and worn in places.

“I don’t have champagne, or a violinist, or any of that other stuff,” he said, bringing his eyes back up to mine. “I don’t even have a proper speech.”

“You’ve already made one, and I don’t need any of that other stuff,” I whispered, staring down at him in complete and utter disbelief. “I think you’re coping remarkably well.”

He slid his thumb into the join of the little velvet box and popped it open to reveal the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen. An antique ruby sat nestled between delicate old-cut diamonds, the setting carrying the unmistakable, intricate design of a bygone era.

As I stared at it, I couldn’t breathe for a moment. Isaac lifted it a little higher and spoke again, drawing my gaze back to his. “You should know that this isn’t new. It belonged to my great-grandmother on my mother’s side.” He smiled softly. “She was a firecracker. I think you would’ve loved her.”

“I’m sure I would’ve,” I murmured, my voice catching as I glanced between the ring and his eyes. “It’s gorgeous, Isaac.”