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“Right, because you aren’t challenging enough.”
He proved just how challenging he could be…to her self-control, drawing forth the response her body would only ever give to this man. For the first time, there was no bitter in the sweet of that knowledge, either.
He made love to her with passion that felt as driven by the sense of reprieve as her own. Could that be possible?
He certainly hadn’t seemed to be upset about the idea of marriage. Though they’d barely talked about it.
Rational thought fled as he drove her arousal higher. Unwilling to be outdone, she did her best to touch him in all the ways she knew drove him crazy.
Their coupling was powerful and intensely intimate, their bodies so in tune for the moments leading up to and during her climax, she felt like they were sharing the same soul.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
HAVING LEARNED OF Sayed’s intention to take Liyah out to dinner, Queen Durrah showed up with an ornate crimson dishdasha for Liyah to wear.
“But this is the color of the royal family.”
“Yes, my dear, it is. It is also the gown I wore for the formal announcement of my own upcoming nuptials.”
Liyah put her hands up as if warding off an attack from the dress. “I can’t wear it, what if I tear it or spill something on it?”
“Don’t be silly, Aaliyah,” the queen said with amusement. “If
I had had a daughter, she would have worn this gown to her first formal function when she came of age. It pleases me for you to wear it now.”
Tears burned in Liyah’s eyes.
The queen tsked and patted Liyah’s cheek softly. “None of that now. I’m going to be very happy to welcome you into our family, ya ’eni.”
“Mom used to call me that,” Liyah admitted emotionally.
“Then it will be an honor for you to allow me to do so now. Just as you were the precious in your mother’s eyes, you will always be in mine, as well.”
The endearment literally meant my eye, but it carried more the connotation the queen gave it. And it touched Liyah deeply.
“You should be angry at me.”
“No, Aaliyah,” Queen Durrah said with certainty. “I have seen more life in my son in the past week than for two decades. You are so good for him. How could I be anything but happy at the idea of you becoming my daughter?”
“He hasn’t asked me yet.”
“He will.”
“It’s really special, you know?”
“What?”
“That he insists on asking. For all intents and purposes he’s been trapped into this, but he’s not treating it like a business proposal.”
“All of the men of this family have a romantic streak. They always have had. I should have realized there was a problem when Sayed’s showed no sign of coming out with Tahira,” the queen mused.
“He told me about the hidden room.”
“I always loved that story. I wanted Falah to build me a room, but he told me it had already been done.”
“Not so romantic, then.” But then a king had to have a practical streak, just like a prince.
“Well…actually…”
