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‘You can’t love me now. I’m not good enough for you, Jay.’
‘I am the one who isn’t good enough for you. You are worth a hundred—no, a thousand of me, Keira. You humble me with your honesty and your compassion, your generosity of spirit and heart and your loyalty. I am not good enough for you, but that will not prevent me from having the arrogance to beg you to be my wife.’
‘Your wife?’
‘Of course.’ Now the look he was giving her was indeed haughty.
‘Do you think I would shame our love by not proclaiming it to the world in the most potent way the world recognises? And besides…’ both his voice and his expression softened ‘…I refuse to let there be any chance of me losing you. Once you have committed yourself to me you will stay with me, and with our children. I know you well enough for that. You will be like my mother—faithful and loving. She would have liked you.’
‘Jay, you cannot marry me. Your brother won’t allow it. You are his heir.’
‘Rao is my brother, not my keeper. I make my own decisions about my life. I have already told him of my desire to make you my wife, and he said that he had every sympathy for you.’
He laughed ruefully, and then shook his head.
‘I do understand why you have thought the way you have. You have had much to bear and endure that I wish I could have spared you. But our happiness together will be all the sweeter because of the past pain we have both endured. I promise you that there is not a single thought or doubt in my heart or my head about the strength of my love for you. I promise you too that if you refuse me now I shall pursue you and plead with you until you give in and agree to marry me.’
Keira searched his expression, her heart lifting with joy when she saw that he was speaking the truth.
A little unsteadily, but with a heart filled with love, she went into his arms, lifting her face for his kiss.
EPILOGUE
KEIRA watched the busy preparations for the wedding ceremony from the shadows in the garden beyond the courtyard.
The sun was going down, and on the stillness of the lake the palace seemed to float as ethereally and delicately as the lilies.
In the courtyard the Mandap was being assembled; those wedding guests who had already arrived for tomorrow’s ceremony were pausing to watch.
Keira saw the man emerging from the shadows to watch her. He was as male and formidable as the desert lion, and her heart lifted and thudded into her ribs, her breath catching on a swift stab of desire.
‘Jay.’
‘I thought I might find you here.’
They had been married in a civil ceremony in London earlier in the week, before flying back here to Jay’s home to celebrate their marriage with a traditional marriage ceremony.
Last night Rao had held a formal dinner to welcome her into the family, but this was the first time she and Jay had really been alone since their arrival.
‘You’re wearing the bracelets,’ Jay commented as he drew Keira into his arms.
‘I couldn’t resist,’ Keira admitted.
He had given her the Cartier bangles on their first night together, after they had declared their love for one another in a very private celebration.
‘What I can’t resist is loving you,’ Jay told her softly. ‘Now and for ever.’
‘Now and for ever,’ Keira agreed, before she reached up to draw him down to her so that she could kiss him.
