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At last she stood on the banks, pushed her wet hair out of her eyes, and realised how far she’d come as his gaze raked over her body, making it flare and spark.
Funny to think that the first time she’d ever seen him she had been soaking wet too. But that anxious, desperate girl was gone. She was a woman now, in so many ways, and she didn’t need to be scared of how she felt about him.
‘Why did you run?’ he said, his voice hoarse with fury… But as her gaze met his, her knees trembled, weakened by the pain she could see shadowing his golden eyes. Pain she realised he could not disguise.
‘I didn’t run.’ She locked her knees. If she showed him a weakness now, she would be lost. For ever. ‘I just needed time to think.’
‘About what?’ he said, the caustic question so ludicrous she almost laughed.
‘About everything, Karim. About you, about me.’ She jerked her thumb between the two of them. ‘About what happened between us last night. And about what has to happen now.’
He stepped closer, his gaze so dark and tortured now she could feel the emotion threatening to overwhelm her. ‘I told you what is going to happen now. You’ll have to stay…your virginity has a significance that you—’
‘I know about the Law of Marriage of the Sheikhs,’ she cut him off.
His eyes narrowed. And she thought she might be sick, her stomach turning over with dread. Did he think she had always known, and that was why she’d lied? To force his hand, to make this a real marriage? Didn’t he trust her at all?
She had always, always trusted him. Did that make her a fool? Or did it simply make her a woman in love…with the wrong man?
‘If you knew, why did you lie about your virginity?’ He bit the words out through gritted teeth, the fury sparking in his eyes, but behind it she could hear his defensiveness, and knew this was about so much more than that foolish lie.
‘I lied originally because I was scared you wouldn’t want to go through with the engagement,’ she said, with brutal honesty. ‘And I never thought you would find out the truth.’
‘You must have known I would though, once we agreed to sleep together,’ he murmured.
And she realised he was still guarding his heart with a fervour she had never even attempted to guard hers.
‘Did you think you could trap me into making this marriage real?’
There were a million ways she could defend herself. But all she said was: ‘Apparently not, because now I want a divorce.’
She could see she had shocked him, the turmoil of emotions crossing his face easy to read for the first time since she had met him.
‘What?’ he said, the stunned disbelief making it very clear to her that he knew… He knew he had captured her heart—that last night had been about so much more than just sex for her—and he’d planned to use it against her. ‘Why?’
She dragged a steadying breath into her lungs, wrapped her hands around her waist, the last of the sunlight disappearing behind the rocks to chill her skin, and gathered the last of her courage. ‘Because I love you, Karim. And I don’t think you can ever love me back.’
Her declaration—so open, so forthright, so vulnerable—struck him like a sucker-punch to the gut, the bravery and dignity on her face as she offered him her heart simply staggering.
A single tear ran down her cheek, joining the sheen of fresh water making her skin glow in the dusky light.
A part of him didn’t want to believe her. Didn’t want to accept she had offered him everything. Because then it would require him to admit why he could offer her nothing in return.
But then she swiped the tear away, the courage and determination in that single gesture almost bringing him to his knees, and the truth pierced his heart.
He needed her, he wanted her, he loved her too, body and soul.
It didn’t matter that it was too soon, too fast, too terrifying. He felt the ice he’d wrapped around his heart for so long cracking and breaking open inside him, and he knew he couldn’t stop it happening any more. Couldn’t deny or deceive or hide or escape or fail to confront these feelings any longer. Or he would lose her.
‘I’ll get dressed and we can return to the palace,’ she said.
But as she went to walk past him, he grasped her arm.
‘No…’ he said. ‘Don’t…’ The words choked off in his throat as she turned, her eyes still so full of the compassion he’d tried so hard to reject. ‘I don’t want a divorce.’
The look she sent him was full of the pain already tearing him apart. ‘It’s not enough, Karim,’ she said softly. ‘I can’t stay just because you need me, or you want me, or because of some old law that says you have to keep me as your wife. I need more to make this marriage real. I need to know you are at least capable of trying to love me back.’
‘You wouldn’t want my love…’ He pulled her round to face him, dragged her into his arms, felt her shake, her body so fragile, so slender and yet so strong, so perfect against his. ‘Not if you knew.’
