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“So believe it.” She came around the kitchen bench, her eyes locked to his. “Believe that I love you as much now as ever before. That nothing you do could change that. Except for leaving me again.” Her eyes were huge, her face pale. “I see what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to be noble but that’s the wrong way.”
He swallowed and she lifted up on tiptoes, pressing a kiss against his stubbled cheek. She felt him release a breath, his body relaxing at her closeness.
“What is the right way? How do I fix this?” He asked, the question gravelled.
“That’s easy.”
He arched a thick, dark brow and Sarah smiled. “Love me. Love me every day. Stay with me, stand with me, be by my side when I need you – as I’ll be by yours. Look at me and know that I love you with all of myself and always will. From the minute you walked into the bar I was yours… nothing’s changed that and nothing ever will.”
“I don’t deserve you,” he said again and she shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips.
“Probably not. Just as well you can spend the rest of your life trying.”
“And I will.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her in to his body. “I’m so sorry for … everything.”
“Don’t be sorry for everything,” she said on a sigh. “Maybe just the blackmail stuff.”
His laugh was gruff. “Definitely that.” He pressed a finger under her chin, lifting her face to his. His expression was sombre, his voice gruff. “And leaving you. It was the worst mistake of my life.”
“And yet you were about to make it again…”
Determination shimmered from his eyes. “I wanted you to choose me. Not because you had to, but because you wanted me.”
“And I have. I choose you, and I’ll choose you again and again and again. You are my earth angel as much as I am yours.”
EPILOGUE
A week later, in the palace he’d grown up in, Syed stared at the man he adored, knowing that he stood on a precipice. On one side, his wife and future, and on the other, his father and past. Thoughts of Sarah and Lexi as they’d been that morning, exploring the quince grove to the East of the palace, filled him with renewed determination.
“I never wished to hurt you,” Syed murmured softly, leaning forward so that his father could see his face more easily. “But I have no regrets. We are married; as we should have been five years ago.”
Adin’s eyes were clouded by sickness and the lure of death, yet he found a moment of perception. He studied his younger son intently, his breath rasping as he witnessed every twitch and flicker on his young face.
“You could not have married her five years ago. You were engaged.”
“Engagements can be broken.” Syed shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “That is what I should have done.”
“You didn’t though. Does that not make you question your love for this American?”
“No.” Syed stood, pacing to the window that overlooked the old city. It was a stunning vista, and in the distance, he could just make out the multiple parapets of his palace. “Nothing could do that.” He turned, his eyes locked to his father’s. “Five years ago, I made the biggest mistake of my life. I won’t do so again.”
Adin’s face showed surprise, but he was pale, and Syed felt compunction in the strength of his words. “I love her,” he said softly. “I married her because I love her, and because I know she will be an excellent wife, mother, Sheikha and counsel. You are my father, naturally I want your approval. But if you withhold it, I’ll live.”
Adin stared at his son for a moment and then he laughed. A crackled, wheezing sound. “You’ll live?” He prompted with disbelief.
“
Yes. I am a Prince of Kalastan and I take that duty seriously. But even more importantly, even deeper in my soul, is my duty to Sarah. I will never again forget what it is I owe her.”
Adin’s laugh muted into a cough, and finally, he shook his head. “Do you know what your mother said to me?”
A tingle of apprehension ran across Syed’s spine. “What?”
“She said that if you and I ever truly disagree on an important matter that I should defer to you. That you are wise and your insight important. That I cannot rule without your counsel. That I am never to upset you to the point where you withdraw.”
He sucked in a hollow breath and Syed listened to the words, something warm rippling over his heart. So his mother had spoken to them both, had she? “And here you stand, telling me exactly that. You are going to withdraw from me. From the palace?”
Apology was rich in Syed’s face. “If the alternative is staying and having you speak disrespectfully of my wife, then yes. I will leave.”
