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Those thoughts made Qazim's jaw tighten and every muscle in his body tense. He fought hard to mask his emotion with a blank expression on his features as Grace chatted and laughed with one of his uncles.
He couldn't let that happen. Not now that they'd come this far.
Tonight was going to be his last chance to get some kind of certainty about Grace's wishes.
She knew he'd arranged some kind of meal together. But there was going to be more than one surprise in store for Grace. Qazim knew he had to try to be one step ahead of her.
Eventually, Grace had to excuse herself and leave when Zarif needed some attention. Qazim felt his heart sink as he watched Grace and Anya walk out of the reception room.
But, he'd see her soon enough. Once the heat of the day had passed, he and Grace would spend some time alone.
In his own private suite.
It would be the first time they'd shared private time in the suite since the day she'd moved into the palace. That in itself seemed amazing enough to Qazim. But, Grace was nothing if not determined to have her way. And Qazim had respected her wishes. The boundaries she'd drawn had held firm for a year.
But, as Qazim turned his attention back to his guests, he told himself one thing.
Tonight, those boundaries would be crossed.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
In the early part of the evening, Grace left her suite, but not until she was sure that Zarif and Anya would be settled and okay. Zarif was sleeping, with Anya watching over him as Grace closed the door quietly behind her.
Outside, in the corridor, it was quiet. Too quiet. She could feel her heart pounding. She glanced down at her plain outfit, a simple white dress and flat shoes. She knew Qazim liked the way she looked in this dress. He'd said that to her more than once, recently.
It was only a short walk down the corridor to Qazim's private suite. He'd offered to come to her room and accompany her, but she'd declined the offer.
The sound of her shoes on the marble floors echoed as she walked along the corridor. Thoughts tumbled in her mind. Questions flashed into awareness with every step she took. But the most important one of all was particularly insistent.
What was going to happen tonight?
Grace swallowed nervously as she thought about the upcoming meal with Qazim. Of course, it was their anniversary. He'd suggested this date with her, and she'd agreed, probably too quickly, she'd realized afterwards.
And it was a date, wasn't it? She hadn't felt nerves like this since she'd been on her first date with Qazim over a year ago.
Before all of this. Before her life had been utterly transformed. Butterflies danced in her stomach and she wondered if, this evening, she was going to have any appetite at all.
But, again, she asked herself a question.
Why had she agreed to this, at all?
It was simple, really. Tonight was the night she'd promised to give him her decision.
The decision about whether she was willing to carry on with their sham marriage. Or whether she was willing to accept the truth.
And what was that?
Grace smiled as she thought of the answer to that question.
The truth was that she'd seen how Qazim had changed. She'd witnessed his transformation as a man, these past twelve months. How he'd accepted his responsibilities as a father. How he'd swallowed every bit of his pride and worked hard to be the best husband he could be to Grace.
And, he'd done all of that under very difficult circumstances. It couldn't have been easy keeping his distance from Grace. She certainly hadn't found it easy staying away from Qazim.
Living in this sumptuous palace with a drop-dead gorgeous sheikh for a husband had been exquisite torture, Grace admitted to herself.
No.
Grace had come to realize that the man she had walked out on over a year before had been cast back into history.
