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‘They’ll have a whale of a time with Kashif and Stella. Our kids get loads of holidays,’ Raif reminded her. ‘This is a special anniversary. Ten years since the first day we met.’
It was true that their children enjoyed plentiful away time from the royal household, Claire conceded. There were bucket-and-spade holidays in the old castle at Rabalissa, Mediterranean trips on the yacht and sometimes visits to their villa in the Alpujarra.
And that evening as they walked up the path from the cove to the little cottage where they had spent their very first night together, both of them were awash with fond memories.
‘I should make you do a strip in the cove first,’ Claire teased him.
‘Only after dark and with company,’ Raif declared with a wicked grin. ‘But I’m not planning to let you outdoors any time soon,aziz.’
Claire laughed. Unlike most women, she got to celebrate two anniversaries every year, the anniversary of their first meeting and the anniversary of their marriage. It was so strange to walk into the little house where she had spent all those months with her late mother. Raif had bought it as a surprise for her the previous Christmas and had it renovated, so, although there was a haunting familiarity to the rooms, there was also a much greater level of comfort.
Raif leant up against the bedroom door and then straightened to remove his jacket very slowly. ‘Do you still think I’m beautiful?’ he asked her teasingly.
‘Yes, and I’m a hopelessly shallow woman who worships you for your body alone,’ she teased back.
He captured her face between his big hands and kissed her with passionate fervour. ‘I love you so much, Claire. I love you more with every passing year.’
‘I love you too,’ she whispered with the same adoring intensity, the strength of their love deepened by all that they had shared.
They didn’t make it down to the cove until after midnight and Mohsin kept the security team at a safe distance. Owing to Raif’s conviction that they had to do everything the same way as they had that first night, Claire conceived a fifth and final time and their youngest son, little Raza, was born nine months later.
