Date with a Surgeon Prince(55)

‘So, now that’s sorted,’ he said, ‘how about we go and get married so I can show you just how wonderful it can be?

Marni eased her head off his chest and looked at him.

‘You could show me anyway,’ she teased. ‘The bed’s right there, and no matter what you say, you’re marrying me because you feel it’s the honourable thing to do, aren’t you?

He was and he wasn’t but how to handle it?

Could he, who’d never opened up his heart to anyone, not even his closest friends, open himself up to this woman?

Couldn’t that lead to loss of power?

To vulnerability?

To pain?

Yet, holding her, knowing her as he now did, he knew nothing less would do.

He stood up and put her back in her chair then knelt before her, taking both her hands in his.

‘You’re right about the honour,’ he said, trying hard to get the words he needed—to get them right. ‘Yes, I believe marrying you is the right thing to do, and even if you feel you don’t need it, I want to be able to protect you—to protect you, provide for you and care for you.’

Deep breath because this was it—this was where he laid bare his soul.

So she could trample on it?

He had no idea.

‘But most of all I want to marry you because I love you more than I have ever believed I could love anyone. These last few days have been the vilest kind of torture, because not only did I not know where you were, or even if you were still alive, but because I’d hurt you before we’d parted, and not knowing if I’d ever be able to explain—to make things right between us—well, that was the worst agony of all.’

Marni stared at him in utter astonishment.

‘But you never said—’

‘Did you?’ he countered, smiling up at her in such a way she felt her entire body melting.

‘How could I? I was worried it might just be lust, although as I got to know you, saw your kindness, your love for your country and your people, the way you were with Safi, it felt like love, but what did I know about that? It was as foreign to me as Ablezia, so how could I tell? I just wasn’t sure.’

‘Not I until I lost you,’ he admitted, then he lifted her hands and kissed the backs of them, before turning them and pressing a kiss into each palm.

‘So we’re good to go?’ he asked, his voice shaking just slightly with what could only be nerves.

‘I guess so,’ Marni told him, although she was sad that Pop wouldn’t be there on her wedding day. But then she leaned towards him, ready for the kiss that had to be coming.

Needing the kiss as confirmation of their love.

‘If that towel falls off, we’ll never make the wedding,’ Ghazi told her, not kissing her at all but standing up and stepping back, needing space between them so the fires didn’t start up again. ‘Get yourself dressed. I’ll send Lila back to help you.’

He headed out the door