A lump formed in her throat. Yes, Minh had played with Nadeena and there was no doubt he was a wonderful male figure whom she hoped would stay in their lives for ever but he wasn’t Nadeena’s flesh and blood and why would she want to substitute that when Nadir obviously cared for their baby so much already? Yes, he could change his mind one day; yes, he could walk away, but maybe he wouldn’t either.
‘Imogen! Habibi.’
Catching sight of her, Nadir moved towards the edge of the pool and Nadeena bounced in his arms with excitement as she smiled and stepped outside. ‘I’ve been teaching the kid to swim and she’s a natural.’
Imogen grinned as he called her the kid. ‘She’s five months old—you can’t possibly tell.’
‘I can tell. And I read that the earlier you get a child used to water the better they are and she loves it.’
She also loved him, by the look of glee on her chubby face, and it only drove her feeling of guilt deeper. ‘Does she need feeding?’
‘Maybe.’ His gaze swept over her and she realised how dishevelled she looked. ‘You come straight from bed, habibi?’
The way he said bed made her blush and she was constantly surprised by her visceral reaction to this man. All he had to do was look at her like he was now and she would happily let him do whatever he wanted as frequently as he wanted. Was it any wonder she had fallen for him again? She knew she’d been a fool to think that she could spend time with someone so utterly virile and not crave more.
‘Are you hungry?’ he said, climbing out of the pool with Nadeena lifted high against his shoulder. ‘There’s pastries and fresh fruit on the table and also a pot of tea, although it might need reheating.’
‘Thanks.’ About to take Nadeena from him, she was startled when he dropped a sweet lingering kiss on her lips. ‘Sabah el kheer. Good morning, beautiful,’ he said with a sexy grin.
Imogen swallowed the lump that hadn’t quite disappeared from her throat. ‘Good morning to you too.’
She settled into an outdoor chair and put Nadeena to her breast while Nadir sat beside them and fielded calls on his phone. He hadn’t bothered to put anything else on in the heat and she couldn’t take her eyes off his long lean form in black swimming trunks and nothing else.
When Nadeena had finished he made a joke about her burping technique and walked Nadeena around until her stomach had settled.
Knowing there was no easy way to say what needed to be said, Imogen decided to just bite the bullet. ‘Nadir, I’m sorry I didn’t try to contact you when she was born. It was wrong of me. I see that now.’
Nadir stilled as if he hadn’t been expecting her apology and why would he? It was only this morning she’d really understood how wrong she had been.
He looked at her. ‘I wasn’t exactly at my best at the time I found out you were pregnant.’ He rubbed his stubbled jaw and gave her a crooked grin. ‘And I don’t blame you at all for running when you did. Hell, I probably would have as well.’
Imogen hated that he still thought she had run from him but then she realised with a flash of insight that that was exactly what she had done.
She had run.
She had done what she had so often begged her mother to do when she’d found her crying over her father yet again.