‘Are you serious?’
‘Yes. If you knew how many ways I wanted to hurt them—’
‘No.’ She gazed up at him, not really daring to believe this was happening. ‘The part about loving me.’
Nadir cupped her chin in his hand and kissed her deeply. Imogen moaned and pulled back. ‘Stop that—it will only confuse things.’
‘On the contrary, our physical relationship is the only thing that’s not confused. Imogen, habibi, can you ever forgive me for being so stupid this afternoon? My only excuse is that when I saw you crying in the arms of your... friend I assumed it was because you didn’t want to marry me and I couldn’t bear the thought of hurting you.’
‘But why would you think I didn’t want to marry you?’
‘Because I realised today that I’m more like my father than I would like to think I am and that I was forcing you to bend to my will and I couldn’t do it. I wanted to set you free, to give you a choice.’
Imogen dashed at the tears on her face. ‘I thought you had decided that you didn’t want me. That I wasn’t enough for you.’
‘Oh, habibi, you’re too much for me. You’re too wonderful, too beautiful, too giving. I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you the minute I saw you in Paris because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since, only I didn’t want to see it because I was so afraid of getting hurt.’
Imogen sniffed back more tears. ‘I’m guilty of the same thing and oh, Nadir, I feel exactly the same way. I fell in love with you the minute I saw you and I’ve never stopped. I love you so much it hurts.’ Elation rushed through her until she thought she might burst. ‘Pinch me—I can’t quite believe this is happening.’
‘Believe it,’ he growled, pulling her in close against him. ‘And mark my words when I tell you that there will be no more misunderstandings between us. No more worrying about how the other person feels. You know that I love you. That I will always love you and whatever children we have. Tell me you believe me.’
‘I believe you.’ She grinned up at him. ‘And not just because you command it to be so.’ And then she turned serious because she knew she had to be just as open with him. ‘I think part of the blame for today lies with me, though, because in my own way I saw what I expected to see and I didn’t fight for you. I didn’t fight for us. I won’t do that again. I won’t doubt either one of us again.’
‘And I will never give you a reason to. Now, please, habibi, if you wouldn’t mind giving me this?’ He took her ring from her finger.
Then he got down on bended knee and Imogen didn’t think she could love him more but, before he could ask her the question she knew he was about to, there was a noise in the doorway and she looked up to find Minh standing there with Nadeena, his eyes as big as saucers as he took in the scene.
‘Ah, I think we’ll come back.’
‘No.’ Nadir rose and swiftly crossed the room. ‘I know we haven’t formally met but I am Nadir Zaman Al-Darkhan and I would like my daughter, please.’
‘Oh, right.’ Minh blinked up at Nadir and Imogen thought he might swoon.
Then Nadir was in front of her again and taking up all her attention. He handed her Nadeena and then got down on one knee again. ‘I’m glad our daughter is here because I want her to witness how a man should behave when he’s in love with a woman so she will be in no doubt as to what to expect from a man in the future.’