The Sheikh’s Disobedient Bride(68)
Tair shifted on his haunches. “Are you telling me it didn’t work?”
“I’m telling you—” She broke off, stared at him, shook her head in disbelief. “You’re such a liar and manipulator and—” Tally didn’t even try to finish the sentence. Instead she crept forward, clasped Tair’s face in her hands and kissed him deeply.
It was a long time before she ended the kiss. His mouth on hers was too electric and she’d missed him too much. But finally she had to get some control, finish making her point, and reluctantly she sat back to study him again. “You love me.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.” She hesitated, hating the whispers of insecurity.“Tair.”
“What?” he asked innocently.
But before she could answer he reached out and gently plucked a hair from her eyes, and then another from her cheek. He smoothed the thick strands back from her face, his hand infinitely gentle as he touched her. “I do.”
Tally sat very still, the air bottled in her lungs. She couldn’t look away from his dark eyes and hard jaw and the strange expression on his face. It was torment. Agony. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything.”
“But I’m here, Tair.”
“Yes, I know, and I can’t handle it, Tally. I can’t bear it if anything should happen to you. I can lose my arms, my legs, my life—but I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t.”
“I could.”
“Tair, I’m stronger than I look. I haven’t had an asthma attack since the day we met.”
His jaw gentled. He nearly smiled but then the darkness returned to his eyes and his pain was there, in his face. “I’m afraid for you. Afraid for you every single day you’re here.”
“I don’t understand, Tair—”
“Ara died here. My wife—and my son. I held Zaki as he died, I held him and couldn’t save him, and I can’t do that again. I can’t. It would kill me and where would my people be?”
“Tair.”
“I thought I could protect you, Tally, but when you were taken from the garden, when they held you hostage I couldn’t do anything for you—”
“But you did, you found me, you rescued me.”
He shook his head. His dark eyes were shadowed with pain and suffering. “I was sure there’d be blood. I could see it all happening, what they could do to you. I was sure I would be too late.” His jaw tensed and he swallowed even as he reached out to lightly trace the curve of her cheekbone and then her upper lip that bowed. “You are too beautiful, Tally. I would rather live far from you and know you live, than have you here and know you suffer.”
“But I suffer when I’m away from you, Tair.”
His eyes narrowed. A small muscle pulled in his cheek. “Death is worse.”
“But away from you is death, too.”
He turned his head, looked away, thick black lashes fringing his eyes, concealing the sheen of tears. “It isn’t right to risk so much. It is selfish of me—”
“It’s selfish of you to send me away when I love you and want to be with you. It’s selfish of you to tell me I must be a coward and afraid. It’s not my nature to be fearful. It’s my nature to risk, and to want change.”
“Tally.” His voice broke.
“Tair, don’t fear for me. And don’t make decisions for me. I know the risks. I know what’s at stake but I’d rather have a month with you than a lifetime without.”
He reached up to shove hair back from his face. “That’s ridiculous,” he answered gruffly.
She leaned forward and reached out to catch the single tear on his lashes and wipe it away. “But romantic.”
“And foolish.”
“And exciting.”
“You’ll be the death of me,” he muttered, even as he turned to her and lifted her face between his hands. He studied her face for an endless moment, his dark gaze searching her eyes, searching for truth, searching for the answer that seemed to elude him.
“I like exciting, Tair,” she whispered.
The corner of his mouth reluctantly tugged. “You’re impossible.”
“But you like that, too.”
He bent his head, touched his mouth to her forehead and then her cheekbone and finally her mouth. “You’re beautiful.” His smile wasn’t entirely steady. “You’re exactly perfect, Tally.”
“You called me Tally.”