*
Following the pattern he’d established with her, Sayed lifted Liyah into his arms at the reception in the main ballroom and proceeded to carry her up the stairs and down unfamiliar corridors, ending up in his room.
“Our room now,” he said as he lowered her to stand beside the bed.
“Yes, our room.”
“Tonight, I make love to my emira.” The expression in his dark eyes took her breath away.
She reached up and touched his face, loving the fact she was the only woman besides his mother in the entire country allowed such familiarity. “Whatever we are outside that door, when we are together intimately, you are always my man, ya habibi, and I will always be first and foremost your woman.”
His expression turned nearly beatific. “Yes. I do. I am certain of it.”
“What?” she asked, feeling like she’d missed something.
“I love you, habibti. I was not certain because I’ve never experienced anything like what you make me feel, but my heart is yours, from the moment our eyes met unto eternity.”
She stopped, her heart going so fast she heard the rush in her ears. “You love me?”
“Yes. It happened so quickly, but you are perfect for me. Everything about you matches something in me.”
“I’ll never have a pedigree.”
“And I thank God for it. You help me to see with my heart, not my position.”
“I wasn’t born to be a princess.”
“But you were, born to be my emira.”
She was out of arguments. “I love you, too, Sayed, so much.”
“One day, you will carry my child.”
“Yes. You’ll be such a wonderful father.”
“I had a very good example, just as you did for being mother to our children.”
“We went from single to plural pretty fast.”
“I’ve got a dream.”
“Of lots of babies?” she asked a little worried.
“Not lots, just maybe four?”
“Four? Wow, you do realize I was an only child, right?”
“But you have so much love to give.”
That was one truth she could no longer deny. Gone were the days when Liyah denied her emotions. “You’re being persuasive again.”
He turned and grabbed something off the bed and handed it to her. “Thank you for marrying me.”
She smiled and stepped back from the box. “Just a second.”
She’d asked Hasiba to make sure Liyah’s gift for Sayed had been dropped off in the suite. She found it on the desk, wrapped in burgundy paper, the royal crest holding the gold ribbon together instead of a bow.
She rushed back into the room and offered it to him. “Thank you for marrying me.”