‘Stay with me and be my queen.’
‘You are joking?’
‘No,’ he said, brushing her hair back from her face. ‘I can assure you I’m not joking.’
‘You’re a king, proposing marriage in a car lot when you’ve just had me up against the wall?’
‘I’m a man asking a woman to marry me.’
‘Aren’t you being a little hasty?’
‘Crazy things happen in car lots and this has been at the back of my mind for quite some time.’
‘Only at the back,’ she teased him as he helped her to sort out her clothes. And then she frowned. ‘Are you really sure about this?’
‘I’m not in the habit of making marriage proposals in car lots, or anywhere else, so, yes, I’m sure. But you’re right—’ Going down on one knee in the dirt, he asked the question again.
‘You are sure,’ she exclaimed. ‘But how on earth will we make this work?’
‘You and me can’t solve this? Are you serious?’
‘But—’
‘But nothing,’ he said. ‘You can travel as I do. You can use the Internet. I don’t have any trouble staying in touch.’
‘And you run a country,’ she mused.
‘I’m only asking you to run my life.’ He shrugged. ‘How hard can that be?’
She gave him a crooked smile. ‘I’d say that could be quite a challenge.’
‘A challenge I hope you want to take on?’ he said, holding her in front of him.
‘Yes.’
‘I’d be surprised if you’d said anything else,’ he admitted, returning the grin as he brushed a kiss against her mouth.
‘You arrogant—’
‘Sheikhs are supposed to be arrogant,’ he said, kissing her again. ‘I’m only fulfilling my job description.’
‘So I’d be staying here in Kareshi with you?’
‘Living with me,’ he corrected her. ‘And running a very important project—with me, not for me. You’ll be working for both our countries, alongside me. We’ll be raising a family together, and you’ll be my wife. But none of this will take place here, exactly. I did have somewhere a little better than a parking lot in mind.’
‘What about the harem?’
‘I’ll tell them to go home.’
‘I meant the tent.’
‘We’ll keep it for weekends. So? What’s your answer, Britt?’
‘I told you already. Yes. I accept your terms.’
‘How about my love?’
‘I accept that too—and most willingly,’ she teased him, her eyes full of everything he wanted to see. ‘I love you,’ she shouted, making a flock of heavy-winged birds flap heavily up and away from the scaffolding. ‘And I don’t care who knows it.’
‘And I love you too,’ he said, and, drawing her into his arms, he kissed her again. ‘I love you more than life itself, Britt Skavanga. Stay with me and help me build Kareshi into somewhere we can both be proud of. And I promise you that from now on there will be no secrets between us.’
But then she frowned again and asked the question he knew was coming.
‘How can I ever leave Skavanga?’
‘I’m not asking you to leave Skavanga. I’m asking you to be my wife, which will give you more freedom than you’ve ever dreamed of. You can work alongside me and raise a family. You can be a queen and a director of a company. You can head up charities and run my exchange programmes for me. You can recruit the brightest and the best of the students you’ve just met. I’m asking you to be my wife, the mother of my children, and my lover. The only restrictions will be those you impose on yourself, or that love imposes on you. You’ll find a balance. I know it. And if you want more time—you’ve got it.’
They linked fingers as they walked back to Sharif’s bike. They were close in every way. Her hand felt good in his. She felt good with this man. She felt safe. She felt warm inside. She felt complete.
EPILOGUE
‘THERE’S JUST ONE thing missing,’ Britt commented wistfully as her sister helped her to dress on her wedding day in her beautiful apartment at the citadel in Kareshi.
‘Tyr,’ Leila guessed as she lifted the cloud of cobweb-fine silk chiffon that would be attached to the sparkling diadem that would crown Britt’s flowing golden hair.