“No, there’s never a reason for being deliberately cruel.” He stopped a foot away, his golden eyes haunted, his expression bleak. “I can’t hurt you anymore. I have to stop, and I have to stop now.”
“You’re here now, that’s what counts.” She fought to swallow, the tumult of emotions almost overwhelming. She didn’t know whether to be happy or angry that Rifaat had broken his word and gone to Kahlil. “Rifaat told you, then? I asked him not to.”
Kahlil frowned. “Rifaat told me what?” His expression revealed his confusion. “Has something happened? Something to Ben?”
“No, nothing like that.” She hesitated, realizing Kahlil obviously had no idea what she was talking about. So Rifaat didn’t go to him…which meant Kahlil had come here on his own. For a moment she didn’t know what to think, feel, and then suddenly something powerful in her heart broke loose and Bryn felt an intense wave of joy.
“How is he?” Kahlil asked, indicating Ben, moving forward to take him from her arms.
“Good. He’s been asleep most the time.”
“Poor little man.” Kahlil cradled Ben close against his chest, muscles in his arms cording as he hugged his son. “Does he know what I did? Does Ben know I was sending you away?”
“He woke up earlier when we boarded the plane, but I didn’t tell him where we were going. I just said we were taking a ride.”
Kahlil’s jaw jutted as he swallowed hard. “I don’t know what I was thinking—I don’t know how I could send you away like that. I was there on the other side of the door, listening to you cry.” His sober gaze met hers. “I felt your hand on the door—there was heat, and pain—and yet instead of opening the door, I ignored you. I pretended you didn’t exist.” His mouth twisted, his expression raw. “It makes me sick. How could I do that to you? How could I do that to my family?”
“Probably some coping mechanism left over from your childhood,” she answered faintly.
“Doesn’t make it right. I’m sorry. Forgive me.”
“There’s nothing to forgive.”
“There’s plenty. We al-Assads are notoriously hard on our women.”
Tears, gritty tears, pricked her eyes. She reached up to touch his face, moving her fingers down from his beautiful cheek to his angular jaw. “I love you.”
“I know. And I know nothing happened between you and my brother. You’re not that kind of a woman. Your heart is too pure. Besides, I know my brother. He’s spent his life manipulating me, playing me. I can only imagine the hell he put you through.”
“It’s over now. We have Ben back, and I have you.”
Abruptly Kahlil looked away, his jaw tightening. “Tonight, when you screamed my name, it was the same way my mother had cried out for me. I didn’t know then why she was being taken away, I just knew something awful was happening. I never saw her again.”
He drew a deep painful breath, features contorted. “I had the chance once, when I was a teenager, visiting the States. But I refused to see her.” He made a rough sound in the back of his throat. “She died less than a year later. Cancer.”
“You didn’t know.”
“Refusing to see her was one of the worst mistakes I ever made. But I came close tonight to making another one.” His head jerked around, his eyes bored into hers, searching, needing to know. “Your home is in Tiva with me, and I want you here with me. If that’s what you want.”
“I want,” she whispered, fighting tears.
“I can’t keep losing you.”
“I’ve never wanted to go.”
“Life is very hard—”
“I know. I want to spend forever with you. I want us to be together, for Ben, for each other.”
“Good. Because I don’t want Ben pulled between us. I couldn’t bear for him to know what I’ve known.” He drew a ragged breath. “The suffering did not make me stronger. It made me cruel. Please still love me.”
“Oh, Kahlil, I do. I swear I do.”
“No more separate rooms, no more harem and women’s quarters. I just want you with me.”
“Like a real couple?”
He nodded grimly, determined. “A normal couple, so we can do our best to give Ben a normal family. It’s what he deserves, what every child deserves, and it’s what I want most.”
Her heart ached, tinged by bittersweet joy. “I love you.”
“I love you more—”
“You can’t!”
“I can. I’m the Sheikh Kahlil Hasim al-Assad, ruler of Zwar, leader of my people. Whatever I say goes.” And leaning forward, Ben still tucked safely against his chest, he kissed her, tenderly. Reverently. “You can’t fight it, love. You’re not going to win.”
These were the sweetest words in the world. Smiling through a blur of tears, Bryn threw up her hands. “Fine. I surrender!”