Liyah made a disbelieving sound. And then she touched his jaw, traced the small scar. ‘You fell me too—on a regular basis. But, since you want me to spell it out, I’m thinking that I love you, and I love Stella, and I love our extended family so much. I never knew what it was to be part of a loving family. I think I was too scared to admit I wanted one for a long time. We were so happy it felt like tempting fate.’

Sharif said huskily, ‘I know.’

She put her hand on her belly. ‘I love these babies already, but I’m also terrified because I don’t want anything to ever harm them.’

Sharif lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to the centre of her palm. ‘No harm will come to them—not from us anyway. And we will love them and protect them until they can fly away and be free to live their own lives. And then they’ll come back...with their families.’

Tears sprang into Liyah’s eyes. ‘I love you so much.’

Sharif shook his head, his eyes shining too. ‘Not half as much as I love you. You saved me, Liyah.’

Liyah pressed a kiss to his mouth, and whispered, ‘We saved each other.’

‘For ever.’

‘Yes, my love.’

They turned and went into their bedroom, the vast night around them wrapping them in its protective cloak and echoing the sounds of their love.

Coming next month

CINDERELLA’S NIGHT IN VENICE

Clare Connelly

As the car slowed to go over a speed hump, his fingers briefly fell to her shoulder. An accident of transit, nothing intentional about it. The reason didn’t matter though; the spark of electricity was the same regardless. She gasped and quickly turned her face away, looking beyond the window.

It was then that she realized they had driven through the gates of City Airport.

Bea turned back to face Ares, a question in her eyes.

‘There’s a ball at the airport?’

‘No.’

‘Then why…?’ Comprehension was a blinding light. ‘We’re flying somewhere.’

‘To the ball.’

‘But…you didn’t say…’

‘I thought you were good at reading between the lines?’

She pouted her lips. ‘Yes, you’re right.’ She clicked her fingers in the air. ‘I should have miraculously intuited that when you invited me to a ball you meant for us to fly there. Where, exactly?’

‘Venice.’

‘Venice?’ She stared at him, aghast. ‘I don’t have a passport.’

‘I had your assistant arrange it.’

‘You—what? When?’

‘When I left this morning.’

‘My assistant just handed over my passport?’

‘You have a problem with that?’

Tags: Abby Green The Marchetti Dynasty Billionaire Romance
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