“I never hated you,” she whispered.
He arched a brow. “I seem to recall you saying that to me one night – and I deserved that too.”
“I hated how much I loved and needed you and how little you felt the same for me.”
“How can you say that? I spent every moment of every day thinking about you –,”
“But never talking to me,” she interjected. “It was very easy to believe this was all about sex for you.”
“I was an idiot. I didn’t admit, even to myself, that I was in love with you. I was scared of love, scared of what it means to be vulnerable to someone. I knew for months that this wasn’t about a baby – that I was coming to you each night because I needed you. But when you left, how could I not admit what I felt? I lost a part of myself when you disappeared Chloe, and I would have given my life just to know you were safe.”
“Raffa,” she stood up on tiptoes. “I had no idea I could hurt you like that. I truly believed that I was doing the right thing in leaving you. I believed you’d divorce me and remarry, and be as happy as before. You told me those were my options, remember?”
His frown showed he didn’t.
“On the night of that ball, when we made this baby bargain, you told me that you would remarry if I didn’t agree.”
He swore under his breath. “A stupid, meaningless threat.”
Chloe’s heart turned over in her chest. “I didn’t know that. I thought you were serious, and that you planned to replace me if I didn’t fall in with your plans.”
He shook his head angrily. “God, Chloe, no. It was never my intention…”
She lifted a hand to silence him. “So when I found out I couldn’t have children, when Doctor Schultz told me that, I presumed you’d simply do as you’d said. That you’d be relieved to get the divorce papers, for it would allow you to move on officially.”
“Relieved?” The word was a hoarse, thick plea, and then he reached for his desk, lifting the papers in his hands. With a single, fulminating look at his wife, Raffa ripped the papers down the centre. “Seeing this on my desk was one of the lowest points of my life. Almost as bad as the pain of hearing that you’d run away. Of knowing you were out there somewhere, and that I may never see, touch nor speak to you again.”
Her smile was a ghostly imitation. “If I had known you were as miserable as I’ve been, believe me, I would have been here with you – I would have told you the truth. I wanted nothing more than to stay here, but how could I when I’d failed you?”
“Failed me? Never speak to me in those terms again! I won’t have it. Chloe, Sheikha, you are more than a dream come true. With or without this baby, you are all I could ever want.” He stroked her cheek. “Do you know something?”
She shook her head. “Apparently I know nothing.”
His grin made her heart flip over. “I’m ashamed to admit this, but I was almost glad when you didn’t conceive. Each month that passed meant I would have more time with you, more reason to come to you.”
“And I was terrified of conceiving because it would put an end to what we shared.” What idiots they’d been! What fools!
“I wanted to share so much more with you. In the desert, I wanted to talk to you – to show you that I wanted more than your body, that I wanted our marriage to be a real one in every way. But then I ruined it by making love to you the second we were alone and in private…”
“That didn’t ruin anything, believe me. It was magical.” Her cheeks flushed and then her eyes widened as she worked back the dates. “In fact, that must have been when we …”
He laughed, nodding. “I think you’re probably right.” He dropped his head forward and pressed a kiss against her forehead, and then, he bent down to his knees, placing a kiss against her stomach before looking into her eyes.
“I married you because it made sense, and now I am asking you to come back to me because nothing makes sense without you. Because you are half of me, all of me, and I am nothing without you. I love you. I love you in a way that is new and different and utterly consuming – and I will spend every day I am given on this earth making you happy and content, and convincing you of how much you mean to me. Never again will you have cause to feel pain or doubt. I would give my kingdom for you, Chloe, if you asked it of me.”
She bit down on her lower lip and then she smiled. “I don’t ask it of you. What I do ask is that we rule your kingdom side by side, for as long as we both shall live.”
He expelled a sigh of relief. “And we shall live a long time, and with utter happiness, my darling habibte.”
Epilogue
“YOU HAVE TO RELAX.”
Sheikh Rafiq Al-Khalil turned to his wife and despite the tension zipping around the room, he laughed. A thick sound that had her smiling in return. But only for a moment, then, a grimace was back, darkening her face, reminding him of his job. He held his hand out and she squeezed it so hard, yet he wished she would squeeze harder. No, he wished he could weather this storm for her.
“That’s it, Your Highness. Nearly there.”
Chloe waited for the worst of the pain to
