by Kristi Gold
“You don’t have to ask me twice.”
After a final wave to their subjects, they returned to the room yet remained in each other’s embrace.
“Now when are you going to take me on that honeymoon?” Raina asked as she tugged the kaffiyeh from his head and slid the robes from his shoulders.
He reached behind her to lower the zipper on the dress. “Do you still wish to go to California?”
“Yes. I want to show you the beach. Up close and personal.” She released the buttons on his shirt. “Without clothes.”
“Would you mind if we make another stop while we’re in the States?”
“Where?”
“I am scheduled to meet with my Harvard roommates for our tenth reunion in the state of Oklahoma.”
She smiled. “So you can all bemoan your loss over that ridiculous wager?”
“So we can celebrate the fact that we have gained much more than we have lost.”
Her eyes misted. “If you keep saying things like that, I’m going to cry again. I almost ruined my wedding dress during the ceremony.”
“I will remedy that now.” He tugged the fabric from her shoulders, allowing the dress to fall in a pool of lace at her feet. “And I will kiss away your tears, but I will never stop proclaiming my love for you.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“And I am going to hold you, all night. Every night.”
She pulled him toward the bed. “What are we waiting for?”
In a rush, they divested each other of all their remaining clothes and he took her back down on the bed. Dharr chose to simply hold Raina for a time, savoring the feel of her body against his, knowing he would never tire of having her in his arms, or his life. They made love again, slowly at first, then gave in to the passion that had consumed them from the beginning.
In the aftermath, Raina rested her head on his chest, her long hair flowing over him like a silken veil. She was nothing like he remembered all those years before, yet she was better, an extraordinary woman in every sense, and she would always be his, as he would always be hers.
Epilogue
In the smoky confines of Sadler’s Bar and Grill, three men of status gathered with their wives—the cowboy, the king and the prince—conducting a journey back into their pasts and freely discussing the prospects of their future. Rowdy revelry filtered into the private room, yet no photographers lurked in the shadows, no paparazzi waited to catch a candid photo. Nothing disturbed the camaraderie shared by longtime friends as they passed the hours in the obscure Oklahoma town.
With his arm draped over Raina’s shoulder, Dharr watched with amusement as Marc DeLoria teased his wife, Kate, who was still on the phone speaking with their nanny tending their daughters back at Mitch Warner’s ranch. Mitch’s wife, Victoria, rested one arm across her belly swollen with child—two children, to be precise. Both girls.
Mitch took his wife’s hand and asked, “Are you okay, babe?”
She shifted in her seat and grimaced. “I will be if these babies cooperate and make an on-time appearance.”
“Which reminds me, Halim,” Marc said. “When are you and Raina planning to have a baby?”
Kate snapped the phone closed and elbowed her husband, causing him to wince and drawing laughter from the women. “That’s really none of your business, sweetheart.”
“Yeah, it is,” Mitch chimed in. “We already have a head start with fatherhood, so I think it’s time Dharr takes the plunge.”
He glanced at Raina then smiled. “We do not plan to have children for a year or two. We do plan to have quite a bit of practice.”
This time Raina elbowed Dharr. “You are so bad.”
“They’re all bad boys,” Tori said.
“But that can be so good,” Kate added with a smile.
Mitch lifted his cowboy hat, ran a hand through his hair and set the hat back into place. “You beat all I’ve ever seen, Dharr. You were the first to be officially engaged—”
“Betrothed,” Dharr corrected.
“Whatever,” Mitch said. “And you were the last one to marry. You’re supposed to produce an heir, and now you’re telling us you’re not even planning to have a kid for two years?”
“That is correct.” He tightened his hold around Raina’s shoulders. “And when we do have our first child, no doubt it will be a son.”
Mitch held out his hand. “Wanna bet?”
“A banner idea,” Marc added. “I propose we wager that the first man to have a son—”
“Hold it right there, Marc,” Kate said. “Knowing all of you, that means we’ll end up with at least ten kids a piece if none of you are successful.”
Mitch turned to his wife. “That’s the point. The pleasure is all in the participation. Right, Tori?”
Tori gave her husband a smile, a cynical one. “I don’t think now is the time to discuss having a son, honey.”
Seeing an opportunity for diplomacy, Dharr lifted his cup of wine. “To our future children and to our wives, who have effectively brought us to our knees and thankfully ruined our wager.”
Tori lifted her glass of soda. “I think we’ll all drink to that, right girls?”
Both Kate and Raina readily agreed, holding their glasses high.
Marc raised his beer for the toast. “Here, here.”
Mitch did the same. “To friendship, the future and three real fine women.”
As the party continued with more tall-tales and stories of exaggerated acclaim, all three men conceded one thing. When it came to a remarkable woman, and falling in love, all bets were definitely off.
* * * * *
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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This collection is first published in Great Britain 2009.
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
THE ROYAL WAGER © Harlequin Books S.A. 2009.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holder of the individual
works, which have already been published in the UK
in single, separate volumes, as follows:
Persuading the Playboy King © Kristi Goldberg 2004
Unmasking the Maverick Prince © Kristi Goldberg 2004
Daring the Dynamic Sheikh © Kristi Goldberg 2004
ISBN: 978 1 408 91009 2
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