by Kay Thorpe
‘Do you have any quiet geldings in your stable?’
Throwing his head back, Kahlil laughed. ‘It’s your stable too now,’ he reminded Lucy. ‘You choose whichever horse you want. Were you frightened this morning?’ he said, frowning a little.
‘Terrified,’ Lucy admitted, remembering Kahlil’s fiery stallion.
‘Why didn’t you say something?’
‘What—and have you think me a coward? No, thank you.’
‘I would not have thought you a coward,’ Kahlil assured her. ‘Your courage has never been in question.’
‘So a nice quiet gelding next time?’ Lucy suggested hopefully.
‘Whatever you want…whatever makes you happy. Whatever your heart desires I will give you.’
‘Then that’s easy,’ she said, growing still. ‘Because all I want, Kahlil, is you.’
There was a fever in her wedding preparations this time. Lucy checked and rechecked her appearance in the mirror umpteen times. She wasn’t a beauty. She couldn’t do much about that. But did she look good enough? The Eastern robes were concealing, but flattering, and played to her generous curves. The colour and the fabric Kahlil had chosen for her were amazing—softest pale blue silk chiffon covered in tiny glittering bugle beads and pearls.
‘Do you like it?’ Leila said, smiling at Lucy while balancing an awestruck Edward on her hip.
‘Like it?’ Lucy murmured, allowing the ice-blue gossamer fabric to float from her fingers. ‘Who wouldn’t love a gown like this, Leila? It’s so beautiful. I can’t believe it.’
‘Don’t forget your sandals.’
They were sprinkled with diamonds—she wasn’t likely to overlook them, Lucy thought ruefully as she slipped them on. Would she ever become accustomed to such wealth? She doubted it.
‘Do you like your own outfit?’ she asked with concern.
Leila was becoming increasingly important to her; she was part of the family now as far as Lucy was concerned. And even though time had been so short Lucy had taken special care in selecting something she thought Leila might enjoy wearing. She was to be an attendant at the marriage ceremony with Edward. Both had outfits in a subtle blue a little deeper than her own dress colour, and their clothes were fastened with tiny sapphire buttons and beaded with creamy freshwater pearls.
‘I like this the best of all,’ Leila said, fingering the locket Lucy had given to her as a wedding-day present. ‘You’re really very kind.’
‘And so are you. I couldn’t do this without you. Team Benson—remember?’
‘Team ben Saeed Al-Sharif of Abadan,’ Leila reminded her, and as Edward clapped his hands together with excitement they all began to laugh.
Kahlil surprised them, striding across the room resplendent in his wedding robes.
Lucy was grateful to Leila for putting Edward down for a moment and quickly swinging a silk robe over her shoulders. She wanted Kahlil to see her in her wedding dress for the first time at their marriage ceremony.
‘Thank you, Leila,’ Kahlil said, when the girl, sensing something exciting was about to happen between the bride and groom, swept Edward into her arms and quickly left the room.
‘Kahlil?’ Lucy said when the door shut had quietly behind Leila. ‘I didn’t expect to see you before the wedding.’
‘I have something for you,’ he said, bringing her hand to his lips. Kissing each of her fingertips in turn, he turned her hand to kiss her palm. And then placing two rings in her hand he closed Lucy’s fingers over them.
‘For you,’ Kahlil said softly, when she looked at him in confusion.
Opening her hand again, Lucy stared down at the rings.
‘I chose the diamond ring for you as the mother of my son. Something for you to remember me by when the six months of our marriage were over.’
Lucy stared at the fabulous jewel in awe. But the second ring was quite different, and as the realisation of who must have worn it came over her Lucy drew in an astonished breath.
‘This ring is for an unconventional wife and an unconventional marriage,’ Kahlil murmured.
‘Is it really Nurse Clemmy’s ring?’ Lucy whispered, hardly able to believe what Kahlil was offering her.
‘Will you wear it?’ Kahlil said, gazing at her steadily. ‘Will you marry me, Lucy Benson? I should warn you that the woman who wears this ring will stay with me for ever, and work alongside me for the good of our people. It is a ring for the woman of the Sheikh’s heart to wear.’
‘Then it is the only ring I choose to wear,’ Lucy told him.
Something fundamental had changed between the two of them, Lucy realised when she joined Kahlil beneath the bridal canopy. The electricity, the immediate surge of desire was as strong as ever, but now there was more. And it filled her with fear, and with joy, and hope, and with all the butterfly flutterings in her stomach that a bride should expect to feel on her wedding day.
Closing her eyes for a moment, before she gave her hand to Kahlil, Lucy inhaled the exotic scents of the flowers around her. As well as over the canopy, the women had bound flowers in her hair. Fragrant blossoms circled the translucent blue veil that matched her eyes exactly, and they had put a garland around her neck too, over the intricately embroidered robe she knew they had taken hours beading and embroidering. She felt beautiful, and feminine.
There was such a groundswell of love from the people of Abadan for Edward and for herself—a love Lucy returned wholeheartedly. And now there was complete balance in her relationship with Kahlil. She knew their future together was assured. Opening her eyes, she found Kahlil smiling at her, and it was with total confidence that she placed her hand in his.
‘You look beautiful,’ he whispered as a hush fell over the assembled congregation. Then, bringing her hand to his lips, he turned it over and placed the diamond-encrusted ring on her palm.
‘What—?’ Lucy looked at him in confusion.
‘For six months only,’ he teased her softly, ‘and then, if you tire of it, I’ll buy you another one.’
‘Kahlil…’ Lucy chastened him in a low voice.
Then he placed the thin, well-worn gold band on the third finger of her marriage hand. ‘But this ring,’ he said softly, ‘is for the wife of my heart. This ring, my darling Lucy, is for ever.’
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0246-1
Copyright © 2007 Harlequin Books S.A.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
The Billion-Dollar Bride
Copyright © 2004 by Kay Thorpe
The Disobedient Bride
Copyright © 2005 by Helen Bianchin
The Sheikh’s Captive Bride
Copyright © 2005 by Susan Stephens
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All 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 incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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