I choose you, she thought. The rest is unnecessary. I don’t need it. The type of riches he was describing were better suited to a princess, or an heiress, not a working single mother with no time on her hands to appreciate them. They should belong to a woman with expectations, and all Lucy wanted was love.
‘I’m sorry. I can’t marry you,’ she said. ‘I can’t allow you to do this, when we both know I bring nothing to Qalala’s benefit.’
‘You bring everything,’ Tadj argued fiercely. ‘You’re everything I’ve ever wanted and everything Qalala needs.’ Cupping her face in his hands, he stared deep into her eyes. ‘I’m bringing Qalala into the modern age, and with you at my side I can achieve that faster. And I know you don’t expect an easy ride.’
‘I never have,’ she said. ‘But marriage is a step too far. You don’t need to feel sorry for me.’
‘Sorry for you?’ he said. ‘I know what you’re capable of, which is why I’m asking you to be my wife.’
Lucy shook her head. ‘I love you too much to see you sacrifice everything for me.’
‘I don’t have to. If you love me, it’s enough.’ Tadj went on to explain how the constitution of Qalala had been amended to allow the Emir to marry a wife of his choosing, rather than accept a bride chosen by committee. ‘You do love me?’ he confirmed.
‘More than life itself,’ Lucy admitted with her customary bluntness.
They stared at each other, and then Tadj said, ‘So you’ll marry me.’
‘Is that any way to ask?’
The tension broke and they laughed.
‘Excuse me, my lady,’ he said, making her a mock bow. But as he got down on one knee, he made a fatal error. ‘As our marriage is already arranged, I should, I suppose, ask you formally.’
‘What?’ Lucy exclaimed, in no mood to hear anything more. ‘If our marriage is arranged, you’d better unarrange it.’
‘And have our child raised out of wedlock? Surely, you understand I can’t allow that.’
‘I don’t see that it makes any difference at all,’ Lucy said as he sprang up. ‘Our child will be brought up with love—what else matters? A child needs to feel loved, and secure and happy. Do you think it cares about a piece of paper?’
‘A royal child will be under scrutiny.’
‘True, but you could have asked me first—warned me that plans for our wedding were already under way. It is usual.’
‘Do you expect me to be patient now?’
‘You?’ she queried with a glimmer of grim humour. ‘No. But I do expect you to grant me an equal say over everything we do. That is what you promised.’
He should have paced things differently, given Lucy more warning and a better build-up to his proposal. He’d be there for her and their child whatever her answer now. But her answer had to be in the affirmative ‘This is the best,’ he said. ‘How can it be otherwise? Do you propose to live on the opposite side of the world?’
‘So your concern for appearances has driven this proposal?’ she exclaimed. ‘Silly me, when I thought you were in love and being romantic.’
‘I am being romantic,’ he blazed, or he was doing his best, anyway. ‘What about you and me? Don’t we deserve happiness?’
‘No one deserves happiness,’ she countered hotly. ‘It has to be earned. And never at the expense of anyone else.’
‘You can play the saint all you want,’ he exploded, ‘but please don’t expect me to do the same!’
Frustration was hammering at his brain and Lucy was equally heated. Grabbing him, she wrestled hard, rubbing her body against his in her passion. If this was fate, he was destined to get the best workout every single day of his life.
Fate had thrown them together, and now demanded action, Lucy thought as she ripped at Tadj’s clothes.
‘Slow—careful—don’t forget your condition,’ he insisted as she battled to get him naked.
‘I haven’t forgotten anything!’ she flared. Pregnancy had made her mad for sex, mad for him. Knowing pleasure was only a few deep thrusts away made her fiercer than ever.
‘No,’ Tadj said firmly. Standing back, he refastened his jeans. ‘Not here like this...’
Hormones snapping left her ready to scream he couldn’t frustrate her like this, but, scooping her up, he carried her to the bed. ‘Now,’ he murmured with that annoying half-smile of his tugging at one corner of his mouth. ‘Where were we?’
Stripping her efficiently, he positioned and controlled her buttocks with his big, slightly roughened hands, and then took her with the utmost care, but with the utmost thoroughness too, she was happy to report. One deep thrust with a sensational massaging motion of his hips at the end of it was all it took to tip her over the edge into screaming pleasure. While she responded in time to each powerful spasm, Tadj continued to move steadily, ensuring the next release was upon her before the first had even ended.
‘So, what’s your answer to my proposal?’ he demanded the moment she was quiet.
‘It hasn’t changed,’ she said, dragging in some much-needed air. ‘You belong to Qalala and I belong here—well, as close as damn it when I move.’
‘Move?’ Tadj demanded. ‘Move where?’ Releasing her, and withdrawing, he swung her around. Horns locked, they glared at each other, until something changed in Tadj’s eyes. Had he finally accepted the gulf between them was too wide?
She should have known better. Lifting her, he carried her into the bathroom, where, stripping off, he switched on the shower. ‘I need an answer, Lucy.’
His eyes were black, and his body was magnificent. And she, unusually, was lost for words, so she shrugged. ‘I’m moving out of my bedsit,’ she managed finally. ‘It’s too small...’ She gasped as he backed her into the shower. Turning her to face the wall, he nudged her legs apart with his, and made sure that this was the very best shower she’d ever experienced.
MUCH LATER, WHEN they lay entwined on Tadj’s bed, Lucy turned her head to say, ‘Even after everything you’ve told me about the changes in the constitution of Qalala, I can’t marry you.’
‘Because?’ Tadj queried, his voice made husky by the exertions of love.
‘I can’t because I’m not equipped to be the wife of an emir.’
‘I beg to differ,’ he said, reaching for her. ‘I’d say you were extremely well equipped. And as for your use of the word can’t? It doesn’t suit you. I’ve never known you to give up so easily.’
‘You’ve never known me in love before,’ Lucy confessed. ‘I can’t agree to anything I think might hurt you.’
‘You’ll hurt me if you don’t marry me. Who else will I have to argue with?’
Swinging her beneath him before she could answer, he pinned her hands above her head in one big fist. Teasing her stubborn lips apart, he kissed her, and remained looming over her. ‘You’re everything to me,’ he said bluntly. ‘You don’t hurt me. You challenge me, and I need that. You opened my eyes to more possibilities for Qalala. The country needs you more than it needs my money.’
‘As I do,’ she said. ‘So stop offering me castles and country homes, when all I want is your heart.’
‘You’ve got it,’ Tadj said fiercely. ‘My people need love, and