How to Seduce a Sheikh (8 page)

Zafar strode in, wild-eyed and dishevelled. She almost dropped the gun but remembered just in time that it was primed and set it carefully down on the floor. ‘What on earth are you doing here?’

‘Colette.’ He stopped short in front of her. ‘Colette. No. Do not speak.’

She wasn’t sure she could. She waited, her heart fluttering, trying to quell the vain hope that she could not prevent from rising in her breast.

‘You were right,’ Zafar said. ‘I did all I could to save Afifah but it was not enough. I have not yet ceased blaming myself, but I know that in time I will. And you were right about the consequences, too. I have allowed the fear that it would happen again to rule me. You were right, and I thank you for having the courage to show me.’

‘Oh. Well, that is most—I am very pleased to hear it Zafar, but—’

‘I am not finished yet! By the gods, woman, I am trying to ask you to marry me. You might at least have the decency not to interrupt.’

She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Zafar pulled his headdress off and cast it to the ground. ‘I love you,’ he said baldly. ‘I am in love with you. I want you beside me, with me, in my life. Always.’

‘But you said you would never take another wife. You said—’

‘I know what I said! Must you throw my words back at me? I was wrong! I am not infallible, as you know only too well. I was wrong. I want you to be my wife. I don’t know whether it is possible that you return my feelings, but—’

Finally, she found her voice. ‘I do,’ Colette said hurriedly. ‘Zafar, I do. I love you so much, and I’m sorry for interrupting you, but I have waited so long to tell you—’

‘You love me?’

‘I am in love with you. I have been for...I don’t know, days, weeks, it feels like forever.’

‘Then you will stay?’

‘If you want me.’

‘If I want you!’ He burst into hearty laughter, then pulled her tight against him, holding her so close she could scarcely breathe. ‘
Mignonne
, I have never wanted any woman the way I want you. I want you in my bed and in my life and I never, ever want to let you go. I know there is danger—I will always have enemies, but—’

‘Zafar, I would far rather be happy with you no matter what the dangers than unhappy without you.’

He laughed again, though softly. ‘You stole my very words. Will you marry me,
chérie
?’

‘Yes, yes and yes, my desert prince,’ Colette replied.

‘Yes!’ Zafar exclaimed in a most unprincely manner, taking her into his arms amid the awesome vastness of the desert landscape and kissing her.

* * * * *

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ISBN: 978-14603-1307-7

How to Seduce a Sheikh

Copyright © 2013 by Marguerite Kaye

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