The Sheikh's Forbidden Virgin (16 page)

Another step, and then another—she was almost there.

And then he did turn around, and Kalila nearly stumbled, the room and its hundreds of guests swimming before her eyes, for Zakari was not standing there at all.

Aarif was.

Kalila was dimly conscious of the ripple of speculative murmurs through the crowd, but it was nothing compared to the shock vibrating through her whole being. She stood there, rooted to the spot, her mind unable to catch up, wondering if it was some kind of trick…

Aarif was close enough to touch, and he reached out and curled his hand around her elbow, steadying her, bringing her closer.

When she was close enough so that she alone could hear him speak, he whispered, ‘Do you still want me?’

Kalila stared at him, saw the need and hope and love in his eyes, and could only nod. The tears were close again.

‘Kalila?’ Aarif demanded, his voice still pitched low, and she knew what he needed to hear.

‘I love you.’

He smiled then, and Kalila saw the sheen of tears in his own eyes. ‘And I love you. More than life.’

Aarif handed her a bouquet of flowers, and Kalila’s fingers closed around it automatically. She looked down and saw the delicate, curling petals of a bouquet of irises. Her favourite, just as she’d told Aarif. He’d remembered.

Someone cleared his throat, and Kalila realised there was a man standing next to Aarif, also tall and broad-shouldered, smiling faintly. Zakari.

She smiled back, feeling strange, light-headed, and yet absurdly, wonderfully happy, and the ceremony began.

Kalila was barely conscious of the words being spoken, the vows being said. Her mind was still thrumming with awareness of Aarif, the realisation that she was actually marrying him.

It wasn’t until the ceremony was over, and they were walking back down the aisle, that she realised this was real.
He
was real.

Out in the corridor, she turned to him, breathless. ‘Tell me—’

‘Later.’ Aarif pulled her into his arms and kissed her, a kiss that had no secrecy or danger or shame, only love, as pure and brilliant as the finest diamond.

Kalila surrendered herself to the kiss, to the love that flowed between them and through her veins, bubbling up into wondrous joy.

Finally she pulled away, laughing, her hair starting to come undone from its artful cluster in curly tendrils. ‘Tell me,’ she commanded, ‘how you came to be standing there instead of your brother.’

Light danced in Aarif’s eyes. ‘Are you glad?’

‘You know I am!’

Aarif laughed, and it was a sound Kalila loved to hear. She hadn’t heard it many times before, and certainly not with such joyous unrestraint.

Aarif pulled her away from the guests pouring out of the reception hall, into a quiet antechamber.

His face had turned serious again, his eyes dark. ‘Last night I couldn’t sleep. All I could do was think of everything you’d said to me, every accusation and judgment, and realise they were all true.’

‘Aarif—’ Kalila began, but he held up a hand to stop her.

‘Wait. Let me say this, for God knows I should have said it yesterday, and spared us both a sleepless night.’ He smiled wryly before his expression sobered once more. ‘Kalila, you told me I was trying to balance the scales, and though I’d never thought of that before I realised you were right. That’s exactly
what I was doing. For the last twenty-one years I’ve been trying to atone for Zafir’s death, even though no one expected me to. It was something I expected of myself, even though I doomed myself to failure from the start. And happiness—love—they were things I didn’t even dare dream of.’ He shook his head. ‘But it’s amazing how a prison can become safe. Comfortable, even. And the more I withdrew from life, the less appealing the kinds of risks and dangers living create became to me…all without me even realising it. All I could see was that in loving you, I’d betrayed Zakari. And that night we had together—as right as it felt to have you in my arms—was a betrayal, of a kind. But I realised last night that to allow your marriage to Zakari to go forward without even a word of protest was another betrayal. A betrayal of you, and myself, and what we have shared.’

Kalila thought of Aarif striding so resolutely towards the helicopter. ‘So what did you tell Zakari?’

‘I told him what happened between us, and that I loved you. I asked for his forgiveness and said that I wanted to marry you.’

‘He must have been surprised,’ Kalila said weakly, unable to even imagine such a conversation.

‘He was, but he was also happy…for me.’ Aarif shook his head in wonder. ‘My brother is a good man.’ He paused, his expression becoming shadowed. ‘I told him if he still wished to marry you, I would be forced to stand aside. I do not think you would love me if I had not said that.’

‘I know,’ Kalila whispered, her throat aching with unshed tears. ‘I feel the same.’

‘But I also told him that we loved each other, and I would do everything in my power to make you happy and bring honour to both Calista and Zaraq.’

‘And what did he say?’ Kalila could not even imagine the king’s reaction.

Aarif smiled wryly. ‘He was shocked, to be sure. But then he laughed, and told me he could tell that I loved you, for he’d
never seen me so happy before, and who was he to stand in the way of such love.’

Kalila shook her head in amazement. ‘He is indeed a good man.’

‘Yes, he is,’ Aarif agreed. ‘And so is your father. Zakari called him out of the ceremony to explain the situation, and he didn’t even look flustered, or very surprised. He graciously agreed, saying that the alliance between our countries would still stand.’

‘He told me he wanted my happiness.’

‘And does he have it?’ Aarif asked. He brought her hand to his lips, kissing her fingers. ‘You’re happy with this slowwitted husband of yours, who wasn’t able to understand his own nature until his wife told him?’

‘Very happy,’ Kalila whispered, and Aarif kissed her again.

A knock sounded on the door, and Kalila heard a rueful voice exclaim, ‘Enough already! The reception—and all your guests—are waiting!’

Laughing, Aarif led her from the chamber to another of the palace’s great halls, where guests circulated amidst servants bearing trays of champagne.

As they entered the room a spontaneous round of applause burst forth, and Kalila flushed in both embarrassment and pride. Granted, she thought, it was a bit unusual to have a change of grooms on the day of the wedding, but she was too happy to care if anyone was shocked, and from the looks on people’s faces they only wished her and Aarif every joy.

After a round of toasts, Zakari approached them, smiling wryly. ‘May I offer my felicitations to the bride?’ he said, sketching a slight bow before them.

‘Yes, of course, thank you,’ Kalila murmured. She glanced up at him, saw that he was as handsome and charming as she’d remembered as a girl, and yet he wasn’t Aarif.

‘Kalila, you must be an extraordinary woman indeed to have brought my brother to his senses at last. I have never seen him so carefree, so happy.’

‘She is extraordinary,’ Aarif murmured, his arm around Kalila’s waist, drawing her close. ‘I am most blessed.’

‘I hope one day to be similarly blessed,’ Zakari said, and then added with a devilish grin, ‘although not today it seems. Brother, a moment of your time before you retire with your bride?’ Zakari raised his eyebrows, and with a little nod of assent Kalila watched them draw aside.

‘I meant what I said,’ Zakari said in a low voice, his hand heavy on Aarif’s shoulder. ‘I am happy for you both, and I wish you every blessing.’

‘Thank you,’ Aarif said, his own voice choked, for his brother’s blessing made his cup wondrously overflow. ‘You are a good man, Zakari.’

‘And so are you, brother,’ Zakari returned, ‘though you have not always thought you are.’ Aarif nodded, and found himself overcome with emotion. He was grateful when Zakari switched the conversation to business.

‘It is just as well things have happened as they did, for I must leave again tonight. I have heard a rumour that King Aegeus had an affair with a palace maid—years ago, you understand, but there might be something in it.’

‘A clue to the missing diamond?’ Aarif asked, and Zakari nodded.

‘Yes.’ Zakari’s voice hardened. ‘I will find that diamond, Aarif. No matter what happens.’ Aarif nodded. He’d never understood the driving determination his brother had to find the diamond, yet he accepted it. Everyone had their own memories, shadows, and ghosts.

Yet thanks to Kalila, his had been released. ‘God be with you in your journey.’ He clapped his brother’s shoulder and Zakari returned the gesture.

‘Now you should steal your bride away while there is time. Otherwise you’ll be carousing with your guests all evening, and that is no way to spend a wedding night.’

‘No indeed.’ Aarif grinned, and, taking leave of his brother, he turned back to Kalila.

Kalila suddenly found her mouth was dry, her mind uncertain. She wanted nothing more than to be alone with Aarif, yet now that the moment had come she found herself strangely nervous.

‘Come,’ Aarif murmured, and he drew her away from the crowd. He led her upstairs, not to his bedroom, but to another room, in its own wing, separate from the rest of the palace.

‘Consider this the Calistan honeymoon suite,’ he said as he threw open the door. Kalila stepped inside, her surprised gaze taking in the huge bedroom with its lavish four-poster bed piled high with pillows, the wide windows thrown open to the night. Someone had come before them and lit candles, so the room was full of soft, flickering shadows. She saw champagne chilling in a bucket, two fluted glasses waiting to be filled.

It was, she thought, like something out of a fantasy or a fairy tale, something she would have dreamed as a girl.

Yet it was real. The fairy tale was real.

‘This is a bit different from a tent in the desert,’ she managed, and Aarif smiled, drawing her to him.

‘Yes…and I’m not sure which I prefer.’

‘This is more comfortable at least,’ Kalila joked, and Aarif touched his finger to her chin, tilting her head so she met his eyes.

‘
Ayni,
are you afraid?’ he asked.

‘Not afraid,’ Kalila said a bit shakily. ‘Just…uncertain. It’s hard to believe this is real. That it’s…
all right.
’

Aarif laughed softly. ‘It is a miracle, is it not? There is no shame here, no secrecy or fear. There is only you and me…and our love.’

He drew her into his arms, his kiss soft yet filled with promise, and Kalila felt her fears melt away. Aarif loved her, and she loved him; it
was
real. Not a fairy tale, but something much better.

She had found herself in love; they had found each other. Smiling, the candlelight creating dancing shadows around them, she reached for Aarif and led him to their marriage bed.

Kate Hewitt discovered her first Mills & Boon romance novel on a trip to England when she was thirteen, and she’s continued to read them ever since.

She wrote her first story at the age of five, simply because her older brother had written one and she thought she could do it, too. That story was one sentence long. Fortunately, they’ve become a bit more detailed as she’s grown older.

She has written plays, short stories and magazine serials for many years, but writing romance remains her first love. Besides writing, she enjoys reading, traveling and learning to knit.

After marrying the man of her dreams—her older brother’s childhood friend—she lived in England for six years and now resides in Connecticut with her husband, her three young children and the possibility of one day getting a dog.

Kate loves to hear from readers; you can contact her through her Web site, www.kate-hewitt.com.

Turn the page for our exclusive interview with Kate Hewitt!

ISBN: 978-1-4268-4085-2

THE SHEIKH’S FORBIDDEN VIRGIN

First North American Publication 2009.

Copyright © 2009 by Harlequin Books S.A.

Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Kate Hewitt for her contribution to
The Royal House of Karedes
series.

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.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

www.eHarlequin.com