of fabric behind him.
Only to have his heart clench all over again.
Imogen stood framed in the doorway wearing a blue silk floor-length gown that on the hanger had looked beautiful. On her it looked extraordinary. Her slender dancer’s arms and the graceful line of her neck was exposed to his gaze, her hair a soft fall of golden waves around her shoulders. She looked every bit a royal princess. Every bit a woman any man would want on his arm. In his bed.
‘I think this is going to be too much for Nadeena. She didn’t sleep well last night.’
Nadir couldn’t take his eyes off her. ‘Do you mean you didn’t?’
Imogen’s mouth tightened. Her face looked pale and he could see the pulse in her throat going crazy. It bobbed as she swallowed and he couldn’t control the wave of tenderness that overcame him in that moment. Imogen—fearless Imogen who took him on at every turn—seemed truly daunted by the prospect of the evening ahead. Or was it something else? Him, perhaps?
It annoyed him that she was so set on ignoring the chemistry between them that pulled tight every time they were together. As far as he was concerned, that was the only thing really working for them right now and he’d happily embrace it if she would.
‘I’ve never left Nadeena with a stranger before.’ She gripped her hands together tightly. ‘She’s always had the neighbour across the street or Minh.’
The mention of her ex-lover seemed to wipe any rational thought from his brain. In fact imagining her with any other man did that... ‘She will be fine.’
‘My daughter needs me.’
‘Our daughter,’ he said impatiently. ‘And she’s just had two hours to get used to Maab and she seems genuinely happy with her.’
‘Two hours! It takes more than that to feel comfortable with someone.’
It hadn’t taken him five minutes to feel comfortable with her. ‘The grand ballroom is in the west wing, only a few minutes from here.’
‘I think I feel sick.’
Sympathy replaced irritation. This was all new for her; he had to remember that. ‘I will be by your side, habibi.’
She threw him a pithy glance. ‘Is that supposed to be of comfort?’
Yes, it had been. ‘Should I have told you that you will be on your own and if you make a mistake you’ll receive a thousand lashes?’
‘I might have believed that.’
Her dry sense of humour had drawn him from the start and right now he wanted to laugh, shake her and kiss her all at the same time. ‘Come.’
She stood stock-still. ‘I am not a dog, Nadir.’
‘No, you are a stunning woman who is trying her best to rile me,’ he said softly. ‘Fortunately for you, I have infinite control.’ Usually, he amended. Usually, when she wasn’t in the room, shredding it. He watched her wide, kohl-lined green eyes sparkle and then drop behind a veil of ebony lashes. Did she have any idea how incredibly beautiful she was to him? How much he wanted to possess her? How much he wanted to haul her into his arms and eat that pink gloss right off her lips? Having his old nanny and his daughter in the same room helped prevent it. But only just. ‘We need to go.’
If possible, she angled her chin higher. ‘To London?’
‘Not quite. But I admire your humour.’ He opened the door and beckoned for her to precede him.
She walked over to kiss their daughter before speaking to Maab. ‘If she cries at all then you’ll come and get me?’
‘Na’am, My Lady.’
‘Immediately?’
‘Na’am, My Lady.’
Her gaze looked troubled when she neared him. ‘I notice they say that a lot,’ she whispered. ‘Can I trust her?’
God, she was breathtaking. ‘Nothing will happen to Nadeena. Relax.’
* * *
Relax? Impossible. She was too acutely aware of the way Nadir’s regal robes brushed against the skirt of the amazing dress he had provided for her and the sense of power he effortlessly exuded. Walking beside him, it was hard to remember that none of this was real and that she didn’t want it to be real.
Or did she?
The moment Nadir had leant forward and kissed the top of Nadeena’s head as he played with her jumped into her consciousness and her heart lurched inside her chest. It had been identical to the thousands of kisses she had deposited on her daughter’s head herself—an instinctive and unconscious gesture of love. Was it possible she was wrong about Nadir? Was it possible he might one day love their daughter as deeply as she did?
Feeling confused and out of her depth, her steps faltered as they entered a grand atrium with exquisite inlaid arabesque carvings on the ceilings and walls and highly polished bronze flooring. Six elaborately dressed Bakaani guards stood to attention with guns strapped to their hips. One of the men glanced briefly at Nadir and stepped forward, his hand poised on a gilt-edged doorknob.
Imogen swallowed heavily, aware that she had no experience of this kind of thing, and insecurity and a deep sense of inadequacy fought it out for top position in her mind.
Stopping beside her, Nadir delved into a hidden pocket in his robe, muttering something about ‘earlier’ under his breath. Then he turned towards her and held out a ring with a stone the size of a small grapefruit—an oval-shaped diamond grapefruit that was exquisitely hand-crafted and the most divine piece of jewellery Imogen had ever seen. Both her heart and her mind did a double-take.
‘Before we go in you’ll need to put this on.’
Momentarily blank, she stared at it.
‘It’s an engagement ring.’
She knew what it was. Sometimes as a young girl she had imagined receiving one from a man she loved. She and her friends had even gone engagement ring shopping once when they had been bored after school. They had then dreamed up elaborate ways their future beaus might pop what had felt like the biggest question of their lives back then. At no time had any of them come up with the man of their dreams saying, ‘You’ll need to put this on.’
And how many times was she going to get her hopes up over this man only to have them dashed by the reality that he was here because she was the mother of his baby and for no other reason?
‘That’s not necessary,’ she said huskily, instinctively snatching her hands behind her back.
A frown drew down his brows as if her reluctance hadn’t occurred to him. ‘Of course it is. Many of the guests at the dinner are Western. They will expect to see you wearing my ring.’
A sickening sense of inevitability crept over Imogen and made her feel incredibly vulnerable. Incredibly exposed. ‘I can say I lost it if anyone asks.’
His frown turned into a scowl.
