Page 50 of The Innocent Carrying His Legacy

The whole world stood still.

It wasn’t. It couldn’t be...

A man got out of the limo, so tall and broad there was no mistaking him. He wore the same uniform as the guards, except the only gold on his was a pin at his breast, a stylised sun.

He was the most magnificent thing Ivy had ever seen. Certainly the most magnificent thing her little borough had ever seen.

Her eyes filled with tears as he glanced up at the home, the last in a terraced housing estate in one of London’s more depressed areas. Because it was him; of course it was him. Those harshly beautiful masculine features, those cold turquoise eyes.

Nazir.

‘Is he a king?’ Gavin asked, staring in rapt fascination. ‘He looks like a king. What’s he doing here?’

Ivy’s heart was beating very, very fast, longing almost strangling her. ‘A good question,’ she said hoarsely. ‘A very good question indeed.’

Why? He’d sent her away; he’d let her go. She’d offered him her heart and he hadn’t wanted it. And she’d spent the past month in agony because of it.

She stepped away from the window and went back to her desk, her throat thick, her mouth dry. Perhaps if she ignored him, he’d go away?

Someone knocked loudly on the front door.

‘I’ll answer it,’ Gavin shouted and raced off before she could tell him to stop.

She sat there, her heart quivering in her chest, her eyes full of tears, anger and love warring for precedence inside her. She didn’t want to see him. She didn’t want to see him ever again.

The sound of voices came from the hall, deep, masculine voices, and then Gavin was back again, leading a group of black-clad guards with Nazir at the head, straight into Ivy’s office.

‘Here she is,’ Gavin announced, pointing triumphantly at Ivy. ‘There.’

And Ivy found herself staring straight into Nazir’s turquoise eyes.

He didn’t look anywhere else, only at her. ‘Thank you,’ he said to Gavin. ‘Go with my men, please. They have things for you.’

‘Things?’ Gavin looked suspicious. ‘What things?’

‘If you want to know, you’ll have to go with them, won’t you?’

Within seconds the boy was gone, the guards closing the doors after them as they went out of the room, leaving her and Nazir alone.

For a second nothing happened. The room was full of a thick, seething tension.

Then, much to her shock, Nazir dropped to his knees in front of her desk.

Ivy stared at him, open-mouthed. ‘What...what are you doing?’ Her voice was breathy with pain and shock.

He stared straight at her and there was no ice in his eyes now, no expanse of snow. They burned hot, clear, and fierce. ‘I’m here to offer you everything I am, Ivy Dean. My army, my fortress, my money, and every last piece of myself. They’re all yours.’

She blinked, feeling as if she could hardly breathe. ‘What do you mean?’

His eyes glittered, his expression slowly changing into one of stark longing. ‘I mean, I’ve tried, little fury. I’ve tried to live the way my father taught me. I’ve tried to live with nothing. Wanting nothing. And I just can’t seem to do it any more. You were in my thoughts constantly. I kept reaching for you at night. I couldn’t look at the courtyard in the fortress without seeing you, without wishing I could see you. Without wanting you desperately.’

Slowly, Ivy rose to her feet, every part of her shaking. ‘I don’t understand. You sent me away. You said—’

‘I was wrong,’ he interrupted, his deep voice vibrating with emotion. ‘I was wrong about everything and you were right. It was fear that kept me from you, Ivy, but not only that, it was shame too. I’ve been my parents’ shame for years, the secret that must be kept hidden. And I could never show my feelings, never let them out in case I betrayed them, and my father never let me forget it.’ A muscle jumped in the side of his jaw. ‘I was ashamed of myself. Ashamed of my feelings. And control was the only way to deal with that. But...you were never ashamed, little fury. You embraced your feelings and showed them to me with strength and courage. And you showed me that it was a choice. That I could choose a better life, one without shame or fear.’ There was naked longing on his face now, the sharpness of it shocking her. ‘A life with you in it. And so that’s why I’m here. I’m here to choose you, Ivy. And I know you may have changed your mind about me, but I wanted to tell you that I love you. You have every piece of my heart, every piece of my soul.’

She was shaking. Shaking so hard she couldn’t stop. ‘But—’

‘I’m going to give up my army. I’m going to give up skulking in the desert and making things difficult for Fahad and Inaris. I’ve decided to buy a house in London and I’ll be living there. If you don’t want to see me, you don’t have to. But I’d dearly love to be able to see my child if—’

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