Page 35 of Her Vow to Be His Desert Queen

She smiled. ‘But I like you being an animal.’

He didn’t smile back, a fierce gleam in his eyes. ‘You were a virgin. Do not think I did not notice.’

Oh, that. She’d forgotten about that. She was glad she’d waited for him, though. Not that she’d waited, she knew now. It was either him or no one.

‘Does it matter?’ she asked.

‘I would not have been so...demanding if I had known.’

She let her fingertips brush over the sharp line of his jaw, the light prickle of his stubble against her skin. ‘I want you to be demanding. In fact, I demand that you be demanding.’

Something in his face relaxed, and for the first time since he’d come back into her life the dark shadows in his gaze lightened. ‘Did you wait for me,ya hayati?’

‘Of course.’ There was no reason to hide the truth from him. ‘You said I was yours, and I am. Just as you’ve always been mine.’

He turned his face into her hand, his mouth brushing her palm. ‘In that case, I cannot help but notice that you have given yourself to me.’

‘Yes? And?’

His gaze shifted, turning hot. ‘That means I am your husband already in everything but name.’

A hot, electric feeling pulsed through her. He’d always been intense, but this was intensity on a whole other level. Certainty blazed in his eyes, along with a possessiveness he’d never turned on her before. It made every part of her ache. Her aunt had never cared about her. Her aunt had never wanted her. But Khalil... He was looking at her as if he’d been searching half his life for her, and was now determined not to let her out of his sight.

‘Hmm,’ she murmured, tracing the line of his lower lip, deciding he could bear a little teasing. ‘Are you wanting to renegotiate the two weeks you gave me?’

‘No.’ He nipped at her fingertips, an unfamiliar wickedness now in his gaze. ‘I am wanting to dispense with it completely.’

Her heart turned over in her chest. The look on his face, intense and yet with a slight playfulness, reminded her of the old Khal. Of him when he wanted his way and would try and convince her with humour.

He’s still in there. He’s still him.

‘A new agreement, then?’ She kept her tone light while her heart thudded hard in her ears.

‘A new agreement,’ he confirmed. ‘You belong in my bed and at my side,ya hayati.You always have. And I do not think you want to wait two weeks to decide. I think you already know what you want now.’

She did. But he could work for it. ‘Oh? I do?’

‘Yes.’ The edge of his teeth grazed her fingertips again, making her shiver. ‘You want to be my wife.’

He was so arrogant she wanted to laugh, the way she had years ago. ‘And I suppose you’re going to insist, are you?’ She was smiling; she couldn’t help herself.

‘I am.’ Abruptly, the playfulness died out of his eyes, leaving behind only intensity. ‘I told you that my country needed you, Sidonie. And they do. But...you were right. I need you, too. And... I want this. I want you.’ He paused. ‘I do not beg for anything. But I will beg for you if you require it.’

Her heart squeezed tight. He would. She could see it in his eyes.

She wanted to tell him right there and then that he didn’t need to, that she’d marry him because she loved him, but those were words she couldn’t say quite yet. They’d driven him away the last time and she wasn’t sure what he’d think of them now.

‘Love, friendship...they are not allowed for a king.’

Well, she could wait. Perhaps later, as his wife, she could convince him otherwise.

‘That,’ she said, ‘is the most romantic proposal I’ve ever heard.’

He shifted, his body once more settling on hers, pinning her. His hard mouth curved, and she could see amusement in his eyes. ‘It is not a proposal. It is an order.’

She laughed, lifting her hands to take his beautiful face between them. You don’t have to order me to be your wife, Khal.’

‘Sidonie, I—’

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