Page 36 of The Sheikh's Temporary Girlfriend

He nodded. “I did. And I had the mature date palms helicoptered into position around the pool to help keep the water cool.”

“It’s like an oasis,” she said, eyeing the clumps of date palms he’d had planted around the edges to form large patches of shade on the water. A smile played at her lips. “You’ve even added a beach and more trees for shade.”

He nodded. “I wanted to emulate the ocean as much as possible, which is why it has a salt water cell.”

“It’s impressive,” she conceded. But it still wasn’t quite the ocean she loved.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her close. “And yet you sound less than impressed?”

He lifted his other arm to someone in the distance. The next second, a decent-sized wave formed and traveled across the pool before splashing against the beach and retreating back into the water.

“You built a wave pool?” she asked in a voice that barely made it past a squeak. She looked up at him. “Why would you do that?”

“I did it for you,” he said with a wide smile. “And for any students you might want to coach,ifyou want to continue doing so. Otherwise this wave pool is all yours.”

“You’ve made the impossible, possible,” she said in a shaky, disbelieving voice. “I can’t believe you’ve gone to such extraordinary lengths,” she added, tears now distorting her vision.

His arm squeezed her tight. “I’d do a whole lot more to keep you here with me,” he said.

Her breath quickened. “I have family—

“I’ve offered your brother a position here if he wants it—once he’s fully recovered. His family would of course share a suite of rooms with him.”

“You’d do that for him?”

“I’m doing it foryou.”

“You really must love me,” she said in a shaky voice.

He drew her around to face him. “I was meant to do this in the ballroom,” he said, dropping onto one knee. “But what better place than right here to propose to you?”

She stared down at him, her knees going weak and her mouth dry.

He looked up at her. “I love you more than I can put into words, but hopefully my actions prove just how much I reallydolove you.” He pulled a small box out of his pocket and unsnapped its lid, revealing a beautiful diamond ring. “Amber Clayton, will you marry me?”

Tears were running down her face when she threw herself into his arms, knocking the ring and its box onto the sand as she sprawled over him. “Yes!” She shouted, then sniffled and laughed before staring into his eyes and adding, “I love you too. I’ve loved you for the longest time.”

His eyes glowed as he reached up and thumbed away her tears. “I know,” he said softly, reverently. “And it nearly killed me knowing that my love was reciprocated and yet we were no longer together.”

She bent and kissed him, his mouth under hers feeling so incredibly right and familiar. She pulled back with joy filling her to overflowing. “We have a lot of making up to do.”

He nodded and pushed to his feet, then scooped her up into his arms. “Starting now,” he said, before he strode with her back inside the palace and into his—their—suite of rooms.

Epilogue

Three months later…

Amber stood at the shallow end of the pool as Zach caught the small wave that began to roll through at the deep end. Kneeling on his surfboard, Katie stood balanced in front of him in her life vest, her squeal of laughter matched only by Zach’s joy.

Her niece had never been happier, and lived for her moments in the surf pool with either her dad or Amber. It was all too apparent Katie took after her aunt with her love for water and surfing, while Rachel was more than happy to indulge in a day spa or roaming the palace admiring its many rooms.

Everything had fallen into place. Zach had faced the traumas of his past, which had triggered his gambling addiction, and with some therapy and a lot of soul searching his compulsion had been stifled, his focus now on his family and his new career as Basam’s head accountant.

Amber shuddered. She couldn’t imagine being stuck in an office all day juggling numbers, but it was Zach’s passion and he was brilliant at it. Even better was that his now six-year-old daughter Katie was loving school at the palace with the couple of dozen other children who lived there with their parents.

Zach headed toward Amber and she reached for Katie and plucked her from the board, then wheeled her around in the air to more gales of laughter. “You’re a natural!” she praised.

“I’m gunna be just like you when I’m older!” Katie said gleefully.

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