One Desert Night - By Maggie Cox Page 0,61

working on the inventory. I promise.'

Not looking entirely convinced, nonetheless Zahir briefly gathered her hand in his, then raised it to his lips to deliver a tender kiss across the fine skin of her knuckles. His eyes watched her carefully as he did so, almost as if he expected her to bolt like a rabbit. 'I pray that will be so, rohi.' His rich voice was husky and warm with feeling. 'When I return I will come straight away to see you no matter what the time is.'

Almost faint with the mixture of relief and hope that had swirled through her at his words, after he had gone Gina took some time out from doing the inventory with Farida. She simply went to her rooms to try and calm the nervous excitement that had suddenly turned her brain to mush and her limbs to sponge...

'You are still up? I was hoping you would be.'

Farida had gone to bed quite a while ago, he'd learned, and at last...at last Zahir had an opportunity to have Gina to himself. If she was still awake, that was. He'd knocked on her door, half expecting her to be fast asleep in bed. It was, after all, past midnight. But she'd answered his knock almost immediately, her shy glance lit up by an equally unsure smile.

'I waited for you. You said you wanted to tell me things.'

'I did, didn't I?'

'How was Masoud today?' she asked, her expression concerned but wary.

Breathing out a long sigh, Zahir nodded his head. 'He has made a miraculous recovery, and is looking even better than before. Two or three days in hospital to recuperate and he will be home again. Take a walk with me, will you?'

'A walk where?'

'Not very far.'

They moved slowly down the lamp-lit corridor and both fell silent. Dressed in a soft white tunic and skirt, her bright hair arranged behind her head with a pretty floral clasp, the woman at Zahir's side made his heart soar just looking at her. But it had taken a ruler wiser than he—a ruler who did listen to his heart—to make him finally acknowledge the depth and breadth of his feelings. Masoud's illness had set his hopes back for a while, Zahir silently admitted, but only because he'd feared his friend might not survive. Now he realised that even if he had not life would go on, Zahir would go on, and his great hope now was that he would do so with Gina by his side.

'I want to show you something.'

He caught her by the hand, then pushed open a door to the side of him. The small salon was barely furnished, but that was for a good reason. Inside there was a single glowing lamp, and on the wall a stunning landscape of the desert. The painting had been one of his mother's own works. She'd loved to paint, and her favourite subject had been the diversity and beauty of this incredible land they lived in. Beneath the picture was a beechwood cabinet with a clear glass top, so that whatever was laid inside there could be viewed to its best advantage. It was the reason there was so little else in the room—so nothing could detract from its incredible beauty and presence.

Placing his hand gently at the small of her back, Zahir urged Gina towards it. 'You have been so patient, rohi, and this is your reward. You are looking upon the Heart of Courage.'

The jewel seemed especially lovely tonight, as it lay on its bed of black velvet, he mused. With a buttery-yellow gold chain, the stunning pendant was made up of a circle of rubies and sapphires—and at its centre, dazzling the eye, was the Almas...a pure diamond whose colour was the flawless hue of a midnight desert sky shaped into a breathtaking heart. It radiated not just beauty, but magic, too.

It had been a long time since Zahir had even glanced at it, let alone studied it. But with its imagined connotations of visiting tragedy on his family he hardly needed to ask himself why. Hearing about the discovery of his great-great-grandmother's journal, and learning that the previous love-matches of his family had—as far as they were aware—been happy and successful, he now felt reassured to follow his heart.

Yet even if the history had not been good, Zahir knew it wouldn't have affected his decision... His arrogance had indeed diminished his wisdom when he'd sought to circumvent his destiny, but after his visit to