One Desert Night - By Maggie Cox Page 0,63

But it was replaced by an even stronger emotion. He sighed. 'I am in awe of your incredible bravery...at what you did that day. Not one in a hundred women would have had the presence of mind to do what you did. Not to put too fine a point on it, the man who attacked you is a trained fighter...a mercenary. He lives high in the mountains, where he and his brother believe themselves to be outside the realms of any civilised law made to curtail their more base instincts and reckless activities. Yet, not knowing the danger, you fought back. You are quite a remarkable woman, Gina Collins.'

'Not really,' she murmured softly, gazing up at him. 'But sometimes...sometimes certain strong feelings can give you the courage to be stronger.'

'And what strong feelings would those be...hmm?'

'When you—when you care for someone deeply you don't want to leave them...you want to stay with them for the rest of your life, and you'll do anything you can to prevent being parted. I truly regret not coming back to you three years ago, but when my mother died I was overwhelmed with fear. I wasn't courageous enough to trust that it was right to return. When my father put doubts in my head about it, I listened to him rather than to my heart. It's true what they say, you know...about what happens when you're in serious danger. My life did flash before me when that man grabbed me at the marketplace, and I promised myself in that same moment that if I survived I would tell you exactly how I feel.'

Zahir stilled, yet his heart thudded hard. 'You said that gazing at the jewel made you feel awed and privileged. I could say the same thing about looking at you, rohi.' His voice was now helplessly infused with the warmth that was growing powerfully inside him. Tenderly, gently, he laid his palm against her cheek. 'I want to hear what you have to say, my angel. But first I have a question. There is an inscription on the back of the jewel's fastening...do you know what the translation if it is?'

Her smile was instantaneous, but shy. 'I could recite it in my sleep,' she confessed. 'It means Transcend fear to find the courage to follow your heart and love without reservation. I know I've had to do just that, Zahir.'

'And my heart echoes it.' Moving his hands to the small feminine waist he could span with just his hands, Zahir drew Gina towards him, his blood pounding through his veins like a turbulent river as he examined her exquisite features and shining eyes. She was like rare perfume, or some intoxicating elixir that he had inadvertently drunk—he would never get over the effects...not as long as both of them lived and breathed.

'Yes, my beloved... For a while I confess that I could not find the courage to love you unreservedly—not as long as I feared losing you. In my confused thinking I thought if I made you my mistress that would be a way of keeping you here, but at the same time I would not have to completely surrender my heart. It was the most colossal self-deception. Having found you again, I realised that to live without you would be the worst pain I could ever envisage. It is simply not an option. From the first moment I saw you, it never was. I love you, Gina. I want you not just because you are an incredibly beautiful and lovely woman and I desire you, I want you as my friend and companion as well as my lover...I want you to be my wife.'

Was she dreaming? Gina thought dazedly. Had her longing for this man at last turned her mind to madness? But, no, Zahir's love was blazing down at her like a fierce undaunted sun that would never set. She wanted to bask in that sun for the rest of her life.

'Are you sure, Zahir?' she asked quietly, afraid even at this incredible longed-for moment that she might somehow have misheard or misread him.

His glance was definitely perplexed. 'Am I sure?' he echoed in disbelief. 'I have just told the loveliest girl in the world that I want her to be my wife and she asks me that? Of course I am sure. Never again will I speak anything but the truth where my feelings for you are concerned.'

'It's just that right now I feel like I've somehow wandered into