“Rashid wrote this note! He left me one signed with your name asking me not to follow you. I thought you had tricked me that last month. I thought you’d only pretended to be happy so I’d trust you alone and you could make your escape.”
“How could you believe that, Philip? I was never more happy in my life than I was that last month with you. I couldn’t have pretended that kind of happiness.” She smiled lovingly and caressed the back of his neck. “But why would Rashid do such a thing?”
“He must have hoped I would follow you back to England and not return. Rashid has always hated me because I was our father’s favorite and because I became leader of the tribe. Being sheik meant more to him than anything. I understood this, and I let him have his way in many things. But he went too far to gain what he wanted. He planned your abduction and my death at Sheik Ali’s hands. When I learned the truth from Amine’s brother, I searched for Rashid everywhere, but he was not to be found. I finally gave up. I just couldn’t stand living in that land anymore with your memory haunting me everywhere I looked. But Rashid cannot be forgiven. He made us waste a whole year of loving each other.”
“It would have been pretty difficult during part of that year,” Christina laughed. “But it doesn’t matter—as long as we have each other now, and forever.” She paused. “But what about Estelle? You told her you desired her.”
Philip laughed. “Only because I knew you were listening, my sweet. Why do you think I left the door open?”
Philip stood up and pulled Christina into his arms. Their lips met in a passionate kiss, and Christina thought she would faint with ecstasy. Philip held her face between his hands and kissed her eyes, her cheeks, her lips.
“Will you marry me, Tina? Will you live with me and share my life and love me always?”
“Oh, yes, my love, forever. And I will never hide my feelings from you again.”
“Nor I from you.”
“But something still puzzles me, Philip. Why have you treated me so coldly from the first moment you came here?”
“Because, my sweet, I came here to marry you, but walked in to hear you accepting a proposal from another man. I was so filled with rage that I couldn’t see straight.”
“You were jealous?” she asked merrily, running her finger along his cheek.
“Jealous! I’ve never been jealous!” He walked away and locked her bedroom doors. He pulled her roughly against him again. “If I ever catch you looking sideways at another man, I will beat the daylights out of you!”
“Will you really?” She looked surprised.
“No,” he murmured. His eyes were dancing with devilry as he slid the black robe off her shoulders. “You won’t be out of bed long enough to give me reason.”
THEY HAD BEEN married six months, six blissful months. Christina still found it hard to believe Philip was hers. She wanted to be near him every minute, to touch him, to hear his sweet words of love filling her heart with happiness.
“Have you forgotten the wager I made you last night?” Philip asked when she came into their bedroom carrying a breakfast tray. “I believe the stakes were a morning spent leisurely in bed—and I won.”
“I haven’t forgotten, my love, but you were still sleeping when I awoke. I thought you might like something to tide you over until lunch.”
“More likely you wanted something to tideyouover. The way you’ve been eating lately, I’m beginning to think you care more for food than for me,” he teased. He took the tray from her hands and set it on the black-marble table in front of the couch.
“That’s not true, and you know it,” Christina said, pretending to pout.
“Well, you shouldn’t have carried the tray up yourself. In the future, let the servants earn their wages.”
“You know very well, my lord, that the servants are not allowed to come near your bedroom when the door is closed. You gave the order yourself, the second day of our honeymoon. A maid came in to change the linens and found us still abed. Your rage scared the wits out of the poor girl.”
“And with good reason, Philip chuckled. “But what kept you so long? I’ve been up for almost an hour and was about to come after you. When I win a wager, I expect to collect in full, not just half measure.”
“Every time we’ve played poker these last months, I’ve lost. I’m beginning to think you let me win intentionally when you taught me the game back in Egypt.”
“You wouldn’t wager with me then, if you’ll remember. But now that the stakes are well worth winning, I prefer to win. Then again, perhaps you prefer to lose.”
“You’d like to believe that, wouldn’t you?” she teased, reclining on the velvet couch.
“Isn’t it so?” he asked, sitting beside her.
“My love, you don’t need a deck of cards and a game of chance to get me to spend the morning in bed with you—or the entire day, for that matter. You should know that by now.”
“I spent so many months thinking you hated me, Tina, that now it’s hard to believe our happiness is real,” Philip said.
He took her face in his hands and looked at her with glowing warmth in his eyes. “No man has the right to be as happy as you’ve made me by giving me your love. I can’t believe you are really mine.”
