Page 51 of The Innocent Carrying His Legacy

But she didn’t let him finish. Somehow, she found her strength and was around the side of her desk, striding over to where he knelt on her threadbare carpet. She took his face between her hands and stopped his words with her mouth.

For a single shining minute both of them froze at the connection, at the heat and flash fire of it, the sweetness and the deep familiarity. The sense of coming home, of being safe. Of being loved.

Then Nazir surged to his feet and she was in his arms, surrounded by his strength and his heat, held secure and protected as the kiss deepened, intensified. She could taste his longing, his need, and he didn’t hold back, didn’t hide it. And so she gave it back to him, letting him know that this was what she wanted, that he was what she’d always wanted.

‘No,’ she whispered against his mouth. ‘I haven’t changed my mind. And yes, I want every piece of you, just like you have every piece of me. I love you, Nazir. And you don’t have to give up anything for me. I want you just as you are, armies and fortresses and skulking and all.’

He kissed her again, deeper, harder. And gradually Ivy began to be aware of a commotion outside her office, a very happy-sounding commotion. She pushed at Nazir’s broad chest. ‘What’s going on out there?’

His eyes glittered. ‘I brought the kids a few gifts. That will keep them occupied while I keep you occupied.’

A fierce, bright happiness lanced through her even as she blushed scarlet. ‘Really? Here? Now?’

‘Yes.’ He looked as if he wanted to devour her whole. ‘Really. Right here. Right now. Lock the door, little fury. Let me show you how much I love you.’

So she did and he showed her.

And in his arms she found what she’d been looking for her whole life.

A home. A family. And most important of all, she found love.

EPILOGUE

IVYWENTINTOlabour just as she and Nazir had come in from a nice, long stroll around one of the most picturesque villages in Italy’s Cinque Terre. Instantly, he mobilised the small medical team he had on standby, much to her annoyance since she was only having a baby, not a serious medical event.

He ignored her, managing the move to the hospital and everything in between. Eventually, though, he ran out of things to manage and was forced to do nothing but be at her side, holding her hand, unable to do a single thing as she gave birth to their son.

It seemed she was right about that too. He was, indeed, a boy.

Much, much later, as Nazir cradled his newborn son in the crook of his arm while he cradled his wife in the other, he felt a contentment steal through him unlike anything he’d ever felt in his entire life.

He’d given up his army, had handed it over to his second-in-command and the fortress with it, and he and Ivy now headed a worldwide charitable organisation dedicated to the well-being of at-risk children. He had no regrets. None whatsoever.

‘So,’ he said softly into the silence. ‘How do you feel about a daughter?’

Ivy groaned. ‘To be honest, I feel it’s in very poor taste to start talking about another child when I’ve only just had this one.’ But after a moment, she snuggled against him. ‘As long as we call her Connie.’

Nazir had no issues with that. Nor did he have any issues when Connie came with a twin sister they called Cora. Or with the little boy who came along a few years later as an extra-special surprise.

Because he wasn’t a vicious warlord any more or an unwanted bastard son. Or a lonely man hiding in the desert in a fortress with gates of iron.

He was the husband of Ivy Al Rasul and the father of four beautiful children.

And he wanted nothing more.