CHAPTER TEN
NADIR LOOKED DOWN at the woman sleeping on the bed so soundly, her deep breaths even and relaxed. He remembered that she had always slept like the dead and he had often teased her about how hard he’d had to work to wake her through the night. Sometimes he’d even been in the process of kissing her soft body, teasing her awake with caresses that had tortured him and woken her panting. Always when she came awake like that she had wrapped her arms and legs around him and pulled him closer. Always she had moved with him and he’d angled his body in such a way that he knew would bring her to orgasm in no time. She’d groan in his ear, clasp him tighter, urge him on and then afterwards she’d sigh and curl herself around him, pretty much like she was doing to their daughter right now, and Nadir had the strongest urge to get into bed behind them and do the same thing.
Only he didn’t.
They both looked too peaceful. His heart clenched and he took a step back. He wondered how life had brought him to this point. To this woman and child. Fate?
It certainly wasn’t planned. All his adult life he’d assumed he’d walk his path alone and he’d been okay with that. After the rigid childhood he’d had where his father’s word was law he had made sure that he had plenty of choices in life that had all been about taking care of himself. It was a selfish existence for sure but it was also safe because he didn’t need anyone and no one needed him in return.
But that had changed now. Now he had a child and a woman he was responsible for and he was determined that they would make a better family unit than his had been. Nothing would make him turn away from them.
Careful not to wake either female, he carefully lifted Nadeena into his arms and marvelled at how small and how fragile she was. He nuzzled her downy dark hair and breathed in her sweet baby smell.
A smile curved his lips as he recalled how Imogen had tried to put him off marrying her by telling him that babies were smelly. They were but in a good way.
They were also a lot cuter than he’d ever noticed before and he grinned when he placed Nadeena into the cot and she promptly sprawled onto her back with her arms flung out to the sides, her tiny mouth moving as she resettled into sleep.
Feeling comfortable that she wasn’t about to wake up, he turned towards Imogen. She had shifted more onto her stomach, her leg hitched high on the bed. If he’d been lying beside her that leg would have been draped over his hips and his groin hardened predictably. He wanted her and he didn’t mind admitting it. Sex was normal. Healthy. But deep down he knew what he felt for her went beyond sex. For once he didn’t try and stop his mind from drifting back to the way things had been between them in Paris. Carefree and passionate. Relaxed and somehow contented. Contented?
His mind processed the thought. Had he really been contented when he’d been with her in Paris? When they’d been strolling together arm in arm around the city just like any other couple in the world? He remembered ignoring those feelings at the time and putting them down to sex. Lust. Passion. But, looking back, he could see that he’d felt completely at ease in her company. Relaxed and, yes, contented. And then another startling thought gripped him. He didn’t want her to endure their marriage. He wanted her to want it. He wanted her to want to make it work as much as he did. He wanted her to want him.
He rubbed his eyes and for the first time he wondered if he was doing the right thing by forcing this marriage onto her. But what else could he do?
She made a sound, almost as if she was having a bad dream, and called out his name. Nadir stilled. In his mind’s eye he saw her rising from the bed, her short T-shirt riding high on those shapely legs before she reached him and wound her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth down to hers as she had done so many times in the past.
Naturally enough, she didn’t do that but she did call out again and Nadir found himself crossing the floor to her side.
‘Imogen?’ He reached down and placed his hand lightly on her shoulder. ‘You’re dreaming, habibi.’
He thought he’d spoken softly enough not to really disturb her but her eyes flew open and she blinked and the little frown line appeared as she stared up at him.
‘Where am I?’
Despite the warning in his head telling him she was tired and needed sleep, he didn’t stop himself from reaching down and placing his finger against the frown line. ‘It’s okay. You’re in Bakaan.’
She made a small sound and pushed up into a sitting position. She wasn’t wearing a bra and he couldn’t keep his eyes off the gentle sway of her breasts. ‘Imogen.’ Her name was more like a groan on his lips when he caught her staring at his mouth.