Chapter 439

The still silence in the garden that followed his astounding statement was broken by the piercingly sweet song of a blackbird. Kate licked her suddenly dry lips, her heart beating so fast she was sure it would explode. "I don’t understand."

"It’s quite simple." He sounded impatient and stared at her haughtily. But to her amazement, streaks of dull color highlighted his cheekbones, and his eyes veered from hers as if he were afraid to meet her gaze. "I love you, Kate."

Her rebuttal was fierce and immediate. "No, you don’t."

"I should have known you would want to argue about it, Kalila." A little of his tension left him, and his smile stole her breath.

"You don’t love me," she said again. It was probably some cruel trick, and she had more sense than to be fooled. "You married me for Hazem." You love Farrah. Malika said so.

Malika said a lot of things, most of them untrue. Ahsan’s voice was suddenly harsh.

"But not the things she said about me," Kate said thickly. "My mother was a prosti