As they strolled into the ballroom, chatting of odds and ends, Karim’s heart lightened to see Hallie sitting patiently at their table. Her posture was at ease; her expression was calm, friendly, and interested. Next to her perched Annemarie, with an alert and squirmy baby upon her lap, his big brown eyes gazing around. With his wavy hair flattened on one side from his nap, and one cheek slightly flushed and lined from the blanket’s wrinkles, he appeared in fine temperament.

As did Hallie. She looked up with a welcoming smile as Karim approached. And she put everything into that smile: a widening and brightening of those long-lashed green eyes, a flash of hidden dimples, a chin lifted to show off the brilliant pendant at her throat.

Her reaction to his reappearance made him feel oddly…touched?

“Have you gentlemen discussed every last bit of business?” Annemarie lightly inquired.

“Until the next time,” Chip teased. “My dear, it’s so lovely, seein’ you with a baby on your knee.”

“This child has excellent taste; I believe his parents have taught him well.” Annemarie grinned impishly. “He keeps trying to grab my diamond necklace to chew on.”

“Ah, well, perhaps he would like to judge its quality. Is our nanny no longer in residence?” the Sheikh asked, looking around.

“Nanny, pooh. I sent her to the kitchen for a late supper. Once Aaron woke up hungry, I couldn’t wait to feed him and change him and hold him a while.”

“Just like the old days, hey, Annie?” Her husband couldn’t have been more proud of her remembered skills if he’d taken them on himself.

“I tried not to let her; honestly, I did,” said Hallie, a trifle worried. “Spills, you know, and stains, and drools. All on that beautiful dress. But your wife is a strong-willed woman, Chip.”

Towering above her, hands comfortably in his pockets, Griffin laughed with good humor. “That she is, Hallie. I’ve had thirty years of finding out just how strong-willed she is. Actually, to tell the truth, this lady is damned stubborn. So, honey—” he leaned forward just a bit, and lowered his voice, “—any response from those sons of ours?”

“As to giving us grandchildren, you mean?” Annemarie’s gaze immediately sought out the boys, who were still on the dance floor, and she shook her head. “No such luck. In fact, they looked a bit put out that I was even spending time with this little guy. As if it were some sort of imposition, or something.”

As Chip let out a heavy sigh, rocking back and forth on his well-shod feet, from heel to toe and back again, Hallie reached across to lay a sympathetic hand on her hostess’s wrist.

“There’s always hope,” she said softly.

“You’re right. We mustn’t ever give up hope.”

A minute or two passed, with each lost in his or her thoughts, while the music swelled around them. The selections to be heard, as well as some of the movements to be seen, left a few of the more mature attendees raising their brows and returning to their drinks.

Eventually, the orchestra leader opted for a change of pace. Slow, yearning, deeply romantic, the first notes rolled out over the audience, catching them up and reeling them in.

And Karim didn’t intend to let it slip by.

“Hallie,” he began, “if Mrs. Griffin doesn’t mind watching Aaron for a bit, would you like to dance?”

Cue Annemarie’s immediate agreement of, “Of course I don’t mind!” and Hallie’s murmur of, “Well, if it’s really all right…”

Pleased, Karim took Hallie’s hand in his just as she rose from her seat. Deliciously supple, in that silky floating gown that did such marvelous things for her figure and her confidence, she moved gracefully into his arms without a moment’s hesitation.

Karim was carrying with him an air of subdued excitement that radiated outward like a beam of solar light. Strange, how powerful he felt: a superhero who could take on the world’s foes and win, just because he had managed to secure a goal he had been angling for during these many months. It sent an almost visible tension through every muscle, a sense of pride and accomplishment that would last long after that final contract was signed.

“What is it, Karim?” Hallie finally whispered. “You’re humming like a high wire.”

In this exhilarated mood, surely he should be able to swoop her up and whisk her away into the air, sans the assistance of any winged transport.

His dark eyes were dancing in rhythm with his talented feet as he whispered back, “We did it, Hallie. Chip Griffin has confirmed the sale. It just needs our final signatures and approval from our lawyers. Then, I will own Griffin Oceanic.”

“Oh, Karim, that’s wonderful! It’s what you’ve wanted—you must be so happy!”

Held close to his breast, she tipped her head back to look up at him with an admiration and delight that mirrored his own. This must be the ultimate joy of marriage, he thought, his head whirling. To share such iconic moments, together, whether for the good or—hopefully rarely—for the bad. This must be the apex which everyone struggled to attain and so few managed.

“I am. I am so very happy. And much of that is due to you, Hallie. You have provided me with an enormous advantage today, and I will never forget what you have done for me.”

And to me?

It is a wise man who recognizes his own failings, as well as his own strengths, and can work with both. Karim knew himself to be undemonstrative. He held back from the normal outpourings of touches or hugs or slaps on the back exchanged between human beings.

Tonight—indeed, often, since he had first met the indescribable woman in his arms—he had completely stepped away from that image. He wanted to touch. To hug. And maybe even something more…

“Hallie,” he breathed into her ear.

The tickle must have startled her, because she turned her face toward him at the exact second he lowered his. There—in the midst of the dance floor, in the midst of a seductive song, in the midst of a slowly circling crowd—their lips met: his warm and all-encompassing, hers curved sweetly and generously in response.

It was an electrifying kiss, and Karim suddenly felt as lightheaded as if he’d been swimming too long underwater. Were those fireworks he could hear going off overhead?

The music had stopped, however, with a final note left quivering in the air.

And Hallie stopped with it.

Abruptly, she pulled free to stand, confused and overwhelmed, a few steps away.

“Hallie—”

“It’s late, Karim.” She rushed into speech to forestall anything else he might want to say. “Aaron is tired, and I’m tired, and—it’s very late, and you promised we could leave whenever I was ready, and we need to go now, and—it’s very late, Karim.”

Deeply regretting the distress he had so clearly caused, he worked to soothe rather than exacerbate.

“Of course, Hallie. We can leave immediately. We’ll just thank our hosts, shall we, and say good night? You’re right—it is very late.”