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Shahir leapt upright in surprise and swung round in a fluid arc. A dark line of colour scored his proud, angular cheekbones. ‘I didn’t expect you to return this quickly.’
‘Pamela is so self-obsessed she’s not good company,’ Kirsten quipped, moving in a restive prowl round the room, because she was so nervous that she could not stay still. ‘I’ve decided that I don’t want charges pressed against her or Morag. Presumably Morag Stevens has been sacked?’
‘Of course.’
‘Let that be enough, then. I just want the whole thing dropped and forgotten about now.’
‘But you were deliberately singled out to suffer Pamela Anstruther’s malicious attacks on your reputation. What those women did was criminal.’
‘I was the victim, but you were the cause. No, believe me, I’m not blaming you for being so fanciable that Pamela Anstruther was willing to break the law to discredit me in your eyes.’ Reluctant amusement shone in Kirsten’s gaze as Shahir slung her a disconcerted look. ‘But what she did does seem to have been girlie warfare of the nastiest kind—and that’s what it was all about. Of course I expect she was after your money as well as—’
‘I imagine so,’ Shahir slotted in, before she could elaborate on what else he might have to offer in the fanciable department. ‘You are choosing to take a strangely lighthearted view of this affair.’
‘Affair? Did you ever…with Pamela, I mean?’ Kirsten suddenly prompted in horror, mentally crossing her fingers and praying that he had not.
Shahir spread two lean brown hands wide, his shock and embarrassment at finding himself the target of so intimate a question patent. ‘Of course not.’
‘But maybe you were just a little tempted by her before I came along?’
‘Her manner was so encouraging that I may have considered the possibility once
or twice.’ His even white teeth were visibly gritted as he forced out that admission. ‘But I maintained a formal distance with her and ultimately her boldness offended me.’
‘Thank you for telling me that,’ Kirsten murmured gently. ‘I can now see how Pamela might have thought she had a chance with you and that I spoilt it.’
‘That would be nonsense, and it should not influence your opinion of what she did to you.’
‘You’re not a woman, Shahir. You don’t understand.’
But he was so honest. Kirsten marvelled at how honest he was. She wanted to apologise for getting so personal, but she was impressed that he would tell the truth even when to do so affronted his fierce pride. Now she wondered how she had ever dared to doubt his word.
Lean strong face bleak, Shahir straightened his shoulders like a soldier facing up to a firing squad. ‘You must allow me to offer you my profound regret for not having had faith in you when you were accused of stealing. I—’
‘That’s fine—it’s OK. Pamela’s clever, and that stunt she pulled with the brooch really did make me look very guilty.’
‘Please let me say what I must,’ Shahir incised.
Kirsten fell silent, frustration filling her—for she had wanted to discuss something that was much more important to her.
‘I am ashamed that you came to me for help and I would not believe that you were telling me the truth. I did let you down,’ he asserted, not quite levelly. ‘That will live with me until the day I die.’
I know it will,’ she muttered helplessly, wishing he didn’t take everything quite so much to heart. ‘But you are only human.’
Strained dark golden eyes sought and held hers. ‘You left home without money or proper support. Any one of a number of appalling fates might have become yours. Throughout the seven months it took for me to find you I was haunted by fear for your wellbeing.’
Kirsten nodded thoughtfully. ‘Even before you knew I was pregnant?’
‘Yes…and that discovery made my betrayal of your trust all the more unforgivable,’ he reasoned grittily.
Kirsten lifted her head high, green eyes full of resolve. ‘I forgive you.’
Shahir frowned. ‘But you cannot—’
‘If I say I forgive you, I forgive you!’
‘Yes, but—’
‘Is my forgiveness mine to give or not?’ Kirsten suddenly shot at him in exasperation.
