Self-disgust curled through her that she’d been so easy. And yet could she regret the intensity of their lovemaking in that idyllic fantastical place, where it had felt as if they were the only two people on the planet? Or the magic of that pool at midnight?
No. Already she wanted to hug those memories to her, like a miser protecting her gold. And Zafir hadn’t made any great attempt to engage her in conversation since they’d left, so it couldn’t be any clearer really...
She was so distracted with her thoughts that it took a second before she heard Zafir calling her name. She turned her head and looked at him, steeling herself. He was holding out his palm tablet and he looked grim.
‘There’s something you should see.’
It took her a second to absorb the headline.
The Real Reason Kat Winters Disappeared!
She scanned the piece with a growing sense of panic mixed with terror. Apparently ‘a source’ close to Kat had told the papers all about her accident, and the subsequent amputation and rehabilitation, with some added salacious details about how she’d wanted to hide away from the world because she was so ashamed of what had happened to her.
Anger flooded her veins...
She looked at Zafir, handing back the tablet as if it was poison. ‘I was never ashamed—why would someone say that? I was hurt and in pain, struggling to come to terms with a new reality—’
Kat stopped abruptly, realising how close to full-on panic she was. She’d always dreaded this scenario—the story being leaked—and she realised now that she’d always hoped—naively, obviously—that she would be able to control the story before it came out.
The last thing she had ever wanted was for other people who were in a similar situation to feel she was ashamed to be one of them. She was one of them. They had helped her to get through it.
Zafir looked angry. ‘Do you know who might have leaked it? Your agent?’
Kat drew back. ‘No, Julie is my best friend—she wouldn’t do something like this.’
Zafir made some remark under his breath about people and money, and Kat said, ‘Give me your phone and I’ll call her now.’
He handed over his phone and she made the call. Relief flooded her when Julie sounded as upset as she was, and she hated Zafir for infecting her with his cynicism for a moment, making her doubt her friend’s loyalty.
When she’d handed back the phone she said, ‘Julie thinks it was someone at the hospital I was taken to directly after the accident. That they saw the new pictures of me and put two and two together.’ She grimaced. ‘When you lose a leg you tend to be a memorable patient—even if I was using another name and was hardly recognisable at the time.’
Zafir still looked livid. Immediately she thought of something, and her belly sank. ‘I’m sorry.’
He frowned. ‘What do you have to be sorry about?’
Kat swallowed. ‘No doubt the last thing you want is for this news to come out now—before the final event and the last showing of the diamond. It’s bound to draw negative press.’
There was a sharp rap on Zafir’s window, but he ignored it. They’d arrived back at the palace.
He turned to face Kat. ‘There will be no negativity. The diamond will become even more famous when your story of courage is revealed. But I won’t force you to go out there this evening if you feel it’s asking too much of you. You’re the one who will be put under more scrutiny than ever now.’
Kat felt alternately comforted by Zafir’s words and bereft. He sounded as if he didn’t care what she did either way.
She shrugged minutely. ‘It’s not as if I’ve got anything more to hide than this. It was going to come out sooner or later. If you’re not afraid of it impacting the campaign negatively, then of course I’ll go out there this evening.’
Even as she said that though, she felt flutters of trepidation—but she also had to acknowledge a fledgling sense of liberation, as if a weight was being lifted off her shoulders.
Zafir looked at her enigmatically before saying, ‘Very well—as you wish.’
As if he’d sent a psychic message to someone, his door was opened by a waiting attendant and he got out. The driver opened her door, and when she emerged into the sunlight Rahul was walking over to her, looking pale.
‘Miss Winters, I am so sorry. I had no idea about... If I’d known...’
He looked so miserable in his inarticulacy that Kat touched his arm. ‘Rahul, you don’t need to apologise. You did nothing wrong. And no one knew.’
Rahul walked back to Zafir, who broke away from his attendants to come over to where she was standing. The expression on his face reminded her of the enigmatic way he’d looked at her in the desert before they’d left. It was profoundly irritating that she couldn’t read it.
Zafir gestured with a hand. ‘Jasmine is waiting to go through your wardrobe and she’ll help you choose an outfit for this evening.’