His Irresistible Darling - Sarah Randall Page 0,82

her head and winced. “I hit my head,” she said slowly.

“Hmm-hm,” Jumal confirmed. “You fell back and hit your head on the ground. They’ve put a couple of stitches in there and they are just monitoring you for concussion. I think you’re going to have to stay in at least overnight—” she pulled a face at this information “—but I’m staying with you,” he added determinedly.

“It hurts,” she admitted, “and I can’t see.”

Worry etched his face. “I’ll get a nurse,” he said urgently, moving to stand, but she held out her hand.

“Wait. I don’t need the nurse. I can handle the pain and I just need my glasses. Stay here with me,” she pleaded, weakly.

He nodded gently. “Here,” he said, handing her a spare pair of her glasses. “I had Melina get these for you from the apartment. I thought it better than having to wear your sunglasses.”

He took hold of her hand with his left and eased gingerly back into the chair at her bedside. “Pippa—” he swallowed deeply “—I need to tell you something,” he confessed.

“Okkaayy—”

“They caught the person who attacked you.”

“Yeah? Well good. Did he say what he was after? Was it just money or something?”

He dropped his head down but she didn’t press him further.

Abruptly he looked up as if he’d made an important decision. “It wasn’t a man.”

“What?” she said, faintly.

“It was—” He stalled again.

What the hell was going on?! she worried.

“Faridah.”

“What, where?” she asked, looking towards the doorway.

“No, no, I mean, the mugger was Faridah. In fact it was all her.” She watched, speechless, as he closed his eyes tightly for a moment. “The police caught up with her and arrested her and then visited her apartment. They found your bag and they also found some unprescribed drugs. I told them about your birthday party and the drugging.”

“I don’t—” she started to say before shaking her head and wincing from the throbbing pain.

“It’s likely it was all her—the car as well.” His voice dropped low and raspy.

“Why? I just don’t understand why.”

He sat forward and took hold of her hand and proceeded to tell her about the contract with the Dubai government in full detail. How Faridah had been approached by a shipping competitor in Dubai and accepted a very handsome payment to stitch up Jumal and his company for the inclusion of a term in the contract, which could have led to his financial ruin. His company would have been held responsible for a delayed completion date, even if the Dubai government pushed it back, which had severe compensation penalties. He hadn’t yet fully explored the likelihood that the Dubai government had been involved in the subterfuge… He might have to have a little chat with Kahlid once Pippa was out of hospital.

“I’m so, so sorry, Pippa,” he said in a whisper. “If I had thought for one moment that she was a risk to you, that she’d react against you, I would never ever have mentioned that you had discovered her betrayal. I just wanted her to know that you were… Well, it doesn’t matter now why, but—” he shook his head briskly and she could tell he was flustered “—I should have reported her to the police but, God…” He sat back, dropping her hand gently and raking both of his hands through his hair, which stuck up.

“Can you forgive me?” he pleaded, once again reaching for her hand as his eyes desperately searched hers. “I just assumed that if she was going to hit out at anyone, she’d come after me. Me,” he emphasised. “Never you.” His voice broke as he shook his head.

“It wasn’t you, Jumal. There’s nothing to forgive. Nothing,” she added in an attempt to soothe him.

He dropped his head to lie gently against her hand.

“Well,” she said, “it just goes to prove what I always thought.”

“What’s that, honey?” he asked, leaving his head resting against her hand.

“Never trust tall people.”

Her heart monitor jumped to life as Jumal turned her hand over in his and pressed a gentle kiss to the sensitive inside of her wrist, against her now rushing pulse. The monitor continued to go wild in response. Strange, she thought, how a machine could tell Jumal everything he needed to know about her feelings for him…if only he cared to listen.

“Oh. My. God. It’s huge.”

“Pip,” he said, exasperated. “We’ve been over this for the last ten minutes. It’s standard size. You know it is.”

“Nah-ah,” she argued determinedly, shaking her index finger at him and it.