“After our last fight, I began thinking about alternate suspects in the embezzlement. You were right and I feel like a fool admitting it, but I was so blinded by my love for you, so afraid that you were the culprit, that I couldn’t see the facts correctly. It was an unforgivable injustice to you.”

Erin started to protest but he ignored her. “Just let me finish,” he commanded. “I started putting some of the pieces together and discovered that Mitch was having an affair with Olivia. It really wasn’t all that difficult to see, once I knew you were innocent. Olivia was the one person who seemed to know too much—everything about you, the securities key, the meeting with Mitch on the day of the arraignment. She was clever and subtle, but she took great pains to mention that you and Mitch had always been friendly, and Cameron, the bastard, didn’t deny it.”

Erin shook her head in disbelief as Kane continued. “At the point that I began to suspect Olivia, I was inhibited because of Krista’s depression. I’m sorry, Erin, if you can only guess how really sorry I am that I thought, even for a moment…”

“It’s okay,” she whispered, and reached to touch his arm.

“No, it’s not!” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “And what makes it worse is the fact that I fell in love with you the moment I saw you sitting in the office on the floor with all those books spread around you, and still I thought that you were involved with Cameron. I must have been out of my mind.”

Erin’s head was reeling with the magnitude of Kane’s confession. He had said it over and over—that he loved her. Was it really possible?

“I want you to know that it doesn’t matter, not anymore. When I heard about Krista from Mrs. Cavenaugh, I realized that nothing matters—nothing except for you and Krista,” she admitted, smiling into his face.

His eyes opened slowly. “Erin, just what are you saying?” he asked quietly.

“I’m saying that I love you, and the only reason that I wouldn’t marry you before was because I didn’t think that you loved me.”

“How could you have been so blind?” he asked, reaching for her and crushing her to him. “It was so evident!” He didn’t wait for an answer. His lips came crashing down on hers with a fiery passion that was soon exploding in her veins. “I’ll never let you get away again,” he vowed. “We’re getting married as soon as Krista is out of the hospital.”

“You haven’t heard any disagreements from me, have you?” she asked.

“Thank God for small favors!” He sighed, and let the weight of his body fall against hers.

ISBN: 978-1-4603-6339-3

A TWIST OF FATE

Copyright © 1983 by Lisa Jackson.

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, MIRA Books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.