A Royal Wedding(75)

But that had been long years ago, and they were both different people now.

Nevertheless it was a struggle to smile gently as Simon strolled over to them and dropped his arm onto Paul’s shoulder just long enough to give him a reassuring shake.

‘I see you two have met. Excellent. I can always rely on Paul to seek out the latest technology and the prettiest girls.’

Kate’s lips curled. She was not going to be drawn into that one, even if Paul was looking up at Simon with nothing less than adulation. There was a genuine friendship here, and she envied them that. But she could not dwell on missed opportunities. It was time to clear the air so that they could move forward—and if Simon could look at it that way then so could she, no matter how much it hurt.

‘Hi, Simon,’ she said with a smile. ‘Nice suit. But you really shouldn’t have gone to all that trouble just for me.’

Her reward was a lopsided hidden smile. The left side of his mouth twisted up and his eyes crinkled to match, just enough to show that he knew exactly what she was up to.

‘Oh, this old thing,’ he replied, and pretended to straighten his tie. ‘Had it for years. Thought I would give it a bit of an outing. Don’t want to let the village or the company down.’

Then he paused, and she could feel the intensity of his eyes as they flicked down her body from head to toe, making her squirm and blush—which was clearly his intention. ‘Good to know that you still choose grey too. That must be very reassuring. To know that you always have the same colour hanging in your wardrobe.’

The silence stretched out between them, his grey eyes burning into hers. And they both knew that he was not talking about clothing.

He was thinking of people like his dad, who spent their entire working lives in offices wearing the same kind of suit as every other man in the office. Even his dad had traded in his jeans and T-shirts for the corporate look, but he had laughed it off with talk about putting on a costume so that he could play a part, like some actor in a movie where he had written the script. It had been a game, an act. At least for a while.

Perhaps Simon had changed? If he was prepared to put on a business suit for the sake of the people he was helping, then he might just be someone she could learn to trust. Again.

‘Actually, this is the only suit hanging in my wardrobe. My luggage did not catch the same flight,’ she replied with a rueful smile. ‘So you might be seeing this suit for a few more days to come.’

Simon laughed out loud, and then quickly scanned the foyer before closing the gap between them, holding his paperwork as though they were talking business. Only Kate noticed the tell-tale way that he licked his bottom lip and paused for a fraction of a second before he looked into her face and said, ‘Best of luck with that. But … um … do you have a few minutes to spare? There are a couple of things we need to go through before the sessions open. I’m sure Paul will look after your laptop while you are away.’

Simon held open the door and watched Kate stroll in her high heels across the sunlit foyer into one of the small boardrooms. Everything told him to call after her with some vague excuse when her steps slowed and she half turned and looked back at him over one shoulder. He fell into her blue eyes and was a teenager again, lost and bewildered around this girl he had never been truly able to fathom but who challenged him and attracted him like no other girl before or since.

If she had been an enigma to him then, the elegant and professional grown-up version of Kate he was looking at now was a miracle sent back into his life at just the worst time possible. Or was it the best?

The fact that she was here for the company who were sponsoring his eco-technology project was a matter of fact, too hard to be avoided.

‘What is it, Simon?’ she asked quietly across the space and the years that separated them, and he could hear the strain in her soft voice. Her cheeks were flushed despite the air-conditioning, her blue eyes wide and sad and imploring.

And he was right back to seeing her for the first time all over again.

How did she do it?

He had spent the last three years fighting to get over her and convince himself that he had made the right decision to come to Ghana and leave her behind!

He had a job he was obsessed about, responsibilities for people who were relying on him for their future, and enough worries to last him a lifetime—and here she was, waltzing into his life out of the blue and destroying any hope he had of getting through this next week with something like control.

She knew him. There had been a time when she’d known him better than his parents ever could. Shared his dreams and hopes and fears. Until fate stepped in and ripped them apart.