A Royal Wedding(88)

Of course she was tempted to stay. Simon was right. Modern communication technology meant that she could see and talk to Gemma every day if she wanted, even from rural Ghana, but there were so many other things to consider. And her head and heart were not co-operating very well. Perhaps these next few days on the road would help to clear her thoughts. She certainly hoped so.

Come on, Kate told herself. You need to do this. You are a professional. It is a common courtesy to say goodbye to your client. Even if it is Simon.

Every part of her heart was screaming stay, while her head was running through all the perfectly sensible and logical reasons why that was such a crazy idea, and she should run as far and as fast away from Simon as her legs and a fast plane could carry her.

She had held it together through a nightmare dinner, where they had only been seated three chairs apart, and then days of official presentations and speeches and reports. The conference had been a constant buzz of frenetic activity and deliberate business, designed to make certain that there was no time when she could be left alone with Simon to express a simple Nice to see you again. Goodbye. Have a nice life, Your Majesty.

As far as the other delegates were concerned she and Simon were simply work colleagues supporting an important local initiative.

This was how she wanted it. Wasn’t it?

Shame that Molly and goodness knew who else had seen through her little charade.

But all she had to do was survive the next few minutes and then she could walk away and get on with her life. From now on their relationship would be totally professional, and conducted through the safety of an internet connection. If he could do that, then so could she.

So, before she could change her mind, Kate pressed the doorbell on Simon’s room and instantly heard footsteps on the other side of the door.

He was wearing his old cargo trousers and T-shirt and looked about seventeen, but it was the expression on his face that took her breath away.

He was looking at her with such love, and with a smile so honest and open and real, that just being so close to him, so near and yet so far, was overwhelming.

‘Hey. Everything all right?’ he asked, scanning her face in concern. ‘Sorry that things were so busy that we haven’t had a chance to talk.’

He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know that I am leaving.

‘Absolutely, but the conference has been a huge success.’ She smiled politely, and then said what she had to say before he had a chance to answer or her nerve failed. ‘Molly’s waiting for me downstairs, but I wanted you to know that I heard back from Tom this morning.’ She paused for a second, then smiled to reassure him. ‘The last results came back as negative. It was a false alarm—he just has a bad head cold.’

She watched Simon’s shoulders slump and relax, and then without hesitation he simply stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her in a delicious welcoming embrace of such love and warmth that it disarmed her. Every good intention she’d had of simply walking away from him fled out of the window.

‘I’m so pleased for you … But did you say Molly was waiting? Does that mean you are heading out on your field trips?’

She nodded, incapable of speech.

His hand came up and pressed her head closer into his embrace. He drew her into the room and out of the empty corridor.

‘Oh, Katie,’ he whispered as his cheek moved against hers, filling her with the smell of him and hotel shower gel.

Kate rested her head on his shoulder. If she was ever going to say it, then this was the time to do it. ‘The other night,’ she whispered into his shirt, ‘at the beach. When I told you that I had made my own way so far and didn’t need anyone. That wasn’t even close to being true.’

He turned his head just enough so that she could see the dust on his eyelashes and the huge dark pupils at the centre of the grey eyes which had entranced her from the first moment she had seen them all those years ago in the lecture theatre at university. The words she was about to say froze on her lips.

‘I know. This is hard on both of us,’ he said, his voice intense, almost a harsh whisper. ‘Can I at least talk you into staying until my coronation?’

Kate slowly shook her head, and braved a closed-mouth smile before replying. ‘Promotion will mean that I can work full-time from home. I will be there to make Gemma’s breakfast and spend every evening and weekend with her. Tom has done an amazing job over these last few years when I have been travelling, and he has never once complained, but he is due to retire next year and is ready for a rest. It’s my turn, and I want to be there—no matter what his test results say.’