field work out of town.’ She paused and tried to form more words, but her mouth and throat were not co-operating. Instead she smiled and brushed her lips against his cheek, and fell into his arms, hugging him, embracing him, eyes pressed tight shut, desperate to capture how his touch felt so that she could remember how it felt to be loved in the cold winter days to come.
Seconds seem to last for as long as the years they had been apart, but finally Kate pushed herself away from his body and stood back on wobbly legs.
‘You are going to make a wonderful King. I love you. And don’t you dare forget that.’
She had done it. She had told him she loved him. And the words had been just as heavy and wooden and as awkward in her mouth as she had imagined they would be. Her pain and regret felt as exposed as if she had ripped open her chest and cut her heart out, then presented it to Simon on a platter crafted from her stubborn pride and sacrifice.
Before she could change her mind, Kate flung her bag over her shoulder, snatched the hotel room door open and ran away from the man she loved so very much. And it broke her heart all over again.
Simon stood on the balcony of his hotel suite until the Jeep carrying Kate away from him was nothing more than a hint of red dust in the air lifted by the old tyres.
Watching her load her bag into the boot and slump dejected into the passenger seat had been one of the hardest things he had done in a long time.
Molly and some of the conference delegates had come out of the hotel to see her off, and she’d waved farewell to them through the open window, smiling at their laughter, but he’d only had to catch a glimpse of her face to see that her heart was breaking as much as his.
Seeing Kate again had reminded him what it felt like to be with someone who knew you and loved you for yourself, despite your faults. And he had plenty of those. Oh, Katie. The only girlfriend he had ever truly loved.
How could he have been so selfish and blind to her needs, to the burdens that she had been carrying back then?
He had been so very, very selfish and self-centred. It was a wonder that she had stuck with him at all. And now she was gone.
He had to do something—anything—so he paced back and forth across the room before picking up the dossier he had worked on with Kate. On the front cover was a photograph Paul had taken of the new schoolroom they had built in his village. In the picture the children were crowded around Simon, chatting and eager for his attention. Their energy and enthusiasm seeped out from the image and helped him shed a little of his pain with the memory of the touch of each small hand in his. This was his life, captured in a small photo on the page of an official report.
He paused and pushed his hands deep into his trouser pockets, finding a few teeth-rotting sweets which would be snatched up with great joy by the children when he got back to the village later that day with his mother. Those children were future entrepreneurs and leaders in this wonderful country of people filled with big hearts and spirit—but it was going to take a lot of work and energy to help them get there.
His energy. His time. His work.
Simon’s steps faltered. Was Kate right? Did it have to be all his own work? Was there any way he could achieve the same things with the help of other volunteers? Could he work smarter? He had trained gap-year students, college drop-outs and environmental scientists for years. Many of them came back to work on individual projects, but up until now it had been one sponsor and one project at a time.
In a few days he would be crowned King—perhaps it was time to show the village that they had been right to put their faith in him.
‘Simon? Are you okay?’
Molly Evans appeared in the open doorway to his room. She had taken off her smart jacket and was dressed in a simple cool top and trousers. She looked about twenty years younger than he felt at that moment.
‘I’m …’ Then he stopped. ‘No. I’m not okay. I’m losing Katie all