by Kate Hardy
She pushed with all her might but her hands disappeared into the sogginess and her knees slipped and slid all over the place.
She gave a grunt and flipped over. Swallowing her pride.
But instead of a race marshal, three men, all in their thirties, all muscled and tanned, wearing top-to-toe tight-fitting black clothes, stood watching her. Two were considering her with professional concern, while the guy in the centre was trying desperately to hold back a laugh.
Prince Edwin of Monrosa and his royal protection officers, Domenico and Lucas.
Oh, what? Clamping her hands to her face, she gave a moan. Between her fingers she spotted Edwin grin. She giggled, relief surging through her, the weeks of disquiet over his lack of contact vanishing more swiftly than the grey March clouds scuttling across the sky behind him.
Lowering her hands, she grinned back at him, all of her work worries, her crabbiness over being so cold, her frustration at lagging so far behind in the field of competitors, disappearing in the face of his entrancing sorcerer’s smile.
Edwin’s hand reached down and he hoisted her out of the mud, an embarrassing squelching sound accompanying her escape.
With a barely detectable nod from Edwin, Domenico and Lucas moved away in the direction of the two event marshals who were standing at the stone piers at the top of the field that led out onto the return road to the event’s tented village.
‘You look exhausted.’ Edwin paused, that smile still dancing on his lips. ‘I’d offer to carry you but I don’t want to be yelled at like the last time I pulled you up from a muddy field.’
Puzzled, she yanked her jacket down from where it had twisted around her waist and then she laughed. Of course! He was talking about the first time they had met. She had been seventeen and playing in a rugby cup game and had just been tackled by a prop forward built like a small garden shed. Winded, she had been trying to gather herself when she had been hoisted off the ground. She had expected a teammate but instead she had turned to find a dark-haired guy towering over her, the concern in his golden eyes stealing away her indignation. From the get-go, Edwin had appointed himself as her protector, her rock of good sense...and after Michael, her brother and Edwin’s best friend, had died, despite her resistance he had become her mentor, her modern-day guardian angel.
Now, aching for a shower and hot chocolate at the finishing line, for once she was seriously tempted to take him up on his offer of assistance but of course didn’t do so. ‘You need to be careful with your back at your age.’
Edwin folded his arms. ‘I’m only three years older than you.’
She gave him a sympathetic smile. ‘Every year counts.’
He raised an eyebrow, his thumb flicking across the tip of her nose. She shivered at the fierce concentration in his expression. Then, showing her his thumb, now covered in a smear of dirt, he said with his usual quiet humour, ‘I’m guessing you don’t need this particular memento of today’s run,’ pausing, he ran his eyes down the length of her mud-encrusted body, ‘especially when you are already heading home with a small garden’s worth.’
Kara blinked. And stepped away. His touch always made her feel peculiarly vulnerable. ‘I need to get to the finishing line—the fundraising team will be regretting persuading me to front up the campaign.’ Rolling her eyes at Edwin’s grin, she admitted, ‘I can’t believe I actually agreed to pose for those photos and marketing video of me dashing across the finishing line—I should have known they’d come back to haunt me.’
Turning away, she tackled the mud bath before her. He came and walked alongside her. ‘So what has brought you here today? Isn’t there some exotic beach or skiing trip missing you?’ she asked.
‘I decided to forgo my usual Sunday morning haunts to spend some time with you.’ Taking hold of her hand again, to help her out of a deep hole she was failing to free herself from, he pulled her out and said gently, ‘I know how much today means to you. I wanted to support you, especially as the race is named in Michael’s honour.’
An ache for Michael rose up from the pit of her stomach and spread into her chest cavity like a smothering vapour until it wrapped around her heart, the loneliness of it physically hurting even a decade on. She swallowed down that ache to a place deep, deep inside of herself, balling her fists to create the energy to be upbeat and teasing with him. She lifted her head to meet his gaze. The man with the golden eyes and golden heart. ‘I always appreciate your backing.’ She gave him a wicked smile. ‘As does the rest of my team—Kate and Triona were only lamenting earlier this morning the fact that we haven’t seen a lot of you in the office in recent months.’
‘Where are your team anyway? Why aren’t you with them?’ Edwin asked.
‘I told them to go ahead, I was only holding them up. They needed to get to the finishing line early to thank everyone taking part in the run before they left. We had hoped for a bigger field today and need to persuade as many runners as possible to come back next year. If we can get the numbers right, this run will be a great way to raise funds and promote the work of the charity.’
Edwin’s mouth tightened as once again he had to yank her out of the mud. ‘Somebody should have stayed with you.’ Nodding towards her trainers—well, what was visible of them beneath the inches of mud—he added, ‘And equally someone should have told you to wear something more practical.’
She gazed down at his feet and smirked. ‘Like your special forces-issue boots, you mean? And don’t go denying that you were trained by the Monrosa army—no one goes away, as you claim you did, on a three-month diplomatic tour and returns with biceps that would rival those of a heavyweight boxer.’ As expected, Edwin gave his usual non-committal shrug, so she added, ‘There was no need for anyone to stay with me for the race. I was doing fine until I came to the incline.’
He made a disbelieving sound. And her heart missed a beat as his gaze continued to hold hers with an unsettling intensity. Only now that he wasn’t looking away did she realise just how rarely he fixed his eyes on her for any prolonged period. Disconcerted, she asked, ‘Is something the matter?’
For a moment the faint lines around his eyes tensed, but then he turned and, still holding her hand, led her towards Domenico and Lucas, who were waiting for them alongside the course marshals. ‘There’s something I want to ask you. I need your help. But we can discuss it later.’
She allowed him to guide her out of the quagmire, wondering if this was the first time in all their years of knowing each other that he was asking for her help.
From the first moment that they had met he had helped her, and had shown no sign of stopping. There must have been a time when he had asked for her help...but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember one. Yes, she had given him the support of friendship, shared his passion for old black and white movies and mountain trekking, the writing of Douglas Adams, but Edwin, so self-contained, so self-sufficient, so private, had never directly asked for her help. Even in those dark days and weeks after Michael’s death, when grief had been chiselled into his face.
Now, as he led her out of the field, she inhaled a shaky breath, her chest tightening. How would she have coped if Edwin hadn’t been there for her after her darling, her beloved, her troubled older brother had died? Her parents had fallen to pieces. They had idolised Michael as much as she had. The first family member to go to university. And Oxford at that. Their pain after his death had been unbearable to witness. Knowing Michael had taken his own life had been too cruel, too senseless, too wrapped in guilt and what-ifs. Kara had stood by and watched her dad try time and time again to reach her mum, searching for support, but her mum had shut him out, disappearing into a world of her own where there was no time or energy for anyone else. She had watched her dad plead, grow angry and eventually shut down. It had crushed Kara’s idea of love and relationships to see all of that pain and helplessness wrought on her dad.
As their ma
rriage fell apart and during their eventual divorce Kara had leant on Edwin, needing his support, his encouragement, his advice, his reproaches when she had self-destructively gone off the rails. She had somehow managed to sleepwalk her way through her A levels in the month after Michael had died and gone on to university. But there had been so many bumps along the road, including dropping out of university for a month, until Edwin had made her see sense.
And when she had finally taken her finger off the self-destruct button five years ago, for the first time accepting just how destructive her relationship with her ex-boyfriend Nick was, she had realised that there was one thing she wanted to achieve in life—to set up a charity focused on the mental health of young adults, particularly targeting the difficult years of transition after leaving school. Five years on, the charity had seven centres throughout the UK, ran transitioning and education programmes in conjunction with several universities and provided a twenty-four-hour helpline. But there was so much more that they needed to do. There were so many more young people and their families they needed to help, but the lack of resources was holding them back. The need to do more consumed her.
At the gateway out onto the road, they paused and Edwin shook hands with the marshals, who did a reasonable attempt at appearing to be nonchalant in meeting him, an actual, real-life prince.
When it was her turn to greet the men she pulled them into a group hug. ‘Thanks for volunteering today. We couldn’t hold fundraising events like this without the support of our volunteers.’
Both men held themselves as stiff as a board and when she released them they eyed her as though they were worried for her sanity and their own safety.
‘Kara’s the founder and chairperson of Young Adults Together,’ Edwin explained with amusement.
Both men relaxed.
One of them, heavily built with long hair and a skull nose piercing, said in a pronounced Cornish accent, ‘This morning I was up before dark to come and do my bit.’ Reddening, he cleared his throat, rolled his shoulders, and continued, ‘My daughter...went through a bad patch last year.’
Kara swallowed at the confusion and fear in his voice. He cleared his throat noisily. ‘Your counsellors gave us a lifeline when we didn’t know where to turn.’
Kara pulled him into another hug. This time he wrapped his arms around her.
After she had extracted a pledge from both men that they would continue to volunteer for the charity, she hobbled as quickly as she could alongside Edwin on the internal estate road that led back to the tented village which had been erected adjacent to Fairfield House, thanks to the generosity of Lady Fairfield, who, along with Edwin, was a patron of the charity.
Domenico went ahead of them, while Lucas stayed a distance behind.
After graduating, Edwin had worked in the City of London for four years before returning to Monrosa to act as global ambassador for its financial sector. His job brought him to London on a regular basis but for the past month he had remained in Monrosa and his contact with Kara had mainly consisted of the occasional rushed text. ‘I haven’t heard from you recently—have you been busy?’
Beside her Edwin came to a stop. Kara’s heart did a somersault at how troubled he suddenly seemed.
‘You’re limping.’
Giddy relief ran through her. For a moment she had thought something was seriously wrong. She reached down and rubbed the back of her thigh. ‘I think I pulled something.’
Crouching down beside her, Edwin said, ‘Show me where exactly.’
Kara pointed to the mid-centre of her thigh with her index finger. ‘There.’
His hand touched her mud-strewn thigh, his warm fingers softly tracing over the skin beneath her running shorts. Every muscle in her body tensed as she resisted the temptation to yelp, giggle, move away.
‘You’ve pulled your hamstring. We need to get you back to the finishing line quickly so that you can ice and elevate it.’
His gaze moved up to gauge her reaction.
‘Why are you here, Edwin?’
Instead of answering her question he stood and said, ‘I’ll carry you to the finishing line.’
Kara laughed but she soon stopped. He was being serious. ‘I’m fine. And anyway, I have to make my own way there—my sponsorship depends upon it.’
‘How much is your sponsorship worth?’
‘Close to two thousand pounds.’
For long seconds he held her gaze and Kara’s heart gave a little kick. She should look away, make some quip, but now that he was here she realised just how acutely she had missed him over the past month.
‘I’ll match your sponsorship.’ And then, with one of those utterly charming smiles of his, where she felt as if she was the centre of his world, he added softly, ‘Now, please let me carry you. You’re injured.’
For a nanosecond she actually contemplated his offer. But then good sense kicked in and she walked away. ‘I’ve only pulled my hamstring. And how would it look to all of the other participants if the event organiser not only finished last but also had to be carried over the finishing line? By you of all people.’ A safe distance away from him, she turned back. ‘You know the media would have a field day if you’re spotted carrying me. When are they ever going to accept that we’re only friends?’
Edwin came alongside her. ‘My father and mother had an arranged marriage. They started off as friends.’
Why was he telling her this? And she couldn’t remember the last time he had spoken about his mother, who had died when he was a teenager.
Before she got the opportunity to ask him what was going on, his arm wrapped around her waist and she almost jumped out of her skin. They weren’t the touchy-feely variety of friends.
‘Your limp is getting worse. If you refuse this help then I’m going to instruct Lucas to carry you to the finishing line.’
Preferring the unsettling effect of being so close to Edwin over the ignominy of being carried by Lucas, who frankly scared her a little with his silent-killer type intensity, she allowed him to support her, but didn’t lean as much into his strength as she really needed to.
‘My father still misses my mother. They were a good team. Maybe practical marriages are the answer.’
Okay, this conversation was getting odder and odder. ‘Answer to what?’
Nodding in the direction of the tented village, which had just come into view, rather than answer her question Edwin asked, ‘How much will the mud run raise for the charity?’
Why hadn’t he answered her question? ‘Close to twenty thousand pounds, which will secure counselling services in Southampton for the first three months of next year.’
‘You know I’m happy to provide more funding.’
This was an ongoing argument between them. ‘Yes, and I appreciate your offer. But I don’t want you funding the charity...there are so many others you support. I want Young Adults Together to be funded by the local communities—it builds a better understanding and ownership of the issues involved, along with helping to destigmatise mental health issues.’
He gazed at her with a fondness that burnt a hole right through her heart. ‘I’m very proud of you, do you know that?’
Kara shrugged, rolled her eyes, trying not to let her delight, but also alarm, show. When he spoke to her like that, it made her feel totally exposed and fearful as to what her life would be like if he wasn’t part of it.
* * *
Leaving the dual carriageway and following the main artery into Brighton, a sea of red brake lights appearing ahead of him, Edwin slowed and eventually brought his SUV to a stop.
Beside him, Kara sighed heavily. ‘There are roadworks ahead. They’ve been causing traffic chaos for the past week.’ Turning to glance at the car directly behind them, she added, ‘There really was no need for you to drive me all the way home to Brighton. I feel so guilty Domenico and Lucas are having
to drive my car back for me.’
Studying his protection officers in his rear-view mirror, Edwin grinned at their scowls and at how they were taking up every spare inch of space in the front of Kara’s tiny car that made him wince each time he saw it, not just because of its canary-yellow bodywork but also because he doubted it would offer her much protection in an accident. She refused to trade it in on environmental grounds. ‘I didn’t want you driving when you should be resting your leg.’
Kara let out an impatient huff and shifted the icepack he had earlier taken out of the first-aid kit in the boot.
‘It’s a pulled hamstring and not even a seriously pulled one at that. It’s fine,’ Kara protested, her nose wrinkling with annoyance, the freckles on her cheeks she usually covered with make-up standing clear and proud.
‘I like you without make-up and your hair like that. It reminds me of how you looked when we first met.’ He hadn’t meant to go out onto the rugby field that day, but seeing her brilliantly dodge endless tackles through intelligent and courageous play the length of the pitch, only to be thwarted at the try line, he had roared in frustration, and then, seeing her inert on the ground, her face buried in the earth, her limbs sprawled, he had raced onto the pitch, the need to get to her, to protect her all-consuming. And to this day that need to protect her was still there. A need that had solidified after Michael’s death. Seeing her despair, her loneliness as her family fell apart, he had vowed to protect her, to always support her.
Michael’s funeral had been a nightmare. Kara’s parents, who were both deeply private individuals, had resented the media attention Edwin’s presence had attracted and, already wracked with guilt over whether he could have done more to help his friend, he had listened to Kara say quietly and with a heartbreaking dignity in her eulogy that she had lost her first ever best friend, her inspiration, and he had silently pledged he would always be there for the little sister Michael had adored.
At times, he had struggled. Her pain had mirrored his own grief—not only for the loss of his best friend, but also from losing his mother and the unearthed memories and feelings he wanted to keep buried. But as they had got to know each other over the years their relationship had moved to one of firm friendship, and Kara, with her straight talking and dry sense of humour, gave him balance and perspective and a sense of normality he could so easily lose in a life where people were always way too eager to please him.
