by Cat Schield
“How is that possible? You’re on a humanitarian mission.”
“Technically I’m on a work visa.”
“I still don’t see the problem. You’re still my research assistant. Gainfully employed. What changed?”
“Remember how I told you that in college I attended several protests.”
“I remember.”
“Well, what I didn’t tell you is that I was arrested a few times.“
“Were you convicted?”
“No, but I was afraid that if I put it down on my application I would be denied.”
“So you left it out?”
She bit her lip and nodded, feeling juvenile and ashamed for having lied in the first place. But she would have done almost anything to come to the US and help her best friend. Now that one serious lapse in judgment was coming back to bite her in the rear. “I screwed up. I thought that because the charges were dropped, and it was a peaceful political protest, it wouldn’t matter anyway. I was wrong.”
“There has to be something we can do,” he said, pacing the oriental rug, brow deeply furrowed. “Maybe I could talk to someone. Pull some strings.”
“The decision is final.”
His chin tilted upward. “I can’t accept that.”
She rose from the sofa, touching his arm, stopping him in his tracks. “You don’t have a choice. It’s done.”
He muttered a curse, one he wouldn’t normally use in the presence of a female, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. She rested her head against his chest, breathed in the scent of his aftershave. It wasn’t often that they embraced this way, and she found herself dreading the moment he let go.
The stubble on his chin brushed her forehead as he spoke. “There has to be something we can do.”
There was one thing, but it was too much to ask. Even of him. Especially of him. “At this point all I can do is accept it. And move on.”
He held her at arm’s length, and she could see the wheels in his head spinning. But this was one situation all his money and influence couldn’t fix. “Where will you go?”
“South Africa for a while, until I can find another research assistant position. Maybe in Europe, or even Asia.”
“I’ll do whatever I can to help. I’ll write such a glowing recommendation people will be clamoring to hire you.”
The problem was, she didn’t want to work for anyone else. She used to love moving from place to place, meeting new people and learning new cultures and customs. Now the only place she could imagine living was right here in Royal. It was the first place in her travels that had genuinely felt like home. The first place in her life really.
There had to be something she could do.
Copyright © 2015 by Harlequin Books S.A.
ISBN-13: 9781460378373
Royal Heirs Required
Copyright © 2015 by Catherine Schield
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