Cinderella's Christmas Secret - Sharon Kendrick Page 0,31

still surprised her and maybe if he hadn’t been so forthcoming she might have brushed over her own background, because it wasn’t much to write home about, was it? Even so, it was more than a little distracting to have him sitting so close, making her acutely aware of all the latent power in his muscular body and the devilish gleam of his ebony eyes.

‘I was the only child of a single mother, too,’ she began and saw a muscle begin working at his temple, as if he thought she was grasping for things they had in common and was irritated by it. Instantly, she sought to emphasise the differences between them. ‘We weren’t exactly poor, but we weren’t exactly rich either. My father...’

‘What about your father?’ he probed.

She shrugged. ‘Well, to be honest, I never knew him very well. He was a bit of a womaniser, I guess. Good-looking. Easy company. One of those men who want to have their cake and eat it. He was a sales manager and so travelled around the area a lot. He had several different lovers, although only one child, as far as I know. He’d tell my mother he loved her and he’d move in with us for a bit and then...’ She shrugged. ‘I don’t know if having a baby cramped his style, or whether he found it stultifying that the whole household always seemed to revolve around him. But the more my mother ran round after him, the more he seemed to despise her. So they’d have a big row and he’d move out and then the whole cycle would start again.’

‘That must have been tough on you,’ he observed slowly.

‘Not really.’ Hollie slipped into her best every-cloud-has-a-silver-lining attitude. ‘It’s true that Mum used to go to pieces every time, but it’s how I taught myself how to cook, and...’

‘Go on,’ he said, the faintest of smiles touching the edges of his mouth.

She picked up the story again, thinking that nobody ever really asked her stuff like this. ‘One day my father just stopped contacting her and we never found out what happened to him. Like you said, things were different in those days and there was no social media to be able to track someone down. My mum never really got over it and after she died, I sold her little house and went to catering college. Long story short, I made a friend there and used the rest of my savings to go into business with her—we opened a tea shop in London.’

‘But? I sense there’s a but coming.’

He was insightful, she thought—or maybe such a successful businessman was always going to have an instinct for a duff business venture. ‘My partner borrowed a whole load of money on the business and couldn’t pay it back.’

‘That’s theft,’ he observed acidly.

‘She meant to pay it back,’ she defended. ‘But that was never going to happen and I couldn’t bear to waste any more time, or make any more bad memories by chasing her through the small courts. Anyway, we’d chosen a hopeless location. It was more a hip coffee shop sort of area and not really suited to a venue which was serving dinky plates of scones, with cream and jam. It’s why I came to Devon, which is that kind of place. It’s why, no matter what happens, I’m glad you came here too, Maximo.’

He looked startled. ‘You are?’

‘Yes, I am. Not because of the baby, because I know that’s bad news for you.’ She ignored the pained expression on his face but resolutely carried on. ‘It wasn’t meant to happen, but it did—and I will do everything to make sure our child has the best possible life I can give them. And I’ve lived with a man who didn’t want to be a father, which is why I can cope with the fact you don’t want to be involved. It’s better that way. Better that we’re upfront about things from the beginning so everyone knows where they stand—’

‘Hollie—’

‘No, please let me finish.’ She drew a deep breath and stared straight into his fathoms-deep eyes, thinking how thick and black the lashes were. ‘What makes me glad is the fact that you’ve bought Kastelloes, because you’ll be injecting life back into this town and local community. So my business—and every other business in Trescombe—will benefit.’ He got up quickly to attend to his cooking, an uncomfortable expression crossing his face, and she wondered if she was boring him.