Cinderella's Christmas Secret - Sharon Kendrick Page 0,53

cream cashmere coat which must have been achingly expensive.

She would need to go back to her trusty skirts and blouses tomorrow morning when she started back at work. Her mind flitted over different possibilities as she wondered how she was going to explain what had happened to Janette. Was she going to give her boss the whole story, chapter and verse, and tell her she was engaged and pregnant in a single sentence?

Her boss was so...probing. She would almost certainly pry and ask Hollie what it was like being engaged to someone as charismatic as Maximo Diaz. She might even ask her details about how it had happened.

And Hollie would say—what?

That it had been a one-night stand with far-reaching ramifications, hence the Spanish tycoon’s shock proposal of marriage? She certainly wasn’t going to hint at her growing insecurities about her place in Maximo’s life or confess that he seemed to be pushing her away from him. Hollie bit her lip. He’d made it clear he didn’t want deep, or mushy, or lovey-dovey from their relationship—yet despite knowing those things, it made little difference to the way she felt about him. She still felt dizzy with longing whenever she thought about him.

Perhaps it was the thought of how it had been before which kept her snared—all those evocative memories of a snowed-in Christmas, which had led her to believe in all kinds of possibilities. The way he’d taken her into his confidence and the way he made her feel when she was in his arms... Perhaps it was her lack of experience of sex which made her ultra-susceptible to its influence. Because sometimes, when she was lying close to him, with the powerful beat of his powerful heart slowing in perfect time with her own, Hollie would feel something close to...

Love?

She swallowed. Was it possible to love someone even if you knew that was the last thing they wanted from you?

Was it?

Yes, of course it was possible. People had been falling in love indiscriminately since the beginning of time. And, despite all her mixed-up feelings, Hollie’s heart still lifted with joy when she answered Maximo’s text asking whether she’d settled in and saying he’d call her later. His brief message made her think. It made her look at the situation from a different viewpoint. Back in Madrid she had convinced herself she was missing her simple life in Trescombe, but the irony was that she was missing Maximo a lot more. Didn’t she ache for him with a fierce longing which was almost visceral? And if that was the case, then surely fitting into her new world in Spain wasn’t only preferable, but achievable. All she had to do was to give it a decent chance, and that meant giving it time. Couldn’t she choose her moment to suggest that he didn’t have to work quite so hard—and couldn’t they get back the kind of closeness they’d had before?

Feeling suddenly light-hearted, she made herself a sandwich and sat down at the table munching it as she looked around. Her little pine tree was wilting and had deposited most of its needles onto the rug, and two of the baubles had fallen to the floor. Christmas really was over and she was going to have to think about taking all these decorations down before Twelfth Night.

She was just about to leave for work next morning, when she heard her phone vibrate and she slid it out of her handbag to look at it.

It was a number she didn’t recognise. An international number—Spanish, she thought. And when she clicked on the call she discovered it was Cristina, the woman she’d met at Javier’s party. The woman with the potential to be a new friend. The blonde in the green dress.

‘Hi,’ said Hollie, a smile entering her voice. ‘How lovely to hear from you! How are you?’

‘I’m...well. You have returned to England, I think?’

‘That’s right. I’m just about to go to work. I’m flying back at the beginning of February.’

Cristina’s accented voice dipped by a fraction. ‘And Maximo. Is he there with you?’

‘No, I’m afraid he’s not. He’s coming over at the weekend.’

‘I see.’ There was a pause. ‘I understand you’re pregnant, Hollie? I really should have congratulated you at the party.’

‘Yes, I am.’ Hollie felt her heart give a little kick. ‘I’m twelve weeks along. The scan is on Wednesday.’

There was another pause but this time, Cristina’s voice sounded different. It quivered with the air of somebody who knew something. More specifically, who