Page 26 of Cinderella's Christmas Secret 1
‘But you’re not now?’
‘No, I’m not. There’s no point. If life gives you lemons, you just have to make lemonade.’
Maximo took the slice she offered him, breaking off a fragment and putting it in his mouth so that it melted in a sugary rush against his tongue. He thought about the days which had led up to this moment, and the days which would follow. His mind began to compose an agenda, just like when he took on a new business deal and had to deal with facts methodically. Whatever happened he would support his child financially—in a way in which his own father had never supported him.
Justfinancially?
He stared across the table at Hollie, who was studiously picking frosting off her own piece of cake, though not actually eating any. And suddenly he realised that, despite all her outward simplicity, the package she presented was way more complex than he’d first imagined.
He had been the first man to have had sex with her. The only man. That shouldn’t have meant anything but the truth was, it did. It made a primitive satisfaction pulse through his body. And although that realisation should have unsettled him, somehow it didn’t because it had shone a light onto something else he’d only just realised.
Going forward, he didn’twanther sleeping with other men. Just as he didn’t want his child calling another man Papi. Maybe his attitude could be described as possession but could also be described as pragmatism. Because if the lack of a father had cast dark clouds over his life, hadn’t she experienced something similar? And if that were the case, then wasn’t it comparatively easy for them to do something about it, to spare their own child a similar kind of heartache?
‘Marry me, Hollie.’
She looked up from her crumbled cake, her expression one of shock then confusion, as if she hadn’t heard him properly. She knitted her brows together. ‘What did you say?’
‘I said, marry me, Hollie.’
‘Is that an...order?’
‘Does my method of asking offend you? Do you want me to pretend?’ he demanded huskily. ‘To go down on one knee with a ring-pull from a cola can and tell you I’ll buy you a thirty-carat diamond ring when we hit the shops?’
‘No, Maximo, I don’t want you to pretend anything. I want you to tell me why you’ve suddenly come out with this extraordinary proposal.’
There was a pause. She’d told him she didn’t want him to pretend, so he wouldn’t. ‘Because I think it’s the only sensible solution to our dilemma.’
‘Dilemma?Is that what you call it?’
‘Don’t try to gilt-edge a situation which neither of us ever intended to happen,’ he said roughly. ‘But instead, let’s try to make the best of what we have. To make the lemonade, as you said. I don’t want this child to grow up thinking his father didn’t want him.’
‘But you don’t, do you?’ she questioned baldly. ‘Want him. Or her, for that matter.’
He shook his head. ‘Now that the shock has worn off, I find that I do.’
‘But that isn’t enough to justify marriage, Maximo.’
‘No lo es—I agree. And if it were someone else, I suspect I would not be having this conversation. But I find you easy company, Hollie, and that is rare—for my past relationships with women have not been easy. And believe me, our sexual chemistry is even more rare.’
‘But...marriage,’ she said. ‘Isn’t that a rather extreme solution?’
Her continued opposition rather than the instant capitulation he’d been anticipating only spurred Maximo on—because never did he feel quite so alive as when he was having to fight for something. ‘I don’t think I’ll have a problem living with you. Plus my work takes me away a lot, which would give us both space. You will never have to worry about money. Ever. And that will still apply even if you find the situation intolerable and ask me for a divorce.’
He looked at her, his eyes cool and expectant, and Hollie felt the lurch of something she couldn’t quite define. Or maybe she just didn’t dare to. Because surely she should be feeling offended by his rather brutal words. Surely she shouldn’t be excited about the thought of getting wed to a man who was clearly offering marriage out of some archaic form ofduty? But she was. She couldn’t help herself. She might try to talk herself out of her feelings by applying logic, but they were still her feelings.
The truth was that she found him easy company, too. And while she had no experience of sexual chemistry, she didn’t imagine it was possible for that side of their relationship to get any better.
But the main thing to consider was her baby.
Their baby.
She touched her fingers to her belly and felt a little spark of hope flickering inside her. Didn’t she owe it to this innocent life inside her to offer their child the best possible start in life? To not have to worry about spiralling childcare costs, or the fact that her baby had no contact with a single other blood relative than her. Hadn’t she grown up that way and found it lonely and miserable? And Maximo had experienced that too—he’d effectively admitted it to her earlier.
Yet she didn’t have a clue about what passed for normal behaviour in the world of this privileged billionaire. For all she knew, he might want what she believed was called an ‘open’ marriage and some instinct deep in her gut told her she would find that intolerable.
‘What about fidelity?’ she blurted out. ‘Are you intending to be faithful to me?’
‘I am and I will,’ he said, his voice suddenly growing harsh. ‘But I will also be truthful, Hollie. And if ever I meet a woman I desire more than you, then I will tell you so immediately and we will dissolve our marriage.’
