Page 13 of Cinderella's Christmas Secret

He shrugged. ‘You were an innocent. A virgin. Sometimes a woman’s first experience of sex can warp her judgement, particularly if it was as good as yours was. I’d warned you what kind of man I was but I wasn’t sure whether you wanted to believe it. But all that is irrelevant now.’

He realised she was looking at him and the reproach on her flushed face suggested she had been hurt by his condemnatory assessment of their night together. But he wasn’t going to tell lies in order to spare her feelings. She needed to know the truth, because surely that would limit the painful repercussions of a situation he had been so determined not to create during his own lifetime. The legacy of his upbringing was bitter enough to taint him for ever and he didn’t want to feel trapped. Not ever again.

‘I’ve never wanted marriage or children,’ he bit out. ‘And while the first is within my power to control, the second is clearly not.’

‘But I’m not asking you for anything!’ she declared furiously, her fists still clenched and looking as if she would like to use them to punch him. ‘I can manage perfectly well on my own.’

He glanced around the small room. At the hand-knitted blanket on the battered sofa. At tired-looking walls, which even the rainbow glow from the fairy lights on the Christmas tree couldn’t quite disguise. He remembered the narrow bed in the cold bedroom upstairs, where he had torn the clothes from his body with the eagerness of a boy who had never had sex before. And the speed with which he had made his escape the following morning, issuing a terse directive to his chauffeur to get him the hell out of there when the car had arrived.

And all he could think was—what had he done?

‘What, here?’ he demanded. ‘You think you can bring up this baby here, in a place like this?’

‘Of course I can! It may not be grand and I may not have a lot of spare cash, but I will manage. I don’t know how, but I will. I’m not deluding myself that it’s going to be easy, but I’m not afraid of hard work. It won’t hurt me to scrimp and save and go without—but there’s one thing my baby will never go short of, and that’s love!’

An expression of such fierce protectiveness came over her face, that Maximo found himself unexpectedly humbled by her fervour, until he reminded himself that words were cheap. ‘Very admirable,’ he drawled.

‘I’m not seeking your approval.’ Angrily, she shook her head. ‘In fact, I don’t want anything from you, Maximo Diaz. Because I don’t need you! Do you understand?’

But he shook his head, as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘I am not dishonourable enough to desert you in your time of need, just as long as your expectations don’t exceed what I am prepared to offer you,’ he bit out, withdrawing his wallet from his inside pocket and extracting a business card. He slapped the card down beside the Christmas tree with more force than he had intended, causing the flimsy baubles to jangle before striding towards the front door, barely able to contain the anger which was simmering up inside him.

He pulled open the door. ‘You can telephone my office and they will give you contact details of my lawyer, who will fine-tune all the necessary arrangements,’ he concluded icily. ‘You will have the necessary funds to employ nannies, chauffeurs, cleaners—whatever it is you think you might need to make your life easier once you have a child. But there is one thing you’re never going to get, Hollie—at least, not from me—and that’s a father for your baby.’

CHAPTER FIVE

‘HOLLIE, ARE YOU even listening to what I’m saying?’

Hollie swallowed. No, of course she wasn’t listening—not properly, anyway. She hadn’t been fully concentrating on Janette’s words, just as she hadn’t been concentrating on anything lately. Not the news, nor office views, or even the fact that it was Christmas tomorrow. The only thing which was eating up her mind was the terrible showdown she’d had with Maximo a couple of days ago, when she had told him she was expecting his baby and he had reacted with...

Anger?

Disbelief?

Yes, both those things—and more besides. He had been icy with her, and distant. He had seemed to go out of his way to push her away and to view her with coldly dispassionate eyes. Nobody would ever have guessed they’d been lovers. Although, if you didn’t even get to share a whole night with a man—did that actually count as being a lover?

That had been bad enough but worse was to follow because when she’d arrived at work the next morning, Janette had asked could she make a cake for Maximo, to celebrate his completion on the purchase of the castle. It had been the last thing on earth Hollie had felt like doing, but what excuse could she possibly use for declining?

I’m terribly sorry, Janette, but I’m pregnant with Maximo’s baby and he’s being so unreasonable that I’d be tempted to tip a dollop of arsenic into the mix.

No, she had nodded her head submissively, even though her heart had wrenched with bitterness and shame. And as she had beaten the eggs and measured out the sugar, she had been unable to flush the image of Maximo’s angry face from her mind and to wonder where they went from here. She still had the business card he’d given her, just before he’d made his arrogant assertion that she should contact his lawyers.

He had cold-bloodedly stated that his money would enable her to employ a whole stable of staff, and had ended the conversation by announcing that he had no intention of being a father to his child. Well, that suited her just fine. Did he really imagine she, or her baby, wanted anything to do with a man who hadn’t bothered to hide his dismay when she’d told him her momentous news?

But surely the most important thing right now was to hang onto her job, at a time when she had never needed work more badly. Which was why she looked up at her boss and forced a weak smile. ‘What were you saying, Janette?’ she asked.

‘I was congratulating you on your cake, Hollie, which is absolutely lovely—though I have to say that it’s not quite up to your usual standard.’

Hollie nodded. Of course it wasn’t. It was unfortunate that a huge salt tear had plopped onto the finished product at the very last minute and Hollie’s subsequent attempts at repair work only seemed to have made it worse.

‘I know it’s not that good,’ she said.

‘It can’t be helped.’ Janette’s words were brisk. ‘I’m sure he won’t notice. It’s the thought that counts, and this will make him realise that our agency is always prepared to go the extra mile—just in case he’s thinking of buying any more local property in the area. Just make sure you deliver it today, can you, dear?’

‘D-deliver it?’ Hollie could see from Janette’s expression that she hadn’t quite managed to hide the horror in her voice. ‘You mean deliver the cake? To...to Maximo?’

‘To Señor Diaz,’ Janette corrected, frosting her a severe look. ‘Since when did you start using first names with clients, Hollie? Of course, I mean you! I thought you’d be delighted to comply after the way you monopolised him at the party. And who else is going to do it?’

‘But—’

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