Page 39 of Cinderella's Christmas Secret

‘But it’s right next to that beautiful park.’

‘Sí, it is, but I got the distinct feeling that you’re not much of a city girl, which was one of the reasons you left London, wasn’t it?’

She shrugged. ‘I guess.’

‘When I took you there, I felt as if I had plucked a wildflower from a country meadow and transplanted it into a hothouse. Which is why I’m planning to fit into your world from now on.’

Her brow creased into a frown. ‘Now who’s talking in riddles?’

‘There’s something else you need to know,’ he said suddenly. ‘Something I should have told you a whole lot sooner. I was never planning to turn the castle into a luxury hotel. That was just an assumption local people made and I didn’t bother to correct them. I had planned to demolish it and turn it into a quarry—to use the valuable stone it was built on to build a railway track.’

‘You...you were planning to destroy hundreds of years of history just to build a railway?’

‘Don’t knock railways, Hollie, because we need them—now more than ever.’

‘Why didn’t you say something before? Why didn’t you tell anyone?’

‘Because I knew if that fact got out, it would drive up the purchase price.’

She punched a half-hearted fist against his chest. ‘That is the most hard-hearted thing I’ve—’

‘I’m a businessman, Hollie,’ he interrupted gently. ‘And that’s what businessmen do. I’d planned to stay there over Christmas because I knew it would provide the solitude I was seeking, and then to sell it in the new year. I wasn’t expecting to meet a woman in this one-horse town, and have my life turned upside down by her. You were the reason I couldn’t go through with the sale, not when I saw how much the place meant to you. I realised I couldn’t take a wrecking ball to the heart of this little community in order to steamroller another money-making scheme.’

‘Oh, Maximo,’ she said, lifting her left hand to her heart, making him notice she wasn’t wearing her engagement ring.

‘I have been thinking that we could keep the castle and turn it into our family home, if that’s what you wanted. Or maybe turn it into a hotel and buy a big house and garden for our family instead, if that’s what you’d prefer. I was waiting for the perfect moment to tell you, only perfect moments have a habit of being elusive. But those things could only happen...’ His words tailed off and somehow he was finding it impossible to keep the sudden break from his voice. ‘They could only happen if you still wanted me. If you still wanted to be my wife.’

Hollie put her arms around his neck and pressed her face very close to his as a powerful shaft of joy and gratitude shot through her. ‘Of course I still want to be your wife. Because I love you,’ she whispered. ‘I love you in a way I never thought possible, but I never believed you might feel the same way about me.’

‘Believe it now.’

‘I do.’ She looked into his black eyes and saw a look of true understanding, but she knew there was more to tell him. ‘When I thought you’d lied to me, I took the coward’s way out. I was trying to protect myself against hurt and pain. That’s why I sent you that text instead of waiting until you got here and talking it out with you, face to face.’

‘Querida—’

‘No, let me finish.’ That was easier said than done when tears were starting to stream down her cheeks—big and wet and salty and dripping on her sweater. ‘But the worst hurt and pain I’ve ever experienced was imaging a life without you...’ Once again her words tailed off and it took a couple of moments before she could catch her breath to speak. To articulate the emotion which Maximo had never been shown as a child and convince him that she meant every single word. They had both been damaged in the past, yes, but love was the true healer. Some might say the only healer. ‘I love you with all my heart, Maximo Diaz,’

she whispered. ‘And I’ll never stop loving you. Believe me when I tell you that, my darling.’

His slow smile was like the sun coming out and the glint in his eyes warmed Hollie’s heart. And when he caught hold of her she felt as if she’d been reborn. As if he were breathing new life in her, to join the life which grew beneath her heart. Blindly, her lips sought his and as they kissed, the salt water of their mingled tears slowly began to dry.

EPILOGUE

‘SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE...’

The poignant last notes of the carol seemed to hover on the still night air as, fortified by a pitcher of mulled wine and a platter of home-made mince pies, the group of singers began to make their way down the hill towards the town. Hollie glanced up at the sky as several large, feathery icicles drifted against her cheek. The bright moon of last night was obscured by cloud as the first fat flakes of snow started falling. There should be a thick covering tomorrow, she thought with a glow of satisfaction, as she closed the door of her castle home.

In the wood-panelled hallway stood a tall fir tree, decked with plain white lights and tartan ribbons and topped with an organza-robed angel. There was another tree in the library, where tomorrow they would eat a late lunch, illuminated by as many candles as she could lay her hands on, as had now become a yearly festive tradition. Mistletoe dangled in the hallway and there were bunches of holly and fragrant green garlands strewn everywhere. In the kitchen, a large pot of Cantabrian mountain stew was quietly bubbling away—also a tradition. It was Christmas Eve and it was perfect.

‘Will Father Christmas come tonight, Papi?’ asked a little voice from behind her and Hollie turned around to see her sleepy son nestled snugly in his father’s arms.

‘Sí, he will come to visit every child in the world tonight,’ murmured Maximo, meeting her gaze over Mateo’s tousled black head. The smile he slanted her was full of promise and Hollie felt a delicious shiver of anticipation. ‘But only when you’re asleep. So I’m going to take you up to bed right now, which means morning will come faster.’

‘Oh!’

‘Would you like Mamá to come, as well?’

‘Yes, please.’

---