Page 44 of Cinderella's Secret Baby

“What?” His gaze sharpened and his expression stiffened at whatever he read in her eyes.

“Nothing.” She looked away, hiding the melancholy she felt on his behalf. “I’m just wondering if I’m comfort or convenience?”

He snorted and picked up her hand to kiss her knuckle. “You’re the luxury touch that makes one place more appealing than another.”

“Ooh. Nice recovery,” she teased.

They arrived at the penthouse then and kicked off a busy schedule of Hunter disappearing for meetings and other work commitments while Amelia planned dinner parties and attended engagements with him most nights.

When she had a moment, she conducted a discreet search online to see if Remy and Eden were in town. They seemed to be in France, and Amelia wasn’t sure if she was relieved by that or not. Hunter was still being circumspect about that strange twist, but when Amelia looked at photos of Eden, the other woman looked so beautiful and put together, Amelia felt inadequate all over again.

She was getting better at this role of society wife, though. She enjoyed hosting a dinner for some of Hunter’s executives and meeting their spouses. Thanks to her father, she was enough of a basketball fan that, when she and Hunter were invited to watch a game from the private box of a famous rap star, she had a great time.

Still pondering whether to make Toronto their home, she arranged a brunch for a handful of her old friends. She had lost touch with many of them in the last couple of years. They had finished school and started their careers while she had stayed home with her new baby and concentrated on finding Jasper.

It was fun to catch up, but she felt...different. Not better or worse than any of them. She was picking up the bill with a credit card her husband had given her and she didn’t have a job of her own, so their opinion of her could have gone either way, but she knew she wasn’t the person they had known a year ago. Jasper had changed her. Peyton had.Hunterhad.

She had been raised to be independent, yet she relied on him. He could have made her feel small or resentful of that, especially after the way she had ruined his life plan with Eden, but he empowered her with decisions like where they would live. He made an effort to do his share with Peyton, saying, “I’ll bathe her,” leaving her to finish her book.

And sometimes, he did ridiculous things to spoil her, like when he took her to a charity gala aboard a restored tall ship in the harbor.

Amelia was feeling proud of her marriage and confident in her new self. She wore a sassy gold evening gown with a cutout at her cleavage. The skirt turned to fringe past her knees, showcasing her sling-back brass-colored sandals. Her hair was in a loose topknot with a few tendrils around her face, something that drew Hunter’s gaze to her diamond stud earrings right before he made an obscene bid for a pair of chandelier earrings set with a half dozen pear-shaped yellow sapphires.

“You just called them gorgeous,” he said when she nearly choked on her champagne. “They would suit that gown better than the ones you’re wearing, and it’s a good cause. You want to support them, don’t you?”

“As if I could say no when you put it like that.” The charity was a children’s hospital foundation. It was a very good cause.

“Okay, then. Buck up and accept them.”

What an absurd man. She had to laugh as she leaned into him, giddy. It wasn’t the earrings. It was the way he looked at her with amused affection while making his illogical argument, as though he knew how to tickle her funny bone and was smug that he’d found it.

In that moment, she loved him so much, the declaration lifted like helium in her chest, expanding in her throat. The words formed against her tingling lips.

“I lo—”

“Amelia?” a male voice interrupted.

She drew back and turned with a polite smile that faltered as her new life collided with an old one she had escaped via a painful wormhole.

“Gareth. It’s nice to see you.” Not. She could have lived her whole life without ever seeing this particular man’s smarmy face again. He was handsome, no doubt about it. A regular Viking god with blond hair and golden stubble and a shiny tailored suit.

Most of the men had removed their jackets because the heat of the day lingered, even here on the water after the sun had gone down. Gareth still wore his double-breasted jacket buttoned closed, and Amelia knew why. His shoulders were padded and the cut gave him the wedge shape that he coveted, but didn’t naturally possess. Gareth was all about how things looked, his female companions being of particular importance to his controlling eye.

“This is my husband, Hunter Waverly,” Amelia said. “Gareth was a TA at my university.”

“Professor now,” Gareth said as he shook Hunter’s hand. “Philosophy and English Lit.”

“Ah. Good evening,” Hunter said in a circumspect tone that Amelia had learned to read. His instincts were far better than hers. He already saw Gareth for what he was. She had been far too easily impressed by Gareth’s superficial gleam.

She smiled at the woman by Gareth’s side, expecting him to introduce her.

Gareth continued holding Hunter’s cool stare. “It sounds like a quick trip to the altar. I’ve seen the news.” He shifted his razor-sharp gaze to Amelia. “And you have a baby? How did that happen?” He made it sound like friendly teasing, but Amelia was still sensitive to that honed edge in his “jokes.” How had Hunter pried open her legs, Gareth was asking.

She stifled a flinch of old scorn.

At the same time, she saw the young woman’s smile fading into insecurity at being overlooked. Amelia sawherself. The other woman was twenty if she was a day, exactly the age Amelia had been when Gareth had impressed her with parties like this. He didn’t have money, but he leaned on calculated social connections for invitations to things like this. He loved to seem wealthier and more popular than he really was. All of it was designed to elevate his ego and make others feel worthless.

“I’m Amelia.” She thrust out her hand at the woman. “How are you enjoying the evening?”

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