Page 21 of Cinderella's Secret Baby

It also gave her a little more confidence when she went downstairs to meet the exquisitely put-together Carina and the even more chic Unity, Vienna’s stylist.

Unity took Amelia’s measurements and finger-combed her hair and held a few fabric swatches against her skin, then promised, “I’ll pull some things together and come back in the morning.” Unity departed, and Amelia went to the lounge.

Carina looked up from her tablet and smiled.

“Baby still sleeping?”

Amelia nodded and set the monitor on the end table as she curled into the corner of the sofa across from Carina.

“Where’s Hunter?” Was she doing this alone? Amelia looked around.

“He promised me coffee, but the service in this place is terrible. Oh, you didn’t hear that.” Carina bit her lips in pretended chagrin as Hunter appeared from the kitchen.

“Tip better,” he suggested, setting a mug on the coffee table before seating himself next to Amelia.

Amelia looked at her nonexistent manicure and wished the sofa cushions would swallow her. The banter wasn’t flirty. It was more like the comfortable trashing between longtime colleagues, but it still seemed to exclude her.

“Okay, so...” Carina tapped her screen. “Hunter brought me up to speed on the fact that you’re considering marriage.”

Amelia glared at him. “I didn’t agree to that.”

“I said we’re talking about it,” he said mildly. “We are.”

“Youare,” she muttered.

“Obviously, we’ll wait for the paternity results before making any announcements of that sort,” Carina said in a soothing tone. “In the short term, we don’t want anyone painting you as a home-wrecker. We’ll circle back to talking about your family, but first I need all your best qualities, volunteer work, any friends in high places who might be willing to offer a quote? This is not a time to be modest. Gossip rags will approach your neighbors and anyone else they can find who might talk about you.”

Amelia swallowed a thick lump of revulsion. Something touched her elbow and she snapped her head around as Hunter slid his fingertips down her bare arm, pulling goose bumps onto her skin before he captured her hand in his warm grip.

“It’s okay. That’s why we’re doing this. To counter that sort of thing.”

It was still awful, but she closed her hand around his. Clinging to his solidness made it a little easier to dredge up a few people who would say nice things about her. She made sure to mention that she tutored refugees online through a nonprofit organization, volunteering to help with their English as part of building her teaching résumé.

When Carina moved on to asking about past lovers, Amelia pulled her hand from Hunter’s and tangled her fingers together in her lap.

“There’s not much to tell. I dated in high school, but I had an overprotective brother so...” She shrugged wryly.

“I have one of those myself,” Carina said with amused empathy.

Amelia experienced a stab of envy because Carina still had hers.

“What about university? Anyone serious there?” Carina asked.

“Just one. Gareth Bedford. He was a TA on another course and, um, cheated on me so I don’t think he’ll come out and say rotten things about me.” She defensively slouched deeper into the corner of the sofa.

“You’d be surprised what people will say for their fifteen minutes of fame. When exactly did it end? Because speculation could emerge around Peyton’s paternity. These sorts of things can linger. We want to be very clear there’s no doubt.”

Amelia snorted. “I’d like to see him try claiming he was her father when we never even had sex. If anything, he’ll continue complaining about what a frigid prude I was.”

“Oof. I’m sorry he was a jackass. I’ve met a few of those as well.” She tapped her screen briefly. “Anyone else? Casual dates?”

“Like, coffee? What are they going to say about me? We traded notes from classes?” She shrugged. It had all been friendly, but benign.

“I’m not prying out of salacious interest, Amelia. This works best when we know who and what might come out to bite us.”

“Us,” Amelia repeated with a sniff of disdain.

“You,” Carina acknowledged, taking on a kinder tone. “I’m only saying that this works best if you tell me about any intimate partners of any gender who might be brought to light and used against you. Forewarned is forearmed.”

---