Page 23 of Cinderella's Secret Baby

“Oh, good luck,” Amelia huffed. She’d never gotten higher than a letter from the operations manager for South America advising her that they considered the matter closed.

She expected Hunter to leave a message with a recording or, at best, some low-level receptionist. He had it on speaker and set it on the coffee table.

“Hunter!” The male voice boomed into the living room. “I’m not taking work calls, but if you’re on your honeymoon and want to meet up, we’re anchored off Mykonos.”

“I’m calling about Jasper Lindor, Orlin. You may have seen correspondence from his sister, Amelia?”

A pause, then, “Oh. Her. I’m familiar with the name, yes. Is she becoming a pain in your ass, too?”

“She’s the mother of my child,” Hunter said flatly. “Our marriage will bring her brother’s disappearance back into the spotlight. You’ll want better answers ready than the ones your people have been giving her.”

There was dumbfounded silence, then a curse and a resigned, “I’ll see what I can find out.”

“Do,” Hunter commanded. He ended the call without saying goodbye.

One call. Amelia had made thousands and had written a million emails and gotten absolutely nowhere. Hunter had made one call and got the man on vacation and got him topromisesomething.

Fresh tears welled in her eyes. Such a pressure grew in her chest, she couldn’t speak. She didn’t know if she was touched or outraged or hopeful or all of the above. Hopeful. Definitely hopeful. Her lips began to quiver. Her breath shook.

Hunter said to Carina, “Go check in with the team, see what you can get done with what you have so far.”

“Sure thing.” Carina flashed her a look as she quickly gathered her things and slipped away.

Amelia grabbed the tissue box like it was a lifeline and pulled some out. She jammed them against her running nose and brimming eyes.

“That’s not a quid pro quo,” Hunter said quietly. “I said we’re marrying because it will light the largest fire under him.”

“You’d think a man’s life would do that, but...” She used the heels of her palms to hold the balled tissues against her wet eyes.

She didn’t even care if Hunter had said it to blackmail her or make her feel beholden to him. Shewasbeholden. She would marry him a dozen times over if it would give her the tiniest inkling of a clue as to what had happened to Jasper.

Apparently, he was right. Money could solve certain problems.

“Why—?” He cut himself off.

She blew her nose and dropped the tissues onto the table.

Hunter was looking toward the window, profile twisting with self-deprecation.

“What?” she prompted.

“Why didn’t you tell me it was your first time?” His brows were bunched into a perplexed angle. When his gaze came back, it was filled with apprehensive concern, “Did I hurt you?”

“Not too much.”

He winced. “You should have said.”

“I thought you’d think I was a weirdo, never having done it. I was twenty-three,” she reminded him, and waved toward the elevator. “Did you see Carina’s face? She thinks I’m a total weirdo.”

“There’s nothing weird about being a virgin. You haven’t had sex and then you have. It’s weirder that we make such a big deal of it. On the other hand...” He studied her. “If someone is holding off, there’s usually a reason. Which makes me wonder, why that night? Why me?”

Her heart turned over in her chest. She buckled defensively over her folded arms, rocking slightly.

“This is a day when every single detail of my life has to be torn open and examined, isn’t it? Do you want to hear about the day my period started and Jasper had to buy me supplies? Spoiler alert, he also bought a cake mix. It fell after he baked it and iced it too soon. It was literally the ugliest cake ever made, but I ate so much of it I still can’t stand lemon-flavored desserts.”

Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes down her temples. She clenched them shut.

“You don’t have to talk about this, Amelia. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

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