Page 27 of Cinderella's Christmas Secret 1
It wasn’t the answer she’d wanted, but she guessed it would have to do. Because although once again his words were brutal, at least they were true. She thought of the story he had told her and the bitter sadness she had seen in his eyes as he’d recounted it. Maximo had his vulnerabilities too, she realised, just like her. Couldn’t they be there for each other—to reach out to each other in times of need—united against a sometimes cruel world?
So Hollie nodded as a sudden sense of calm filled her and the smile she gave him came straight from the heart. ‘Then I will,’ she said softly. ‘I will marry you, Maximo.’
CHAPTER NINE
THETHAWSETin and it was as if the snow had never existed. As if it had all been nothing but a dream. As if Christmas Day and the four days which followed had never actually happened.
Except that they had. At the end of that delicious and sensual sojourn in the ancient castle Kastelloes, Maximo Diaz had asked Hollie Walker to marry him. And her future had changed in an instant. Her image of herself as a plucky but sometimes lonely single mother had crumbled away and instead she was having to get her head around the fact that soon she was going to be the wife of the sexy Spanish tycoon.
Maximo was still sleeping as she slipped silently from the bed, wrapping herself in velvet—green today—before staring out of the window. Water was dripping from branches, from bushes—drip-drip-drip. The dark turrets of the castle were no longer topped by a crown of white and nor did the bushes look like giant white stones. The magic had gone, she realised, a sudden whisper of apprehension prickling over her as she studied Maximo’s tousled black head lying against the pillow and all her suppressed fears were suddenly given life.
Would he wake up and regret the resolution they’d come to at the end of Christmas Day, when—possibly affected by the emotional aftermath of the things he’d told her—he had asked her to be his wife? Perhaps it would be better if she gave him the opportunity to retract words he might have delivered too hastily, and she wondered if she could manage to do it in a way which meant that neither of them would lose face.
His lashes fluttered open—so dark against the silken olive of his skin—and mentally Hollie steeled herself against his beauty as he surveyed her through a shuttered gaze.
‘The snow has melted,’ she said baldly.
‘That’s good.’
‘Good?’
‘Sure. Unless you were planning to build a snowman. Don’t you need a change of underwear, and don’t we need to get to London? If the roads are clear, it means we can go.’
‘London?’ She looked at him blankly. ‘You never said anything about London.’
‘My jet is in an airfield on the outskirts of the city, Hollie.’ His voice was soft but his words resolute. ‘And I’m due back in Madrid for a New Year’s party I’ve promised to attend under pain of death if I don’t. As my future wife you’ll be coming with me and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t move in straight away.’
She hadn’t considered living in Madrid either. How stupid was that? ‘But I thought...’
‘What?’ he prompted softly, throwing back the pile of velvet throws to rise from the bed like a magnificent dark and golden statue brought to life, before walking towards her. ‘What did you think?’
‘That I’d...’ It was difficult to think of anything when he was standing so close and so naked. ‘Well, I’ll have to work out my notice for Janette.’
‘Seriously?’
She nodded. ‘Of course.’
He shrugged, his eyes shards of glittering jet. ‘Even though I could easily arrange for one of my staff to take your place?’
His suggestion made her feel dispensable. As if her job and her old life were of no consequence. And even though itwasa simple office job which anyone could probably do, and even though Hollie had often found Janette difficult, she had no intention of disappearing in a puff of smoke simply because a rich man was snapping his fingers. If she fell in with his autocratic wishes so readily, it wouldn’t bode well for the rest of their lives, would it?
‘I’m afraid I can’t do that, Maximo,’ she said. ‘I can’t possibly break my contract. I don’t want to sneak away from Trescombe under a black cloud.’
His face darkened, as if her determination surprised and slightly irked him. ‘I am loath to be apart from you, Hollie—perhaps I’ve become a little too used to having you in my bed,’ he murmured. ‘But obviously we can work round it. We’ll just have to jet between the two places until you’re free to move, if that’s what you want.’
Of course it wasn’t what shewanted. In a way, she was terrified of being apart from him. Terrified that their affair and his subsequent proposal would get diluted by distance and prove as insubstantial as the Christmas snow itself. If she worked out her notice there was the very real possibility that Maximo would change his mind and Hollie didn’t want him to change his mind.
She wanted this. Him. The whole package.
She wanted to be his wife. She wanted him to be a father to their baby.
But if Maximo was going to get cold feet, then surely it was better if they discovered it now rather than later.
‘The month will soon pass,’ she said, with a certainty she didn’t feel.
‘You think so?’ He sighed. ‘Then I guess I must be patient—which is not an attribute I’ve ever been particularly known for. I suppose I must admire your loyalty to your employer, Hollie—but that’s all we’re going to say on the subject, because I’m taking you back to bed.’
Hollie was still glowing when Maximo’s limousine made its way up the hill towards the castle, and she began to get an idea how smoothly the world worked when it was powered by wealth. Decisions which might have taken weeks to evolve were enacted almost before you’d finished making them. Life became seamless and also a little bit scary as she was driven to her cottage and instructed to pack only the things she couldn’t bear to be without.
