Page 20 of One Night with Cinderella

The sudden flash of cameras and raised voices caused her to turn her head. She froze and leaned back from the crowd advancing to surround the porch.

“There she is!”

“That’s her!”

Monica’s eyes widened in shock at the people pointing cameras up at her from the street. “What?” she asked, feeling her heart pound.

“Are you Monica Darby?” one of them yelled to her.

She climbed back up a step.

“How do you feel about the death of your father that you never knew?”

“Do you hate Brock Maynard?”

The bags dropped from her trembling hands.

“Why weren’t you invited to the funeral?”

Their barrage of questions was rapid and overlapping. The flash of cameras and the steady beam of lights from the video cameras were shocking intrusions into her life.

“Were you mentioned in the will?”

“If you’re not in the will, do you have plans to sue?”

“Move! Excuse me. Out of the way!” a male voice roared. Gabe pushed through the throng of paparazzi on the street with ease, holding his suitcase with one hand. She then noticed the family’s SUV pulling off down the street.

He opened the wrought-iron gate to race up the stairs to her. She felt sweet relief when he slid his arm around her waist and turned her to guide her back up the stairs.

“How does it feel to go from being a maid to the daughter of an A-lister?”

Gabe ushered her into the vestibule, closed the door and set down his luggage.

“What is all that about?” Gabe asked as they entered the house. “What are they saying about your father? What’s going on?”

Remembering her NDA, Monica pressed her lips closed and shrugged as she shook her head. Lines of annoyance filled his handsome face as he moved back to the door to look out the tinted glass panes at the photographers still there. She allowed herself a moment to take him in. To enjoy being near him for what was the last time. He looked so handsome in his denims and a crisp blue shirt that made his eyes all the more brilliant in his tanned shortbread complexion.

“I resigned from my position here last week and gave two weeks’ notice,” she began.

He turned his head to eye her. Confusion filled his face even as she gave him a brisk nod.

“But I think I should leave today,” she said, enjoying the subtle hint of his warm and spicy cologne. Fireworks seemed to shoot off in her belly.

“Today?” he said, his voice deep.

She nodded. Her nondisclosure agreement kept her from explaining even more. It was the price of her inheritance.

“Is it because of what happened between us?”

“No.”

“Do you have a better position?”

“No.”

They shared a long look before he extended his hand. “I guess this is goodbye,” he said.

Monica slipped her hand into his. “I guess so,” she agreed, silently taking note how his large hand easily engulfed her own.

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