Cinderella's Christmas Secret (Mills & Boon Modern) Read online

  Did he read her body language? Was that why he reached out to stroke her face, his thumb whispering to her neck, where it lingered on the frantic little pulse which was beating there? Hollie shivered as he continued with his journey and it seemed to take for ever before he reached her nipple, his eyes not leaving hers as he massaged its diamond hardness, a small smile playing at the edges of his lips as it pebbled beneath his thumb. And she realised he still hadn’t answered her question.

  ‘It has to do with sensation. With feeling,’ he answered, as if he’d read her mind. ‘And this is the best feeling in the world. Wouldn’t you agree?’

  ‘Yes.’ There was a short silence while she fought and lost the battle to let the subject go. ‘But you’ve felt it before, I suppose? Probably lots of times.’

  He didn’t deny it. ‘Of course. But not for a while.’

  She wanted to ask, but Hollie told herself it was none of her business. That his answers might not be what she wanted to hear. And when she didn’t say anything—which seemed to surprise him—he moved closer. So close that at the points where their bodies connected, she could feel goosebumps icing her skin.

  ‘So why don’t we enjoy what we have? Just for tonight,’ he added softly. ‘I could send my chauffeur home and we could enjoy a little more uncomplicated pleasure. I could show you many different ways to achieve orgasm. We could explore and enjoy each other’s bodies, because yours is...’

  Hollie felt a feeling of power as his finger drifted down over her sternum, to lie possessively on the soft flesh of her belly. ‘Mine is what?’ she questioned breathlessly, as if she had conversations about the nature of desire every day of the week.

  ‘Esta magnifica. So soft, so womanly, so full,’ he husked, beginning to knead her flesh with his fingers and making her want to moan with delight. ‘I want to be inside you again. Deep inside you. As many times as I can. Do you want that, too?’

  Of course she did and she nodded eagerly. Who wouldn’t want it? But his husky question came with a coded warning. Just for tonight, he had emphasised. Which meant she mustn’t expect anything more. His words weren’t the stuff of dreams or fairy tales, but that didn’t mean she had to shoot them down in flames. At least he was being honest with her. At least he wasn’t playing games and messing with her head, which meant something to a person who had been brought up to believe that men were nothing but inveterate liars. And now he was reaching down for his discarded trousers and sliding his phone from the pocket to have a rapid conversation in Spanish, presumably with his chauffeur, laughing briefly before hanging up. What was he laughing about? she wondered. But suddenly her slight paranoia was forgotten because he was pulling another condom from his wallet and in that moment Hollie felt properly grown-up for the first time in her life.

  She was having sex! The amazing Spaniard had already given her, not one, but two orgasms—and he was planning on giving her some more! Christmas really had come early!

  She settled back against the pillows, anticipation shivering her skin as he began to stroke her, with that look of dark intent on his face which made her melt inside. And then he ruined it all, as he brushed his lips over hers.

  ‘Do you realise,’ he mused, his hand reaching comfortably for her breast, ‘that I don’t even know your name?’

  CHAPTER FOUR

  HOLLIE’S MOUTH DRIED as she waited. She was trembling. Of course, she was trembling. Who wouldn’t be in her situation?

  She closed her eyes, uttering some kind of wordless prayer, but when her lids fluttered open, her wish had not been granted. Nothing had changed. She was still staring through the window of her tiny cottage at the dark night outside and the Christmas lights in the window of the house opposite. She was still exactly the same woman she’d been seconds ago.

  She swallowed.

  Pregnant.

  Pregnant with the Spanish tycoon’s baby.

  Her heart pounding, she knew she couldn’t keep putting off the inevitable. She needed to tell Maximo and the longer it went on, the harder it seemed to be.

  She was still finding it hard to get her head around what she’d done. After a lifetime of being a virgin, she’d fallen into bed with a man who was practically a stranger. She couldn’t have found a more unsuitable man to be her first lover, if she’d tried. An international playboy who had seemed all too eager to put distance between them once their brief encounter was over.

  The night had not ended on a particularly good note. She’d hoped he might stay on for a while next morning. She’d thought about making him pancakes for breakfast, with honey or cheese. Or an omelette, maybe—because didn’t the Spanish use a lot of eggs in their cooking? Perhaps she’d been secretly hoping to impress him with her undoubted skill at all things cuisine—the way to a man’s heart and all that. But no. He had climbed out of bed, all glorious and glowing and naked, when the dawn light had been nothing but a glimmer on the horizon. She must have slipped back into sleep because the next time her eyelids had fluttered open, he had been fully dressed and maybe she should have guessed what was coming from the terse tone of his words.

  ‘I’d better go.’

  ‘Oh. Must you?’ Her voice had been little more than a murmur, but afterwards she wondered if she’d sounded a little needy.

  ‘I’m afraid I must. I’ve called my chauffeur to come and pick me up. I have a meeting.’

  She remembered thinking it was very early to be having a meeting and then, drugged with satiation and satisfaction, she had fallen into a deep sleep and when she’d woken up, he had gone.

  It had taken nearly a week for her to realise Maximo wasn’t going to contact her again. He had told her he wouldn’t but hadn’t there been a stupid glimmer of hope which had taken up stubborn residence in her mind and made her hope he might change his mind? But there had been no phone call. No flowers. No unexpected dropping in at the estate agency to ask whether she might happen to be free for lunch—and of course she would have said yes, because her daily home-made sandwich, which reposed at the bottom of the office fridge, could easily be eaten another day.

  But Maximo had done none of these things. The purchase of his castle was now complete and everyone in the town was breathlessly waiting for the refurbishment to begin, when he would turn it into the most talked about hotel in Devon to add to his prestigious group. She assumed that was why he was here today. She’d heard he was having high-powered meetings in the nearby city of Exeter and so, when Janette had left the office to have her nails painted, Hollie had hunted around for the tycoon’s telephone number and had sent him a text, asking if she could see him.

  His answer hadn’t exactly boosted her confidence, or her resolve. It had been blunt and to the point. Some people might even have called it rude.

  I’m very busy.

  She wished she could have told him to take a running jump, but that was exactly what he would like her to do, she reminded herself bitterly. Her finger had been shaking with rage and she had wasted time correcting several typos as she had furiously tapped out a response.

  I’m sure you are, but I need to see you.

  She’d been forced to wait for a whole hour before the reluctant reply had come winging back.

  I can give you half an hour at six p.m. Where?

  That had made her hesitate. Neutral territory would be best. But she couldn’t risk any kind of scene, not in a town this small where people would talk. And so even though uncomfortable memories of last time he had visited her cottage wouldn’t seem to leave her alone, Hollie forced herself to reply.

  Can you come to my cottage? I assume you remember where it is?

  And the terse rejoinder.

  I’ll see you there.

  It seemed insane to think about it now, but she’d actually made some biscuits in preparation for his visit, which were currently sitting on her best china plate in the kitchen. She’d told herself it was mor
e to give herself something to do, rather than pacing the floor as she waited for the smooth purr of his limousine. But the insane truth was that she was making shortbread because she knew he liked it.

  It was pathetic, really. Did she honestly imagine that the sugary cookie was going to make him smile and tell her everything was going to be okay, and he was fine with the fact that she was carrying his baby after what was only ever supposed to be a one-night stand?

  She turned away from the window and glanced around the small sitting room, her gaze coming to rest on the miniature Christmas tree she’d forced herself to decorate, even though she hadn’t been feeling remotely festive at the time. Its rainbow lights were pretty and the little baubles she’d crafted herself usually filled her heart with seasonal joy as she dangled them from the pine branches. But she had been so bogged down by a feeling of dread at what she was about to do that not even holiday decorations had been able to lighten her mood.

  She heard the sound of a powerful engine and quickly ducked away from the window, not wanting to be seen watching and waiting, like some kind of crazed stalker from a horror film. She drew in a deep breath as she heard the approaching crunch of footsteps and slowly expelled it as the doorbell jangled.

  Silently counting to three, Hollie walked calmly towards the door, trying to mentally prepare herself for the sight of Maximo Diaz as it swung open. And even though she had thought about him every single day since their night of passion, Hollie was still unprepared for the visceral impact of seeing him again.

  He looked...

  Her heart rate, which had already been elevated, now began to pick up into a deafening crescendo as she stared at him.

  He looked...incredible.

  Dressed entirely in black, he wore jeans and a buttery leather jacket, beneath which was a sweater so soft it could only have been made from cashmere. But that was the only soft thing about him. His body was hard and his face was even harder. Black eyes studied her as coldly as chips of jet and those wickedly sensual lips were set and unsmiling. How weird it was to think of all the pleasures those lips had showered on her while they’d been in bed together, when now they seemed to flatten at the edges with a look of faint disdain. Or was that her imagination?

  Hollie knew she had to pull herself together. She couldn’t keep catastrophising or trying to get inside his head. She had to act as normally as possible, although that was never going to be easy given what she was about to tell him. How would she have spoken to him if she hadn’t had sex with him? How did she used to speak to him when he came into the office, during those easy, uncomplicated days before she’d been stupid enough to allow him to seduce her? With an enormous effort, she fixed a bright smile to her lips, aware of the stupidity of her greeting even as it tumbled from her.

  ‘Good afternoon, Señor Diaz!’

  Maximo tried very hard not to react to the instinctive punch to his gut as he studied the woman standing before him. He should be on his guard after her rather embarrassing determination to see him, yet all he could think about was her pale, soft flesh and the thickness of her shiny golden-brown hair as it had tumbled down over her bare breasts. Was that unwanted reaction responsible for his drawled words, which weren’t the words he intended? ‘Don’t you think such formality is a little inappropriate, in view of what happened?’

  ‘Even though you didn’t even know my name at the time?’ she answered quickly.

  Maximo winced. She was right. How had that even happened? He still wasn’t sure, and looking at her now provided no easy answers. The provocative minx in the towering red heels and thigh-skimming green dress was nothing but a distant memory, for she’d reverted back to her usual sensible look. Her magnificent hair was tied back into a tight bun and her lips were bare. She wore a neat skirt and forgettable sweater, which had obviously not been bought with the intention of emphasising her curves, and her brown leather boots had seen better days. They were obviously old boots which had been carefully polished—and something about that recognition of someone who was ‘making do’ struck a raw and distant chord deep inside him. She looked unremarkable, yet... He frowned. Wasn’t there a glowing inner quality about her, which seemed to transcend her rather drab appearance?

  ‘But I do know your name now,’ he said, attempting a placatory smile. ‘Hollie.’

  ‘Hollie Walker,’ she supplied crisply and then blushed, and that only seemed to emphasise her innocence.

  Had he really had sex with her? Taken her virginity in one smooth and delicious thrust? Yes, he had. And it had been amazing. No. That wasn’t quite accurate. It had been nothing short of sensational. Turned on and beguiled by those long legs and cascading hair and the startlingly dramatic change in her appearance, Maximo had succumbed to a one-night stand in a way he hadn’t done since his teenage years. Her innocence had come as a shock and he still wasn’t quite sure why he hadn’t extricated himself from the situation as quickly as possible after that first time, doing them both a favour and recognising that someone like him was bad news for a small-town woman like her.

  But he hadn’t. He had carried on losing himself inside her sweet, tight body for most of the night, over and over again. And when they’d eventually run out of condoms—something which had never happened to him before—he had pleasured her in other ways. He had used his tongue and his fingers and, at one point, an ice cube from the freezer downstairs, he recalled—so that the memory of her shuddered cries of fulfilment had stubbornly lodged themselves in his brain for days afterwards. He’d had difficulty forgetting the way she’d cried out his name and the way her soft thighs had wrapped themselves around his thrusting back. He’d had difficulty concentrating on work too, drifting off into sensual daydreams at the slightest provocation, until he had forced himself to stop thinking about her.

  But none of those things addressed his immediate concerns and now a feeling of wariness crept over him as he looked into Hollie Walker’s face. Because, why had she asked to see him? Deliberately pushing away the brief cloud of darkness which hovered on the edge of his mind, he met her gaze with a look of polite enquiry.

  ‘So. What can I do for you, Hollie? I meant it when I told you I was busy. There are things I need to get finished before Christmas, which is in a few days’ time, as you clearly know.’ He forced himself to give a curt nod of acknowledgement in the direction of the smallest tree he had ever seen.

  Her mouth was working and her previously glowing complexion had paled. ‘There’s no easy way to say this. I wish there was.’ She clenched her hands into two fists and squeezed them tight until the knuckles grew white. ‘I’m pregnant, Maximo,’ she husked. ‘I’m going to have your baby.’

  The world spun and a dull sound inside his head threatened to deafen him. For a minute Maximo thought he must be dreaming, but her trembling body and white face were real enough and told their own story.

  For this was no dream. The nightmare had become real.

  ‘You can’t be.’ His words were icy but the anger growing inside him felt hot and vital and all-consuming. ‘We took precautions.’

  ‘Well, obviously those precautions didn’t work,’ she said. ‘Look, I realise this has come as a complete shock to you—’

  ‘But clearly not to you.’ He frowned as he did some rapid mental calculations. ‘We had sex in—’

  ‘October,’ she supplied swiftly, her cheeks flaming. ‘Just in case you’re muddling me with someone else.’

  ‘There hasn’t been anyone else,’ he snapped before wondering why on earth he had told her that. Because wouldn’t it give her more power than she already had if she realised that every other woman had left him cold since he’d exited her bed, that wet dawn morning? Would she mistakenly start thinking she was special, or different?

  ‘Oh. Right,’ she said, looking startled.

  His gaze skated over her as it had done with so many women in the past, but for once there was only o
ne place it was focussed on. Not on her hair or lips or the curve of her breasts, but on her abdomen. ‘Pregnant,’ he repeated, as if affirming what his naked eye could not see.

  ‘Eleven weeks.’

  He felt as if he were speaking in a language he didn’t really understand. As if he had entered a world which was now defined by dates. ‘You certainly took your time telling me.’

  She nodded. ‘I know. I didn’t realise for a while. At first I couldn’t believe it, because I thought we were so careful. I made myself do three tests, until eventually I had to accept the evidence of what I found. And you weren’t around to tell, Maximo. You were supposed to be coming back to Trescombe. Everyone thought work was going to start on the castle before Christmas—’

  ‘What work?’ he demanded.

  ‘Well, you’re turning it back into a hotel, aren’t you? It’s been the talk of the town for months. But you just...disappeared.’

  ‘I have a global business,’ he informed her coldly. ‘Which seems to have gone into overdrive lately.’

  ‘And was that...?’ Her face was screwed up and she seemed to be forcing herself to ask the question. ‘Was that the only reason?’

  Maximo’s mouth hardened. Wasn’t it better she knew? Better to trample on her foolish dreams rather than to allow them to flourish unchecked? ‘Not the only reason, no. If you must know I thought that creating space between us would ensure you didn’t get the wrong idea about what had happened. I didn’t want you building castles in the air.’

  ‘You’re the one with the interest in castles, Maximo,’ she said coldly. ‘I told you at the time I was okay with it.’

  ‘Women say all kinds of things they don’t mean, Hollie. They say them to save face, or sometimes to convince themselves that they actually believe them.’

  She glared at him. ‘And you were so certain I’d be a thorn in your side with my unwanted devotion that you didn’t want to risk a return visit, is that it? Were you worried I’d believe I was hopelessly in love with you?’