Surprise Reunion with His Cinderella

by Rachael Stewart

  Her heart was less inclined to agree... But then it was okay to be proud of him, she could still respect him, admire him, like him even.

  She could still...want him.

  She took a steadying breath as her heart raced with her thoughts and silence stretched between them, broken only by the waves and the wildlife serenading them. A striking red bird fluttered down to peck at a fallen palm leaf an arm’s reach away and she smiled.

  The pace of life was so very different here, as was the kaleidoscope of colour. Cycling along the shady forest paths, spying all the wildlife going about their daily routines unfazed by the gentle whirring of their bicycle wheels, had been incredible. And they’d seen birds of all shapes and sizes, vibrant frogs, geckos...

  ‘I almost feel like we’re on a movie set,’ she murmured.

  A movie set where the man, at any moment, would seduce his willing companion...though there was nothing to say the woman couldn’t make the first move.

  ‘It’s not called paradise for nothing.’

  She sneaked a look at him, the way the muscles in his arm flexed as he rested his head on his hands.

  ‘True,’ she agreed softly. ‘It’s perfect.’

  ‘As we always knew it would be.’

  He looked at her, his eyes piercing straight through to the sudden pang in her chest, and she looked at the sky again, pulling her sunglasses back down. Thank heavens for oversized shades. She needed the shield just as much now as she had that morning when she’d finally accepted she couldn’t hide out in her suite any longer and that she’d have to face him: Freddie. Her perfect match.

  She could slap herself silly.

  Of course, Madison Morgan and M had chosen Freddie. She’d virtually asked for him. His dark hair, his blue eyes, his Scottish roots, his sense of honour, duty, loyalty. His passion for others. His care. His charity efforts.

  And had he done the same?

  Subconsciously, had he listed all the attributes he’d once loved in her?

  M wasn’t one-sided, the match depended on the answers he’d given too. And if that was the case, then it didn’t matter how married to their work they were, on paper they were as perfect now as—

  ‘You’ve really made something of yourself, Jas.’

  His husky compliment startled her into a choked ‘Beg your pardon?’

  ‘You really have.’ He grinned in the face of her surprise. ‘It’s impressive.’

  Her heart bloomed under his praise, his smile, pushing out the shock and the uneasy realisation that she cared about his opinion so very much.

  ‘I could say the same about you.’

  His brows pinched together. ‘Really?’

  ‘Of course,’ she said, putting words to what she’d been thinking not minutes before. ‘Your charity work is incredible. The strides you’ve made helping disadvantaged children pursue their dreams...it’s something to be commended.’

  He shrugged, the movement so dismissive, so small. Did he really not see it that way? And had he been doing the same as her for the past few minutes, thinking over the last ten years and what the other had been doing?

  ‘It’s wonderful, Freddie.’ She said it softly but no less insistently. ‘Truly wonderful.’

  ‘I’m not sure I quite see it like that.’

  She rose up onto her elbow, stared at him in disbelief. ‘How would you see it?’

  ‘My motives aren’t so altruistic.’ His eyes flicked to her, the slight and very out of place blush to his cheeks telling her he meant it. ‘I’d love to say I did it entirely out of the goodness of my heart, but... I don’t know, it’s not that straightforward.’

  ‘In what way?’

  He was quiet for so long, lost in his thoughts, and she wondered if he would answer at all, but eventually he spoke.

  ‘Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to right a wrong.’

  She frowned. ‘Why would you think that?’

  ‘Because it’s like I’m trying to offset my easy start in life. Offset it by ensuring those who don’t have it so easy get the same chances.’

  ‘And? That’s admirable. It’s not something you have to do, it’s not your fault, it’s not you righting a wrong that you have done. You’re levelling the playing field of life and that is out of the goodness of your heart.’

  ‘Maybe...’

  ‘There’s no maybe about it, Freddie.’ She needed him to see the good he was doing, she needed him to be proud of it, pleased even.

  But there was a strange look in his eyes as they came back to her. ‘I can’t say I’d be doing it if it wasn’t for you.’

  ‘Me?’ Her surprise made it more of a gasp.

  He nodded, his eyes darkening in their intensity. ‘I’m sorry for how my parents treated you, I’m sorry they made you feel like you weren’t worthy, I’m sorry they drove you away—’

  ‘No, don’t do that. Don’t apologise for them.’ She shook her head. ‘It was me...it was me that left in the end. I just... I just couldn’t bear it...’

  Her heart was spiralling in her chest, her thoughts so jumbled she couldn’t string them into a good enough sentence. The past just wouldn’t stay in the past. And the truth was he was perfect just the way he was. The man that loved his family, was loyal to them. To break him away from them ten years ago would have broken that loyalty. It would have broken him.

  ‘It doesn’t matter what drove you to set up the charity, Freddie, what matters is that you did.’ Her voice vibrated with the pain of old and her desperate need to convey her faith in the man he was now. ‘You’ve helped so many people and have so many success stories under your belt. Your charity has produced sports stars, celebrities, artists, mathematicians, soon-to-be astronauts...’

  His mouth twitched. ‘You really have been reading up on me.’

  Her laugh was soft. She didn’t care that she was laying her heart bare just a little, confessing to the fact that she’d never let him go. It was more important that he listened to what she said, absorbed it, acknowledged it for what it was—the truth.

  ‘Those kids stand in the limelight and praise you and your charity for helping them achieve their potential. You must know it in yourself. You must be proud.’

  His eyes sparkled, but the shadow of doubt was still there, nagging at her heartstrings, tugging at her breath.

  ‘Carry on like that and I’ll be entering my room by the sliding doors at the rear just to get my head inside.’

  She knew he was trying to lighten the mood, to take the focus off his accomplishments—to all intents and purposes dismiss them—and she wasn’t having it. She touched her hand to his cheek, felt his warmth tease into her palm, felt his jaw flex, his body tense as she encouraged him to hold her eye.

  It was the first time she’d touched him so intimately in ten years, ten long years, and it made her realise she wanted so much from him. Not just physically but emotionally. It should have scared her off. It should have had her running, but she wouldn’t run again, not from him.

  ‘You should be proud of it, Freddie.’ She smoothed the pad of her thumb over his cheekbone, marvelling at the chiselled line, the hint of softness and strength. ‘You should be pleased with all you’ve achieved and are continuing to achieve.’

  ‘It’s not that I’m not pleased, Red,’ he said gruffly. ‘And it’s not that I’m not proud of the charity and all we’ve been able to accomplish. It’s the lack of fulfilment. It’s never enough.’

  ‘But you’re driven because you care, that doesn’t just go away. There will always be people that need your help and that of the charity.’

  ‘True. But it’s the sense that something’s missing, like an itch you just can’t scratch.’

  His eyes strayed over her face, the world around them seemed to slow down, even the noises around them faded.

  ‘Ignore me,’ he said softly
. ‘I’m making no sense.’

  ‘No...’ She wet her lips. ‘I get it.’

  And she did. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

  He came up onto his elbow with her. ‘You feel it too?’

  ‘The sense that you’re still searching for something to make you feel whole?’

  He nodded and she returned the gesture, unable to speak, unable to breathe. The air shifted around them, the world falling away completely. He looked at her lips, a small smile playing about his own.

  ‘Crazy, hey?’ he murmured. ‘Here we are in paradise, money no object, and still we feel unfulfilled.’

  Her smile wavered. It wasn’t so crazy, not when she thought about it. Not when she acknowledged that the last time she’d felt anywhere near content had been when she’d been in his arms.

  But life had been simpler in so many ways then. She’d had Mum, she’d had time for him, she’d had a life...not that she could see a way back to that. Mum was gone now and she had responsibilities, people to help, a company to run...

  She could feel him getting closer, or was she leaning in? Her eyes fell to his lips, the appealing fullness to the bottom one, the arch in the centre of the top one...

  Yes, Freddie, please, Freddie...

  He reached out and anticipation coursed through her, fizzing up her bloodstream, warming her body. His palm smoothed against her cheek, cupped her neck and she tilted her head back, her eyes closing. The first brush of his lips was electric, the sweet sensation all the more powerful for its brevity. A whimper caught in her throat and she leaned closer, seeking more. Another light brush, too delicate, not enough. She parted her lips, angled her head...

  ‘Freddie...’ It sighed out of her and she eased closer, let her tongue glide softly against his. Oh, yes. And then he was gone, his mouth replaced by his finger as he sealed her lips shut and her breath hitched anew.

  ‘Shh,’ he said softly as her eyes flicked open. ‘There’s a tortoise right behind you.’

  Wait, what?

  A gulp of air, of disappointment, of humiliation at her wanton state when he was so...unaffected?

  And then she turned her head and saw just what he was referring to. A giant tortoise was right beside them, bigger than any she had ever seen before.

  How had she not sensed it approach?

  How? She mentally mocked. You really need to ask yourself that?

  ‘He’s an Aldabra tortoise.’ Freddie was so close she could feel his breath sweep over the delicate skin of her nape, provoking her nerve-endings and the lust still beating fresh in her veins. ‘And I’d say he’s nearly as big as you.’

  ‘He’s incredible.’ And he was. But he wasn’t the reason she sounded so breathless. No, that was all Freddie.

  Undaunted by their presence, the tortoise paused less than an arm’s reach away, his neck straining as he reached ever so slowly for a leaf to munch on.

  It was remarkable to watch up close. Like they’d jumped into a TV documentary and any second now the narrator would pipe up: ‘And here we see the giant Aldabra tortoise of the Seychelles in its natural habitat and two unsuspecting tourists caught by surprise mid-clinch...’

  The amusing commentary and awe-inspiring sight should have beaten back the emotion swelling inside her, beaten it back and taken over.

  Only it didn’t...

  She wanted Freddie, she wanted his kiss, his body, him...and no amount of paradisal wonder was going to distract her.

  No amount of fear over where this was heading either.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  SAVED BY A TORTOISE...

  It was a new one for him.

  But he’d most definitely been saved.

  Because that kiss had been a nanosecond away from being way out of his control. Her trapped whimper, her eager response...and he’d been exposed. Raw under her heartfelt praise, lost in the shared sense of dissatisfaction, the acceptance that something was missing for both of them and the merest hint that this could be it.

  This could be what they both needed.

  Even now, hours later, it hounded him, and he’d been massaged until every limb felt loose. Jasmine too. The masseur and masseuse skilfully ensured every knot was banished as they’d lain beside one another on their separate beds in a cabana high on the granite clifftop. No privacy for more talk, more intimacy.

  And it had been a glorious hour, perfect in every way. But no sooner had they stood, their matching bath robes back in place, and he’d looked at her, the high colour in her cheeks, the dreamlike state of those green eyes that he remembered so well, and he was coiled tight again.

  They’d walked back to their separate wings in a comfortable silence, but he hadn’t missed the way she’d looked at him from beneath her lashes, the smile playing about her lips giving away her thoughts. He’d come so close to pulling her to him and kissing away all sense.

  But fear had kept him distant, fear over how much he wanted her.

  He wasn’t stupid, he’d been able to stay detached from women over the years because he’d never felt an inkling of what he’d felt for Jas. He’d stood alone and had been happy to do so. It had given him the focus he’d needed, the drive to succeed, to keep succeeding.

  But this thing with her...it was swelling out of his control. She saw him for who he was, she saw beneath the cool façade, the businessman, the charity organiser. He’d let her see beneath it all, confessed his deepest worry, his honest motivation.

  He cursed, his fists flexing at his sides.

  He needed to keep it within his control if he was to keep his heart out of it, but as he looked towards the beach that was to be the setting for their evening meal and took in the romantic ambience of the scene, he knew he was in trouble.

  Monique and her team had excelled themselves. With the sun dipping into the ocean, the scene was already cosy enough, but that was merely a backdrop to what they’d created.

  He’d expected a table and chairs, some candles. Instead, there were oversized red cushions, plumped up next to the thick trunk of an aged palm and arranged into a U-shape big enough for the two of them to lounge on. Two copper oil torches were staked into the sand, their fiery glow complemented by tea lights scattered around the ground, their flames protected from the sea breeze by glass domes. A low table housed a copper bowl filled with ice, a bottle of water and champagne already nestled inside. Another table had a selection of glasses and appetisers ready to be devoured.

  It was soft, inviting and above all romantic. The perfect scene in which to let go.

  No more restraint.

  His gut rolled as his flight instinct tried to kick in, telling him to run the other way because the lure of a second chance was getting stronger every second he spent in her company. The idea that maybe he didn’t have to go it alone.

  He blamed M for being far too good at what they did. Tantalising him with hope, with the belief that this was a second chance. Some quirk of fate with the help of a very clever matchmaking team had brought them back together to make it possible.

  But he couldn’t believe in it.

  He’d been that foolish once to believe in her, in an ‘us’, and it had ruined him, torn him apart, and it had taken years to let her go.

  Correction, it had taken the sight of a ring on her finger to let her go.

  But now that ring was long gone.

  As was the physical distance between them.

  They were very much together, in surroundings geared for a passionate love affair, and he was slowly losing the ability to distinguish between reality and a short-lived fantasy.

  He’d been confident, cocky even, to suggest they let go for the time they were here. Put the past in the past and have a wild ride for seven days. Then go back to life as it had been.

  Like it would be so easy, so simple.

  He’d cursed his younger se
lf for being a fool. What did it make him now as a man whose heartstrings were so readily tugged?

  A blasted idiot. A sucker for punishment. An even more desperate fool. And how on earth could he possibly balance a future that was already rammed with his work, his charity pursuits and what would eventually be his inheritance—his title, the land, the Highgrove estate—and all that would demand of him, with the possibility of more?

  He could never give Jasmine the attention she would deserve, justifiably demand even. He would be as bad as his father, as bad as—

  ‘Freddie?’

  He spun on the spot and lost the ability to breathe. There she was. All he’d been missing for the last ten years as obvious as the feelings clambering back to the surface.

  She looked incredible. Her burgundy knee-length dress, hanging from slender straps, twisted across her front, the style and silken surface accentuating every luscious curve. She wore the same locket as the night before and her skin shimmered with whatever product she had applied. As for her hair, it blazed in the setting sun, its kinky undone look softening the angles of her face and making the colour of her eyes all the more striking. The make-up she wore gave them a subtle cat-like slant and he wasn’t sure if it was that or the true train of her thoughts that had her looking quite...predatory.

  Heat spread through his core as her cheeks flushed pink and she nipped her lip, her fingers lifting to her locket.

  She was nervous, not predatory. And he was all the things he’d accused himself of being—an idiot, a sucker, a fool!

  ‘Jasmine.’ He smiled, hid all of his panic, all of his worry behind it, because the one thing he knew for sure: there was no stopping this. In a week’s time, when this was over, he would be free to worry about it as much as he liked...

  He offered his hand and she slipped her fingers in his. ‘You look amazing, Red.’

  Her smile was small, her eyes trailing over him. Now she looked predatory and it stoked the fire that hadn’t quite gone out.