A Modern Cinderella. Kate Hardy

exhaled with relief as quietly as she could manage it. ‘She’s gorgeous.’

      ‘Obviously I think so. But then I’m a tad biased. Do you have kids, Cass?’

      ‘Thirty of them.’ She smiled at Angelique’s expression. ‘I’m a schoolteacher.’

      ‘Ahh. You scared me for a minute.’

      Despite a lingering modicum of jealousy over her relationship with Will, Cassidy found herself warming to Angie. She wasn’t at all the way the tabloids portrayed her. And seeing her obvious love for her daughter humanised her.

      Turning onto her stomach, Angie swung her feet back and forth in the air and studied Cassidy from behind her sunglasses. ‘Did you and Will ever talk about having kids when you were together?’

      It was a very personal question, but by asking it she’d already shown she knew there had been more to their relationship than being scriptwriting duo Ryan and Malone. The thing was, talking about their relationship with someone who might well be in, or have been in, a similar relationship with Will made Cassidy uncomfortable.

      So she sought a simple answer. ‘We were young.’

      The fact she’d said it with a shrug of her shoulders didn’t seem to fool Angie. ‘Ever since I’ve known Will he’s been reluctant to talk about you. It took us to get him drunk one night before he would even talk about growing up in Ireland…’

      He’d talked about his childhood? Wow. Cassidy wondered if Angie knew what a big deal that was for Will. She’d been dating him for nearly a year before she’d got the full story—though in fairness she hadn’t had to get him drunk.

      But her brain had latched onto one seemingly insignificant word. ‘Us?’

      Angie examined the perfectly manicured fingernails on one hand. ‘Lily’s father—my on-again off-again partner Eric—is one of Will’s best friends. It’s how I got to know Will. And why he’s Lily’s godfather.’

      Immediately Cassidy’s gaze sought them out again in the sea. Will was swinging the little girl round and round in circles, while she squealed in delight and he grinned boyishly at her. ‘Oh.’

      She’d got that one completely wrong, then, hadn’t she?

      There was a chuckle of laughter. ‘Yes, I wondered if you’d thought that. You’re delightfully easy to read, aren’t you? I can’t tell you how refreshing that is in Hollywood.’

      Heat built on Cassidy’s cheeks that had absolutely nothing to do with the sun.

      ‘Can I ask you a question, Cass?’

      A sense of dread made her cringe as she looked down at the woman she had a sneaking suspicion was about to ask the one question she didn’t want to answer. ‘Depends on what it is.’

      Angelique smiled. ‘I’ve wondered why Will didn’t bring you with him.’

      ‘When he moved here from Ireland?’

      ‘Yes. You were quite the writing team, on top of the relationship you had.’

      Okay, not the question she’d been waiting for. Maybe that was why she answered it honestly, her chin dropping and her voice lowering even though there wasn’t any chance he could hear her from where he was. ‘I couldn’t leave.’

      ‘So he did ask?’

      ‘Yes.’ It was a simplistic answer to a situation that had been very complicated.

      There was a moment of silence, then, ‘Do you regret it?’

      Cassidy smiled sadly. ‘That’s not an easy one to answer. It’s not a case of regretting; it’s more of a case of what was right and what was wrong at the time, and what was meant to be and what wasn’t. And I have no idea why I’m telling you this…’

      ‘Maybe you need a friend?’ Angelique waited until Cassidy looked at her, and then she nodded sharply and beamed. ‘I’ve decided I like you, Cass. I think we’ll be great friends. You don’t treat me like a movie star, and that’s a huge bonus.’

      Cassidy lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘You are a movie star.’

      Angie lowered her voice to a similar level, ‘Shh. Somebody might hear you.’

      They were laughing when the sun was suddenly blocked out, forcing Cassidy to shade her eyes with a hand as she looked up at the dark silhouette surrounded by bright light.

      ‘Ready for your surfing lesson?’

       CHAPTER FIVE

      ‘I DON’T actually want a surfing lesson. Honestly.’

      ‘Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.’ Will turned round and took the two steps required to get to where she’d been dragging her heels. Reaching out, he captured her wrist in long fingers and tugged her along behind him. ‘You might like it.’

      ‘I’ll sink like a whale,’ she grumbled.

      ‘Whales don’t sink; they swim. So will you.’ He threw a frown over his shoulder as he continued tugging her along the sand, ‘Stop being paranoid about your weight, Cass. Women are supposed to curve. I’m sick to death of being surrounded by stick-thin women counting the calories in a bottle of water.’

      Trying to free her wrist was getting her nowhere. ‘Bullying me again, Ryan?’

      ‘Nope. Forcing you to have a good time. It’s for your own good. You seem to have forgotten how.’

      ‘Said by the man who doesn’t have time to go surfing, having bought a house by the ocean for that very purpose? I think you’ll find that falls into the category of I will when you will,’ she retorted.

      He stopped so suddenly she careened into the wall of his back, and grunted in a very unladylike manner before scowling up at his face.

      The sight of his face leaning closer to hers made her eyes widen. That was before he lowered his voice and rumbled a meaningful, ‘Oh, I know how to have fun, Cass. Don’t you worry…’

      Judging by the glint in his eyes, he wasn’t talking about surfing fun either.

      Standing back a little, he frowned at her body. ‘That’s got to go.’

      When he released her wrist, she lifted both hands to grip hold of her shirt as if he might try to remove it at any second. ‘The shirt stays.’

      Will folded his arms across the sculpted chest she was trying very hard not to look at. ‘You do know it’s going to be transparent in the water, don’t you?’

      Actually, that thought hadn’t occurred to her. But now he’d pointed it out she was even less likely to participate in a surfing lesson than she had been sixty seconds ago…

      She started backing away. ‘Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m famished. I’ve heard a rumour there’s a picnic on the go, so I think we should just—’

      There was a short chuckle of deep male laughter, and then he leaned over and captured her wrist again, shaking his head as he tugged her forward. ‘Down on your stomach on the board…’

      Huh? Her gaze dropped and discovered a surfboard on the sand. She scowled at his words. ‘On my stomach? On the board?’

      He ducked down a little to get her attention, his nose mere inches from hers. ‘Surfing lesson—remember?’

      ‘I thought it would be in the water.’ How was she supposed to think straight when he was so close?

      Will’s gaze dropped briefly to her mouth when she dampened her lips, then lifted to tangle with hers for equally as brief a moment before he leaned back and looked down at the board.