Fairytale Beginnings (23 page)

Olivia sat down at the table and Milly sat opposite her. Olivia looked at her laptop, apparently ignoring Milly completely. It was time to cut to the chase.

‘You don’t like me much, do you?’

Olivia looked up, surprised. ‘What makes you think that?’

‘Lucky guess.’

‘Milly, you’ve got it all wrong. I want Cameron to be happy. You seem really nice and I hope you don’t let him down but he is a terrible judge of character and I do worry that after only knowing you for one week that he’s possibly jumped without looking again.’

Milly’s mouth grew dry. Did Olivia know who she was? Suddenly, like a beacon lighting up the table between them, Milly’s eyes fell on her Castle Heritage ID card, sitting just a foot away from Olivia’s hand. Milly wanted to snatch it away from Olivia before she saw it, but it was clearly too late for that. Olivia’s eyes followed Milly’s eyes to the card and her expression didn’t change.

‘I found that earlier today,’ Olivia returned her attention to her laptop. ‘I don’t blame you at all. You come here, see the big castle, Phoenix Blaze, of course you’re going to see pound signs.’

‘That’s not what this is, I really like him,’ Milly hated that Olivia had caused her to raise her voice after only a few minutes. ‘I’m not interested in his money at all.’

‘Milly, I don’t want to upset you, that’s the last thing I want,’ Olivia said calmly. ‘You seem lovely and I really hope that this time I’m wrong, but even if you’re not after his money, it’s not going to last. Cameron gets bored so easily. I’m sorry but give it a few weeks and you’ll be yesterday’s news, the same as the rest.’

‘You don’t know anything about me or us. You have no idea what we feel for each other. And I don’t like you coming in here and tarring me with the same brush as all the others.’

Olivia leaned across the table and when she spoke her voice was low and her eyes were as hard as stone. ‘You’re exactly like the others, some blonde slut out for a good time. Cameron will realise that soon enough and it’s me he will return to, like he always has. And if he doesn’t realise it, I’ll have to help him.’

Milly stood up. ‘You fucking bitch.’

‘Milly!’ Cameron stood in the doorway with a look of thunder on his face. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’

Milly had no words to rectify this situation. He blatantly hadn’t heard Olivia’s threat or he would be looking furiously at Olivia, not her.

Olivia was already sitting back in her chair, her eyes soft again. ‘It’s fine, Cameron, it’s ok,’ she said, calmly.

‘It’s not ok,’ Cameron seethed.

‘No really, it’s my fault. It’s just a huge misunderstanding. Milly asked if I could get another ticket for her for the charity ball. I told her that’s it’s probably not her sort of thing at all, that it’s unbelievably posh and elitist. I think Milly thought that I was saying that she wasn’t good enough to go, when nothing could be further from the truth. I was merely saying that it can be terribly pretentious there and she’d probably be bored silly. I know you hate it for that very reason, Cameron. Milly, I can get you a ticket if you really want to go. I really meant no offence.’

Cameron folded his arms across his chest, clearly waiting for Milly to apologise to Olivia. He’d have a long wait.

Olivia stood up. ‘I’ve got to take some photos for Palace Hotels.’ She picked up her notepad and pen and walked round the table towards Cameron. ‘It’s fine, I promise. Don’t screw this up by going all bull-in-a-china-shop as you normally do. Milly’s lovely and I really don’t want to come between the two of you.’

Milly stared at her aghast. The conniving little bitch! But Cameron softened at her words.

Olivia gave his arm a soothing stroke and walked past Milly with a sweet, friendly smile on her face, making Milly wonder if she had imagined the sly comment Olivia had made moments before.

‘Liv, stay out of the dungeons,’ Cameron said and she nodded and then left them alone in the kitchen.

He stared at her as if he didn’t recognise her, waiting for some kind of explanation for which she had none. He was never going to believe her version of events.

Finally Cameron spoke. ‘I’m going to get dressed and then I’ll take Gregory for a walk. I’m hoping by the time I get back you’ll have some kind of explanation for me.’

He walked into the lounge and closed the door behind him.

She pulled a face. As if it wasn’t hard enough between them with all their insecurities and baggage, now there was a meddling PA thrown into the mix too. How on earth was she going to get past this? She somehow had to make it up to Cameron but she hadn’t actually done anything wrong. She opened the fridge to see what she could make for dinner, annoyed that it would have to be a meal for three and that she would have to feed the evil witch or make herself look petty for not including her. She pulled out some tomatoes, mushrooms and peppers, ready to make some kind of pasta sauce when she heard a loud, low moan that seemed to echo round and fill the whole the castle. She looked around in confusion as the moan continued, but over the top of the moan suddenly came an ear splitting scream.

M
illy sped
from the kitchen as fast as she could, heading straight for the dungeons. The silly cow had clearly decided not to heed Cameron’s warning and investigate the dungeons, probably looking for the lost treasure herself. Sure enough, the door was open and Milly ran through it and down the stairs as fast as she could.

Olivia was cowering on the floor, crying and screaming. Sophia towered over her, her face a picture of pure livid hate and venomous wrath. The moan was definitely coming from here, the walls seemed to shake as Sophia seemingly was trying to summon the dead of a thousand years. Wind tore through the tunnel, banged the cell doors and pulled at Milly’s hair as it whipped around Olivia like a mini hurricane. Milly could hear mocking laughter and voices.

If Sophia was only supposed to appear to descendants of the Heartstone line, she obviously made an exception for those who pissed her off.

She ran towards Olivia, quickly creating a barrier between Sophia and Olivia.

‘No Sophia, stop it,’ Milly shouted, sounding braver than she felt.

Sophia stopped immediately. The wind died, the voices and laughter faded. Sophia gave a courteous little bob, bowing her head at Milly before calmly walking away and fading into the darkness. Olivia was a cow but what the hell had she done to Sophia to piss her off that much?

She turned and put an arm around Olivia, who shrugged it off, still wailing and sobbing.

‘It’s ok, it’s over. The ghosts are gone, come on, let’s make you a cup of tea,’ Milly used her best soothing voice. Olivia didn’t move from her foetal position on the floor and the sobbing didn’t relent. Milly knelt next to her, stroking her back, just as Cameron stormed down the stairs.

He looked at Milly and then moved to Olivia’s other side.

‘Liv? Are you ok?’

Olivia threw herself at Cameron, sobbing and almost knocking him to the floor. He stood up, scooping Olivia into his arms and walked out, leaving Milly kneeling on the floor, jealousy burning through her gut.

M
illy sat staring
at her dinner, she had no appetite at all. The pasta bake that she had made for the three of them had long since gone cold and Cameron still hadn’t emerged from Olivia’s bedroom, where he had taken her after leaving the dungeon. She supposed she should be grateful that he hadn’t taken her to his bedroom, Milly couldn’t have stomached that.

She kept telling herself that Cameron wouldn’t do anything with Olivia behind her back, but how well did she really know him? The thing that stuck in her gut the most was that Olivia looked like Eva. Was there really an attraction between them? Milly remembered how Cameron had lain in bed with her after she had been scared by the skeleton, was he now doing that with Olivia, holding her and stroking her? That would be worse than if he was shagging her. The ghost incident had come mere minutes after Cameron had heard Milly swear at Olivia, and now she had driven him straight into her beautiful arms.

Cameron walked into the kitchen looking exhausted. He piled some pasta onto a plate, not looking at her.

‘Liv says you set the ghosts on her.’

Milly felt her mouth fall open. ‘Are you frigging kidding me?’

Cameron shrugged.

‘And you believe her?’

‘I’m not sure what to believe, to be honest. The Milly that I fell for over the last few days was sweet and kind and the Milly I’ve seen today has been a bit of a cow.’

Milly felt like he had just slapped her. ‘She knows who I am and she doesn’t like me. She made that very clear just before you arrived in the kitchen this afternoon.’

There was little point telling him that Olivia planned to split them up. She doubted he would believe her and she’d end up looking like the petty bad guy.

‘She’s looking out for me. I’ve been through a lot over the last few months and she’s very protective of me.’

‘And you think that I would do something as horrible as set the ghosts on her.’

He sighed. ‘No I don’t.’

He tucked into the pasta and chewed for a few moments.

‘Thanks for this, I’d better get back.’

‘You’re spending the night with her?’

‘She’s terrified.’

Milly couldn’t help thinking that Olivia was playing it up so that Cameron would stay with her. Guilt then twisted in her gut for thinking that and for being jealous. The whole experience had been scary for Milly and she wasn’t even the subject of the attack.

Cameron turned to go. ‘Don’t wait up for me.’

He walked out and the door swung closed behind him.

Milly got changed into her pyjamas and decided to sleep in her own room. It didn’t seem right to sleep in Cameron’s bed when he probably didn’t want her there.

She turned off the light and climbed into bed, feeling lonely without Cameron and annoyed that she felt that way. Even more annoying was that sleep was a long way off.

He’d called her a cow. No one had ever called her that before. The honeymoon was well and truly over. She felt a tear slide across her cheek and plop onto the pillow.

She had only been in bed five minutes when she heard Cameron come back into the lounge and go into his bedroom. A second later, the door on the guest room banged open and Milly sat up in shock.

Cameron switched on the light. ‘Why are you in here?’

‘I didn’t think you’d want me in there.’

‘Why would I not want you in my room?’

‘Five minutes ago you were going to spend the night with Olivia.’

‘She’s fast asleep.’

‘And you called me a cow. I think I’d rather sleep alone tonight.’

Cameron sighed and moved towards the bed. He pulled back the covers, scooped her up and carried her back to his bed. He lay her down and started undressing.

‘I don’t think you’re a cow, I just … Olivia’s my friend and for some reason you don’t like her. She has been nothing but nice to you since you arrived and yet I feel like you’re going to start pulling each other’s hair and slapping each other at any moment. Can you just …’

‘Be nice?’ She clenched her fists under the covers so he couldn’t see her reaction to that thought.

‘At least try.’ Cameron lay down next to her, pulling her onto his chest as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She closed her eyes for a moment as she breathed him in. Every single part of her was screaming that this was where she belonged. Maybe things would end naturally between them or maybe Cameron would get bored of her eventually like he’d done many of the women before her, but she wasn’t going to let him go without a fight and she sure as hell wasn’t going to let Olivia be the one to drive them apart.

Her eyes shot open. Suddenly she realised that being nice was the only way she was going to win this battle. Being a bitch to Olivia and staying on the defence was not going to do anything but drive a further wedge between her and Cameron. That’s what Olivia wanted, for Cameron to see Milly’s rudeness. Olivia wasn’t going to win the fight that way.

‘I’m going to be super nice from now on, I promise. I’m sorry if I’ve been a cow today. It’s just because I’m scared of losing you, you know that.’

Cameron looked at her in surprise, he probably hadn’t expected her to cave so easily. ‘I know it’s hard for you, we’re trying to get to know each other and there’s this third person in the relationship. I’m going to make sure we have some quality time together over the next few days. You’ll hardly know she’s here.’

Milly closed her eyes for a moment as she relished the feel of his hot, velvet skin against her cheek, the intoxicating, sensual, earthy scent.

‘She has some things she needs to go through with me and then I can get rid of her, in the nicest possible way. It’ll just be a few days and then we can be alone.’

Milly nodded. She could be nice for the next few days but she couldn’t help but worry about what other plans Olivia had up her sleeve to try to break them up.

C
ameron was sitting reading
the paper in the kitchen when Olivia walked in. She smiled, sleepily and sat down next to him, leaning her head against his shoulder.

He stood up, not at all comfortable with that level of intimacy from her. He ignored the flash of hurt that crossed her face.

‘Want a coffee?’ he moved to the kettle.

‘What’s wrong?’

He turned round to look at her. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well last night you were hugging me and now …’

‘Last night you were terrified, I was trying to comfort you. Don’t read anything more into it than that.’

She moved closer to him, running a hand up his arm. ‘Is it Milly? I would never tell her about us.’

His eyes widened. ‘There is no us, Liv, you know that.’

‘But what about that night, at the Christmas party?’

Jesus, why was she bringing that up? They’d agreed they’d never speak about it again.

‘The night where you got drunk, kissed me and then vomited on my shoes? It doesn’t exactly hold any special memories for me.’

The hurt that crossed her face was palpable this time and Cameron regretted it immediately. Olivia was a sweet, nice girl but he didn’t have any feelings for her and he thought the kiss had just been a drunken thing, she had never mentioned it since.

‘You spent the night with me.’

‘Jesus, Liv, I took you home because you could barely stand and I stayed with you because I didn’t want you choking to death on your own vomit. What do you remember from that night?’

Olivia blushed. ‘That we kissed. I woke the next day and you were lying on the bed with me, and I thought …’

‘You thought what? We were both fully dressed the next morning. So did you think I took you home, shagged you whilst you were unconscious and put all your clothes back on again? Nothing happened. We agreed the next day that it was just a silly, drunken kiss and that we weren’t going to talk about it again.’

Olivia looked down at the floor and Cameron hated that he had hurt her.

‘Look, Olivia. You’re a very beautiful woman, but I didn’t hire you because you’re beautiful. I didn’t hire you because I wanted to sleep with you. I hired you because I needed someone to handle my meetings and my diary, arrange transportation, filter my emails, a job which you are very good at.’

‘I think we should tell Milly.’

‘There’s no need,’ Milly said from the doorway. ‘I heard the whole thing.’

Cameron’s stomach dropped. Crap.

Olivia finally took her hand off his arm and he regretted not moving away from her earlier. Milly looked mad as hell.

Milly walked round the table and put her shoes on. The silence was worse than her shouting. He wanted her to say something.

‘I’m taking Gregory for a walk, are you coming?’ She glanced over at Cameron and he quickly nodded.

He pulled his shoes on, whistled for the beast and followed Milly outside.

She walked in silence next to him, until they reached the edge of the cliff. Gregory, completely unaware of the tension between them, sniffed around the rabbit holes near the cliff edge.

Cameron watched the waves swirl around the rocks. The tide was obviously in, as most of the rocks that he had looked down on before were completely covered.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I honestly didn’t even think about it. It was months ago, at Christmas. She was drunk, she kissed me, threw up and practically passed out. She’s never mentioned it since and I just put it down to her being drunk. She has shown no sign of having feelings for me over the last six months. I’ve never thought of her like that, I promise you. I didn’t tell you because that drunken snog meant absolutely nothing to me.’

Milly sighed and leaned into him. He turned and wrapped his arms around her as she rested her head on his chest.

‘She’s trying to split us up,’ Milly said.

‘No, I don’t think so. She likes you. She’s worried that I’m rushing into things, but she genuinely likes you.’

‘I don’t believe that for one second.’

She pulled back to look at him and suddenly her hands shot to her mouth as she gasped in horror at something that she had seen behind him. He whirled around but he could see nothing.