Read Online Fairytale Beginnings by Holly Martin - Free Book Online Page A

those models that doctors or science teachers have.’
    She reached out to touch it and her face flamed red as she realised her mistake.
    ‘I’m so sorry, you must think I’m a right idiot.’
    ‘Not at all. It’s pitch black in there, what were you supposed to think?’
    ‘Well thank you for not taking the piss out of me for acting like a pathetic girl. You could have handled that very differently.’
    He stared at her. ‘No I couldn’t. No man worth his salt would have taken the piss out of you when you were so terrified. It didn’t even cross my mind.’
    ‘Then you’re not like most of the men I know. My ex-boyfriend used to chase me round the flat with spiders because he knew I was scared of them. He thought it was hilarious, whilst I was sobbing and blubbing like a baby.’
    ‘Your ex-boyfriend sounds like an ass.’
    She smiled and he was relieved to see it. ‘He really was.’
    She eyed the skeleton in his hand and shuddered.
    ‘I’ll get rid of it.’
    ‘It’s ok. What was it doing in there?’
    ‘I don’t know. I have vague recollections of my parents throwing costumed parties, maybe he was part of a Halloween party.’
    She sighed and pushed her hair off her face. ‘I’m not doing anything here to help dispel the bimbo image am I? And I bet Castle Heritage is very quickly going down in your opinion.’
    ‘You have nothing to prove to me, your credentials more than speak for themselves.’
    ‘I can get someone else up here, equally as qualified. They could be here by the end of next week. Professor Stone is very efficient, he’s a lot older too. He doesn’t wear pretty dresses or sparkly trainers, he’s probably much more up your street.’
    Something twisted inside him at the thought of her going. He didn’t like the feeling that thought gave him, which was ridiculous, he barely knew her.
    He shuffled closer to her, leaning round her to put the skeleton on the desk behind her. He returned his gaze to her face, to those intense sea blue eyes that seemed to have a hundred different tones to them, specks of green, turquoise and navy blue, intermingled with flecks of gold and grey. He was standing too close to her, much closer than would be deemed polite according to social etiquette. She hadn’t moved away either, she was just staring up at him. He tucked a stray blonde curl behind her ear.
    ‘I like having you here.’ He stepped back a tiny fraction. ‘In a professional capacity, of course.’
    She smiled and the smile turned into a giggle, which made his heart leap. He couldn’t help but smile too.
    ‘Of course,’ she said.
    ‘And this Professor Stone sounds like a right bore. I happen to like your sparkly Converse.’
    Her smile grew even bigger and it filled his heart to see it. ‘We’ll have to see if we can get you a pair.’
    He laughed, loudly. ‘I’d like that.’
    She stared at him for a moment, before looking away, smiling to herself. ‘Right, shall we investigate this passageway, now that it seems it’s permanently open?’
    He looked over to the bookshelf and the wood that had splintered either side when he had thrown himself against it. It was never going to lock again.
    ‘We don’t have to do that today, if you’re still shaken up by the whole skeleton thing.’
    ‘Are you kidding? We’ve just found a secret passageway, aren’t you dying to know where it leads?’
    ‘Well, yes but … your happiness and wellbeing is far more important to me.’
    She looked at him and something seemed to shift between them. Was it a mutual attraction? Did she like him too but was trying really hard not to? Every nerve ending seemed to be standing to attention with her proximity. He was aware of everything about her; the shape of her lips as she smiled, the length of her lashes, the heat he could feel from her body. The faint scent of his shower gel and his shampoo on her skin was still a killer. He wanted her, he couldn’t deny it.
    He cleared his throat and stepped back