Fairytale Beginnings by Holly Martin Read Free Book Online Page B

rolled off the plate onto the floor, where Gregory immediately gobbled it up.
    ‘If you don’t want it, give it to Gregory, I’m sure he’d be much more appreciative.’
    She took her plate and sat down opposite him. With no words in his head, he sat down too.
    He speared a mushroom on his fork and tried to swallow it, eventually forcing it down his throat. ‘I’m sorry.’
    She nodded, curtly.
    ‘This is lovely, thank you,’ he said, quietly.
    She continued eating her breakfast in silence, refusing to look at him. He tore his eyes away and stared at his food.
    Milly finished her meal first and looked across the table towards him. ‘Oh I forgot to tell you,’ she said, lightly, as if the conversation minutes before hadn’t even happened. ‘The hole I fell down yesterday. It wasn’t a hole.’
    He took a big slurp of tea. If she wanted to play it like this then he could pretend to be civil too. ‘It wasn’t? What was it?’
    ‘A passageway, from the castle.’
    His eyes widened in surprise, his forced pretence completely forgotten. ‘A secret tunnel?’
    ‘Yes. It had collapsed, so there was no way for me to get back, but it might be worth at least seeing where the secret passageway started. I wonder if it was originally a priests’ bolt hole.’
    ‘Well that’s interesting.’
    ‘Very,’ Milly agreed. ‘Why don’t I get dressed and we can do a bit of investigating?’
    He nodded and watched her go.

    M illy joined Cameron back in the kitchen and he stood up, his eyes scanning over her for a brief moment. She doubted it was an appreciative gesture. She was wearing long denim shorts, a red and white polka dot shirt and purple sequined Converse trainers. It was a defiant gesture, sticking two fingers up at the professionalism he so desperately wanted. Besides, she doubted whether anything she wore would gain his approval. He really didn’t seem to like her much. The chemistry she had felt between them was very clearly one sided.
    He was right though, making breakfast for him was a bit too domesticated. Despite his hostile attitude to her staying with him, somehow she felt at home here, she felt completely at ease pottering about his kitchen making tea and food and it made no sense to feel like that. But he didn’t like the cosy arrangement and she could understand why, so maybe it would be best to eat separately from now on.
    ‘I think we should go back out to the hole first, get an idea of which direction the tunnel was going in. The parts of the passage that I could see through the rubble seemed straight, so once we have an idea of which area of the castle the tunnel was pointing towards, that will tell us where to start looking.’
    ‘Good idea.’ Cameron nodded.
    Well, he was clearly going to try to be pleasant and polite even if he didn’t want her here. At least for now.
    He opened the door for her like the perfect gentleman.
    ‘By the way, for your information, I am wearing a bra.’
    His face split into a huge genuine smile. ‘That’s good to know.’
    She strode ahead of him. Despite the earliness of the morning the heat hit her almost as soon as she stepped out. There was no shelter from it here on the cliff tops and she liked the way the castle seemed to bask in the sunlight. With its blue roofs and pale sandstone walls, it had a slightly Mediterranean feel.
    Cameron caught her arm and nudged her in a slightly different direction.
    ‘Here, watch your step, the hole is right in front of you,’ he said. ‘We don’t want a repeat of last night. I’m surprised you didn’t hurt yourself – that was quite a big fall.’
    She stopped and knelt next to the hole, poking her head in to try to see which direction the tunnel went, but she couldn’t see it at all. The area under the hole was too big and she couldn’t see any of the walls.
    She sat back on her heels to look at Cameron and he was watching her with a smile of amusement on his face.
    ‘I need you to hold my legs and lower me