Charm Read Online Free Page A

ten than twenty. ‘She always has.’
    Her father burst out laughing. ‘Don’t be so childish!’
    She glared at him – probably childishly.
    ‘Your step-mother, well, she feels a great responsibility for what her daughters lost. For what she lost . You were too young to understand. When she left the old earl and married me their entire lives changed. And does she miss the trappings of her old life sometimes? Of course she does. I could never give her all the things she used to have. Things she’d had all her life.’ He gazed into the flames. ‘But she chose us, Cinderella. Over all of that. And she never looked back.’
    ‘You make it sound like true love.’ Cinderella snorted; it was a ridiculous thought. ‘If my mother hadn’t died, you wouldn’t have needed her.’
    ‘Oh darling,’ he smiled at her softly. ‘It was true love. It is true love. You were too young to remember it all properly. Your mother – well, she could be difficult. If she hadn’t fallen sick then I would have left her for Esme, just like Esme left the Earl for me.’
    Cinderella stared at him as cold crept up from the pit of her stomach and burned her cheeks like ice. He couldn’t mean that. He just couldn’t. ‘You’re lying.’
    Her father shook his head. ‘No. It’s true. It was true love. I was just the old Earl’s secretary, but she fell in love with me and I with her. If you’re lucky you’ll find the same thing one day.’
    ‘Not without going to a ball, I won’t!’ She got to her feet, tears stinging the back of her eyes. How could he have fallen in love with her stupid step-mother? How could he say her mother was difficult ? True, she didn’t remember her much, most of her early memories seem to just feature her father and flashes of a woman holding her close and reading her stories, but she was her mother . ‘You’re as bad as she is!’
    She stormed out and stomped up the stairs, leaving the warmth of the fire and the chocolates behind her. She slammed her bedroom door and flopped down on her bed. A few moments later her father knocked on the door but she told him to just ‘Go away!’ before burying her face in her pillow and crying. She wasn’t quite sure who she was crying for, but she knew she was completely alone. Not even her father was on her side. It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair.
    She must have eventually cried herself to sleep, because the next thing she knew, she was freezing cold on her bed and lights were being carried through the hallway, slivers of yellow moving and creeping under her bedroom door. There was a flurry of activity in the hallway; then feet coming up the stairs and her step-mother’s laughter, loud and brash, dancing up ahead of them.
    They were back.
    Cinderella wrapped her shawl around her and lit the candle by her bed as if that small flame could give some heat as well as light, and then crept over to the door. She didn’t want to face them and be drawn into conversation, but she did want to hear what they were saying. She hoped it had gone badly for them. After all, her step-mother had shamed the old Earl she’d wed by walking out on him, and although he’d died two years ago it was likely she still wouldn’t be welcome in the court circles. Even being the daughter of a lord was no shield against scandal. The sound of merry, tired giggles, however, put paid to that hope. Cinderella looked at the clock on the wall. It was just after half-past one.
    ‘Oh, Rose. How wonderful.’ Her step-mother had reached the top of the stairs and Cinderella carefully pulled her door open a fraction to hear them more clearly. ‘You danced with two Earls. Two. Can you believe it?’
    ‘It didn’t mean anything. It was just dancing.’ Rose was quieter, still down in the hallway. ‘Oh, it’s good to get these shoes off. They’re killing my feet.’
    ‘And the prince kissed your hand!’
    ‘I think he kissed everyone’s hand.’ Rose’s voice was full of good humour. She