Free The Reluctant Cinderella by Christine Rimmer Page B

official. We got the contract.”
    â€œOh, my! Well, isn’t that terrific?”
    â€œYeah, I’m pretty jazzed.”
    â€œOh, I’ll bet. Tell me everything.”
    So Megan launched into a description of the meeting in her offices. When she mentioned Gregory, Sr., Carly sat forward. “How is Gregory?”
    â€œWell, he liked what we had to show him. But I can’t say he’s the most outgoing guy in the world.”
    Carly looked serious. “Yes. It’s true. He’s a…difficult person to get to know.” Carly’s frown deepened. She seemed vaguely distressed.
    â€œAre you…all right, Carly?”
    She blinked. “Oh, yes. Fine. Go on….”
    Megan did, wrapping it up as quickly and simply as possible, ending at the point when the Banning’s executives got in their limousines and headed back to the city. She totally failed to mention the central fact that Greg had stayed behind.
    Instead, she waited, certain that Carly was going to ask about Greg, and promising herself that she wouldn’t lie, that she’d tell the whole truth and face the music right there and then.
    But Carly only said, “That’s great. Really great.”
    Guilty relief poured through Megan. “Thank you again. And, you know, I’ve really got to run…” Shefelt awful. Small. Like a liar and a coward. Probably because she was both of those things.
    And Carly seemed—what? Disappointed. Yes. That was it. Disappointed that Megan had nothing to volunteer about Greg. Disappointed, but apparently unwilling this time around to actually ask about him. She offered yet again, “A piece of cake? You’re sure?”
    â€œThanks, but no.” Megan bounced to her feet and headed for the foyer. “Just wanted to, you know, tell you how it went….”
    Carly rose and followed her to the door. “I’m just thrilled it turned out so well.”
    â€œYes. Thank you for everything. It’s terrific. I’m excited.” Oh, and did I mention I’m also a big, fat liar and a snake in the grass…?
    â€œGlad I could help.” Carly opened the door for her and Megan escaped with a quick wave and a last, lying smile.
    Â 
    Megan hardly slept at all that night. Guilt and shame and self-disgust will do that to a person.
    She lay in bed hating herself for what she had done with Greg that afternoon, and the way she had lied, by omission, to Carly. Megan despised herself—well, when she wasn’t longing for the man she was never going to have.
    She relived that forbidden kiss a hundred times. And each time she did so, she promised herself she was putting Greg Banning strictly out of her mind.
    Out of her mind.
    Interesting word choice. Oh, yeah. Because she was out of her mind—out of her mind with yearning for a guy she wasn’t ever going to kiss again.
    About five-thirty in the morning, she finally gave up all hope for sleep. Feeling stir-crazy in her little apartment, she put on her robe and slippers and crossed the breezeway to Angela’s, where she brewed a pot of coffee and sat at the kitchen island to watch the sunrise through the window that looked out on the backyard.
    â€œWhat’s up?” Angela stood in the doorway from the back hall, barefoot, in a knee-length sleep shirt, her soft blond hair tousled.
    â€œNothing.” Another lie. But a tiny one, a lie that was nothing compared to Megan’s lies of yesterday, when she’d sat in Carly’s den and told her everything but what really mattered. “Just watching the sun come up.” She gestured over her shoulder at the pot on the counter. “I made coffee….”
    Angela padded over and got herself a cup. She slid onto the stool next to Megan. For a moment, the sisters stared out the window and sipped their morning coffee in companionable silence.
    Megan found herself thinking of their childhood, of how she and Angela had been