Man of the Match: hot celebrity romance (FULL NOVEL)

23. Interference

[RECAP: Matt has finally confronted Miggy who confessed the baby isn't his, and they've split up.]

Despite everyone telling her the morning sickness would get better in the second trimester, Cara actually felt worse. She'd had to miss lectures that morning because she felt so queasy. She had a routine doctor's appointment in the afternoon so decided to rest at home until then.

Ann and Fiona were reluctant to leave her but she assured them she would be alright. "I'm not actually ill. Once this passes I'll be fine."

So she stayed at home, sipping herbal tea and hoping that the horrible feeling of nausea and dizziness would subside. Because she was at a low ebb, when the doorbell went she opened it without thinking to put the chain across first.

"Hello Cara."

It was Declan. He stepped inside the door before she could try and tell him to go away. She was too weak to force him to leave so she let him come in. Maybe it was time for that final conversation.

"Are you ill?" He saw that she was wearing a dressing gown at a time when she was normally up and about.

"Not exactly. Just not one hundred per cent."

"If you'll only come back with me I could look after you," he said. "You shouldn't be alone like this."

She was going to have to tell him or he would never give up. She plucked up her courage.

"Declan, it's over between us, absolutely. Things have changed for me. Even if I wanted to get back with you, and I don't, there are other things going on now."

"Is there someone else?"

Cara was startled by the hostility and fury in his eyes as he asked this.

"No. Not any more. But there was, and I'm pregnant."

"You bloody whore." He suddenly slapped her across the face. Stunned, she pressed her hand to her cheek, terrified. He had never been like this before, never shown any predisposition to violence.

Declan dropped down to sit on a chair and put his head in his hands.

He was talking and muttering to himself now, starting to rant. "All the same. Nothing but bitches betraying you, sleeping with every man in sight. Just can't keep their legs shut. But maybe it's a sign. Maybe I'm meant to save her."

Cara realised there was something seriously wrong with him. She was very frightened.

He looked up at her and it was as though he was another person. He smiled at her but it was like a mask. "It's OK, we can do this together. You and me and the baby. I'll take care of everything. You don't have to worry about anything any more. It is my baby but you've just forgotten."

The fear and the nausea were overcoming her. "I have to go to the bathroom." She dashed there and closed the door. She wished desperately that she could lock the door, there had been a key but someone had lost it. With just being three girls it hadn't been a priority to call a locksmith, you could just hang an "occupied" sign on the door if you needed to.

She vomited, feeling weak and shaky. She was fearful Declan would try to come in but he didn't. She sat on the floor, leaning against the bathtub. She was so tired. Maybe if she just put her head down on a towel for a moment the room would stop spinning.

Feeling safer inside the bathroom, despite the lack of lock, she curled up on the floor and lay there, exhausted, not wanting to move. Hoping that Declan would go, or that Fiona or Ann would come back. Wishing desperately that she was anywhere else except stuck, sick, in a house with a clearly disturbed and possibly dangerous ex-boyfriend.