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

14. Devastation

[RECAP: Matt is shocked to find out when he gets back to England that Miggy has told the media she's pregnant. He's worried about what Cara will think.]

She was devastated. She felt like a fool.

Ann had unwittingly left a copy of one of that day's newspapers on the coffee table. The very day that Matt was due back, and Cara had almost been boiling over in anticipation, literally counting the days.

When she saw the headline - stark in black and white with a photo of Matt below - she couldn't move for a moment. Or breathe.

All her perception of the future, her hopes, even her intuition that he possibly shared her feelings, had been a lie. She felt utterly betrayed.

She also knew for the first time how she really felt about him. She loved him. Matt Curran. She was in love with him: heart, body and soul.

And he was lost to her forever. Utterly, completely gone.

She had to sit down for a moment. Dazed, she couldn't even touch the paper to read it. To see if maybe there was a twist, maybe there was some other explanation.

"Matt and Miggy's baby joy!"

What other possible explanation could there be?

The shattering realisation was that he must have known. For them to announce it now, he must have known all along. All the time he had spent with her in Sri Lanka, all the things he had said, all in the knowledge that he had not just a girlfriend back home, but a pregnant girlfriend.

Eventually she managed to pick the newspaper up and actually read it. It could have been talking about any celebrity couple, the same phrasing, the same piece of information. But it wasn't about anyone: it was about Matt.

Fiona found Cara sitting there staring numbly at the wall. She hadn't responded when Fiona called hello on entering the flat. Puzzled, the other girl glanced at the newspaper that was now half sliding off the table.

"Oh god. What a complete bastard. From what you said..."

She left it hanging. They both knew what she meant.

"He was your first, wasn't he? It always hurts the worst."

Cara, through her anguish, was glad of Fiona. She understood these things. She didn't condemn.

"I had no idea. I feel so stupid."

"Don't. Men can just be total bastards when they're trying to get you in the sack." Fiona sat down by Cara in solidarity.

Not that he'd even had to try very hard, Cara thought, ashamed. She'd been cheating with someone who had a pregnant partner. Even though she may not have known, it made the whole thing seem so much worse now. So sordid.

At the time it had been elevating, like a perfect dream.

"I just thought..."

"You thought he was different? Yeah, so do we all. Every time we fall for it. But it's always the same."

"Why did he say all those things then? Why not just end it like he always planned to?" Cara asked. At least she now understood his initial insistence that it was just a fling, that it couldn't go anywhere.

Fiona shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe he really did fall for you. Maybe he had some wild plan where he would try to be with you. If he's now thought better of it, it's for the best. You really wouldn't want to be with a man that's having a child with someone else. It's not like dating a widower with kids, or something."