Cinders & Ash: A Cinderella Story (Passion-Filled Fairy Tales Book 3) by Rosetta Bloom Page A

tall blond man?”
    Ash nodded, but didn’t speak.
    “Yes, he wanted to know if I would come to him, too, or maybe he could get another girl and the four of us could have our fun.”
    Ash’s mouth dropped open. “He said that to you?”
    She nodded. “But, it’s alright. It was good for me to hear. It crystallized for me exactly why I shouldn’t do this. Still, I appreciate your kindness, Ash. You have always been kind to me.”
    His eyes grew distant for a moment, as if he was mulling over what to say. “I’m sorry,” he said finally. “When I said that I always went after the thing I wanted, I said it not to call you a thing, but because it was the only experience I knew. In the past, all that I have ever wanted have been things. It isn’t until I was with you that I wanted a someone. You’re the first someone I’ve ever wanted.”
    It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her. Ash leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. She kissed him back and it felt sweet and kind and right. She pulled away. She needed to stop this. Or did she? She wasn’t sure. “When it’s just the two of us, and you touch me like that, I am happy,” she said. Lying in his arms the other night had felt like a secret joy that no one, not even Lady Kenna who had already taken so much from her, could sully. “But when I get handed that little bag of coins, it sucks it all away and a ball of disgust and shame settles in my gut that I can’t shake. I don’t say that I should feel this way. And perhaps it is stupid for me to feel this way, but I only know what I feel. I can’t keep doing this with you.”
    He sighed. “And what do you intend to do for money instead?” he asked. “You can’t keep working for this mistress of yours, the one who beats you that way.”
    Ella shook her head. “Of course not,” she said. “Let me show you. I have another plan.” She reached into her basket and pulled out the drawing pad that Uncle Bart had given her. Holding it so Ash could see, she thumbed through the drawings until she found pictures of lemon balm and marjoram. “See,” she said.
    “And how does this help you?” he asked.
    She laughed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t explain very well, did I?” She started at the beginning, telling him the whole tale of how she began working for the apothecary, and how her lady had ended that. “Well, the shopkeeper promised my lady he wouldn’t hire me. However, it is the son who wishes to embark on his own and needs the plant guide. I thought I could convince the son to pay me for the duties, but not tell my mistress. That way, I could still earn the money I need.”
    Ash frowned, but a moment later, he got a twinkle in his hazel eyes. “Do you only draw plants?”
    “No. I draw other things,” she said, turning a few pages back to a picture of her house. “This is a country home I pass from time to time. I stopped and drew it the other day.”
    He nodded, but didn’t seem interested. “May I see the drawings?”
    Ella hesitated. She never really showed people her personal drawings. She wondered briefly if it was a good idea. But, since she was likely not going to see Ash again, she realized it couldn’t hurt. She handed him her book.
    He turned the pages and stopped on a portrait of her father. It was a picture of him as Ella remembered him best — from a day when they’d come here to the Crystal Pond as a family. She smiled at the thought.
    “This gentleman is dear to you?” he asked, his voice strained and even resentful to Ella’s ears.
    She touched his arm and said, “As dear as any man ever was. He is my father.”
    Ash smiled. “I thought for a moment that he was a suitor.”
    Ella shook her head. “No, I have no suitor,” she said. “At least none that I can seriously consider.”
    “But you have one?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
    Ella noted the uptake in interest, the edge in his voice when he spoke. It occurred to her for the first