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

1. Tropical Escape

[INTRO: University student Cara thinks her happiness is over when she flees to Sri Lanka to escape heartbreak and betrayal. She's vowed never to let another man into her heart, let alone her bed.

England cricket captain Matt Curran is increasingly fed up with his famous but demanding girlfriend and the stresses of dating in the public eye. He's hoping the overseas tour will provide a welcome break from women.

Neither of them are looking for more complications... and an attraction they can't resist.]

Lying on the beach, warmed by the tropical sun under the dappled shade of a palm tree, the grey misery of London seemed very far away. The sand was soft under her skin, the sky azure above, and a whole week of golden days and balmy nights stretched before her.

It was heartbreak that had impelled Cara to book a last minute holiday to Sri Lanka. She hadn't even thought or cared about where she went, she just wanted to get away. At twenty-one, after Declan's betrayal, she thought her whole life and happiness were over.

As a student she didn't have a lot of money to spend on her trip. After turning down a few cheap Spanish resorts for fear of being surrounded by couples and too many people in general, she'd found a last minute deal to Sri Lanka at an amazing price. A cancellation holiday, the travel agent had told her. Being sold for a fraction of the price because she had to travel the very next day.

Cara took it. She had no one to leave and nothing to lose. Anymore, anyway. A week in the sun would burn away her misery and leave her reenergised and ready to face the world again.

Here, on this island paradise, she didn't want to think about Declan. But the hurt and the betrayal haunted her. He said he had been happy for them to wait until marriage, so why had he indulged in the brassy charms of his secretary Lucinda? Cara felt so stupid, so humiliated. Declan had obviously planned for her to be the sweet and innocent little wife, while he privately enjoyed a string of mistresses.

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by an unwelcome shower of sand. It was flung all over her, sticking to the sun oil on her body.

Furious, she sat up and saw the culprit. A red cricket ball had landed on the beach next to her, clearly with some force given the amount of sand it had thrown up.

Just as she looked around to find out who had thrown it, a man came running towards her with a cricket bat in his hand.

"Yours, I take it?" she said, her annoyance clear in the coolness of her tone.

He scowled instead of apologising. "This is a private beach. There wasn't supposed to be anyone else on here."

Eclipsed against the sun, Cara saw that he was tall, rugged and very bronzed. There was something familiar about him, though she was sure they'd never met.

In the distance she saw several other men, clearly in the progress of playing beach cricket. They hadn't been there when she had arrived and settled herself at the far end of the beach.

"The hotel concierge directed me here," she told him.

"You're staying at the Pavilion?" When she nodded he looked even more annoyed. "My apologies for disturbing your sunbathing." He sounded anything but sorry.

"It's quite alright, I was due for a swim," she said.

His eyes flicked over her body in its bikini, far skimpier than she usually wore because it wasn't summer holiday season in England and there hadn't been much choice in the shops.

Cara felt herself flush and hoped her growing tan would hide it.

For a moment he lingered. She thought he was about to say something else so she waited.