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

29. Graduation

[RECAP: Cara and Matt spent some time together after the police arrested her deranged ex-fiancé Declan.]

For the next few weeks Cara filled her head with revision for her finals. Beyond that swirled a mix of terror and joy, heightened by the overall stress and adrenaline of exam time.

Joy of course came from now officially being with Matt. He phoned her constantly and sent her flowers. She was also joyful about her pregnancy which was now something to look forward to so much more. She could be open about it, she didn't have to hide who the father was. To her close friends and family, anyway. Wider acquaintances still had no idea that Cara's boyfriend Matt was not just someone she had "met on holiday who works in London" but actually a household name.

Then there was terror. Part of this came from flashes of insecurity about Matt. Cara was still worried that she might not be enough for him. She still compared herself to the glamorous women like Miggy he had dated previously. But her confidence in his love was steadily growing.

Then there was the fear of Declan. She had a restraining order against him but he had got bail, given it was a first offence, and she would have to face him again at his trial. She didn't know if he would come after her again. If he did, and breached the order, he would go straight into custody. But she didn't want to take the risk of that. Instead she had to avoid ever being alone. Matt had given her a phone which she carried everywhere, just in case.

Finally there was the fear of everything hitting the press. For as long as nothing happened it felt like they were in limbo. She wanted it to be over, but she knew as soon as Miggy's baby arrived she would be flung into the centre of it all. Matt had warned her about this. He hoped to protect her as much as possible but she would still probably have her photo all over the newspapers.

JJ had advised them that curiosity would be immense. He was already fielding inquiries from gossip column journalists who detected something was up between Matt and Miggy as they hadn't been photographed together in weeks. Matt had refused to fake an ongoing relationship, mainly out of respect for Cara. She had told him that she didn't mind if it made things easier, but Matt minded. He wanted to run things on his own terms now, not those of Miggy and her publicist.

* * *

July arrived and with it Cara's graduation as well as the Ashes test match series between England and Australia.

England had lost the first two tests but Matt had played valiantly, motivated by the fact that Cara was watching. He had wanted to get her VIP tickets but she preferred to lie low. Instead she sat with the Hilliers. The grounds for the international games were so large and packed with spectators that she managed to avoid being seen by the other players. Chris knew about her of course, she had met him several times now through Matt and they were already becoming firm friends.

"Such an astonishing turn of events," Evelyn Hillier remarked, not for the first time. "But I did feel, my dear, when you stayed with us that the situation was not yet played out." She had also urged Cara to come and stay again with them before the birth.

Peter Hillier was even more complimentary about Matt's playing in Cara's presence, which she found nice but embarrassing.

Matt managed to make it to her graduation between matches. He had met her parents who liked him very much, all the more so due to his role in helping rescue Cara from Declan.

Fiona took the lead and introduced Matt as her cousin to anyone who asked, and then had to field endless requests for test match tickets from their university friends. Both she had Cara had graduated with high honours and were in a buoyant mood.