Glass Slippers and Unicorns

by Carole Mortimer

  ‘Don’t worry.’ Darcy pulled a face as she sat down on the side of the double bed. ‘I’m not about to ask where my bedroom is, or where you’re going to sleep tonight,’ she derided.

  His eyes were narrowed as he slowly straightened from placing their cases side by side on the floor. ‘You knew Diane would expect you to share a room with me,’ he realised slowly.

  She was glad he hadn’t said ‘sleep together’, because she felt sure Diane didn’t expect them to sleep at all! That young lady had had a definite speculative gleam in her eyes when she told Reed he had his usual room. And why not? Reed had probably been a teenager the last time he hadn’t slept with the women he was dating, and that was almost twenty years ago.

  ‘It hadn’t occurred to you,’ she realised with some amusement, knowing he was totally disconcerted at the idea of them sharing a bedroom. Disconcerted didn’t begin to describe the way she felt!

  ‘No, it hadn’t.’ He sat down on the bed beside her, frowning heavily. ‘What do we do now?’

  ‘You aren’t very flattering, Reed,’ she laughed, trying to hide the pain she felt at his aversion to the idea of sharing this room with her.

  ‘This is serious, damn it,’ he scowled. ‘Acting like we’re on holiday together is one thing; this,’ he looked round at the double bed they both sat on, ‘is something else.’

  ‘Afraid Samantha will mind?’ she taunted, alluding to one of the women he was dating in London.

  ‘I hadn’t given her a thought.’ His cold dismissal couldn’t be doubted. ‘It was you I was worried about.’

  He needn’t worry about her, she would be begging to share this room with him in a moment! Couldn’t the man see that she was in love with him? His sister had seen it at a glance, a gleam of approval in the eyes that were so like Reed’s.

  She shrugged. ‘We could always move to a hotel.’

  Reed was shaking his head to that idea before she had even finished the suggestion. ‘Diane would never forgive me. God, nothing like this occurred to me,’ he breathed heavily.

  And now that it had he obviously didn’t like it! Darcy stood up. ‘It’s a big bed, Reed,’ she dismissed with a casualness she was far from feeling. ‘I doubt we would even have to touch if we didn’t want to.’

  ‘The problem is,’ Reed stood up to pace the room, ‘will we want to?’

  Darcy turned to give him a sharp look, blinking her surprise as Reed seemed to be looking at her for the first time as if she were a moderately attractive woman. He had to choose now, when her hair was in even tighter curls than usual, her make-up was non-existent, her clothes creased from the hours of travelling, and she was so tired her body knew it was really one o’clock in the morning and not the eight o’clock the bedside clock insisted it was!

  ‘Neither of us is stupid enough to believe that platonic garbage,’ he frowned. ‘When a man and woman get into bed together, body chemistry takes over.’

  Be still my beating heart, she cautioned shakily. ‘We could always ask Diane if she has a room with single beds,’ she suggested breathlessly. ‘Tell her I’m a very restless sleeper.’

  ‘That wouldn’t work,’ Reed frowned. ‘After all, I’m supposed to be in love with—Watch out!’ he cried as Darcy took a step backwards and overbalanced over the suitcases. He managed to catch her before she hit the carpeted floor. ‘Don’t tell me,’ he drawled indulgently. ‘You forgot they were there!’

  She forgot everything as he held her against him. She had never realised before, but he had gold flecks in his eyes, those specks seeming to burst into flames as their gazes remained locked. Darcy could feel a constriction in her chest, her breasts barely moving against him as she was afraid even to breathe lest she broke the spell, his eyes searching hers now, the warmth of his breath touching her mouth as his face seemed to be moving closer. Or perhaps she had been the one to move up to meet him, she didn’t know. And she didn’t care, craving the touch of the warm hardness of his mouth on hers.

  ‘I’ve brought you both—whoops!’ drawled an amused female voice that wasn’t Diane’s. ‘Maybe you should lock the door or put up a “Do Not Disturb” notice when you’re—occupied, Reed?’ the woman added derisively.

  Irritation at the interruption, and then anger, darkened his eyes as he put Darcy firmly away from him before turning to face his elder sister. ‘Maybe if you had knocked, Linda,’ he grated, taking the two glasses of what looked like iced lemonade from her hands, the obvious reason for her intrusion.

  In colouring, the two Hunter sisters were very similar, Linda also possessing that beautiful silver-blonde hair, although the silken tresses were confined in a smooth chignon on this elegant woman, and her eyes, rather than being green, were more of a turquoise colour, clear and sparkling as the Aegean Sea. But where Diane was short and slender, this woman was almost as tall as Reed, the perfection of her curves clearly visible in the turquoise bikini she wore. Another difference between the two women was the expression in their eyes; Diane’s had been warm and friendly, this woman’s were cool and questioning.

  It would be interesting meeting the men who had married these two vastly differing women!

  But if she had been looking at Linda O’Neal, then the other woman had been returning that perusal, the same surprise that Diane had shown reflected here in even greater quantity.

  ‘I know,’ Darcy decided to put an end to the silence that had fallen over the room, ‘I’m not what you were expecting. But I am a definite improvement on a man, I hope!’ Her candid gaze dared the other woman to say the ‘only just’ that seemed to be hovering on her painted lips!

  To Darcy’s surprise amusement softened the turquoise eyes. ‘If you can stand up to Reed like that—’

  ‘Oh she can—and does,’ he drawled, sipping the lemonade as he enjoyed the exchange.

  ‘Then I think you’re a definite improvement on what I was expecting!’ Linda gave a slow smile of welcome. ‘Now could you save your lovemaking until later,’ she drawled with a return of the arrogance that was so like Reed’s. ‘The steaks are almost cooked, and you know how upset Diane gets if anyone delays her barbecues.’

  Heady perfume lingered in the air as she left as suddenly as she had arrived, and Darcy turned to look at Reed with raised eyebrows.

  He grimaced. ‘Maybe we should have stopped over in Orlando after all. Meeting the whole family en masse like this when we’re tired from travelling and they aren’t hardly seems fair.’

  She grinned. ‘I think we’re holding up very well.’

  ‘Tell me if you still feel that way once you’ve met Mike, too!’

  Mike Hunter proved to be a younger version of Reed, with none of his arrogance. And on closer inspection he had blue eyes, not green.

  Talking of closer inspections, the whole family seemed to be giving her one! Reed had suggested that, as they were late, and the pool was readily available, they might as well forgo the showers they had intended taking and change straight into swimwear, offering her the use of the bedroom while he went into the adjoining bathroom. She hadn’t realised when she threw the bikini in her suitcase in England that it would bear the brunt of so much critical appraisal only minutes after her arrival in Orlando!

  Diane was helping a red-haired giant of a man with laughing blue eyes and a cheeky grin as he cooked steaks over the barbecue; Linda was on a lounger next to a tall, dark-haired man with serious dark eyes; and a woman, who she guessed had to be Mike’s wife, sat on the edge of the pool with her feet dangling in the water, her black hair gleaming ebony as she turned around, sensing the sudden interest in the newcomers, her advanced pregnancy becoming obvious as she did so. And then there was Mike Hunter, proving to be just as devastatingly formed in the black swimming trunks as Reed had when he had emerged from the bathroom minutes ago. Although of similar height and build to his brother, the younger man seemed to have none of Reed’s reserve. In fact, far from it!

  ‘Welcome to Florida.’ He kissed her familiarly on the mouth. ‘T
he state of oranges, Disney World, and the occasional forest fire raging out of control.’

  ‘And the Hunters,’ the red-haired giant murmured mockingly.

  ‘Don’t be put off,’ Mike grinned. ‘We’re not a bad lot really. Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone.’

  ‘Reed…?’ She turned to him appealingly as Mike dragged her off; he shrugged his shoulders defeatedly.

  ‘Don’t worry, you’re safe with me,’ Mike assured her suggestively.

  The woman sitting at the pool’s edge laughed at Darcy’s slightly dazed expression. ‘You are safe, Darcy, because Mike knows I’d punch him out if he did more than look.’

  Mike looked sheepish at the taunting rebuke from the tiny dark-haired woman. ‘It’s hell being a prospective father!’ he confided woefully.

  Marie only laughed again. She was obviously of Italian descent, one or two generations removed. Darcy decided she liked her.

  In fact she liked all of the Hunter family, from the flirtatious Mike, the pretty Marie, the beautiful Diane, and the sophisticated Linda, to the quietly spoken man with the dark hair, and the man with the red hair who looked as if he didn’t take anything in life seriously. It was the latter two that surprised her; the red-haired giant cooking the steaks turned out to be Linda’s lawyer husband, Wade O’Neal, and the man with the serious dark eyes was Chris Donavan, Diane’s hotel-owner husband. She would have put them the other way round. Still, they said opposites attracted. Maybe there was hope for her and Reed yet!

  She certainly couldn’t believe any of his family was involved in leaking those business deals. Three of the people here were his siblings, the other two men good friends of his; only Marie seemed to be in the least an outsider. And she refused to believe that Reed’s heavily pregnant sister-in-law could be responsible.

  No wonder Reed was so bewildered.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ‘COME on, let’s go for a swim.’ Reed grabbed hold of her hand, his own momentum having her running at his side in seconds, the two of them hitting the water together.

  The shock of the water’s coldness sent her fighting back towards the surface, blinking to clear her vision, water cascading over her face.

  Reed surfaced several feet away, swimming lazily across the pool to join her. ‘I’m sorry,’ he frowned as he watched her shake the water from her hair, ‘I forgot all about your contact lenses.’

  ‘You forgot?’ she teased, treading water at his side.

  ‘Touche,’ he drawled. ‘Did you lose your contacts?’

  ‘Didn’t you know?’ She grinned, feeling a hundred per cent better now that she was in the cool water. ‘You can do anything in them!’

  Dark brows rose over mocking eyes. ‘Anything?’

  ‘So they tell me.’

  ‘Don’t you know?’

  ‘Well, not about everything, no,’ she teased. ‘But give me time.’

  ‘Feeling better now?’ he prompted abruptly. ‘You looked as if you were about to collapse from the strain a few minutes ago,’ he explained, at her questioning look.

  Her humour faded as she glanced across to where his family were talking and laughing together as they prepared dinner. ‘It wasn’t because of the heat. I—’

  Suddenly he was very close, his legs brushing against hers as they moved together in the water. ‘I know it distresses you that it might be one of the family that’s involved in this,’ he frowned. ‘But I just want you to enjoy yourself and let me deal with that.’

  ‘But—’ Her concerned protest was abruptly halted by the descent of his mouth on to hers, and Darcy felt dizzy all over again, her lids fluttering closed, her body betraying her as it curved warmly into Reed’s, her arms moving silkily about his neck. The kiss changed, became exploratory, searching, demanding, as Darcy sighed her satisfaction at being in his arms at last.

  ‘You two seem to be living on love instead of food,’ Linda drawled from the side of the pool. ‘But if you want to eat tonight you had better get out; dinner is definitely served!’

  ‘Leave them alone, Linda,’ Mike complained. ‘I was enjoying the floor show.’

  ‘Pervert!’ Diane rebuked good-naturedly.

  ‘Not at all,’ her younger brother refuted. ‘There was something very pure about that kiss.’

  ‘Pure?’ Wade scorned. ‘They—’

  Darcy couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away from Reed’s, locked in the warm sensuality that had engulfed them, the emotion seeming to have taken Reed completely by surprise. But not Darcy. She had always known that if ever Reed were to take her in his arms she would meld in to him. She had been proved correct, had felt like the other half of him.

  ‘Reed,’ Diane prompted impatiently. ‘You and Darcy are the guests of honour!’

  ‘Does that mean the rest of us were an afterthought?’ Mike mused without rancour.

  ‘It means you all invited yourselves,’ Diane returned. ‘Reed—’

  ‘Leave them alone, honey.’ Her husband spoke quietly. ‘Can’t you see they’re in love?’

  Darcy saw by the sudden wariness in Reed’s eyes that he had heard that last remark at least—and he hadn’t liked it. He should have been pleased; at least his family were convinced of their relationship. But he looked far from pleased as he swam to the side of the pool, levering himself out on to the side before turning to hold out a hand to assist her from the water. He released her as soon as he was politely able to do so.

  ‘Did you have a chance to meet Mom before she went on her cruise?’ Diane asked as they all sat around the pool with plates of steak, baked potato, and salad.

  ‘Darcy drove down to the boat with us,’ Reed answered for her.

  ‘Great, isn’t she?’ Wade grinned, not looking in the least as Darcy expected a lawyer to look. And not seeming at all the sophisticated man she would have expected Linda to marry, the quietly reserved Chris seeming more her type than this big bluff man.

  ‘You didn’t say that the day she muddled the gears on your car and drove straight through the garage doors,’ his wife taunted drily.

  Wade grimaced at the reminder. ‘OK, so she’s a great mother-in-law at a distance.’ He shrugged.

  ‘Oh, and what about the time she—’

  ‘Darcy isn’t interested in hearing all about Mother’s “accidents",’ said Reed, cutting in on his brother abruptly.

  ‘You wouldn’t be here if she didn’t have those accidents,’ Diane bubbled. ‘She muddled up her dates and thought she would be safe.’

  ‘Diane!’ Reed frowned at her.

  She returned that frown, obviously taken aback by his sharpness. ‘You know, you’ve changed since you moved back to England.’

  That was because, even if he had once been able to talk teasingly with his family about his mother’s absent-mindedness, he no longer found it funny when he was discovering he had a secretary almost as bad!

  Reed shrugged. ‘I’m sorry.’

  Diane flushed uncomfortably. ‘No, I am. I was so pleased when you rang to say you were coming over and now I’m arguing with you.’

  ‘We should have let you and Darcy have at least one evening alone before descending on you,’ Mike acknowledged ruefully. ‘I suppose we were all curious.’

  ‘About Darcy,’ Reed drawled knowingly.

  Mike gave an inclination of his head. ‘When my dedicatedly single brother telephoned to say he was bringing a girl home, I’m afraid you couldn’t keep any of us away!’

  ‘I noticed,’ Reed grimaced, regret darkening his eyes as he met Darcy’s gaze. ‘You didn’t think meeting all of you like this might put Darcy off?’

  ‘Hey, we aren’t that bad,’ Wade protested.

  ‘You’re worse!’ Reed amended indulgently, relaxing slightly. ‘It’s like walking into a scene from the Waltons!’

  ‘And which part do you play?’ Linda drawled. ‘Pa?’

  ‘Over you lot?’ Reed returned without rancour. ‘Never! But you have to admit Darcy has the hair and freckles to play Eliza
beth!’

  Darcy felt very self-conscious as they all turned to look at the riotous red curls covering her head, even tighter than they usually were as they were allowed to dry naturally after her swim. As for the freckles, they could never be doubted!

  She was familiar with the television programme about the large Walton family set during the nineteen-thirties and forties, and she didn’t think she liked being compared to the carrot-haired girl with the sinus problem that played the part of the youngest member of the family.

  ‘The programme never seemed to be the same to me after John-Boy grew a foot from one series to the next!’ she said drily, alluding to the fact that the first actor to play the oldest son in the series had decided to leave and his replacement had topped him by at least a foot—even if he did have the original man’s blond hair and mole on his cheek!

  ‘That’s an American institution you’re maligning,’ Chris derided mockingly.

  Darcy smiled at him shyly, feeling a little as if she had an affinity with him, both of them less extrovert than the rest of the family. ‘I like the programme, I just—’

  ‘Uh uh,’ Mike shook his head. ‘You can’t back down now,’ he said with relish.

  ‘I wasn’t trying to—’

  ‘We may never recover from this crushing blow,’ he continued in a wounded voice.

  ‘Pipe down, Mike,’ his wife scorned. ‘You only watched the programme twice!’

  ‘Who wants to watch a programme about a houseful of children when you grew up in one! Even Chris and Wade were always at the house before you two married them!’ he told his sisters disgustedly.

  ‘College friends of mine,’ Reed supplied, as Darcy looked puzzled.

  ‘I think you’re very wise not to have told her too much about us, Reed,’ Linda mused. ‘She probably would have been put off.’

  ‘There’s no might have about it,’ Marie derided. ‘I almost was.’