Glass Slippers and Unicorns

by Carole Mortimer

  ‘Maybe I should keep you around all the time, Reed,’ she teased as she deftly used the small mirror from her bag to put back the contact lens. ‘These things have a habit of popping out when you least expect them to.’

  ‘Was that an offer?’

  She looked at him sharply. Had it been an offer? Her breasts still tingled with an unaccustomed warmth from his touch, but she had meant to avert the tension there had suddenly been between them, not make it worse. And she really wasn’t in the mood for another one of his hurtful rejections. Besides, there had been Jason. Reed would never understand about him.

  ‘If it takes you this long to try and think of an answer then I guess it couldn’t have been,’ Reed dismissed lightly, taking hold of her arm as they slowly made their way back to the exit. ‘Formal dinner or hamburger?’ he asked once they arrived back at the car.

  ‘Hamburger,’ she answered instantly, having become addicted to American hamburgers on a previous trip to New York with Reed.

  He smiled, as if he had already known what her answer would be.

  Darcy enjoyed her meal, having worked up quite an appetite after hours of walking, looking up after dabbing delicately at the mayonnaise on her chin to find Reed watching her with amused eyes. ‘At least I didn’t have two, like some people did!’ she defended.

  He held up his hands defensively. ‘Did I say anything?’

  ‘You didn’t need to.’ She preceded him from the restaurant as he held the door open for her, feeling a surge of excitement through her body as his arm dropped casually about her shoulders.

  ‘You know, it—’

  ‘I don’t want any trouble, just hand over your cash!’

  Reed’s fingers dug into Darcy’s shoulder at the harsh instruction; Darcy had frozen at the first sound of the threatening voice, finding herself looking at a youth with a gun in his pocket—pointed at them!

  Reed straightened slowly. ‘Now look,’ he began in a reasoning tone.

  ‘Give him the money, Reed!’ Darcy bit out forcefully, the words dragged from deep inside her.

  He gave her a frowning look, concern darkening his eyes at the rigidity of her body, stark fear in her eyes. ‘Honey, it’s all right—’

  How could he say anything was all right when there was a youth pointing a gun at them! ‘Reed, give him the money,’ she choked shakily. ‘Just give him what he wants!’ Her voice rose hysterically.

  ‘Darcy—’

  ‘Reed!’ She almost screeched his name at the top of her lungs.

  ‘I said I didn’t want any trouble, lady.’ The youth, probably no more than twenty or so, looked around them nervously; the car park was empty of people but themselves. ‘You heard her,’ he taunted Reed. ‘Just give me your cash and I’ll go away.’

  ‘Darcy, he probably doesn’t even have a gun—’

  ‘Would you like me to prove that?’ The youth made a threatening gesture.

  ‘Reed!’ She was shaking so badly now she was having difficulty standing up, knew she was going to collapse, her fascinated gaze fixed on the pocket that held the gun. If he should shoot—! ‘Here,’ she pulled her own purse out of her bag and threw the whole thing to the surprised youth. ‘Now please, please go away!’

  He seemed satisfied with the amount of dollars padding out the purse, running over to the motorbike parked a short distance away after throwing the empty purse on the ground, and accelerating away at top speed.

  Reed still looked stunned by the way Darcy had taken the initiative.

  But all Darcy could see was the gun in the man’s pocket, as memories of another gun, the coldness of the steel pointing at her, flooded her mind.

  She could hear the scream, see the blood, feel the blackness, before she fell.

  CHAPTER SIX

  ‘MOM telephoned this after—’ Diane broke off her chatter as Reed all but carried the numbed Darcy into the house. ‘What happened?’ she demanded to know in a calm voice.

  ‘We were robbed,’ Reed grated. ‘He had a gun. Darcy—well you can see for yourself!’ he said worriedly as the woman in his arms gave a shudder at the mention of the gun.

  Darcy knew what they were thinking, knew they thought she was practically comatose, even though her gaze was fixed fearfully ahead. But she knew what was happening around her even if she no longer had any control over it, docilely allowing Reed to take her into the lounge and put her on the sofa. Within seconds he was holding a glass of brandy up to her lips. She shook her head wordlessly; it didn’t help, she knew that from experience. She had tried it all in the past, drink and pills, but nothing blocked out the shock and horror of what had happened.

  ‘She’s in shock.’ Reed turned to his sister from his kneeling position in front of Darcy. ‘I think we should call your doctor—’

  ‘No,’ Darcy cut in dully.

  He turned back to her sharply; it was the first word she had spoken since she had begged the youth to go away. ‘God, Darcy, I’ve been so worried about you.’ He cupped one side of her face with a gentle hand. ‘Sweetheart—’

  ‘I was so frightened,’ she shuddered again.

  ‘I know you were,’ he soothed. ‘Honey, you have to put it out of your mind—’

  ‘Rupert told me it was the law of averages,’ she continued as if he hadn’t interrupted. ‘It couldn’t happen to me again he said.’ Her eyes were unfocused. ‘But he was wrong, so very wrong—’

  ‘Darcy, what are you saying?’ Reed gripped her shoulders. ‘Have you been robbed like this before, is that why you were so determined to give him the money?’

  ‘I told them I couldn’t leave the house any more.’ She spoke again as if she hadn’t heard him—as indeed she hadn’t. ‘Rupert said the chances of it happening again were so remote as to be non-existent,’ she repeated shrilly.

  ‘I’ll go and call the doctor, Reed,’ Diane spoke quietly. ‘I think you should put her into bed.’

  Darcy felt herself being lifted, her head flopping against Reed’s shoulders as he carried her through to the bedroom, too weak to do anything but let him take control. She sat on the side of the bed while he undressed her and lay her beneath the bedclothes, her hand held limply in his as she stared up at the ceiling.

  But she didn’t see the wood panels above her; she could only see the calloused hand jerking as the shot was fired, the roaring sound simultaneous with the movement, the woman’s body falling, falling, to lie in a pool of blood. God, the blood—!

  She began to scream, not even knowing she was doing it, the hysterical sobbing seeming as if it came from far away.

  ‘It’s all right, Darcy, it’s only me,’ Reed assured her as she stirred panic-stricken in his arms.

  She began to tremble as the memory of that afternoon’s horror came back to her.

  ‘I have you safe, Darcy,’ Reed soothed softly as he felt her panic increase.

  Where were they? In bed. But it certainly wasn’t one of the single beds she had previously occupied. Yet the room was familiar as she looked at the masculine furniture bathed in the glow given off by the small bedside lamp. It was the room she and Reed were originally to have occupied, the two of them sharing the double bed.

  And it was night outside.

  ‘The doctor sedated you, Darcy.’ Reed seemed to guess her thoughts, still maintaining his hold of her. ‘How do you feel now?’

  Like she had two years ago, as if someone had hit her in the chest with a battering ram! The terror today when that boy had pointed that gun at them had been ten times worse, though, because this time she knew exactly the destruction the gun could do.

  ‘Forget I asked that,’ Reed rasped self-impatiently. ‘Go back to sleep, love. If you feel up to it in the morning we can talk then.’

  ‘No.’ She spoke for the first time, knowing she had to tell Reed at least part of what had happened two years ago, that she owed him that much at least after today. ‘I’ll tell you now. I—I may not be able to in the morning,’ she admitted shakily. ‘And—and I think yo
u have a right to know.’

  ‘Whenever you’re ready,’ he prompted as she couldn’t seem to find the right words to start.

  She was never ready to recall that time. But Reed deserved some sort of explanation. ‘He came into the bank just—’

  ‘It was the bank that was robbed?’ Reed was incredulous. ‘I thought—’

  ‘I know what you thought, Reed,’ she said dully. ‘After all, bank robberies belong to the old West, or to the larger banks with more of a cash flow. Not to a provincial bank in a little town most people haven’t heard of! We had just opened when this man came in with a gun. I saw him, and I raised the alarm. I—He realised what I’d done, panicked, and started shooting.’

  ‘You were hit?’ Reed gasped in a hushed voice, his arms steely.

  ‘Not me.’ She shook her head, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as the tears silently fell. ‘It was the woman standing next to me. I’d worked with her for four years, ever since her youngest child went to school—she had three, and—’

  ‘Oh, my God, Darcy,’ Reed gathered her close against him, shuddering in reaction to what she had told him. ‘I never would have guessed it was something like this. How goddamn awful for you!’

  ‘Because I raised the alarm a man was left widowed and three children motherless,’ she stated flatly.

  ‘You did what you thought best at the time.’

  ‘It was only money, Reed, just a lot of paper, and Jayne died.’

  ‘Honey, he could have fired even if you hadn’t raised the alarm—’

  ‘He could have done,’ she nodded jerkily. ‘But he may not have done.’

  ‘You’ve been blaming yourself ever since it happened,’ Reed realised softly.

  ‘Wouldn’t you have felt the same?’ she said bitterly. ‘I haven’t always been so single-mindedly vague, you know. After Jayne died I had a breakdown, complete and oh, so peaceful. It was a little like that blanket you spoke of, Reed, warm and comforting, nothing could touch me in that world. Rupert was the one to show me it was also stifling me, destroying me.’

  ‘Rupert?’ he prompted gently.

  ‘My psychiatrist. He taught me that I have to take one day at a time, one thing at a time.’

  ‘For a moment I thought—Then there was no man in your past, it was this all the time?’ His eyes were narrowed.

  ‘There was a man, too,’ she told him abruptly. ‘It was a mistake. I thought I could cope with it, but I couldn’t. That was when I decided I had to move to London, to get away from the memories.’

  ‘And you came to work for me,’ he realised. ‘Darcy, you could have confided in me, I would have tried to help you.’

  She looked up at him for the first time since she had begun talking, turning away again as she saw the pity in his eyes. ‘Don’t feel sorry for me, Reed,’ she rasped. ‘I was the one that lived.’

  ‘Thank God!’ His arms tightened as he buried his face in her hair.

  ‘I’m sorry if I made you feel less than a man earlier.’ She spoke against his shoulder. ‘I just wanted him to take the money and go.’

  ‘I never feel less than a man around you, Darcy,’ he told her with warm emotion. ‘I never could and I never will. And I know how difficult it’s been for you to tell me all this.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Do you think you could sleep now?’

  Strangely enough she felt as if she could. The years had dulled the horror if not the memory of the way Jayne had died, and sharing it with Reed somehow made it easier to bear. She had never thought she would be able to confide in him about it, but now she was so glad that she had. She had never doubted that he would be supportive, he was that type of man, but now she felt a special bond with him, and she was sure he felt it, too.

  ‘Good.’ He smiled at her as she yawned, settling her more comfortably on his shoulder as he lay back. ‘I’ll be here if you need me.’

  She had never imagined she would be able to calmly fall asleep in Reed’s arms, but that was exactly what she turned over and did!

  Reed didn’t leave her side the next day, the two of them spending the time beside Diane and Chris’s pool, the previous day not alluded to by either of them.

  Darcy had never felt so cared for as the two of them prepared lunch together, Diane having once again gone to the hotel with Chris, this time to give the two of them time alone together, Darcy felt sure.

  She still felt a little weak when she thought of the second robbery, but the shock was starting to fade under Reed’s warmth and caring. It was as if she were seeing yet another side of him today, all his barriers down as he concentrated on her. She had never felt so cosseted.

  ‘Reed, isn’t there something else you would rather be doing?’ she asked him late in the afternoon when he hadn’t left her side for a moment.

  ‘Now that’s a leading question.’ He was sprawled out on the lounger beside her, both of them in swimming attire.

  She blushed. ‘I meant, shouldn’t you be—meeting old business acquaintances?’

  He pushed his sunglasses up into his hair, his eyes instantly narrowing in the bright sunshine. ‘Forget all about that, Darcy,’ he said harshly. ‘I’ll sort that out some other time.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘I would never have involved you by bringing you here if I’d known what you went through!’ he ground out.

  ‘How could you have known?’ she sighed. ‘It’s a one in a million thing, we both know that. Armed robberies aren’t made on the same person every day of the week!’

  ‘It’s happened to you,’ he grated. ‘And the thought of you in danger twists me up inside!’

  ‘I’m fine now. Rupert said—’

  ‘I’d like to talk to this Rupert; do you have his telephone number with you?’

  Her eyes widened. ‘He’s my psychiatrist, Reed—’

  ‘I know exactly who he is.’ He nodded abruptly.

  She swallowed hard. ‘A lot of people have need of a psychiatrist nowadays, Reed. I’m not insane.’

  He spun round into a sitting position, his feet placed firmly on the ground, reaching out to take her hands in his. ‘I know you aren’t crazy,’ he rebuked gently. ‘I just wanted to ask Rupert if there’s anything else I should be doing to help you.’

  Tears misted her eyes at his thoughtfulness. Too many people backed off or looked at her strangely once they found out she had had a breakdown and still visited her psychiatrist. She had guessed Reed wouldn’t be one of that type, and yet his request to speak to Rupert had unnerved her for a minute. She should have known better!

  As for his helping her any more, just being with him, cared for by him, was enough.

  ‘Nothing else.’ She smiled at him tremulously.

  ‘I feel so damned helpless!’ he burst out intensely.

  And feeling helpless wasn’t an emotion Reed was comfortable with, a man who liked to be in control of the situation at all times. She had known a different sort of helplessness both two years ago and yesterday, could sympathise with his frustrated anger.

  ‘Did you go to the police about yesterday?’ she prompted huskily.

  He frowned and nodded. ‘I called them and told them what happened. I gave them a full description of the boy. Not that it will do a lot of good. Florida has become a damned playground, and along with that have come the people who want to steal from you. I’ll reimburse the money you lost.’

  ‘The money wasn’t important.’ She shook her head dismissively.

  ‘You were working for me when it happened—’

  ‘I was spending an enjoyable day with a man I—’ She broke off, her confusion evident at the way she avoided his searching gaze. Oh, God!

  ‘"With a man you…"?’ Reed prompted, as she had known he would.

  ‘Like and respect,’ she substituted for the admission she had been about to make. ‘It was only a few dollars, Reed,’ she dismissed determinedly. ‘And if you try to reimburse me I’ll—’

  ‘Yes?’ he prompted again softly
.

  ‘I’m not frightened of you, Reed Hunter!’

  ‘I should hope you aren’t,’ he said huskily. ‘You aren’t frightened of this either!’

  ‘This’ proved to be the lowering of his body on to hers as she lay full length on the lounger, her head slightly elevated, Reed leaning on his elbows at her sides, his thighs pressing intimately into hers, the tips of her breasts beneath the bikini lightly touching his chest, the gossamerlike caress hardening her nipples to throbbing need.

  ‘Are you, Darcy?’ Reed murmured against her throat.

  ‘Not with you,’ she acknowledged, arching her neck to receive the moist probe of his mouth, its gentle softness sending quivers of delight down her arched spine.

  ‘With other men?’ He looked down at her with darkened eyes.

  She didn’t want to talk about Jason now. ‘There is no other man,’ she dismissed. ‘Reed—’

  ‘What about Marc?’ he grated.

  ‘Reed, please!’ She was burning for the touch of his mouth, on fire for the mindless, totally sensual passion only he could give her. ‘Please,’ her voice broke on the pleading sob.

  ‘God, when you say it like that—!’ His mouth fused with hers, their bodies melding into one.

  It was always like this when he kissed her; she forgot everything and everyone, thought only of Reed and the erotic love-dance his mouth made with hers.

  The hardness of his body pushed against her at the same moment as his tongue glided between her lips, possessing her slowly, rhythmically, his lower body moving slightly in the same pulsating motion.

  ‘Draw me into you, Darcy,’ he pleaded as he nudged her legs apart to lie more snugly against her, his mouth returning to hers.

  She felt on fire as she drew his tongue into her mouth, the hard shaft of him rubbing against the sensitivity of her womanhood, the heat spreading through her body until it threatened to rage into an inferno.

  ‘Reed,’ she gasped. ‘God, Reed!’

  His eyes were dark with passion. ‘Wrap your legs around me, Darcy. Pull me into you!’