Glass Slippers and Unicorns

by Carole Mortimer

  But on her return alone from America she had known she needed to get away, and her parents’ warmth beckoned her as never before. How different was the quiet tranquillity of her own family compared to the boisterous Hunters; one not preferable to the other, they were just different.

  She felt different herself from her last visit home; being in America with Reed this time had changed her. She didn’t know in quite what way, but she no longer felt the need to run from anything unpleasant. She was even learning to cope with more than one thing at a time, more than one trauma at a time!

  Then, as confused and unsettled as she was about any future relationship with Reed, she met Jason while out shopping with her mother!

  She could see the panicked distress in her mother’s face as she seemed about to make their excuses, but had smoothly taken over the situation as she invited Jason to join them both for coffee. For a moment he had hesitated, and then he had nodded reluctant acceptance.

  It was the first time Darcy had seen him for almost a year, and after a stilted beginning they had talked openly, much to her mother’s consternation, as she made her excuses on the pretext of going to the shop next door. Darcy had felt as if at least one of her ghosts from the past had been laid to rest by the time she rejoined her mother twenty minutes later.

  She returned to London ready to accept whatever Reed had decided.

  He had stayed on with his family over the weekend, Darcy insisting it would be better for all concerned if she went ahead and returned to London as planned, feeling too much like an intruder into what was, after all, a private family matter.

  She had no doubt that Reed would tell her what decisions and plans he had made for the future when he was good and ready.

  He wasn’t in his office when she arrived on Monday morning, and as she wasn’t even sure he was in the country yet, having received no word from him, she began the morning routine of dealing with the mail, assuming that he would be in some time today.

  ‘How did you manage to get that tan when you should have been working?’

  She smiled at Marc as he sauntered into the room wearing the customary faded denims and open-necked shirt. ‘It wasn’t all work,’ she murmured softly, remembering only too well how little work had been involved in her time spent in Orlando.

  ‘No?’ Marc made himself comfortable on the side of her desk, his blue eyes probing into hers. ‘Reed hasn’t done the unforgivable and stolen my girl, has he?’ There was an underlying seriousness to the teasing question.

  ‘Stolen’ wasn’t quite the way she would have put it, not when she had always belonged to Reed. But it was near enough to the truth to make her blush as she turned away. ‘How many models did you date while I was away?’ she derided.

  ‘One or two,’ he drawled in confirmation. ‘And don’t change the subject.’

  She continued to channel her attention on the build up of mail that had been waiting for her. ‘I didn’t realise I had.’

  Lean fingers rested against her chin as he tilted her face up to his. ‘You realised,’ Marc said slowly. ‘Darcy, what happened in—’

  ‘When the two of you have quite finished gazing into each other’s eyes, perhaps we can get some work done around here!’ rasped the all-too-familiar voice of Darcy’s boss. She couldn’t think of him as her lover when he spoke in that tone!

  Darcy turned to him with stricken eyes, knowing how damning the scene he had walked in on must look to him. He looked furious, the lines of strain more pronounced, as if finding Marc supposedly drooling all over her were the last straw after the tense few days he had just had.

  Marc looked unperturbed, as usual. ‘Would you believe I was just checking Darcy had both contact lenses in?’ he drawled mockingly.

  ‘No, I wouldn’t!’

  Darcy winced as the outer door closed behind Reed with a slam that made it rattle on its hinges. ‘Reed, I—’

  ‘Don’t you have any work to do?’ He glared at the other man, completely ignoring Darcy.

  ‘Plenty,’ Marc answered cheerfully, making no move to get up off the desk.

  ‘Then I would appreciate it if you could stop seducing my secretary long enough to go and do it!’ Reed rasped coldly. ‘Haven’t the two of you had enough of each other over the weekend?’

  ‘Reed…?’

  ‘Well?’ Again he ignored her, glaring at the younger man.

  ‘Can a man ever have enough of a woman like Darcy?’ Marc taunted.

  Darcy felt as if all the breath had been forced from her body at this blatant challenge after what he had already guessed had occurred in America between Reed and herself. Marc’s warped sense of humour was the last thing she needed today. ‘I spent the weekend—’

  ‘Really, Darcy,’ Marc reproved huskily. ‘A lady doesn’t “kiss and tell", either!’

  ‘Marc, would you just shut up,’ she told him exasperatedly. ‘This isn’t funny.’

  He grinned. ‘It is from where I’m sitting.’

  ‘Re-eed!’ she gasped shrilly as Marc found he was no longer ‘sitting’ at all, but held at the end of Reed’s clenched fist in his shirt-front, their faces, Reed’s furiously angry, Marc’s mildly surprised by the attack, only inches apart. ‘Reed, put him down,’ she begged desperately.

  ‘I’ll knock him down if he doesn’t get the hell out of here,’ he bit out through tight lips before slowly releasing the other man.

  ‘Okay, I’ll go.’ Marc held up his hands defensively, laughter still lurking in the depths of his eyes. ‘You could have warned me just how little “work” it was, Darcy,’ he derided.

  ‘Marc, I’m sorry—’

  ‘Hey,’ he grinned, enjoying himself immensely. ‘Don’t worry about it. I can assure you I’m not about to go and throw myself out of my studio window or anything drastic like that.’

  ‘You’re only two floors up,’ she reminded him drily.

  ‘You see, what good would it do?’ he laughed softly. ‘If all I did was break a leg I’d be denying all those other beautiful women the benefit of my—company, for months.’

  Reed moved to hold the door open. ‘Get out of here,’ he ordered flatly.

  Marc turned to wink at Darcy as he reached the door. ‘Give me a call next time you’re available,’ he invited huskily.

  She was well aware that the provocative statement only meant he wanted her to let him know Reed hadn’t actually resorted to violence on her once Marc had left her alone with the other man; she was also aware that that wasn’t how it must have sounded to Reed. Marc was a devil!

  Reed closed the door behind the other man with suppressed violence. ‘What the hell do you mean by going from me straight to him?’ he challenged viciously.

  ‘I spent the weekend—’

  ‘I don’t want to hear the details, damn you,’ he snapped, breathing hard in his agitation.

  ‘Reed, you aren’t thinking straight—’

  ‘I’m trying not to think at all,’ he ground out. ‘But it isn’t easy!’

  Darcy was angry, she would guess just as angry as Reed was, but she also knew that if she lost her temper with him the situation would never be resolved. ‘Reed, no matter what assumption you’ve come to about Marc and I, or what he let you believe, I did not spend the weekend with him,’ she stated calmly.

  Uncertainty flickered in the stormy green depths of his eyes, and she knew she had been wise not to fire his temper any more than it already was. ‘I called you,’ he bit out. ‘Several times during the last couple of days. You were never there.’

  She sighed. ‘I went home to visit my parents for the weekend.’

  His eyes narrowed disbelievingly. ‘You never go home,’ he accused.

  ‘That isn’t true, Reed,’ she rebuked with a frown. ‘Admittedly I haven’t been home all that often—’

  ‘Once in the seven months you’ve worked for me!’

  She frowned. ‘I haven’t been counting—’

  ‘Well I have!’

  ‘Why?’ She eyed
him suspiciously.

  ‘Did you see Jason while you were at home?’ He didn’t answer her question.

  The colour in her cheeks gave him his answer. ‘We did meet—’

  ‘I’ll be in my office if you need me,’ he cut in coldly. ‘Otherwise I don’t want to be disturbed.’

  Her first instinct was to follow him, but she didn’t know what she would say even if she did do that. She had explained about Marc, but there was no way she could have explained about Jason.

  Marc came into her office once he knew Reed was safely out to lunch. ‘If Mohammed won’t come to the mountain.’

  Darcy glared at him. ‘You have all the sensitivity of a mountain!’

  ‘Hey, don’t blame me for Reed’s insecurities,’ he chided lightly, sitting in the chair opposite her desk to stretch out his long legs in front of him.

  ‘That’s ridiculous. Reed is the most self-confident man I know,’ she scorned.

  ‘Except when it comes to you,’ Marc drawled.

  ‘What on earth do you mean?’ she frowned.

  He shrugged. ‘If you have a day to spare I could probably skim the surface, but—’

  ‘Marc, what are you talking about?’ she sighed wearily, the volcanic morning she had spent with Reed meaning she didn’t have her usual patience to cope with Marc’s innuendoes now.

  ‘The way Reed feels about you.’

  ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she dismissed impatiently.

  ‘No.’ He smiled acknowledgment of the fact, shaking his head. ‘The two of you have become lovers and you still know nothing about his feelings!’

  Wings of colour highlighted her cheeks at the statement. ‘We—’

  ‘Yes?’ Marc quirked mocking brows as he sensed she had been about to deny his claim. ‘God, the man waits months to make love to you and then he makes a complete hash of it!’ he burst out disgustedly. ‘Now if it had been me—But then, you aren’t in love with me,’ he sighed dismissively.

  The colour deepened in her cheeks. ‘I—’

  ‘Uh uh,’ he warned lightly. ‘It’s naughty to tell lies.’

  She pulled a face at him. ‘When did you get to be so wise and all-knowing?’

  ‘And being nasty to me isn’t going to help either,’ he told her good-naturedly. ‘Even an insensitive idiot like me can see you’re in love with Reed.’

  ‘Then why did you invite me out if you knew I felt that way about him?’ She frowned her puzzlement.

  Marc grinned again. ‘I could say I decided to lend a hand to true love and romance and pushed Reed into action because of jealousy and desperation,’ he drawled. ‘But then I’d be lying,’ he admitted lightly. ‘I’m not above trying to take advantage of another man’s stupidity.’

  It was impossible to remain angry with this man, he just never took anyone or anything seriously! ‘You’re impossible!’ she told him, half-laughing, half-serious. ‘If I had any sense I’d ask you to leave.’

  ‘Ah, but then you would never get to hear how Reed feels about you; he certainly doesn’t seem to be about to tell you!’ Marc scorned impatiently.

  Darcy sighed. ‘I know how Reed feels about me; I remind him of his mother.’

  ‘His what?’ Marc burst into peals of stunned laughter.

  ‘It isn’t funny.’ She glared at him.

  ‘Reed finally took you to bed and then told you you remind him of his mother?’

  ‘No,’ she rebuked crossly. ‘I just know he finds my forgetfulness as irritating as he finds his mother’s vagueness.’

  Marc shook his head disgustedly. ‘I don’t know what went on in Florida—not all of it, anyway,’ he added mockingly. ‘But I thought Reed had more sophistication than to have allowed things to have deteriorated between you this badly. He—’

  ‘Are you back again?’ Reed scowled at them both from the doorway. ‘If you want to flirt with my secretary, Marc, do it in your own time, not mine!’ His gaze raked contemptuously over Darcy’s pale face before he stormed into the inner office.

  Marc whistled through his teeth. ‘Remind me to put on my asbestos suit the next time I come up here.’

  Darcy bit back her own dismay at how damning Marc being up here again during Reed’s absence must look to him. ‘He has things on his mind,’ she excused absently. ‘Family pressures.’

  ‘Are congratulations in order?’ Marc’s gaze slid pointedly to the flatness of her stomach.

  ‘Marc, we only made love for the first time last week; don’t you think that’s a little too soon to know about something like that?’ She closed her eyes with a groan as she saw the satisfaction gleaming in his mischievous blue eyes. ‘All right, I walked right into that one,’ she acknowledged huskily. ‘But I can assure you that that is not what Reed has on his mind at the moment,’ she told him firmly.

  ‘Rubbish. “That” is always on a man’s mind. Any man with red blood flowing through his veins, that is. And Reed has more than his fair share!’

  ‘Women, or red blood flowing through his veins?’ she derided.

  ‘Both!’

  ‘I know all about his women, Marc,’ she sighed. ‘But I can assure you he isn’t even thinking about one of them at the moment.’ In fact she had been rather hurt by the fact that Reed hadn’t even attempted to confide in her about what had happened in Orlando after she had left. She had been so closely involved, it wouldn’t have hurt him to at least tell her if Diane and Chris’s marriage was going to survive the trauma.

  As for the decision he had made four days ago about moving back to Florida, he hadn’t mentioned that again either. All he seemed to want to do was jump to conclusions about Marc and her.

  ‘Stop frowning, you’ll get wrinkles,’ Marc told her lightly. ‘Would you care to discuss Reed’s family crisis?’ he invited interestedly.

  ‘No.’ She smiled to take the sting out of her refusal to confide in him.

  ‘I thought you might say that,’ he grimaced, standing up. ‘Ah well, back to work, I suppose.’ He stretched lazily.

  ‘You were going to tell me how Reed feels about me,’ she prompted softly.

  Deep blue eyes brimmed with laughter. ‘Oh, I couldn’t do that, Darcy,’ he refused mockingly. ‘It’s against the gentleman’s code of ethics to the rest of his sex.’

  ‘You aren’t a gentleman!’ she pointed out scathingly.

  ‘True,’ he mused. ‘But if Reed is too stupid to do his own talking, I don’t think I should do it for him. I do have a word of advice, though.’ He bent to whisper conspiratorially.

  Darcy looked at him hopefully. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Seduction.’

  She frowned. ‘What about it?’

  Marc gave an impatient sigh. ‘I’m beginning to think the two of you deserve each other!’ he said disgustedly. ‘Get in there and take your clothes off,’ he said, gesturing towards Reed’s office. ‘If he doesn’t take you right then and there on the couch, give up and come downstairs to me!’

  She couldn’t help laughing once again at his absurdity. ‘And you’ll make love to me?’

  ‘Yes,’ he grinned. ‘You certainly catch on fast when you want to, Darcy.’

  She shook her head regretfully in answer to his ‘advice’. ‘If Reed wants me he’s going to have to make the first move.’

  ‘Pride goes before a fall,’ Marc derided.

  Darcy shrugged. ‘Sometimes pride is all that you have left.’

  ‘Keep your chin up, Darcy.’ Marc bent and kissed her lightly on the mouth.

  She glanced nervously towards the inner door; the way her luck was running today Reed should have walked out right in the middle of that kiss. He didn’t. She looked up to catch Marc’s knowing smile, her own lips curving rather sheepishly.

  Her smile faded as soon as Marc closed the door behind him on his way out.

  Pride. If it were only that that stood between herself and Reed then she knew she wouldn’t hesitate to do as Marc suggested and go into Reed’s office now and throw herself on his mercy. B
ut there were too many uncertainties between them.

  Not that that was apparent as the afternoon progressed, with Reed conducting business as usual. He was in with a colleague when the outer door opened to admit Samantha Duval. Darcy stiffened as the woman Reed had been seeing before they left for Florida came to stand in front of her desk, her grace and elegance dominating the room.

  Like all of Reed’s women, Samantha was flawlessly beautiful, with a glorious cascade of red hair, lively blue eyes, pouting red lips, a creamy complexion, and the sort of body most models would kill for. As a fashion consultant, her clothes were always impeccably elegant.

  Darcy felt like the sweet little-girl-next-door compared to this woman.

  ‘Darcy,’ the other woman greeted her in a friendly voice.

  God, the woman even sounded sexy! ‘Reed’s busy at the moment, but—’

  ‘Oh, I don’t want to disturb him,’ Samantha dismissed in a light voice. ‘I just came to deliver this.’ She put a box very similar in shape to a shoe-box on top of Darcy’s desk.

  The woman brought him presents! Maybe she had baked him a cake? Somehow this woman looked too damned sexy to be able to cook, too! Was that being prejudiced—or just plain bitchy? She decided it was a little of both.

  ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like to see him?’ she offered, feeling guilty about her thoughts. After all, what had the woman ever done to her, except be Reed’s choice of woman. ‘I could buzz through and—’

  ‘No need.’ Samantha shook her head, frowning as she gazed at Darcy’s necklace. ‘Did Reed give you that?’ she asked interestedly.

  Another one! ‘It was a birthday present,’ she supplied reluctantly. Why was everyone so interested in the unicorn necklace?

  ‘It’s lovely.’ The other woman nodded. ‘You should see Reed’s collection—’ She broke off, a purely speculative gleam in her eyes. ‘But then I suppose you have,’ she realised, nodding slowly.

  ‘Sorry?’ Darcy frowned her puzzlement.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Samantha dismissed warmly. ‘Just tell Reed he forgot this when he was at my flat earlier.’ She touched the box before lifting her hand in parting, her perfume so elusively feminine it was barely perceptible once she had left the room.