Glass Slippers and Unicorns
Carole Mortimer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

‘FOR God’s sake, Darcy, I know you’re always losing things; but my mother!’

Put like that it did sound a little careless. But it wasn’t completely accurate. She hadn’t exactly lost Maud Hunter; misplaced her was a better way of describing what had happened, she thought.

But Reed didn’t look as if he wanted to hear that right now, and Darcy doubted he would find the distinction at all reassuring. After all, she had gone to the airport to meet Maud Hunter, and she had returned without her and now had no idea where she could be!

Reed stood up in a forceful movement. ‘My God, Darcy, you lost my mother!’

She sighed, pulling a face at his incredulity. ‘You already said that.’

Sparks flew in accusing green eyes, his mouth tight. ‘And I’ll say it again, too, as many damned times as I have to to be able to take it in!’ He paced the room with long legs, his movements not made with their usual fluidity but with spasmodic energy. ‘You lost a sixty-year-old woman who’s just endured a long flight and is on her first trip to England in ten years!’ It wasn’t a question but a statement of fact. ‘This is a human being I’m talking about here, Darcy,’ he growled. ‘Not one of those dozen left shoes sitting in the bottom of your closet—and this is not the time for you to point out that closet means something else over here,’ he snarled as she opened her mouth to speak, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes as she quickly closed it again. ‘… Dozen left shoes sitting in the bottom of your closet,’ he repeated hardly, ‘because you have somehow lost the right ones!’

‘It’s the right shoes in the wardrobe and the left ones lost,’ she nervously corrected; Reed hardly ever lost his temper, but she knew that right now he had, his whole body tensed with it. Well she had misplaced his mother between here and Heathrow. Or did she mean Heathrow and here——

‘Darcy!’ he grated between clenched teeth. ‘I don’t give a damn if it’s half a dozen of each——’

‘I thought you were trying to stop swearing?’ She frowned as he used the word twice in as many minutes after days of holding back his usual habit of cursing whenever something didn’t go exactly as he planned it should.

‘Darcy!’ Her name came out as a fierce guttural growl this time. ‘A saint would swear at a time like this,’ he added in exasperation as she looked at him with bewildered confusion.

A saint was something they both knew he wasn’t. As a professional speculator—in just about anything!—he often didn’t have the time to wait around and be pleasant. Admittedly he was dealing mainly in shares at the moment, but even so he was ruthless, was first and foremost a businessman. He was also very successful at what he did. The only way that Darcy could see he might possibly have fallen down on that success was hiring her as his secretary! And she had a feeling he felt the same way at the moment.

He looked at her with sharp green eyes, stopping his pacing. ‘I suppose you did actually meet her at the airport?’ he asked hopefully.

‘Of course I did,’ she protested indignantly.

Reed eyed her suspiciously. ‘Are you sure?’

Her mouth compressed. ‘She’s a short lady, about my height, I suppose,’ she frowned thoughtfully, ‘with curly white hair, and green eyes like yours.’

‘I told you all that before you left for the airport,’ he snapped impatiently.

‘I have her luggage downstairs in the boot of the car!’ Darcy told him exasperatedly. She might have a habit of losing things, but she certainly didn’t invent meeting people. ‘She told me all about how naughty you were as a little boy,’ she remembered, her eyes dancing merrily. ‘How you turned the hose on the——’

‘All right,’ Reed barked irritably, obviously not in the mood to reminisce about his mischievous childhood. ‘I’ll accept that you did meet my mother——’

‘Well thanks!’ she bit out caustically, glaring at him.

‘But what the hell have you done with her now?’

Reed had such a deep timbre of voice that when he raised it you felt like putting a hand on all the breakable objects in the room in case they clattered from their resting place and shattered on the ground. She saw his eyes narrow as she winced, clasping her hands together in front of her to resist the urge.

‘I haven’t done anything with her, Reed,’ she denied wearily. ‘On the drive back she mentioned it was years since she had read an English newspaper, and when she fell asleep——’

‘You calmly parked the car and went off to buy her one,’ he finished disgustedly.

Her eyes blazed deeply blue. ‘I was only gone a couple of minutes!’

‘Long enough for my mother to disappear!’

‘Will you stop saying that as if you think I had something to do with it!’ she protested, frowning heavily as his raised eyebrows seemed to say, ‘Well, didn’t you?’ ‘When I came back out of the shop with the newspaper, she had gone,’ Darcy defended.

‘That was over an hour ago.’ He glared at her. ‘And you had no right going off and leaving her like that.’

‘I didn’t think she could come to any harm just sitting in the car.’ Darcy glared right back.

At least, she tried to glare. She was sure it didn’t come out quite as fierce as it was meant to do, though, as she squinted slightly to bring her myopic vision into focus enough to read Reed’s expression.

Reed seemed to stiffen even more as he saw that squint. ‘Did you forget to put your contacts in again?’ he asked suspiciously.

‘No, I didn’t forget!’ she snapped, the guilty flush that coloured her cheeks giving the instant lie to that statement. ‘I just haven’t had time to put them in yet! I was late getting up, and then as soon as I arrived you told me I had to go and meet your mother, and——’

‘Great,’ he ground out fiercely. ‘This is just great! I can see it all now.’ He raised his head to look at the ceiling, taking deep controlling breaths. ‘It probably wasn’t even my mother you met. The poor woman probably realised that after a while and made her escape at the first opportunity.’

Darcy stood up indignantly, too angered by his scornful tone to want to admit to the vanity of wearing her rarely used glasses to go to the airport to meet his mother, but of having taken them off only seconds ago before she entered the office, not wanting Reed to see her wearing the heavy dark frames. ‘You’re being very unfair, Reed.’

‘Am I?’ he scorned, shaking his head. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘As it’s obvious you have so little confidence in my ability to do anything right, I don’t know why you ever sent me to meet your mother,’ she accused emotionally.

‘I was unavoidably tied up here; there was no one else but you to send!’

She gave a shaky gasp. ‘Then maybe you should never have employed me!’

‘I wouldn’t have done, but I thought the rest of the business world needed saving from itself!’ he rasped disgustedly.

Tears instantly made her vision more blurred. ‘My qualifications are good——’

‘But anyone who turns up for an interview as a secretary at nine o’clock at night——’

‘That was the time your letter said!’ she protested agitatedly.

Reed gave a disgusted snort. ‘It was because my temporary secretary was so incompetent that I needed another permanent secretary! No woman turns up for an interview for a secretary’s position at nine o’clock at night unless the prospective employer has more than just secretarial duties in mind and she’s decided she’s agreeable to that—or she’s just plain stupid!’ he finished contemptuously.

It was so obvious which one he thought she was! ‘I’d only been in London a couple of months; this was only my fourth interview!’

‘No woman in her right mind turns up for an interview in a deserted office building at nine o’clock at night!’ Reed maintained forcefully. ‘Not even a woman from the provinces! I can still remember the look on the night security man’s face when I came in answer to his call that you were here demanding to see me, saying that you had an appointment!’

Darcy was sure the colour in her cheeks was going to remain a permanent fixture as Reed seemed intent on recalling all the stupid things she had done since the moment they had met so awkwardly. Of course she had thought it strange that Reed Hunter wanted to interview her at nine o’clock at night, but it had been her first time in London after living the last twenty-two and a half years with her parents in a village that was so small even the locals said it could be missed if you blinked as you were approaching it! The only two jobs she had had since leaving school six years earlier had been in the small town three miles away; she had just assumed things were done differently in the capital. How was she supposed to know Reed’s temporary secretary had made a typing error and it should have read a.m. in the letter and not p.m.? Reed must have read the letter through before signing it; he should have spotted the mistake, too. Although once again she didn’t think he would appreciate her pointing that out to him just now!

‘I still got the job, didn’t I?’ she reminded him resentfully.

‘As I said——’

‘You thought the business world needed saving from itself,’ she finished emotionally.

He nodded. ‘And I was intrigued by your name,’ he admitted reluctantly.

Bewildered eyes the colour of cornflowers opened wider than ever. ‘My name?’ she repeated incredulously.

Reed nodded again, impatiently this time. ‘That was why you were the first person scheduled for interview that morning.’ He gave a pointed sigh at his mention of the time of day she should have been here. ‘Your qualifications were also a little better than the other applicants’, but it was your name that intrigued me. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if Darcy Faversham was a man or a woman!’

‘You employed me because of my name?’ Darcy said again, incredulously.

‘It gave you the edge,’ he confirmed irritably. ‘As I said, the other three applicants were almost as well qualified.’

‘I can’t believe this,’ she said dazedly.

‘Oh, believe it,’ he rasped. ‘Once I’d met you I should have known better!’

‘You make a living by gambling on hunches,’ she reminded him dully, stunned by what he had just told her. To think that if her name had been plain Susan Smith she wouldn’t have got the job! ‘And this time it let you down.’ She straightened her shoulders defensively. ‘I’ll leave——’

‘Not until we’ve found my mother you won’t,’ he cut in fiercely. ‘Forget about your damned pride for a moment and try and help me think where she could be!’

Pride. Yes, her pride was hurt. But so was she. She knew she had a habit of losing things, but she only lost them because she forgot what she had done with them. But her work had always been unquestionably competent, and Reed could never accuse her of ever losing anything of his.

Except his mother, she realised with a wince.

But you couldn’t lose people, not really; they had a habit, adults at least, of always turning up again. She felt sure Maud Hunter would be no exception.

She chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip. ‘She took her handbag with her——’

‘She did?’ Reed pounced, narrow-eyed.

Darcy nodded. ‘Yes——’

‘Then at least she isn’t wandering about London completely penniless too!’

She wasn’t a violent woman, believing that passivity often achieved the same results, but if Reed continued to act as if she had thrust the equivalent of a new-born chick into a pack of wolves she knew she wasn’t going to be able to stop the urge her hand had to slap him across one lean cheek.

He wasn’t a handsome man by any standards, but that he was attractive couldn’t be doubted, with his hair thick and dark, almost black in some lights, brows the same colour jutting out over eyes of luminous green, a slight bump to the straightness of his nose where it had been broken playing American football during his teens, his mouth often snapping words too cutting for the sensuousness of his bottom lip to be noticed. Although, from the amount of women who telephoned him at the office, it was noticeable enough! He was well over six feet tall, and still had the physique that could have taken him into pro-football if the challenge of speculation hadn’t been the stronger of the two.

He towered at least a foot over Darcy as she faced him, his stance threatening even if she knew he would never physically hurt her. He was a hawk, why should he bother himself with the little mouse? Even if the mouse did occasionally, very occasionally, roar!

‘Reed, she’ll turn up——’

‘Will she?’ he scorned. ‘It’s been almost two hours, and she hasn’t “turned up” yet!’

That guilty blush returned to her cheeks. ‘The police——’

‘Will not look for a woman who’s only been missing two hours!’ he snapped disgustedly.

She chewed on her inner lip, oblivious to the soreness she was inflicting, not knowing what else to say. Because she didn’t think Maud Hunter was missing, was sure the other woman would make her way here or to Reed’s apartment when she was good and ready. But until she did, Reed wasn’t going to calm down.

And in the meantime she had given him her notice. She was regretting that pride-saving impulse already. He was an interesting man to work for, no two days the same, the heavy workload keeping her occupied long outside the nine until five she was supposed to work. And that suited her. But she knew Reed would never forgive her for this, that he obviously adored his mother.

The day had begun so nicely, too; birthday cards from her family and friends pushed through her letter box by the postman, a couple of parcels left on her doorstep. She was twenty-three today, felt as if she were finally putting the past behind her. And now this. It wouldn’t just be the work she would miss.

‘Darcy, are you listening to me!’

She gave a surprised start as Reed shouted at her. Concentrate on one thing at a time, they had told her. And she had. And it had worked. But now, more than two years later, she still had difficulty giving her attention to more than one thing at any given moment. Whatever Reed had been saying to her, she hadn’t heard him. And she could see by the angry glitter in his fierce eyes that he knew that.

‘I said,’ he ground out between clenched teeth, ‘I think the best thing to do is drive back to where you parked your car and look around there for her. Can you remember where that was?’

Her mouth tightened at his obvious scorn. ‘Of course I can. There’s nothing wrong with my memory——’

‘Because you don’t have one!’

‘Reed!’ she gasped her hurt surprise; he had never been deliberately cruel to her before.

He put his hands up in apology. ‘OK, that was uncalled for,’ he acknowledged grimly. ‘I’m upset, and I’m taking it out on you. But I’m damned worried.’ He frowned.

She could see that, had never seen him this agitated before. But she also knew that if she mentioned it he would point out that he had never lost his mother before!

‘Don’t you think one of us should remain here?’ she suggested practically. ‘Just in case she should come here.’

He thought for a moment before nodding. ‘You stay,’ he bit out. ‘I couldn’t stand the inactivity right now.’ He took his jacket off the back of his chair, shrugging in to it. ‘And for goodness’ sake go and put your contacts in so that you’ll at least recognise it is her if she arrives!’

She hurried into the adjoining office, leaving the door open for him to follow, groaning her dismay as the outer door opened and a grinning Marc Kincaid came in. ‘Not now, Marc,’ she said, trying to push him back outside the door before Reed saw him. ‘Reed isn’t in the mood to see you right now,’ she explained frantically as Marc looked down at her in surprise, her efforts to evict him proving ineffectual, Marc being almost as big as Reed.

‘He’s never in the mood to see me,’ Marc dismissed, easily standing his ground. ‘But——’

‘He wants to see you even less than usual today.’ Darcy threw a hunted look over her shoulder; Reed was, thankfully, still in his office. Although her luck couldn’t hold. It hadn’t so far today! ‘Please leave, Marc,’ she begged him desperately.

‘He will want to see me, Darcy,’ he assured her. ‘But how about a kiss first?’ he encouraged huskily, bending his head to claim her mouth with his.

It was far from the first kiss she had shared with this wickedly handsome man; she was still slightly amazed that someone as attractive and popular as he was wanted to date her. He was handsome enough to have any woman he wanted, with his thick blond hair, dancing blue eyes, a seductively smiling mouth, the masculinity of his body undoubted in his tight denims and fitted blue shirt. But for the last six weeks he had asked to see her every night. Not that she had accepted every night, but four out of seven still amounted to a lot of nights.

And Reed was going to be even more furious than he already was if he found him here. She had met Marc because Reed had become his financial partner in the photographic studio he ran on a lower floor of the building, but Reed didn’t approve of their personal relationship spilling over into his office.

‘And just what happens if someone wants to come in the door?’ grated an icy voice.

Marc lifted his head slowly, in no hurry to release Darcy as he looked up to grin at the other man. ‘They either ask us to move or wait until we’re finished,’ he drawled unconcernedly.

‘Marc——’

‘Darcy tells me you’re in a bad mood,’ he continued as if she hadn’t tried to cut in. ‘Something wrong, Reed?’ he held Darcy snugly against his side, his arm about her shoulders.

‘Yes, something is wrong,’ the other man hissed. ‘I’ll leave Darcy to tell you all about it!’

Marc still blocked the doorway. ‘Maybe I can help?’ His eyes gleamed with amusement.

‘I doubt it,’ Reed snapped, shooting Darcy a disparaging look.

‘Sure?’ Marc taunted.

‘Marc, please,’ she groaned, as Reed looked ready to explode if the other man didn’t get out of his way. ‘Reed is in a hurry.’

‘Too much of one for his visitor?’ Marc challenged.

‘Is this important?’ Reed snapped tersely.

Marc grinned. ‘I think so. I think you will, too, if you stop long enough to listen to me.’

‘Can’t it wait?’ Reed sighed impatiently.

‘I doubt it.’ The other man shook his head mysteriously.

‘Marc, unless it’s really important please leave it until later.’ She looked up at him pleadingly. ‘You see, Reed’s mother arrived in London this morning, and I——’

‘I know,’ he nodded.

‘… lost her between here and Heathrow, and— What do you mean, you know?’ Darcy frowned up at him as she realised what he had said; Reed went rigid with tension as he looked at the other man with narrowed eyes.

‘I mean, I know that Maud arrived from America this morning.’ Marc at last released her. ‘You see, I was just on my way out to lunch when I noticed the lady peering up at the notice-board downstairs —and she had a long way to peer, believe me,’ he teased. ‘Anyway, being the helpful soul that I am, I asked her if I could be of any help.’ He raised mocking brows at Reed. ‘She looked too young and beautiful to be your mother, old chap,’ he mocked. ‘But she assures me that’s who she is.’

‘What have you done with her?’ Reed demanded harshly.

‘Nothing, she’s right outside.’ Marc shrugged, as if he couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.

Reed pushed him aside none too gently, coming to an abrupt halt as the tiny lady causing all the uproar appeared in the doorway.

‘Hello, darling.’ She reached up to kiss her eldest son on the cheek. ‘I was just admiring your lovely nameplate on the wall outside. You——’

‘Mother!’

‘Mrs Hunter!’

She blinked lids over surprised green eyes as Reed and Darcy spoke at the same time. ‘Yes, dears?’ she prompted interestedly, giving Darcy a chiding look as she did so. ‘I’m sure I asked you to call me Maud,’ she scolded, coming further into the room. ‘My, this is a nice office, Reed,’ she said admiringly as she looked around. ‘Do you——’

‘Mother, where the hell have you been?’ he bit out with controlled violence, his hands clenched at his sides.

She blinked again, obviously surprised by his vehemence. ‘Darling, you know I don’t like it when you swear——’

‘Not another one!’ he ground out exasperatedly, momentarily closing his eyes, the glitter even more intense when he raised his lids. ‘Mother, you disappeared from Darcy’s car two hours ago, where have you been?’ he demanded, the flame in his eyes positively primitive as Marc gave a chuckle at his omission of ‘the hell’ the second time around. Marc’s expression instantly became bland.

Darcy gave him a warning look. Ordinarily the two men were quite good friends, although on the surface they had little in common but their intense professionalism and an eye for beautiful women. Marc was completely dedicated to his work, was a perfectionist, and in a different way Reed was the same about his investments. Their approach to women was different, however, Marc being a different man then, light and frivolous, whereas Reed never let anyone too close to him, not even the women he took as his lovers. Maybe they weren’t so different in that respect after all: being light and frivolous didn’t allow for deeper relationships either! But it was obvious Reed didn’t appreciate Marc’s levity now, although from Marc’s wink in her direction he wasn’t too worried about it.

Maud’s expression seemed to say she didn’t know what all the fuss was about either. ‘I had a nice rest in Darcy’s car after the flight; I had the misfortune to be seated next to a man on the plane who just would not stop talking,’ she said disgustedly. ‘He talked all the way over here—when he wasn’t drinking,’ she added with a frown. ‘Do you know that he——’

‘Mother!’

‘I wish you would let me tell this in my own way, Reed,’ his mother admonished sternly. ‘You know how I forget things when I’m constantly interrupted— Did you say something, dear?’ She looked concernedly at Darcy as she made a choking sound.

‘No! Er—no,’ she repeated lamely.

Green eyes twinkled at her from a face still beautiful, not marred by the usual worry lines of a woman her age. And Darcy was beginning to realise why! Why hadn’t she noticed at the airport? Probably because she had been too busy trying to see where she was going to notice just how vague Maud Hunter was!

Maud turned back to her son. ‘As I was saying,’ she said pointedly. ‘I was very tired after the flight. And then this nice young lady met me at the airport.’ She beamed at Darcy. ‘She’s such a nice girl, Reed. I hope you’re good to her.’ She frowned. ‘Anyway,’ she hastily continued as her son looked as if he might explode again, ‘when I woke up I realised Darcy must have been kind enough to let me continue sleeping, and then when I got out of the car to look for her I couldn’t find her. It’s strange the things that come back to you, you know,’ she told them all, ‘because I suddenly realised I was very close to where my old friend Joyce Bennett use to live. After ten years I still remembered——’

‘Mother,’ Reed cut in on her ramblings in a strained voice. ‘You aren’t going to tell us that you calmly went off to visit a friend while Darcy was frantically trying to find you?’

‘Were you, dear?’ Maud looked at her concernedly. ‘I am sorry. You see, I——’

‘Mother, please!’

Darcy completely sympathised with Reed’s impatience this time; she felt like shaking the muddle-headed woman herself!

Maud sighed. ‘I went back to the car when I couldn’t find Darcy, but that had disappeared as well, and that was when I——’

‘Went off to visit your old friend Joyce Bennett,’ Reed finished icily.

Maud looked bewildered by his anger. ‘Well—yes. But——’

‘Didn’t you realise that Darcy would be worried about you? That I would be worried about you when she arrived back here without you?’

‘I didn’t mean to be gone quite as long as I was,’ she grimaced. ‘Once Joyce and I started talking——’

‘I’m sure,’ Reed grated. ‘I think you owe Darcy an apology—I think we both do!’

‘You do?’ His mother frowned. ‘I hope you haven’t been shouting at her, Reed,’ she rebuked. ‘It wasn’t Darcy’s fault that I was late getting here.’

‘I’m beginning to see that,’ he sighed heavily. ‘Let’s go through to my office, Mother. I’ll talk to you later, Darcy.’ It was an order, not a request.

‘Can you believe that?’ Marc chuckled as he sat on the edge of Darcy’s desk once they were alone. ‘That sweet little old lady, Reed the Rake’s mother!’

‘He isn’t a rake.’ Darcy automatically corrected Marc’s nickname for her employer, while busily tidying the papers on her desk-top that had no need of it; her desk was always completely organised. ‘And yes, I can believe she’s his mother.’ No two people who weren’t related could have eyes of such a deep green. But other than those eyes the two had no similarities whatsoever!

‘Sounds like he’s going to have his hands full.’ Marc still grinned.

‘She’s only here until tomorrow,’ Darcy supplied absently. ‘Reed is driving her down to Southampton then to get on her cruise-ship.’ He had told her that much before she left for the airport this morning, although he had told her little else about his charming but vague mother.

‘That’s what I could do with, a nice long cruise.’ Marc stretched lazily. ‘I don’t suppose you would care to come away with me this weekend?’

Her brows rose mockingly at his teasing expression. ‘I don’t suppose I would,’ she drawled.

He grimaced his disappointment. ‘I thought not. So, how is my birthday girl?’

Birthday girl; this was the worst day she had known in a long time! ‘She’s fine,’ she lied, having forgotten that it was her birthday. ‘She is also busy,’ she added pointedly.

He stood up, holding up his hands defensively. ‘I was only doing my good deed for the day——’

‘I know.’ She sighed at her lack of gratitude for the fact that he had safely delivered Maud to Read. ‘I’m sorry.’ She gave him a tight smile. ‘It’s been chaotic here the last few hours, and——’

‘Reed been throwing his weight around, has he?’ Marc sympathised.

‘Only a little.’ She grimaced at the understatement. ‘And he had the right.’

‘Want to talk about it?’ he encouraged softly.

Darcy shook her head, feeling too shaken to go into the details of her argument with Reed. ‘Maybe tonight.’ She shrugged.

‘Ah yes, tonight.’ Marc’s eyes lit up excitedly. ‘Put your glad rags on because tonight I have a surprise for you!’

She warily searched the glow of his eyes. ‘What sort of surprise?’

He tapped the end of her nose playfully. ‘If I tell you it won’t be a surprise any more. Just do what little there is to improve on that beautiful face and wear your sexiest dress.’

‘Beautiful face’, Darcy thought despondently a short time later as she looked in the mirror she had used to finally put her contact lenses in. Marc photographed beautiful women all day long, and no one in their right mind could compare her to the multitude of beauties that went into his studio each day. But then, when had Marc ever claimed to be in his right mind?

She looked critically at her reflection, at the bubbly red-gold curls that refused to be tamed, deep blue eyes that seemed to have taken on a permanently vague look, a short nose liberally sprinkled with freckles even during the winter months, a pretty smiling mouth, with a dimple in her elfin chin. No make-up in the world could make her appear sophisticated and worldly; in fact it had the opposite effect, making her look garishly childish. She had been told once that her long dark lashes framing deep blue eyes were her best feature, and so the only affectation she did have was the use of contact lenses rather than glasses, although even that effect was ruined when she forgot to put them in, looking owlishly bewildered then. No wonder Reed lost all patience with her!

‘Marc gone?’ he suddenly rasped behind her.

Darcy jumped guiltily at being caught staring at her reflection, hastily putting the mirror away in her bag, embarrassed by the apparent vanity. She nodded, not quite able to meet Reed’s gaze. ‘He was going to lunch, remember?’ she dismissed lightly.

His mouth twisted. ‘I’m surprised you didn’t go with him!’

‘I thought I had better wait around and see if you wanted me to clear out my desk and leave now or if you want me to stay on until you have my replacement.’ She moistened her lips nervously, finally looking up at him, able to see him clearly for the first time today. He looked as forbidding as she had imagined he would! ‘Maybe an incompetent secretary who doesn’t possess a memory is better than none at all; I don’t know.’ She shrugged.

The hard lines of his face tightened even more. ‘I was angry when I said that, Darcy,’ he grated. ‘I didn’t mean it.’

‘Didn’t you?’ she said dully, knowing that at the time he had said it he had meant every word.

‘No.’ He grimaced, moving to stand next to her desk. ‘You’re a damned good secretary, better than I——’ He broke off, sighing impatiently.

‘Better than you ever thought I would be,’ Darcy finished for him ruefully. ‘I manage, as long as I only concentrate on one thing at a time,’ she added bitterly.

‘Darcy——’

‘At least, I thought I was quite competent.’ She frowned uncertainly.

‘You are,’ Reed acknowledged forcefully. ‘Hell, I’m not making a very good job of this apology.’ He ran a hand through his already tousled black hair. ‘My only defence for my behaviour towards you earlier is that I was worried out of my mind.’ He gave a weary sigh. ‘You’ve seen my mother at her worst; you can guess why!’

Yes, she could guess why, quite easily. Reed was a man who made important decisions in a matter of seconds, who gambled on the Stock Exchange in millions rather than hundreds, and his mother’s vagueness must be quite an irritation to such a man. But how could she explain to him that her own forgetfulness had been acquired and wasn’t part of her fundamental character? She couldn’t do it without going into the past, and so she knew she would never tell him.

‘Does this mean you don’t want me to leave?’ She frowned.

‘Of course I don’t want you to leave,’ he dismissed impatiently. ‘Do you accept my apology?’

Now wasn’t the time to point out that he hadn’t actually got around to making one, not if she wanted to continue working for him. And she did want to continue doing that, very much.

‘Of course.’ She smiled her forgiveness. ‘Would you like me to take your mother to your apartment now? I’m sure she would like to rest.’

‘She would.’ He nodded tersely. ‘But I’ll take her.’ His expression darkened as her eyes shadowed over with pain. ‘It has nothing to do with the fact that between the two of you you would probably forget where you’re going,’ he refuted impatiently. ‘As she only has today in England this end of her trip, I think I should spend a little time with her.’

‘Of course,’ Darcy acknowledged noncommittally.

‘Darcy——’

‘Reed, could we go to Harrods on the way to your apartment?’ His mother came out of his office. ‘I want to buy some tea to take back with me.’

‘Wouldn’t it be better if you waited until you get back from the cruise before doing that?’ he suggested after shooting a resigned look in Darcy’s direction. ‘You won’t need it until then.’

‘I suppose not.’ She nodded thoughtfully, going to the door he held open for her. ‘Maybe we can look at the coffee instead?’ she suggested hopefully.

‘Doesn’t the same thing apply?’ he pointed out drily.

‘Oh, yes.’ She frowned her chagrin. ‘Well, couldn’t we— Bye, Darcy,’ she called out belatedly as Reed followed her from the office. ‘It was lovely meeting you. I hope I see you again before I go back to the States.’

Darcy had time to lift a hand in parting to the other woman before Reed firmly closed the door behind them, his face having taken on a hunted look as his mother suggested other shopping she would like to do while she was in London.

Darcy slumped back in her chair once they had gone, knowing now that Reed would never ever see her as a woman he could desire, that with her own single-minded forgetfulness she reminded him too forcibly of the vague mother he obviously adored but had no patience for! He might pity her, but he would never desire her.

It was a stunning realisation for the woman who loved him more than life itself, who had felt that way about him from the first night they met.

CHAPTER TWO

WEAR your sexiest dress, Marc had told her. She didn’t own any sexy dresses, although she had several she had bought to go on business trips with Reed, when acting as his hostess was often necessary; classically designed dresses that were suitable for any occasion. She had taken the black dress she wore tonight the last time they went away together, and for all the notice Reed had taken of her the material might just as well not have clung to her every curve so that the minimum of underwear could be worn beneath it.

Reed just didn’t see her as a woman, only as his secretary. And she had loved him from the moment he had arrived at the office building in answer to the night security man’s call that night not quite seven months ago. He had seemed amused by the mistake she had made then, had taken her out to dinner so that they could conduct the interview. After only managing to get four interviews in the two months she had been in London, and only being short-listed for one of those, she had found Reed’s relaxed way of interviewing her highly enjoyable.

She had told him about her family, being her parents’ only child, talked confidently of her last two jobs, her five years at the bank and the three months as a family helper to a widower and his three children, had shrugged off his surprise at the complete change of career she had made by telling him she had quickly realised it had been a mistake. He had told her how he sympathised with that, how after moving to America with his English mother, American father, two sisters and a brother at the age of ten he had been urged by his father to enter into a sporting career but had found the excitement of high finance much more to his taste. They had talked like old friends, and at the end of their meal Darcy had been so bemused by him that she had left the table wearing only one shoe! That had been when she had told him, in her embarrassment, about the dozen unmatched shoes in her wardrobe, because of her habit of slipping off her shoes while she ate and forgetting to put them both back, always feeling too embarrassed to go back to the restaurant and ask for her left shoe back! After meeting his mother today she was surprised Reed had still given her the job after she had told him that!

She knew for certain the love she felt for him would never be reciprocated.

And in the meantime there was Marc. Five years younger than Reed, at thirty, he was also much less intense; their dates were always fun and entertaining, Marc accepting the way she occasionally forgot things with a casualness that spoke of tolerant affection. She hoped it wasn’t more than that, because Reed occupied all of her heart.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked with suspicion as Marc kept turning to grin at her as he drove.

‘My apartment.’

‘Your apartment!’ Her eyes were wide.

‘Yes,’ he confirmed with relish. ‘I’m going to throw you down on the bed and have my wicked way with you!’

‘Marc …?’

‘You should see your face!’ He laughed at her nervousness. The open-necked brown shirt and fitted trousers he wore were casual but smart. ‘You’re so easy to tease,’ he chuckled. ‘I can assure you I don’t intend having an audience the first time I make love to you.’

‘Audience? But— First time you make love to me …?’ she repeated in a squeaky voice, as the second part of his statement was absorbed.

This time he gave a shout of laughter. ‘Fun to be with, too,’ he told her warmly. ‘After spending the day with women who take their clothes off for me as soon as they get in the door, your naïveté is totally refreshing!’

She knew that a lot of the work Marc did was for magazines and advertising, that very often it involved scantily clad women parading about his studio most of the day. In fact, the first time she had taken some papers down to Marc’s studio from Reed, a model wearing only a pair of bikini briefs had answered the door! She had run back upstairs to tell Reed she thought his photographic partner was making blue movies on the side! Reed had found that very funny, accompanying her back down to the studio, to be greeted by the same model as Reed explained Marc was doing a publicity layout for the briefs. No one had explained—and she hadn’t liked to ask—why the model wasn’t wearing a bra!

She did know that Reed had been very friendly with the model, that he was on the same terms with a lot of the models Marc used, hence his nickname of Reed the Rake. Reed did seem to be an advocate of ‘safety in numbers’, dating no woman exclusively in the almost seven months Darcy had known him.

‘Marc, if this is your surprise——’

‘You would rather pass,’ he mocked self-derisively. ‘No wonder Reed finds you easy to have around; you’re probably the only woman in his near vicinity that he hasn’t been to bed with!’

Darcy flushed, the statement evoking her own fantasies of being in bed with Reed, fantasies that she knew would never come true. ‘My relationship with Reed is purely business, you know that,’ she said stiffly. ‘We work well together.’ Usually!

‘Hey, I’m not complaining.’ He punched her playfully on the chin. ‘Reed would be a difficult man to follow. In fact, I don’t think I’d even try!’

Not for the first time she wondered why it couldn’t have been this man she fell in love with. He was so much less complicated than Reed, had a wickedly attractive sense of humour, was handsome enough to have been one of his own male models. And he took care of her with an easy familiarity she hadn’t known since she left home. But all she could feel for him was liking, or the love of a friend, a good friend.

‘Then why are we going to your apartment?’ she persisted.

‘Wait and see, birthday girl.’ He drove the car into the underground car park beneath his apartment building. ‘But try and look a little less like I’m kidnapping you!’

She was still badly shaken from the events of this morning, and wasn’t being very good company for Marc; she forced a bright smile to her lips. Whatever Marc’s surprise was, it couldn’t be that bad!

At least Marc had had the decency to warn her to look her best, although after ten minutes of meeting people she barely knew Darcy decided she hated surprise parties, especially ones given for her. She had met most of the people before because she knew Marc, but even so none of them were actually good friends of hers. But Marc, at least, seemed pleased with his surprise.

‘Can we expect an announcement tonight or is Marc going to wait until you get to the church before telling you about that, too?’

Darcy turned sharply at the sound of that mocking voice, forgetting the drink she held in her hand as it slopped precariously over the side of the glass, only narrowly missing the front of Reed’s pale green silk shirt as he stepped back out of its way.

She swallowed hard, hadn’t realised he was here until this moment. ‘Your mother?’ she croaked incongruously.

He swept a mocking glance over the gathering, the beautiful men and women standing around talking in relaxed groups, the drink flowing freely as loud music blared from the new stereo unit Marc was so fond of. ‘I don’t think she would quite fit in here, do you?’ he drawled softly, his gaze returning to her.

‘No,’ she acknowledged ruefully, knowing she didn’t exactly ‘fit in’ either.

Reed frowned at the slightly lost look that had come over her face. ‘If you don’t stand up for yourself now, Darcy, you aren’t going to stand a chance after you become his wife!’

She blinked up at him owlishly. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Marc,’ he said abruptly.

She glanced over to where Marc was standing, four women making up the rest of his group, all of them hanging on his every word. She shrugged. ‘He’s enjoying himself.’

‘Darcy, he— Never mind,’ he dismissed violently. ‘Each to his—or her—own.’

‘Marc isn’t mine. And I certainly don’t intend marrying him.’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t know whatever gave you the impression I was. Marc is just a friend.’

‘Like we’re friends?’ Reed scorned.

Colour darkened her cheeks. Until today she had believed she and Reed were at least that, although there was so much more on her side. ‘No, not like we’re friends,’ she acknowledged. ‘But——’

‘I didn’t think so,’ he derided. ‘He’ll walk all over you if you give him half a chance!’

Her mouth tightened resentfully. ‘That won’t be anything new!’ She gave a small gasp of dismay as she realised what she had said. ‘I meant——’

‘I know what you meant, Darcy.’ He sighed heavily. ‘And I realise I was rough on you earlier, but this is different. Marc is not husband material. Not for you anyway.’

‘I really don’t know what business it is of yours, but I have no intention of marrying him.’

‘No?’

‘No!’

‘He isn’t going to object if I whisk you off to Florida on Sunday?’

Her eyes widened. ‘Florida?’ She knew his family had lived in Orlando the last twenty-five years, that he occasionally visited them. But he had never taken her with him before.

‘Don’t look so surprised, Darcy,’ he taunted. ‘I do have business dealings in the States, you know.’

‘I do know, but—it’s a bit sudden, isn’t it?’ Even for him! He hadn’t mentioned anything about it earlier today.

His mouth thinned, his eyes narrowed. ‘Something has come up. Are you willing to come with me or not?’

‘Of course I’m willing.’ She frowned. ‘There’s nothing wrong, is there?’

‘Nothing I can’t handle,’ he bit out in a voice that boded ill for someone.

‘Reed!’ Marc joined them, slapping the other man on the back in greeting. ‘I know I invited you, but after your mother’s arrival this morning I didn’t expect to see you tonight.’

‘My mother has gone to bed,’ he drawled. ‘And she assured me that she wanted me to go out and enjoy myself.’

‘And are you?’ Marc challenged, his arm about Darcy’s shoulders.

Reed met that challenge. ‘Not particularly. Don’t you think it might have been a little—kinder, to have warned Darcy about all these people being here?’

‘Then it wouldn’t have been the surprise it was intended to be,’ Marc scorned.

‘Darcy doesn’t like surprises; haven’t you noticed that?’ he rasped.

He made her sound about as interesting as yesterday’s bath water! OK, so she liked her private life ordered and repetitious, but things were less likely to get forgotten that way! Besides, she had enough excitement in her life just being his secretary.

‘She liked this one,’ Marc claimed stubbornly. ‘But if you aren’t enjoying the party you can always leave.’

‘I think I will,’ Reed snapped, pulling Darcy’s hand up from her side to slap a small parcel into it. ‘Happy Birthday. I’ll give you a call tomorrow about Sunday,’ he added abruptly, striding over to the door, to be waylaid by a beautiful red-head as he pulled it open. He murmured something in her ear; the woman’s throaty laugh floated in the air as they left together.

‘I wonder what—or who—has upset him?’ Marc mused a little dazedly, the two men usually being good friends away from the office.

‘His mother,’ she said wearily, slowly unwrapping the present Reed had given her.

Marc pulled a surprised face. ‘She seemed rather sweet to me.’

‘Reed can’t stand it when someone isn’t as organised as he is,’ she murmured, tears filling her eyes as she looked at the gold necklace nestled in the velvet box, a gold unicorn threaded on its length. A fantasy animal for a woman who lived in a dream world sixty per cent of the time!

‘Dear, are you sure you’re going the right way?’ Maud Hunter fretted. ‘I’m sure that sign back there said——’

‘Mother,’ Reed interrupted patiently. ‘As you always read a road map upside down because it “makes more sense", I don’t think you’re in a position to judge signposts!’

Maud turned to give Darcy a vague smile as she sat in the back of the Mercedes, and Darcy sighed softly as she was once again left to her silent perusal of the countryside on the way to Southampton, feeling as if Maud had made her a conspirator to her vagueness with that smile.

Reed had telephoned her early that morning and asked her if she would like to accompany them to Southampton, saying that his mother would like it if she did. Darcy had still been a little befuddled from waking up, otherwise she might have found an excuse not to come.

The party had dragged on until almost three in the morning, and as it was supposed to be for her she hadn’t been able to leave until everyone else had without offending Marc, then had insisted on helping him tidy the apartment, refusing his invitation to stay the night, despite his assertion that he would sleep on the sofa. Considering the early hour of Reed’s call she had a feeling he had expected either to have Marc answer the call or for her to still be at the other man’s home.

She was also sure that Reed would rather she hadn’t come today, despite his mother’s obvious pleasure in having her here. After all, he had two of them to keep in line now!

She wished it could have been different, wished she could have been as cool and self-assured as the women who had occasionally called for him at the office. But she doubted she would ever be any different now, had trained herself too well. As long as she continued her efficiency in the office she could continue seeing Reed; she would be the one to hand in her resignation if she thought her work was below the standard he demanded. But it was going to be a long time before he forgot what had happened yesterday.

She held the unicorn aloft in the palm of her hand as it hung suspended about her neck. It was a beautiful piece of jewellery, and she knew she would always wear it simply because Reed had been the one to give it to her. But it represented how Reed felt about her, a woman who lived in a world that wasn’t quite real, as the unicorn wasn’t. He could have no idea how close she had come to living completely in that shadow world, how much more attractive it could look than the starkness of reality. But she never talked to anyone about that twilight world except Rupert. And she knew her secret was safe with him.

‘… continue on, Darcy?’

She looked up guiltily as she realised Reed’s mother had been talking to her, paling a little as she saw the fierce glitter in Reed’s eyes as she met his gaze in the driving-mirror. It wasn’t fair! Yesterday had knocked her confidence in her abilities for six! She wouldn’t normally be so nervous about a little lapse in concentration.

She sat forward in the seat, giving Maud a dazzling smile. ‘I’m sorry, I was miles away,’ she admitted honestly, challenge in her eyes as she met the mockery in Reed’s.

‘I know how you feel, dear.’ Maud nodded without chagrin. ‘I’d forgotten just how beautiful England was,’ she added wistfully. ‘It’s so green and—and lush.’

‘And damp and cold in the winter,’ her son drawled unromantically.

Maud gave him an impatient look. ‘You needn’t try and put me off; I have no intention of intruding on the cosy life you’ve made for yourself here away from the rest of the family. I was just stating that I had forgotten how lovely England is.’

Reed scowled. ‘You’re more than welcome to move in with me any time you want to, you know that.’

Green eyes that were so much kinder than her son’s could ever be twinkled merrily at Darcy before she winked conspiratorially. ‘I’d drive you to distraction in a week!’ she mocked without rancour. ‘Your father always said I was the reason you were such a good athlete; you were trying to run away from home!’

Darcy held back her own smile with difficulty. Although she didn’t really know what she had to smile about: Maud Hunter had just confirmed what she had already guessed, that Reed would run a mile from falling in love with a woman even remotely like his mother.

‘You know that isn’t true——’

‘I know it is true,’ his mother chuckled, turning to Darcy. ‘And I was just asking you if you would like to stop for lunch or continue on?’

She shrugged, glancing at Reed. ‘Whatever the two of you would prefer.’

‘Very diplomatic,’ he drawled, his mouth twisted. ‘Mother would like to stop, I would like to go on.’

No wonder they had asked her; now she was in the position to upset one of them. But the rumblings of her stomach told her she had missed breakfast and that it would be grateful if she didn’t give lunch a miss too. ‘It might be nice for your mother if we stopped for a pub lunch,’ she suggested blandly. ‘But, of course, if you would prefer not to bother …’

Maud laughed softly. ‘I like your secretary, Reed,’ she smiled.

‘I get the feeling she likes you, too,’ he muttered, looking around for a pub that served lunches.

Darcy had never seen him quite this caustic before; obviously his mother had a strange effect on him. He definitely wasn’t his usual charming self.

The pub that Reed finally chose had a formal restaurant at the back overlooking the gently flowing stream that was populated by several swans and ducks, the pub itself looking centuries old with its thatched roof and beamed ceilings. But for all the notice Reed took of its rustic charm he might have been sitting in a bus shelter! He really was in a bad humour today.

‘Just ignore him, dear,’ Maud advised her after they had ordered their meal. ‘He’s always been the same until he’s eaten. Even as a baby——’

‘I’m sure Darcy isn’t interested in that, Mother,’ he snapped impatiently.

‘I wonder why it is that men don’t like to admit they were ever drooling babies that needed their nappies changed just like other people?’ Maud mused.

‘Mother!’ Reed threatened in a thunderous voice, Darcy having difficulty holding back her amusement as he shifted uncomfortably on his seat.

‘Well, until you bring a nice girl home for me to tell all your childhood anecdotes to Darcy will do just fine,’ his mother dismissed. ‘Besides, I’m sure she is interested in learning you’re as human as the rest of us.’

Darcy gave the older woman a sharp questioning look, blushing a little at the warm understanding she found in Maud’s eyes. The other woman knew she was in love with her son!

She did enjoy hearing more about Reed’s childhood, so different from her own in that the family had moved between England and America for several years before finally settling in America, all four of the children adapting well to the move. Reed scowled all through the telling of it, but like every other woman in love Darcy loved hearing about his childhood. And if Reed were even more distant by the time they left the restaurant it couldn’t be helped; she could have listened to Maud talking about him all day. And most of all she enjoyed hearing the pride in Maud’s voice when she spoke of her son’s achievements. She would have liked to have known Lloyd Hunter, the two men sounding very much alike, the father having given every encouragement to Reed to succeed, even though he would have preferred his son to take up the sporting career he hadn’t ever been good enough to enter himself.

Once they reached Southampton docks it all became rather a rush, stopping for lunch having made them late—Darcy was sure Reed must be biting his tongue to stop himself saying ‘I told you so!’—and so they barely had time to see Maud settled into her suite on the gleaming white cruise-ship before the signal for visitors to leave was sounding.

‘The Mediterranean for a month.’ Darcy sighed enviously as they lingered to wave goodbye to Maud as she stood up on the deck, turning to give Reed a rueful look as he made no reply. ‘I know,’ she grimaced, ‘knowing my luck I’d probably be seasick the whole time!’

His face relaxed into a smile for the first time that day. ‘If my mother can survive I’m sure you could.’

She turned away so that he shouldn’t see the hurt in her eyes. ‘Thank you for the necklace, by the way,’ she told him woodenly, waving enthusiastically to Maud.

‘I saw it in a shop window and it seemed appropriate,’ he dismissed.

She nodded. ‘It’s lovely.’

‘I thought so.’ His eyes were narrowed on the paleness of her face, the intensity of his gaze causing Darcy to look away. ‘Darcy?’ He frowned, his hand under her chin as he tilted her face up to his. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Wrong?’ she evaded.

‘For a moment you looked——’ He broke off, shrugging. ‘Lost, somehow.’

She gave him an overbright smile. ‘Don’t you wish you were going on the cruise?’ She looked up blindly to where she knew hundreds of happy faces were smiling in anticipation of the trip ahead, her inability to see them having nothing to do with not wearing her contact lenses.

‘No.’ A glittering hardness entered his eyes. ‘I have something much more important to take care of.’

Darcy blinked up at him, frowning at his vehemence. ‘In Florida?’

‘Yes,’ he rasped.

‘What——’

‘Not here,’ he dismissed harshly, looking around pointedly at the other people seeing off relatives.

Maybe it was the business in Florida that was making Reed so bad-tempered even now his mother had left; he certainly still looked grim.

She tried to think of any business dealings they had had with Florida in recent months, and couldn’t remember any.

‘Is there any way I can help, Reed?’ she offered once they were back in his car, Darcy beside him in the front this time.

‘No,’ he rasped.

Darcy lapsed into silence, knowing from experience that Reed would talk when he was ready, or not, whatever the case might be. More often than not he didn’t feel the inclination to confide in her.

It wasn’t until they were on the plane the next day that he felt ‘ready’ to talk, and then what he had to say first stunned her and then rocked the foundations of her being!

‘Darcy?’ he prompted sharply at the choking sound in her throat which was her reaction to his news.

She moistened lips gone suddenly dry. ‘Could you— Would you say it again?’

‘We’ll be staying with my youngest sister Diane——’

‘I heard that part,’ she dismissed impatiently, wondering why he could possibly think she would feel in the least distressed about that.

‘I want everyone, including my family, to think that I’m just on vacation——’

‘I heard that bit, too.’ She was breathing deeply as she waited to see if he would repeat what she had thought she heard him say earlier.

‘Surely you aren’t going to find it that difficult letting people believe we’re—a couple?’ he mocked.

A couple. Yes, he had definitely said it again. And he couldn’t know how difficult she would find that to do; if he had he would probably put her on the first return flight to England. But he obviously didn’t know, would never have suggested it if he had ever guessed she was in love with him.

‘Marc never has to know about it if that’s what you’re worried about,’ he drawled dismissively.

Marc—she hadn’t given him a second thought, had no doubt that while she was away he would be dating one of the numerous models who were so available to him! It was herself she was worried about; how far did being thought ‘a couple’ go?

‘I can understand that you’re a little reluctant——’

He couldn’t!

‘… but just think of this as a working vacation,’ he continued lightly.

Working? It would be purgatory!

‘We don’t have to act as if we can’t take our hands off each other or anything like that,’ he assured her. ‘It should be enough if you just act unsecretaryish,’ he derided. ‘And I don’t think you’ll find that too difficult to do!’

‘Now just a minute——’

‘I meant, of course, that the holiday setting should make it easier for you to just relax in the Florida sunshine and enjoy yourself.’

Darcy eyed him suspiciously, not at all sure he had meant anything of the sort. She unconsciously took the unicorn in the palm of her hand and moved it from side to side on the gold chain. ‘Am I to be told what all this is about?’ She frowned.

‘Some of it.’ He nodded evasively. ‘As much as I feel you need to know.’

‘I don’t think I like the sound of that.’ She shook her head, still frowning. ‘Reed, just what are you up to?’

‘It isn’t a question of what I’m up to,’ he told her grimly. ‘I’m the innocent one in all of this!’

‘Innocent?’ she repeated in a strained voice. ‘If you’re innocent then that must mean someone else is—guilty, of something?’

‘Yes,’ he rasped.

Darcy felt the rush of blood in her ears, could feel a threatening blackness descending. ‘I don’t think I can do this, Reed,’ she denied, desperately trying to cling to consciousness.

‘You don’t have to do a thing.’ He was too lost in his own grim thoughts to notice how pale and agitated she had become. ‘Just enjoy your holiday, I’ll take care of the rest.’

‘What “rest"?’ She swallowed hard, her fingers tightly gripping the arms of the seat.

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