Glass Slippers And Unicorns

‘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!