They stampeded towards it, climbing aboard while their mothers dealt with the more mundane matter of checking in with the elf in charge of the departure gate. Trips to the North Pole did not, after all, come cheap.
She barely hesitated.
She could do with a little magic herself right now and Santa’s Grotto had to be just about the last place anyone would think of looking for her.
As she stood in the queue she nervously checked her phone—it was as good a way to keep her head down as any.
There were half a dozen texts, voicemail messages and the twittersphere had apparently gone mad. WelshWitch had started it with—
Where is Cinderella? What have you done to her?
Tell the truth, Your Frogginess! RT@LucyB Kissed
prince, got frog. #Cinderella
WelshWitch, [+] Wed 1 Dec 17:01
It had already been replied to by dozens of people. Rupert was going to be furious, but since this—unlike all her other social media stuff set up by his PR team—was her personal account, there wasn’t a thing His Frogginess could do about it. At least not while she managed to stay out of his way.
What he might do if he caught up with her was something else. She shivered involuntarily as she continued to scroll through the tweets.
There was another one from Jen.
@LucyB If you need a bolt-hole, DM me.
#Cinderella
jenpb, [+] Wed 1 Dec 17:03
In a moment of weakness she almost did send her a direct message. But then she came to her senses and shut the phone.
That was what was so horrible about this. It wasn’t just Rupert she couldn’t trust.
She’d chatted daily on Twitter. She had nearly half a million ‘followers’, an army of fans on Facebook, all apparently fascinated by her story, her amazing new life. But who were they really?
Jen had seemed like a genuine friend, one of a few people who, like WelshWitch, she constantly tweeted with, but suppose she was just another of Rupert’s people? Someone the PR company had delegated to stay close. Be her ‘friend’, guide her tweets, distract her if necessary, steer her away from anything controversial? She was well aware that not everyone in the Twittersphere was who or what they seemed. Logging into her appointments, she scrolled down and, under the crossed-through entry for Dinner at Ritz, she added another entry—
Rest of life: up the creek.
And then her thoughts shifted back to the man on the stairs. His face forever imprinted on her memory. The strong jaw, high cheekbones, the sensuous curve of his lower lip…
‘Can I help?’
She jumped, looked up to discover that everyone else had moved off and she was being regarded by a young elf.
‘Oh…um…one adult to the North Pole, please,’ she said, closing her phone and reaching for her purse, wondering belatedly how much it would cost. She didn’t have that much cash. With a fistful of credit and charge cards, she hadn’t needed it. ‘A single will do,’ she said. ‘I’m in no hurry. I can walk back.’
He grinned appreciatively but said, ‘Sorry. This flight has closed.’
‘Oh.’ It hadn’t occurred to her that there wouldn’t be any room. ‘How long until the next one?’
‘Forty minutes, but you have to have a pre-booked ticket to see Santa,’ he explained.
‘You have to book in advance?’ Forty minutes! She couldn’t wait that long. ‘Where’s the magic in that?’ she demanded.
‘There’s not much magical about dozens of disappointed kids screaming their heads off,’ he pointed out.
‘True…’ She had enough experience with screaming children not to argue. ‘Look, I don’t actually want to have a one-to-one with the man himself. I just need to get to the North Pole,’ she pressed as the doors to the ice cave began to close. ‘It’s really urgent…’
It occurred to her that she must sound totally crazy. That, shoeless and apparently raving, she was going to be escorted from the premises.
It didn’t happen. Apparently, someone who could cite ‘elf’ as his day job took crazy in his stride because, instead of summoning Security, he said, ‘Oh, right. I was told to look out for you.’
What…? Nooooo!
‘You’re from Garlands, right? Pam’s been going crazy,’ he added before the frantic message from her brain to flee could reach her feet. ‘She expected you ages ago.’
‘Garlands…’
What the heck was that? The department responsible for store decorations? Did a snowflake need straightening? A tree trimming?
Whatever.
She was up for it, just as long as she was out of sight of the lift.
‘You’ve got me,’ she said, neither confirming nor denying it. ‘So, now do I get a ride on the sleigh?’
‘Sorry,’ he said, grinning. ‘The sleigh is for paying customers only. Staff have to put on their snow shoes and walk. Both ways,’ he added with relish. Clearly this was a young man who enjoyed his job. ‘Don’t look so worried. I’m kidding about the snow shoes.’ He looked at her feet and, for a moment, lost the thread.
‘It’s a long story,’ she said.
‘Er…right. Well, you’re in luck. There’s a short cut.’ He opened a door, hidden in the side of a snow bank and tucked behind the kind of huge Christmas tree that you only ever saw in story books. Smothered with striped candy canes, toys, beautiful vintage decorations. ‘Turn left, ask for Pam Wootton. She’ll sort you out.’
‘Left…Pam…Got it. Thanks.’
Better and better. She’d be much safer behind the scenes in the staff area.
Forget Pam whatever-her-name-was. She’d keep her head down until closing time and then leave through the staff entrance with everyone else. By then, she might even have worked out where she could go.
‘She’s not in there, Mr Hart.’
‘Are you sure? She hasn’t locked herself in one of the cubicles?’
‘All checked. That’s what took me so long.’
‘Well, thanks for looking,’ he said, outwardly calm.
‘No problem.’ She hesitated, then said, ‘The lifts are right opposite the stairs. If she got lucky with the timing, she might have doubled straight back down to the ground floor and left the store.’
‘It’s possible,’ Nat agreed, although he doubted it. He had her shoe and no one with a lick of sense would choose to go barefoot from the warmth of the store into the street. She was still in the store; he was certain of it. And, with nine sales floors, she had plenty of places to hide.
In her shoes—or, rather, lack of them—where would he go? What would he do?
If it was serious—and her fear suggested that this wasn’t just some rich woman wanting a little time out—changing her appearance had to be the first priority. Not a problem when she had a store full of clothes and accessories to help her, except that would mean exposing herself while she stood in line to pay for them.
Maybe.
Just how desperate was she?
Desperate