Modern Wicked Fairy Tales: Complete Collection (18 page)

Campbell watched Goldie take out an exact
replica of the blue velvet bag. He also glimpsed a wad of cash and
a few other jewelry boxes with several large cubic zirconium in
them, quite a haul for any thief looking to score. She closed the
safe, swinging the picture back into place as well.
Good
girl,
he thought, watching her spill the jewels into her palm.
Everything was going so closely to plan it was hard to believe.

“They’re beautiful.” Goldie held the three
Ursa diamonds, looking at them in the firelight. “Just
exquisite.”

“They were passed on to us from our father,”
Rolf explained.

“Here.” Goldie put the jewels back into the
bag, pulling the string and handing it to Rolf. “I was nervous
enough carrying those around for twenty-four hours.”

“So tell us.” Rolf smiled, slipping the bag
into his left suit coat pocket. “How did you do it?”

Goldie sipped her drink, following the
eldest brother toward the fireplace. “Honestly, your security
wasn’t that difficult to bypass. You had several backdoors. Any
hacker could have found them.”

“Is that so?” Wilhelm perked up, shooting
bolts of lightning at Campbell with his eyes as he joined his
brothers and Goldie by the fireplace.

The anger in Campbell’s response was quite
real. “Now wait a minute, I just did a thorough sweep of our
system.”

Goldie offered him a little smile and a
helpless shrug. “I’m sorry, Mr. Campbell, but I’m afraid you missed
a few. It happens.”

He took a step toward her, blazing. “Listen,
you smug little…”

“Whoa!” Rolf stepped into his path.
“Easy!”

“You expect me to sit here and listen to
this?” he snarled.

“It’s your system that failed, Mr.
Campbell,” Wilhelm reminded him, ebullient.

Don’t hit him,
Campbell reminded
himself, fists clenched at his sides.

“So you hired a comb-lock genius to test
your system, but how many thieves out there can do what she does? I
wish I could alleviate your paranoia, but the reality is there is
no such thing as a foolproof security system!” Campbell threw up
his hands, rolling his eyes, giving Goldie her cue. “Jesus
Christ!”

She went down like a stone, just as they’d
rehearsed, eyes going wide and then closing, the glass in her hand
shattering against the fireplace, splashing rum and Coke all over
the hearth. The three Behr brothers ran to her side, focusing their
full attention on Goldie. Campbell palmed the velvet bag on the
desk, hearing Goldie murmuring embarrassed apologies for fainting
and Campbell took the opportunity to step close, peering over
Rolf’s shoulder, slipping his hand into the big man’s suit coat
pocket as he did so.

Easy as taking candy from a baby
, he
thought as the blue velvet bag with the glass diamonds slid in to
replace the bag with the real Ursas. Campbell pocketed the real
jewels as Rolf helped Goldie to her feet, the other two brothers
fussing around her. He took the opportunity to put the real jewels
back onto the desk, although he was loathe to let go of them.
Work the plan,
he reminded himself.
And let the plan
work.

“Are you okay?” Rolf asked and Campbell
gritted his teeth, seeing the way he held her steady, far too
close.

“Fine.” Goldie smiled up at him, practically
batting her eyelashes, and Campbell wished she’d lay off the act a
little. Goldie brushed at her skirt, feeling the back of her head.
She’d gone down on the carpet but he was sure she’d probably have a
lump there. It wasn’t easy to pretend to faint. The body
instinctively wanted to resist injury if it was truly conscious.
“I’m fine, really, I’m just pregnant.”

“You’re what?” The words were out of
Campbell’s mouth before he could think, his heart stopped dead in
his chest. He wondered for a moment if it was going to beat again,
but then it took off like a race horse.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, looking at the
glass on the floor. “I can clean that up.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Rolf waved his
hand, using Goldie’s elbow to steer her toward the soft and sitting
her on it. Otto had already gone off to find the butler to clean up
the mess. “I just want to make sure you’re all right.”

“I’m really fine.” She gave him an
embarrassed smile. “I never knew it was true what they said about
pregnant women fainting.”

“Well I guess double congratulations are in
order then,” Campbell spat, leaning over and grabbing the blue
velvet bag off the desk. “A baby and a new job. Bully for you.”

“Now listen here…” Rolf stood to his full
height, frowning, but Campbell cut him off.

“Fuck you, Behr.” He heard Goldie gasp.
Nice touch,
he thought. “And fuck this job.” He turned to
Goldie, sneering. “You can have it. Here’s your prize.”

He tossed the bag in her lap and strode
toward the door, not looking back. It took every bit of effort he
could muster not to turn back, to walk out of the room and leave
her there. He hated this part of the plan, hated that he wasn’t in
control, able to protect her. But he left, passing Otto on the
stairs, the butler following behind.

“I’ll show myself out,” he said gruffly when
Otto inquired, concerned, about where he was going. His brothers
would fill him in, he was sure. It took him fifteen minutes after
getting into his car and heading down the Behr’s long driveway to
get the rendezvous point. It took Goldie another fifteen and he
couldn’t believe his relief when he saw her little black Saturn
pull into the parking lot beside his car. His whole body relaxed
the moment she opened the driver’s side door, seeing him leaning
against his Mercury, just standing in the glow of a streetlight,
waiting for her to arrive.

“Do you have them?” he asked first thing and
she pulled the velvet bag out of her pocket to show him.

“You were right,” she admitted, pocketing
the jewels again.“About everything. They switched the diamonds just
like you said they would. How did you know?”

“How did I know they would ask you to steal
the Ursas?” He winked. “Come on, I’ve worked for these guys for
three years. Give me a little credit.”

Goldie raised her eyebrows and Campbell
grinned. “Okay, I might have fed their paranoia a little and made a
suggestion here or there, as head of security and all…”

She laughed. “You hatched the perfect
plan.”

“Speaking of hatching…” Campbell’s heart
thudded in his chest just thinking about posing the question. “Are
you really pregnant?”

Goldie hesitated, then shook her head. “No.
I just thought it would lend credibility to the whole fainting
thing. Why, did I scare you?”

He shrugged, lying. “No.”

“Liar.” She grinned, glancing over at the
building they’d parked in front of, the sign illuminated with
floodlights:
Parkview Nursing Home
. Goldie sighed, patting
the bag of jewels in her pocket. “I’ll feel better once these are
in Daniel’s hands and we’re on a plane to Brazil. Although I’m sure
going to miss Poppy…”

“Speaking of that.” Campbell reached into
his inside pocket, pulling out an envelope. “I have something for
you.”

He watched her face as she opened them,
seeing her expression turn quizzical as she counted them in the
light of a street lamp. “There are
three
plane tickets
here.”

“Yep,” he agreed, waiting for the
realization to hit her.

“Poppy’s coming with us?” She looked at him,
incredulous. “But how? My father’s will only provides for him if he
stays here.”

Campbell smiled. “I’ve taken care of
that.”

Goldie stared, eyes wide. “What did you
do?”

“Well, you might be the goddess of
combination locks—and a great actress, I might add—but I’m awesome
at hacking and password retrieval.”

She gaped, jaw dropped. “Campbell!”

“Let’s just say we now have an offshore
account that’s going to take care of us for the rest of our lives.
And that includes your Poppy. Let’s call it…reparations.”

He waited for her reaction and she bowled
him over with it, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him
fully on the mouth.

“I can’t wait to tell him everything,” she
breathed, tears in her eyes. “I never could have done this without
you.”

“That’s true,” he agreed, trying to sound
humble, but the adoring look in her eyes melted his heart.
Everything about her made him want to sink to his knees and worship
her. He kissed the corner of her mouth and hugged her close,
whispering, “But I don’t know what I’d do without you, so we’re
pretty even.”

* * * *

Epilogue

Goldie stretched out, cat-like, practically
purring in the sun. She’d divested herself of her bathing suit top
already and was considering losing the bottoms, too. Her pale skin
had already turned a lovely golden brown in the two weeks they’d
spent at this villa in Brazil.

“Hey doll.” Campbell plopped down in the
sand beside her wearing khakis and a loud Hawaiian shirt. He looked
ridiculous, and she loved him. “Guess what?”

“If there’s a tsunami coming, I don’t want
to know,” she murmured, closing her eyes again. “Is Poppy
okay?”

“He’s fine,” Campbell assured her. “Back at
the house, getting his second sponge bath of the day. The old guy’s
sure taking advantage of having a live-in nurse.”

Goldie giggled. “You men never change.”

“Sit up. I have something for you.”

She sighed, loathe to move, but she did as
he asked, turning herself over and facing him. “What?”

“Just a little something.” Campbell reached
into his pocket and pulled out a small, black velvet box. Seeing it
made her stomach drop to her knees.

“Campbell…”

“Actually, more a medium-sized something,”
he countered as she took it from him with trembling hands.

He didn’t,
she thought, but he had.
Inside was the Ursa Median, now set in a platinum band.

“What…?” She choked, staring at the ring.
“How?”

“Daniel said most people only know about
Ursa Major and Ursa Minor,” Campbell explained. “And he wanted to
give us something for donating the diamonds to the Holocaust
Museum, so…”

“So it’s ours?” She looked from him to the
diamond and back again.

“It’s yours.” He nodded, reaching out to
take her hand. “If you’ll agree to marry me.”

She blinked and then laughed. “Are you
really proposing to me naked?”

“Well I’m not naked, you are.” He grinned,
leering. “And I rather prefer you that way.”

“Okay.” She couldn’t help the tears welling
up in her eyes. “But I have to tell you something.”

He raised an eyebrow, waiting.

“Remember when I told you I wasn’t
pregnant?”

Campbell nodded and she swore he turned
another shade of pale under his straw hat.

“I lied.” She looked down at the ring
instead of at him. “I am pregnant,” she rushed on. “But don’t think
you have to marry me because I am. You don’t.”

Campbell grabbed her to him and kissed her
hard, crushing her mouth with his and she gasped for breath when he
let her go.

“My god, woman, I’ve wanted to marry you for
three years!” he exclaimed. “If I could have done it without
arousing the Behr’s suspicions, I would have had you at a Justice
of the Peace in a heartbeat!”

She swallowed, wanting to believe him. “That
was the only reason?”

“What other reason could there be?” He shook
his head, smiling.“I love you, silly woman.”

She let her tears fall, looking down at the
ring and whispering, “I love you too.”

“Why are you crying?” he inquired, wiping at
her tears with his thumb. “Don’t you want to get married? Don’t you
like the ring? Is it too big? Too small?”

“No it’s just right.” She looked up at him
and felt the truth of it for the first time in her whole life.
“Everything is just right.”

BRIAR
ROSE

Google’s my lifesaver.

Rose snorted at the irony, mentally
correcting her own error as she slipped naked into the hot
water—life-
ender
was more like it. But without Google, she
would have just done what she’d seen in all the Hollywood movies
and used the razor blade horizontally, and what good would that
have done? She would have just ended up in the hospital amidst a
whole lot of drama, her aunts clucking and pawing and chiding,
while Sam scoffed and said she was just looking for attention.

If he even showed up at all…

She put the box of razor blades on the edge
of the tub, the cardboard soaking up the water splashing onto the
edge from the running spout. But what did it matter if the entire
box rusted? She only needed one. Although she had been careful to
buy a box-cutter at Home Depot, along with the blades, so as not to
draw any undue attention to herself.

Why would he show up?

Thinking about Sam made her whole body curl
into itself, going instinctively fetal, her knees drawn up, eyes
closing, as if she could escape her own pain with darkness. Well,
that was the point, wasn’t it? She had experienced her fair share
of heartache in her thirty-three years, but the pain of losing Sam
was far too much for her to bear. One person couldn’t possibly live
through the loss, not to mention the humiliation, of losing her
fiancé the night before the wedding.

It’s your own fault.

That was the hardest thing of all to accept.
If she’d just kept on pretending, if she had let things go on as
they always had, she and Sam would be staying the night right now
at a sweet little bed and breakfast she’d found on the Florida
coast before heading off to St. Barts for the rest of their
three-week honeymoon in the morning. Instead, both tickets were
tucked into her purse and the engagement ring he’d given her a year
ago would never get the addition of its twin wedding band.

She opened her eyes to admire the two-carat
diamond. Although she’d protested at the extravagance, Sam had
insisted, and secretly she loved the exclamatory reaction she
received from everyone from shopkeepers to manicurists. Of course,
she’d offered to give it back, but Sam had insisted, “I don’t want
anything from you!” shaking his hand off her arm as if she was a
leper before storming out of her apartment, slamming the door
behind him so hard it made Mr. Neiman upstairs pound on the floor
for quiet.