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Panting, rainwater streaming down his face, Reed staggered back to the front of the house for one last try. He lifted his hand to the knocker just as his foot slipped on the front step, making him grab the knob to keep from falling.
Immediately, the door swung open. Shit. It had been open the whole damn time.
Without hesitation Reed stepped into the entranceway, the hall so dark he could hardly see a foot in front of his face. He flipped the light switch by the door. Nothing. The storm must have knocked out the power. He took one step then another then came to a complete halt. He couldn’t see a thing.
Digging into his right pocket he pulled out his cell phone and held it up, the dim light lifting the thick curtain of darkness just enough that he could make his way deeper into the room.
“Hello,” he called out as he slowly made his way farther into the unfamiliar house. “Anybody here? Golden?”
Silence. Was he trespassing in vain? No. He would not accept defeat. Golden had to be here.
Determined, he made his way up the stairs to the landing and knocked on every door. He even pushed them open and peered in. “Golden? Are you here?” He found not a soul.
Shoulders slumped, Reed turned and went back down the stairs, hope seeping out of him with every step. What now?
He was heading back to the front door when his footsteps slowed and he came to a stop. He couldn’t leave. Not without one last try. Maybe there was a den or a library he had missed. What if Golden had been scared by the lightning and thunder and had hidden herself away somewhere where she couldn’t see the flashes of lightning? He’d heard that some people actually had phobias to thunderstorms.
Reed turned and headed back down the hallway. “Golden, are you here?” His shout was louder this time, reverberating in the otherwise silent house. If Golden was anywhere in this house she would have to hear him. “Golden,” he bellowed.
And then he heard it. A banging in the distance, all the way at the end of the hall. “Golden. It’s Reed. Is that you?” He was yelling as he ran, determined not to lose her. He had to follow the sound. “Keep banging. I hear you. I’m coming.” His shouts echoing down the hallway ahead of him, Reed ran half-blind into the darkness and as the banging grew louder his heart soared.
When he finally got to the source of the noise he heard her. “Get me out of here. Please. Let me out.” Her voice, muffled by the heavy door, broke off on a sob.
“I’m here, honey. You’re okay now. I’ll get you out.” Quickly, Reed shoved the phone back into his pocket and grabbed the handle of the door. As he had expected, it was locked. He would have to find some way to pry it open or, better yet, to pick the lock. “Hang on, sweetheart. I’ll get you out. I promise. Just hang in there.”
Chewing on his bottom lip, he frowned, deep in thought. What could he use to pick the lock? There had to be something but he would definitely not find that something in this house, not while it was bathed in darkness. He’d head for the car. He had to find something there. “I’ll be right back,” he called out. “I’m just going out to the car but I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Okay.” Golden’s voice was faint but at least she sounded calm.
Reed got another soaking as he dashed to the car but he didn’t give a damn. He’d found his Golden and that was all that mattered.
The toolkit in the trunk provided the perfect solution. Digging past jumper cable, screwdrivers and nuts he fished out a thin coil of wire. Perfect. All he would have to do was twist a few strands together so it would be strong enough to lift the lever inside the lock.
Within seconds Reed was back in the house and loping toward the cellar door. “Golden, I’m back. Just give me a few minutes, okay?” When she called out her assent he smiled in the darkness. Brave girl.
Picking the lock wasn’t as easy as he’d thought. He wasn’t done in the few minutes he’d told Golden. The wire kept bending at the critical moment, just when he needed that pressure to flip the latch. He had to keep pulling it back out, twining more wire around to stiffen it before inserting it back into the keyhole. Finally, after almost twenty minutes of trying, it clicked. As soon as Reed turned the knob and pulled the door open Golden flew into his arms, laughing and crying and babbling all at once.
“It’s okay, honey. I’m here. You’re safe now.”
“Oh, Reed,” she wailed as she clung to him. “I was so scared. It was so dark.” She ended on a hiccup and pressed her face into his shoulder.
Heart wrenching at how she must have suffered all alone in the dark, he pulled her trembling body tight against his and stroked her hair. “I know, sweetheart,” he soothed, “but I’m here now. You’re safe.”
It took another few minutes before Golden’s shaking stilled. When she finally relaxed into him, the tension leaving her body, he knew she was all right.
Gently, he drew back then tilted her face up to his. Lowering his head he gave her the best comfort he knew how, capturing her lips and kissing away her trembling and her fear.
Clinging to him, she kissed him back with a passion brought on by fright but when she gave a soft moan and melted into him Reed knew she was coming around. It was only then that he drew away and slid his palms down her arms to take her hand.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine now.” Then she gasped. “What time is it? Tomorrow is my birthday. Oh, my gosh. Is it already past midnight?”
“No, it’s not,” Reed was quick to reassure her, “but it’s not that far off. Right now it’s...” he touched the screen of the cell phone, bringing it back to life, “...eight minutes after eight.”
Golden let out a distressed hiss. “Less than four hours before my deadline.” She grabbed his hand. “I can’t let that snake win, not after seeing how low he’ll go to get this money. Come on.” She set off down the inky hallway, dragging Reed along with her. “Let’s get out of here. We’ve got to find a judge.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Golden stopped short as she ran out of the house right into a near-solid wall of water. From the cellar she’d heard the thunder and seen the flashes of lightning but with the sounds muffled down there, she’d had no idea it had been raining this hard.
Coughing and sputtering she held tight to Reed’s hand and ran as he pulled her along, his long legs taking him farther and quicker than she could ever hope to go. But he didn’t leave her behind. He never let go of her hand. He ripped the car door open and bundled her inside then ran around to the driver’s side and jumped in, his brown hair pasted down on his head. He was shivering.
Reed turned to her, his eyes so full of concern it made her heart swell. He loved her. She could see it in his look, she could feel it in the touch of his hand as he reached out to stroke her cheek. “Thank God I found you,” he said as he pushed a wet curl off her face. “I love you, Golden.”
They were the sweetest words he could have said to her. She laid a hand over his, trapping his hand against her cheek, then she turned her face to plant a tender kiss in the middle of his palm. “I love you,” she whispered, her eyes filling with sudden tears but this time they were tears of joy.
Then suddenly realizing that time was flying by but they weren’t, she slid his hand down. “We have to go now,” she reminded him, “or else it will be too late.”
A quick nod and Reed was firing up the engine then tearing down the driveway and onto the watery roadway. His eyes trained on the road, he reached out a hand to squeeze Golden’s leg. “I know it was Manchester who did this,” he said, anger vibrating in his voice. “I won’t let him get away with it.”
Golden murmured her thanks but right then her stepfather was the least of her concerns. They had to get back to London to find a judge, any judge at this point, but with the blinding torrents and flooded roads it was beginning to seem an impossible task. Outside of the beams of light from the car everywhere was a solid and very scary black.
“It’s raining so hard. Can you see?” Golden gripped the seat as she stared ahead, wondering how Reed could drive so fast when the visibility was so poor. She shivered. “Maybe you shouldn’t drive so fast.”
“We don’t have much time,” he said, glancing at the clock on the dashboard. “We have to keep going.”
Golden bit her lip but she nodded. She knew he was right. There was nothing to be done but fight through the summer storm. With a sigh she gave up trying to see through the rain. She would leave the job to Reed. After all those hours of screaming and pounding and pacing the cellar floor she was too exhausted to even think.
She sagged back into the passenger’s seat and although she had every intention of being there for Reed, her eyelids grew heavy and they soon began to close. Swiftly sliding into slumber, she was transported to the bank of a peaceful pond, the same one where Reed had proposed. Her heart overflowing with love, she lifted her face to receive his kiss and as his lips descended and covered hers, she moaned.
