The rest of the ride was spent in silence. She kept her head on his chest and didn’t try to convince him to let her go--if he was cold enough to love her and leave her, he surely didn’t care if another man shared her. She cared, in more ways than one, and she wasn’t going to stand by and let them get away with breaking her heart.
Sucker, she told herself angrily, still too weak to sit up. It must be true that where a woman’s body led, her heart would follow. Too bad she didn’t have Rabbit’s immunity. Maybe he’d feel a pang when she was forced to the alter, but she doubted he’d charge to her rescue. It would be depressing if she weren’t so angry about it.
Talk about a chocolate chip cookie dough moment.
A couple of miles later, they were pulling up to an impressive white castle, surrounded by a maze of tall hedges. Guards opened the white, wrought iron gates, saluting as they drove past. Ali had finally slid off Rabbit’s lap, too embarrassed to be seen clinging like a vine. Not that she wanted to impress their blasted prince, but being caught on his employee’s lap would be the last straw.
A man in white livery bowed to her as he helped her from the car. "If you’ll come with me, your highness? I’ll show you to a room where you can freshen up."
Refusing to look at Rabbit--the snaky traitor--she obediently followed the servant. Then, when his attention was caught by an argument between two gardeners, she darted off into the hedge maze.
Ali knew she had only moments before she was caught, so she ran for all she was worth, dodging plant sculptures and darting randomly into alleys, lifting her full skirts so she wouldn’t trip. Everyone here was crazy, and she had the feeling that explaining who she was and where she came from wouldn’t help. Either they’d tune her out and go on about her wedding, or they’d lock her up, and she did NOT want to find out what madhouses were like in this place.
Doubts nagged at her while she ran. They had a wedding dress and shoes in exactly her size. Rabbit had come along just after she’d stepped through the mirror. He kissed like a dream … and he had fetched her for another man.
Dreamlike, she ran and ran, yet never got anywhere. Was the maze that big, or was she going in circles? Suddenly she saw a gap up ahead and ran for it, bursting out in front of a crowd of people before she knew what had happened. Panting, she looked around wildly … and saw Rabbit, dressed all in white, seated on a throne atop a wide dais.
He smiled his Cheshire cat smile. "Welcome, princess."
Ali no longer cared if they thought she was crazy. This madness had gone far enough. "I’m not a princess! I work in a coffee shop, for Pete’s sake! This is just a dream."
Hatter bowed to Rabbit. He was dressed in priest’s robes, and his earring winked in the sunlight. "Shall we begin the ceremony, your Majesty?"
"Aren’t you listening? I won’t marry him!" Ali shouted, stepping closer. So he was the prince, was he? Or rather the king? No wonder he hadn’t cared that she was getting married. Maybe he did care after all.
She shook her head sharply to clear the dancing cherubs. Who cared? He was cute, but even she drew the line at making it with figments of her imagination, and she was now firmly convinced she was dreaming. Seeing Bud in Hawaiian print tights and a doublet cinched it.
Rabbit shook his head in mock sorrow, a glint of amusement in his eye. "She won’t have me, she says."
A chorus of boos issued from the assembled company. Madam Rose and her flower girl trio were there, as well as the well-rounded Glenda.
"Off to his bed!" Madam Rose shouted, and the rest of the company took up the chant.
Rabbit’s brows rose in amusement, and he raised a hand for silence. "Shouldn’t she at least get a trial?"
"A trial?" Ali demanded, ignoring what that wicked glint in his eye was doing to her blood pressure.
Hatter presented himself before the throne as the first witness. "I saw her drinking beer and eating brownies with him," he said. "They were on the way to the wedding. She wasn’t protesting then."
"She snuggled right up," Bud added to an indignant surge of muttering, most of it directed at the bride’s fickle nature.
"What kind of brownies were they?" someone called, sniggering. "Maybe you were seeing things." The man was immediately shushed.
"She was in our inn, flashing her money. Poor thing didn’t know a penny from a pound. He saved her from being robbed. I say the girl needs a keeper," Glenda added.
"And what were you flashing?" the unseen heckler called. There was a loud "umph!", then silence.
"They spent the night together," Bud added. "I say his Majesty has a duty to marry her." That interested the crowd. The buzz of speculation increased.
Desperate to end this mockery of a trial, haunted by heat in Rabbit’s eyes--how dare he look at her like that? He couldn’t possibly be right for her, no matter what he did to her pulse--Ali called out, "Nothing happened!"
Rabbit’s brows rose. "Nothing?"
Wickedness sparkled in his eyes, and she suddenly wondered if he’d seduced her on purpose, just for this moment. Heat rose in her cheeks, but she countered stubbornly, "Nothing critical." She couldn’t quite meet his gaze.
The crowd had heard all it needed to hear. "Off to his bed! Off to his bed!" They began to close in on her.
The ground started to wobble like tomato aspic. Ali had the strange feeling of being in a bubble. The crowd blurred, as if their image was seen through a curved sheen. Ali looked up--and saw Rabbit looking back, his gaze so intent that it was all she saw.
In that half place between dreams and waking, Ali saw him. The first kiss of morning’s light curled around him like a silvery mist, softening his face, muting his expression. He saw her on the bed and smiled softly. She rolled toward him as the matress dipped, a strange sense of sadness and anticipation shrouding her heart.
"It was only a dream," she said softly, sadly.
He cupped her face. "It was a promise. Some things are meant to be, but you wouldn’t receive me if I hadn’t softened your heart."
"How can you be real?"
His lips slowly touched hers. "This is real. At this moment, we share a dream." The kiss grew, slowly, surely, his passion igniting hers. Languid pleasure hummed in her veins, warmed her heart. He slowly sank down, pressing into her, then through her, until he melted away like a ghost….
Ali sat up, breathing hard. Dawn’s light spilled through the window, filtering through the lingering storm clouds. A glance out the window confirmed the street was wet, the cars dewed with the remnants of rain. Her grandmother’s mirror was as it always was, an unremarkable glass, soon to go to auction.
She flopped back on the bed. A dream. Thank God. As soon as the thought came to her, she frowned. In other circumstances….
Sighing with regret, she turned her head … and saw the queen of hearts lying on the other pillow.
The next five days passed uneventfully, days full of serving customers java and nights spent in her cheap efficiency apartment. Some of the details of her dream faded, but she didn’t forget Rabbit. She missed him. Had he left her the card, like a rose left by a lover’s hand after a gentle goodbye kiss? She’d left it by her bedside for the last few mornings, but today she carried it in her back pocket.
Twice she’d woken from dreams of a shadowy lover, though she never remembered his face when she opened her eyes. It had to be Rabbit, though. Who else could leave her trembling and sated at the same time? If this kept up she might have to seek professional help. It was a sad statement of her love life that she could only get it on with a figment of her imagination.
The bell over the door tolled. Someone had braved the downpour and ducked in for a hot drink. She looked up--and spilled the straws she was adding to the dispenser. It was him.
His hair was no longer white, but dark, and he had the same vivid green eyes and killer smile. She knew those lips, remembered what they could do.
He glanced at her frozen hands, at the mess of straws on the counter. "Need a hand?"
Common sense hit in a wave of mortification. Of course it wasn’t him. She’d dreamed of someone like him, that was all. Uncanny, but a fact, and if she didn’t watch it, he’d think she was a nut. "Uh, yeah. Yes. Um, I’ll be right with you."
He took his time looking at her face, then that slow grin dawned. "No hurry."
Breathing deeply to calm her leaping pulse, she scrambled for an explanation for her bizarre behavior. "I’m sorry I stared. It’s just that I thought I’d seen you before."
Leaning one hand on the tall bar, he tilted his head in consideration. "I come in here once in a while, but I’ve never seen you--more’s the pity."
There went that hot flush again. Could he possibly be? "You wouldn’t know anyone named Rabbit, would you?"
"Just the one on my bike," he said with a flash of white teeth. He glanced out the window, frowned at the rain. "Bad day for a bike, though, so the fat boy is home, pouting."
"Fat boy?"
"My Harley," he said ruefully. "It has a white rabbit painted on the tank--it’s an inside joke. My buddy has one with the Mad Hatter. Are you all right?" he asked in sudden concern, reaching out to steady her as she tottered.
"Head rush," Ali said quickly, sitting down right where she was. It was early, they were alone, and she’d just had the shock of her life.
He hurried around the counter. "Here, put your head between your knees. Have you eaten breakfast yet? Maybe that’s the trouble."
"No, no breakfast," she said faintly. That wasn’t the problem, but she wasn’t going to enlighten him. How would she explain? Gee, did you know I’ve been dreaming of you every night? Have you ever been to Wonderland? Do you remember the Mad Hatter offering me psychedelic brownies? Um, no, I haven’t been sniffing glue this morning.
"Well, here." Unaware of her frantic mental scramble, he got up and fixed two blueberry bagels and some coffee, then helped her to a table in front of the window. "I’m buying."
She managed a weak smile. "Maybe I should get the tip." They shared a laugh, then had breakfast.
"By the way, my name is Brian … Brian Ott. I’m the architect in charge of that new church down on Lime St."
"The huge one with the stained glass windows? I love that place! You really designed it?" There were several big churches in town, but none of them had the style of Brian’s creation. Build to resemble a medieval cathedral, it had been two years in the making and was the talk of the town.
He smiled. "I didn’t catch your name?"
"Oh! Sorry. It’s Ali."
"Short for Alice?" He grinned. "Now I know I have to introduce you to my bike. You’re going to love the White Rabbit. Why don’t you give me your number? Maybe I could take you for a ride this weekend."
"Yeah," she murmured, bemused. The glint of amusement in his eyes woke her up from her daze. "Uh, yeah. I’d like that." Quickly, she jotted her number down on a napkin and slid it to him. She risked a glance at him and blushed. Things like this just didn’t happen to her.
His eyes sparkled as glanced at the window. "Looks like it’s letting up, and I’ve got to get to work. I’ll call you later."
He’d call her. Ali couldn’t stop her grin as she cleared the table. The man of her dreams--literally--was going to call her. No more lonely nights, no more futile daydreams, and if he kissed half as good as she hoped….
Her grin broadened as she greeted the first customer of the day.
Sometimes dreams did come true.