Read Online Diamonds and Toads: A Modern Fairy Tale by K.E. Saxon - Free Book Online

was all. She clenched her hands together in
her lap where he couldn’t see them. “I know you’re right about
everything you’ve said, but try to understand. I need to do this
for me.” She sat forward. “I will be careful with my money,
though. I promise.”
    * * *
    Chas sat back in his chair. What was he
supposed to do now? He couldn’t force her to hand over her money.
He guessed he’d have to go back to the proverbial drawing board and
see if he could come up with some other means of persuasion. But
the subject was spent for tonight, at least. Before he let it drop
entirely, he tried one last tack. “Let me at least safeguard a
small portion of it—say five million?—that way, if things don’t go
the way you plan, you’ll still have a safety net working for
you.”
    “Thanks, but I’ll just leave some aside in my
bank account and let it draw interest. It won’t earn as much as it
would under your glowing expertise, but I really feel the need to
do this all by myself, okay?”
    He had no choice but to say, “Okay.”
    * * *
    Delilah could tell she’d hurt Chas’s
feelings. Or bruised his ego. But she couldn’t take the chance of
losing the fortune and putting her family back in the weeds again
financially. But that didn’t mean that she wasn’t taking his words
to heart. He was right: if she weren’t extremely careful and
cunning, she could lose it all anyway with a bad investment or
two.
    Maybe she should keep the money in the bank a
little longer while she took a few classes on investing. Yeah, that
seemed like the best course of action.
    With that decided, she gleefully took another
bite of her pizza. How long, she wondered, before they could return
to the bedroom?
    * * *
    Three nights later, Delilah swirled around
the floor of the Regan family ballroom with John Regan, Chas’s
father. Something wasn’t right between her and Chas. Hadn’t been
since the morning after their night of love. He hadn’t called or
come over since leaving her at six a.m. two mornings ago and
tonight he’d barely said three words to her, except of course, when
they were in the company of others. “Did you see where Chas went,
Mr. Regan?” she asked, looking around.
    He jerked his head in the direction of a set
of sheer-curtained French doors. “I think he’s out on the
balcony.”
    She nodded. “Mmm.” With every new pass, her
eyes drifted to the doors. She wasn’t sure what she’d done to scare
him off—was it the domme thing? Maybe she’d gone too far by using
the flogger on him. But he’d seemed to like it at the time, so
she’d allowed herself a little indulgence. What a dummy she was to
have done such a thing! No doubt, after he’d had time to think
about it, he’d realized she was way too freaky for him. And what
worried her now was that he might have spent the past couple of
days trying to figure out how to break his engagement to her.
    “It’s not you,” Chas’s father said. “It’s the
blasted state of our business that’s got him so tied up in knots.
He’s worried he won’t be able to get the funds by Monday.”
    Her head flashed around. “What? What did you
say?”
    He looked like he’d swallowed a 20-carat
gemstone. “I take it he hasn’t told you about our little
problem?”
    “No, he hasn’t,” she replied, too stunned to
say more.
    With a look of chagrin, he said, “I really
put my foot in it this time, didn’t I?” He patted her shoulder and
dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Don’t worry, I know my son. He’ll
fix the whole mess in time. He’s been sweating bullets and pulling
long hauls for the past two days trying to get his hands on the
last of the liquid funds he needs to get them off our backs.”
    Chas needed money? Chas ? The
finance guru extraordinaire? It didn’t seem plausible. But, clearly
it was true. Which raised the question: Was it really her money
he was interested in all along? Her throat closed up.
    The waltz ended and Delilah excused herself.
She