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

up on this.”
    “Okay, let’s just say that I believe you.
That the money’s charmed. How does that effect what I’m trying to
do?”
    “That’s just it. The fairy came to visit me
the morning after you discovered me outside my friend’s dungeon.
She told me I couldn’t allow you control of my money or it would
vanish the moment you tried to use it. That’s why I told you I’d
handle it myself. So you see—I don’t know whether it’s going to do
you any good or not.”
    She was right, this was crazy. But he needed
her money too badly to deal with her mental state right now. And he
damned well was going to talk to Eudora Perrault about this
fairy business. He needed to know how long these fantasies had been
going on. But first, he needed the money. He’d worry about his
fiancée’s level of sanity later.
    * * *
    “Quite a night, huh?” Chas asked her outside
her door later.
    “Yes, quite.” The engagement party had been
both a success and a bizarre disaster all at the same time. While
most of the guests enjoyed themselves, the Perraults managed to
become the butt of their social set’s jokes once more. Her sister
had created a video memoire for her, yet it had turned out to be
more of an exposé of Eudora’s determination to get Isadora wed to
any one of their social set’s eligible bachelors. Why had Isadora
made that video—and shown it to everyone? She hadn’t been herself
in days, and Delilah was beginning to suspect that it was somehow
the fairy’s doing. Eudora, of course, was beside herself. She’d
hauled Isadora out of the ballroom by her arm amid sniggers and
murmurs from the crowd of onlookers. That was the last Delilah had
seen of either of them all evening. She assumed they were both home
now, albeit Isadora with a little less skin after her tongue
flaying by her mother. Luckily, Chas and his dad had a sense of
humor and brushed it all off to the crowd as a planned joke.
    As she turned the key and swung her door
open, Delilah made a mental note to give her sister and stepmother
a ring tomorrow to see how they were and tell them that Chas and
his father saved the day. “Would you like some tea before bed?”
    Chas’s lips pursed. “Listen, Dee, I’m not
staying over tonight. I can’t. There’s too much I’ve got to put
together in order to get that money wired to my creditors by
Monday. Will you come by the office at ten a.m.? I’ll have the loan
contract ready for you to sign by then.”
    She deflated, but she understood. He needed
to concentrate on putting out the fire at hand before he could give
his full attention to fueling a blaze of their own. “Okay.” She
kissed him goodnight and let him leave without an argument.
    * * *
    Chas relentlessly relived the events of the
evening, of the past days, and even the past months. It didn’t make
sense: Delilah wasn’t truly insane. She couldn’t be. Her inability
to tell the difference between fantasy and reality would have shown
up in other myriad ways, and they hadn’t. He still didn’t believe
her about the fairy. In fact, now that he had more time to think
about it, he realized it must have been some last minute, cooked up
attempt to keep some control over her money. Maybe she thought that
she could scare him into not taking it? Was she afraid he wouldn’t
pay her back? No, he didn’t think so. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have
offered to give it to him. Or had she? Maybe when she’d said give she’d really meant loan and he’d rightly assumed
she meant the word literally.
    She’d no doubt drop the fairy story line once
she got her hands around a contract—substantial proof that he’d
repay the loan.
    * * *

 
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
     
     
    The sound of high-pitched trilling startled
Chas awake. He glanced at his clock. Five-thirty-seven. He’d barely
been asleep an hour, what with all the emails he’d composed.
Stumbling out of bed, he moved toward the noise. It seemed to be
coming from his living room.