Read Online I Married the Third Horseman (Paranormal Romance and Divorce) by Michael Angel - Free Book Online

real animals, I suppose that it takes away that extra element of
danger?”
    Another laugh. “Oh, Cassie. We are both women
of the same business, are we not? And I suppose all of the starlets
in your films – they have all natural D-cups to fill their
brassieres, no?”
    I plucked the olive from the toothpick and
chomped it down. “You have me there.”
    A chime from overhead. A man’s voice called
down from a set of hidden speakers.
    “Two minutes to showtime, Cee Cee.”
    “Johann,” Circe said, rolling her eyes, “I
have a guest!”
    “Yes,” the voice sighed, “But I have a
theatre packed with people…along with a dozen of your admirers,
who’ve paid top dollar for their box seats. You can’t ignore your
public!”
    “Ah, too true, my sweet. I shall be
along.”
    “Even with your opinion of men,” I said,
surprised, “You still work for one?”
    She stood, and made a Gallic shrug. “One must
be pragmatic, darling. I have found that there is nothing wrong
with a woman welcoming a man's advances. So long as they are in
cash.”
    I couldn’t help but smile, feel a sense of
kinship with this expressive, independent woman.
    “So, now to business,” she continued. “I have
heard of your troubles. I think I might know how to help you get to
Dora. Unless…the Sphinx gave you any more clues, a riddle,
perhaps?”
    “She did, as a matter of fact,” I replied,
and I recited what I had been told. Though in all truth, even
though I have a nice voice, coming from my pipes the damned thing
didn’t sound at all enigmatic and majestic. Where the Sphinx’s
voice was opera, mine was a singing telegram. “What is it that
looks like a door to some, a passage to others, a message from
those who seek to do evil, and yet solves all of life’s
problems?”
    Circe gasped. “That riddle…do you know what
it means?”
    I shook my head and sat straight up in my
chair, eagerly awaiting her reply.
    “What a pity,” Circe said ruefully. “I was
kind of hoping that you would tell me . I have never
been able to understand any of the Sphinx’s riddles.”
    It took all of my willpower not to roll my
eyes.
    “I do have what you need to reach Dora,” she
added. “I know, because I once stood in Mitchel’s immortal sandals
myself. I too loved a human, a long time ago. But like all men, he
wanted to leave me. Only one as cunning as he managed to escape my
clutches and sail away.”
    I remained quiet as she continued. Whoever
that man was, he somehow had managed to resist both her
considerable magical and physical charms. It sounded like he’d been
in the Navy.
    Another chime.
    “One minute to curtain, Cee Cee!” Johann’s
voice announced, with a touch of panic.
    “Coming, coming!” Circe picked up her top
hat, pulled a business card out of a pocket, and handed it to me as
we walked towards the side door. “Dora lives high atop a mountain
north of a place you call ‘Taos.’ Giving you her address isn’t the
difficult part. Getting there…well, it shall be up to you, of
course, but I have three magical items that you shall need.”
    I nodded as we came up to a pair of brightly
lit doors. One was marked Backstage , while the other was
labeled Lobby Service . She showed me over to the latter
one.
    “I’m grateful for any help,” I said
honestly.
    “Allow me to finish this performance, and
then return through these doors. I apologize for showing you out,
but for the show’s duration, my dressing room is going to have to
hold a lot of men and animals.” She chuckled. “Men and animals…oh,
there I go again, repeating myself!”
    And with that, she pushed through her door,
her face aglow with a stage performer’s smile. I shook my head and
turned the knob on my own exit. I stepped into a wide, empty lobby
that smelled ever so slightly of cigarette smoke. Plush green
carpet and crystal chandeliers framed fine oil paintings and a
triple set of closed doors off to one side. A crystal display above
each door read: