Diamonds and Toads: A Modern Fairy Tale (2 page)

Chas’s brows shot into his hairline. “A
couple of
days
ago?”

“I know. Amazing. Anyway, today I made—I made
a hundred million! Dollars.”

Chas jackknifed forward in his chair. “A
hundred
million? That’s—that’s near to impossible.”

She laughed. “Exactly! I feel like crowing!
You were the first person I thought to tell because you’re so—so
good with money. Will you help me to invest it?”

A strange look flashed in his baby blues as
he studied her for a moment. It unnerved her. Maybe she’d
overstepped their friendship with the request? She was about to
apologize to him and tell him she’d find someone else to help her
when he laughed and the look changed. Brightened. Became
recognizable. Comfortable. Compelling. For the first time since
she’d entered his office, his face relaxed into the boyish grin
that had become so familiar to her since they’d started working
together on the charity event months ago. “Well, I guess I can’t
propose to you now. You’ll think I’m only doing it for your
money.”

Her heart tripped, then hammered against her
ribcage. It took every ounce of her willpower not to let on with
her eyes, her hands, or any other part of her body that he’d just
spoken her deepest wish, made it a joke. She hoped the grin she
gave him was less hungry than friendly. “Hey, women do it all the
time—why not a guy?” She linked the fingers of her hands together
and did a little stretch. Did her voice sound as out of breath,
wobbly, to him as it did to her? “Besides, I could use a financial
wizard for a husband, now that I’m worth loads of dough.”

Chas’s expression grew serious. He swiveled
around and pulled something from his desk drawer then rose to his
feet and came toward her. Instead of sitting next to her, as she
expected, he knelt down in front of her.

“What’s this?” A nervous chuckle escaped her
throat. “What are you doing?” Against her will, his close proximity
brought on a fiery blush.

He lifted both of her hands. When her fingers
twitched over the velvet box in his palm, her breath caught in her
lungs. “I know you think I wasn’t serious,” he said. “But I was.
I’d been planning to ask you to be my wife on Valentine’s Day, but
if I wait any longer, you’ll be suspicious of my motives.”

He released her hands and opened the box.
Resting inside was a brilliant cut solitaire in a platinum setting.
“Will you marry me, Delilah?”

A rush of euphoria made her head spin, but
somehow she managed to say, “YES!”

* * *

Delilah was so high with happiness, she felt
as if she floated across the parking garage toward her car. She
sighed. They’d finally kissed. She lifted her fingers to her lips.
They still tingled from the warm contact. It had been as wonderful
as she’d dreamed it would be. He’d tasted so masculine, felt so
strong. It’d made her feel feminine, sexy even.

She shook her head and grinned. She was going
to marry Chas Regan. Amazing. All this time she’d been pining away
for the guy and—who knew?—he’d been doing the same thing for
her!

Since he’d returned to the family business a
year ago, moved back to Houston from Boston, they had formed a
companionable friendship. Based mostly on their shared interest in
charity work. He was very much involved in funding for cancer
research—his mother had died of a rare form of it a little less
than two years ago—and that was one of Delilah’s pet charities as
well.

Once they’d met up again at a charity
benefit, become reacquainted, they’d started sharing meals together
several times a week, sometimes twice in the same day. He’d even
begun confiding in her about his devastation at his mother’s sudden
illness and death, a thing, she was sure, he didn’t speak of with
others. And the more she learned about him, the man he’d grown up
to be, the more she’d fallen in love with him.

Of course, she, being the fat one in her
family, never thought for a second that he could ever think of her
in any romantic way.

She stopped walking and thrust her hand out
in front of her. The ring sparkled, even in the dim light, and the
fit was perfect. He must have done some sleuthing to get it just
right. The thought of him planning for weeks such a romantic
proposal gave her a giddy feeling in her chest. He loved her! Oh,
he hadn’t said the words—he wasn’t the sort, she knew. So many men
weren’t. At least that’s what she’d read in loads of women’s
magazines. But she hoped that one day, somehow, she’d finally get
him to say them aloud.

She started to walk again, and then it became
a jog, and then a full-out run, which wasn’t easy in her floral
print slim lined dress. She couldn’t
wait
to tell her
stepmother and half-sister! Wouldn’t their jaws drop to the floor!
Not only had she managed to pull their family back into the
financial realm they’d been in before her father’s imprisonment,
but,
she
, Delilah Perrault, had snagged the one perfect
prospect her stepmother had pegged to be her skinny, beautiful
half-sister’s future husband.

* * *

Chas hung up the phone. Relief washed over
him. The creditors were going to give him until a week from this
coming Monday to wire them the money now that he had access to some
funds.

He sat back and gnawed on a piece of dead
skin next to his fingernail. Okay, asking Delilah to marry him
hadn’t been the noblest way to deal with his dilemma. But he’d been
desperate. He’d briefly thought of simply asking her for the money,
but he’d quickly nixed it. He needed this all kept under wraps, and
keeping her in the dark about it while he ‘borrowed’ some of her
money—just long enough to swing things back in his favor—seemed the
best plan of action.

His already burning stomach twisted into a
knot and he popped several antacids into his mouth. Okay. He
admitted it. He’d taken advantage of a sweet girl who had a crush
on him so that he could keep the hounds at bay a little longer—and
get hold of those funds he needed.

He’d pay her back. With interest. And heck,
he just might go through with the marriage, too. If she really
wanted him. He liked her a lot. She was a good friend. And easy to
talk to. Most times, made him feel calm and settled inside. His
stomach hardly ever gave him grief when he was with her. That was
something, wasn’t it?

She was pretty, too. Electric blue eyes, dark
silky hair, long limbs, but soft and curvy. At five-eight, she was
just right for his own six-three height.

And, dear God, that kiss they’d shared! It
had sent shock waves all the way through him. No, it wouldn’t be
such a bad match. Not such a bad match at all.

Except, he needed her to be on his arm over
the next few months while he proved to his creditors that he was a
responsible sort—they could trust him with their money. So, he’d
best spend a little less time at the office and spend some real
time with her. Not in bed, of course. He wouldn’t be that much of a
bastard. Once he’d paid back the money, then yes. After that
kiss—hell yes. But not until then.

His gaze dropped to the ring box on his desk.
Good thing his last fiancée—the fourth to be exact—had over-nighted
that ring to his office eight months ago. It had come in handy.

* * *

“So how long is Isadora supposed to be gone?”
Delilah asked her stepmother. Delilah had only arrived a
quarter-hour ago and was disappointed to learn that her half-sister
had left on a holiday with friends early that morning.

Her stepmother’s drawn-on dark brow lifted as
she did her usual look-down-her-nose glare in Delilah’s direction.
“I
believe
she
told
me she would be
back
on
Wednesday
.”

Eudora Perrault was the most intimidating
person Delilah knew. With her perfectly coiffured black hair,
professionally silver streaked to frame her classic features;
svelte form; manicured nails; and never-a-wrinkle-in-sight designer
clothes, she also made Delilah feel like a shabby poor
relation—high fashion on a full-figure was a travesty as far as
Eudora was concerned—and that was before she opened her mouth and
spewed her diatribes listing all the ways in which Delilah had
fallen short in her estimation.  

But today would be different. Today she’d
have the woman eating out of her hand. And wouldn’t Paula, her
assertiveness trainer-cum-domme mentor, be proud? An anticipatory
thrill arced into Delilah’s chest as she set the teacup and saucer
down on the cocktail table. “Well,
Belle-mère
, I have some
wonderful news to give you. A couple of days ago, I invested a
little money in diamond stocks, and as of this morning, I’m—well,
we’re
—worth millions!”

The silence that followed her announcement
was as reverent as a prayer.

“I
suppose
you have
documentation
of
this
?” her stepmother said
finally.

Delilah nodded, sliding the stockbroker
documents from her briefcase and holding them out for the woman’s
inspection. “The dollar amount is on the last page.”

Her stepmother snatched the papers from
Delilah’s hand and quickly scanned the sheets. When her eyes landed
on the sum, they widened and her lips curled into a smile.
“Excellent my girl!”
She handed the documents back to
Delilah. Crossing her arms over her chest, she walked over to look
out the floor to ceiling window that faced the backyard, tapping
her red-nailed finger against her arm the entire time.
“
Although,
it
is
rather hard to
believe
that
you
did this on your
own.
”

“I did. All by myself.”

Delilah could tell by her stepmother’s stiff
posture that she didn’t want to believe her, but after another
moment, evidently grasping the full impact such a situation would
bestow upon, not just their finances, but their tarnished family
name, her stance relaxed. “Hmmm.” Settling in the mauve Rococo
style chair across from Delilah, she drummed her finger on the
curve of the ornate arm. Delilah recognized the gleam in her eye.
She’d switched from suspicious anger to cool calculation.

“
So
,” her stepmother said, “it
seems
it will be
you
who gains us our
rentrée
into society.”

Now for the
coup de grâce
!
Her
stepmother, surely, would beam with pride. Delilah stood up and
thrust her be-ringed hand toward her. “And I’m engaged! To Chas
Regan!”

Her stepmother’s eyes narrowed and her
nostrils flared. “Chas
Regan!
I
don’t
believe you.”
She raced forward and yanked Delilah’s hand up so she could examine
the diamond more closely.

“Ow!
Belle-mère
, your nails are
digging into my skin!” Delilah’s spirits plummeted as her
all-too-familiar anxiety came back in a rush.

“
Where
did you
get
this?” The
woman’s avaricious eyes bore daggers into Delilah.

“I-I—I told you. Chas proposed to me this
morning, and I accepted.”

“Why
ever
would
Chas
Regan want
you
for a wife?”

The dagger points sank into Delilah’s heart.
“B-be—because he loves me.”

With a swish of her hand, her stepmother
dismissed the idea. “He
should
have
given
you the
yellow
diamond
, then.”

A pang of grief for Chas’s mother mixed with
longing for the symbolic heirloom swept through her. “Th-that was
his mother’s ring—I’d never expect him to do that, it means too
much to him. Besides, it’s too soon after her passing.”

The fire returned to her stepmother’s eyes.
“
What
did you
do
to
coerce
the man into
shackling
himself to you?” She grabbed Delilah’s chin,
pinching it as she brought it up to glare into her eyes.
Are you
pregnant?
”

“No! No. I-I told you,
belle-mere
, he
loves me.”

For an electric moment, the woman just stared
at her with narrowed eyes. Then, dropping her hand to her side, she
straightened and laughed, but the laugh held no humor, only anger.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “He
used
those
words
, did he?”

“N-n—no,  Not exactly.”
Stop
stuttering!
Thrusting her shoulders back, she said more firmly,
“He had this ring picked out and said he had very romantic plans to
ask me on Valentine’s Day, but when I told him about my windfall,
he worried that if he waited, I would be more likely to question
his motives.” She captured her stepmother’s narrowed gaze and said
again, “He loves me.” Something hard and pea-sized caught at the
back of her throat and she choked on it.

“Be
careful
with my
upholstery
,
girl! If you are
ill
, go to the
lavatory
!
Quick
ly!”

The object flew out of Delilah’s mouth into
her palm. Her stomach sank to her toes. She knew before she looked
what it would be.

Her stepmother wrenched her hand up and took
hold of the thing. “Why—” Her stepmother blinked up at her. “It’s a
diamond!
” Her eyes narrowed again. “
Where
did you get
this, girl? You didn’t
steal
it, did you?” She whirled
around and began to pace. “Of all the
asinine
schemes—
hiding
it in your
mouth
!” She jabbed her
finger at her and said, “You are
just
like your
father
—a
thief
who’ll
blight
our family
name
with such she
nan
igans.” She thrust the diamond
toward her. “Give it
back
to whom
ever
you
stole
it from
.
”