Excerpt of Diamonds and Toads: A Modern Fairy Tale by K.E. Saxon

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.

* * *