Wild Fire (The Fairy Tale Match Series)
Read Wild Fire (The Fairy Tale Match Series) Online
Authors: Danielle Rose-West
Wild Fire
By
Danielle
Rose-West
This is a
work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product
of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to
actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is
entirely coincidental.
Wild Fire
Copyright ©
2013 by Danielle Rose-West
This work is
registered with the UK Copyright Service.
All rights
reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Publishing
History: First Edition
Kindle
Edition
Published by
Danielle Rose-West
Cover Design
by Ramona Lockwood (http://coversbyramona.blogspot.com)
Dedication
To my family for all your love and
support.
Thank you for always being there for
me.
You helped make my dream a reality.
Kerry sat in her car and wondered for
the hundredth time if she was doing the right thing. Jake was going to kill her
when he found out. She wasn’t even sure if she could pull off the meeting
without rousing suspicion. Her heart was pounding, her palms were sweating and
she was shaking from head to toe.
Taking a deep breath, she pulled up
the internet on her phone and looked again at the website for The Fairy Tale
Match. It seemed to promise so much; a guaranteed love match or your money
back. Simple, right? Not in her case. She was meant to be her brother coming
here to meet with Ms Feather about finding a love match. However, her brother
didn’t have the faintest idea that he’d signed up to their website at all.
Kerry had done it all. She’d entered his profile and she’d answered the
corresponding emails that had come from the company. Now they wanted to meet to
finalise details before sending a match to stay with him for three weeks.
Her stomach flipped and she clapped a
hand over her midriff, trying to quell the nauseating twists it was currently
doing. She took another deep breath. This was just what Jake needed, she told
herself. Even if the woman didn’t turn out to be his perfect match, it could
open up his mind to the possibility of finding someone new. But if the website
could find someone he’d fall in love with, then maybe, just maybe, she’d get
her brother back…….and maybe he’d forgive Dan.
Her heart squeezed at the thought.
Jake hadn’t spoken to Dan in over two years and neither had she. If things
didn’t change, there was no chance she’d ever have of a happy ever after
herself. She’d loved Dan since she was a child and knew without a doubt he was
the one for her. If only he’d seen it too then none of the horrible events that
changed Jake would have ever happened.
Her brother had gone from an open,
smiling and kind man to an angry, brooding man that had no time for anything or
anyone other than work. It was not a life she wanted for him or for her.
Resolved to her plan, whatever the consequences, Kerry turned her phone off and
got out of her car. She locked the door, straightened her jacket and headed for
the café doors. She could do this.
Entering the café, Kerry looked
around at the patrons, trying to pick out Ms Feather. The place was crowded,
with several women sitting by themselves with laptops in front of them. How was
she ever to pick out Ms Feather? Pursing her lips with determination, she
approached several women, all of whom shook their heads at her enquiry. At last
she spotted a tall thin woman sitting in a booth at the back of the café,
almost hidden from view. This had to be her.
“Ms Feather?” Kerry enquired as she
approached. The woman looked up from her laptop. Kerry found herself staring
into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. For the first time in her life, she
realised what was meant when people said someone had sparkling eyes. Ms
Feather’s eyes really did seem to have a sparkle in them, despite the rest of
her rather severe appearance. Her suit was a slate grey, without the slightest
wrinkle to mar its surface. Her hair was twisted into a tight bun at the back
of her head and she had small wire framed glasses perched on the end of her
nose. Kerry gulped back the sudden need to confess everything; sure the woman
could see her guilt on her face. Ms Feather reminded her of a governess.
“Indeed,” Ms Feather answered,
standing politely and offering her hand. “And you are?”
“Oh, I’m Kerry Carter, Jakes sister,”
Kerry replied nervously, shaking her hand quickly and letting go before Ms
Feather could feel her trembling. “He asked me to apologise, but he was unable
to leave the ranch today, due to an unexpected emergency. He hoped it would be
okay if I came in his place?” She smiled at Ms Feather, trying to stop the
wobbling of her lower lip.
Ms Feather pursed her lips, looking
rather put out. “Well, really he should have just notified me and we could have
rearranged the meeting.”
“He really didn’t want to put you out
or to slow things down,” Kerry lied, feeling awkward. “He thought it best if I
come in his place. Here, I have a letter he has signed giving me authority to
act in his stead.” She shoved the letter under Ms Feather’s nose. It was true
her brother had signed it, but he hadn’t known what he was signing. She’d stuck
it in with a number of business letters and he’d trusted her enough just to run
through them all and sign them without reading the contents. She’d felt guilty
at the time, but it was for his own good.
Ms Feather read the letter. “Very
well,” she said at last. “Take a seat Ms Carter and we shall proceed.”
Kerry sat down in the booth, opposite
Ms Feather. She placed her hands in her lap and tried to hide their shaking. So
far so good!
A waitress in a bright pink uniform
fluttered up to the table. “Can I get you anything dear?” she asked Kerry, her
round face beaming at her in a rather peculiar manner. She was almost bouncing
on her toes as if really excited to serve them.
“Just a coffee, thank you,” Kerry
replied, secretly wondering if the woman had had too much of the stuff herself.
The woman nodded, but continued to stand there, staring at Kerry as if she was
a long lost relative. Kerry had the weird feeling the woman was holding back
from launching herself across the table to hug her. Ms Feather cleared her
throat, trying to draw the woman’s attention away from Kerry.
“I’ll have another coffee too,
please,” she said in a rather loud voice. The waitress jumped slightly.
“Of course; I’ll bring them right
over. Nothing to eat?” she asked absently, still staring at Kerry.
“No, thank you,” Ms Feather said in a
rather pointed voice. The woman nodded and at last drifted away. Kerry couldn’t
help but wonder whose idea it had been to hire such a strange woman.
“Now,” Ms Feather said, drawing her
attention. “Let’s go over the contract you will be signing on behalf of your
brother.”
For the next hour, Ms Feather went
over the finer details of the Fairy Tale Match contract. Kerry barely noticed
when the waitress brought their coffees and stood there again for several
moments until Ms Feather had glared her away.
It was to be agreed that The Fairy Tale
Match would find a suitable candidate for Jake to meet and that they would
spend three weeks in each other’s company. Since Jake had no idea that this was
happening, Kerry had asked that the person come to stay with them, rather than
Jake going to her home town. She’d made out he couldn’t leave the ranch and
thankfully that was mostly true. They would pay for the airline tickets for the
woman to travel to them and would put her up in their home for the three weeks
she’d be staying. If after three weeks one or both of them felt they didn’t
suit and had no wish to pursue a relationship, they would be reimbursed all
fees on both sides.
“However, we are very confident we
will find a match based on the details given by Mr Carter when he joined our
site,” Ms Feather said, as she placed a copy of the contract in front of Kerry.
“Our success rate is extremely high. We do give an option for a woman to bring
someone with her, if she is travelling to the gentleman; however that isn’t
often taken up, as the women we deal with know we do extensive background
checks to ensure safety. We take our role in match making very seriously.”
“I have to say, this is a most
unusual dating site,” Kerry observed. “I have never heard of one dealing with
contracts or visits like this before. Don’t you normally give the person a
choice of candidates?”
“At The Fairy Tale Match, we believe
that the perfect person isn’t always just down the road from you or easily
accessible. We are here to help people meet, who under normal circumstances,
wouldn’t. That is why we are the Fairy Tale Match. We match people who wouldn’t
normally meet without extra help,” Ms Feather explained proudly. “Our
organisation has been working to help couples meet for many years now, with
huge success. We believe the right person isn’t always obvious from the start.
We have a certain method in finding our matches that really works and we ask
that they take three weeks to get to know each other so they can really see if
they are suited. I am confident we can find the perfect person for your
brother, using our unique methods. No other dating site can boast the same
success rates, I assure you.”
“This sounds amazing!” Kerry
commented, awestruck. “How soon do you think you would find a match for Jake?”
“It could take a while depending,” Ms
Feather replied, placing a pen down in front of Kerry. “If you’ll just check
over the contract and sign, we will get the ball rolling.”
Kerry read through the details. It
was all there, including getting their money back if they didn’t find a love
match. Really, she had nothing to lose. Taking hold of her courage, Kerry
picked up the pen and signed the document before handing them both back to Ms
Feather, who tucked the contract into her briefcase. She then handed Kerry her
copy of the contract, complete with Ms Feather’s signature on behalf of The Fairy
Tale Match.
“We will be in touch as soon as we
have found the right person,” Ms Feather told her. “If your brother has any
questions in the meantime, he can contact us through our website or call this
number.” She handed Kerry her business card.
Kerry thanked her for her time before
leaving the booth. She quickly ducked out the café and made her way back to her
car. She’d done it. The meeting had gone well and she’d pulled it off. Now all
she had to worry about was how Jake was going to react when he found out!
*****
Back in the café, a small plump
figure in bright pink, plopped herself down in the seat Kerry had just vacated.
“Well, I think that went well,” she
said, her hand fluffing at her wild grey hair, trying to pat it back into its
knot and failing miserably.
“You almost ruined the whole thing,”
Ms Feather snapped. “What were you thinking, Flo? Standing there and staring at
the girl like some kind of mad woman?”
Flo drooped slightly on her seat. “I
just got a little excited, Lotta” she defended herself. “It has been a long
time since I saw her last.”
“But you have to remember that she
doesn’t know you,” Lotta exclaimed exasperated. “She hasn’t the faintest idea
that you are her fairy godmother. Times have changed, how many times do I have
to remind you? People today don’t believe in us. They think we are myths and
stories; that we aren’t real. That’s why we set up this business in the first
place. It makes it much easier to help true loves find each other.”
Flo pouted. “I much preferred it when
we could pop up in our charges lives and say “I’m you Fairy Godmother.” It was
so much nicer when they knew who we were and what we were doing for them.” She
sighed heavily. “We can’t even show off our magic anymore.”
“At least we still get to help them,”
Lotta reminded her. Flo grumbled her agreement, but she still looked a little
glum, which was very unusual for her and indeed it lasted all of two minutes
before she sat up with bright eyes, her cheeks blooming red with her
excitement.
“So, what happens now?” she asked,
her eyes shining brightly. Lotta held back a groan. Why did she always end up
with assignments that entwined with Flo? The woman needed restraints!
“We need to find Jake’s true love and
hope she is already single and in a position to be pushed into this
arrangement,” Lotta explained patiently. “He is the key to undoing the tangled
web that revolves around several people, including your charge.”
“That shouldn’t take long,” Flo
announced, popping a chocolate she’d plucked from the air into her mouth. “He
is a very sweet boy. I remember him. He and his true love will be happily ever
aftering before you can wave a wand!”
“He was,” Lotta told her. “But that
has changed over the recent years. I have done some digging and it seems that
Jake has changed into a bit of a beast of a man. He won’t be easy to handle.”
Flo looked upset. “But he was so
lovely. What happened?”
“It’s
complicated but part of the problem is that he thinks his heart has been
broken,”
Lotta informed her. “It hasn’t, but
that doesn’t stop him from thinking it has and making life very unhappy for
those around him. He is full of bitterness and mistrust. He is determined never
to give his heart again. It is going to take the very special beauty of his
true love to turn this beast back into a prince.” She paused a moment, tapping
her lip with her finger. Her eyes took on a sudden gleam. “And I think I know
just where to find her!”