“Well, you know those jewels we found on Pearl Island? The ones the Saleris left behind in a box eighty years ago?”
“Yes . . .” she said, though her tone was teasing. “Don’t tell me you care about getting those back. They really aren’t worth—”
“They’re apparently part of the curse.”
That stopped her, and her hands tightened on his arms. “What do you mean, part of the curse?”
He disentangled one hand and pushed a book aside, pulling another one forward. Still standing close to Edeena, he opened the book. It was a ledger from the late 1800s through mid 1950s, with notations about moving residences.
“I got curious about the history of Heron’s Point, thinking it might help with the sale, if you all decide to go through with that, and one of the pencil pushers remembered that the original purchase details of the house were kept in this ledger, along with all the esteemed guests from Garronia over the years.”
“That’s outstanding,” Edeena said, momentarily distracted. “We should have that in the house for when people come through.”
“My thoughts exactly, up until I got to the part about the things those esteemed guests brought to the house. It was written in English so the local caretakers could double check their records and . . . well, here.”
He opened the book to the correct page, and pointed. Edeena leaned over the musty tome, reading quickly. When she got to the relevant line, she froze—just as he had frozen, not an hour earlier.
Edeena looked up at Vince, unwilling to believe her eyes. “The Pride of the Saleris?” she gasped. “What does it mean?”
“No clue. Not even the history geeks understood it, but when I told them about the jewels matching the description listed here sitting in some island house in a glass case, they about stroked out. Apparently, they’d thought the jewels long gone, spirited away by a particularly bitter branch. If we bring those jewels back, however, the rest of the Saleri clan will fall in line as well—because, um, apparently the jewels are charmed.” He shook his head at the continuing superstition of the Saleri family. “You guys don’t give up on your curses easily, do you?”
Edeena’s lips twisted. “It’s a gift.”
“But according to your people, there’s no way in hell you’ll be allowed out of the country for the next six months,” he said. “Apparently, your upcoming wedding to the indisputably handsome Count Saleri is going to take up all of your time.”
“Well, it is going to be a grand occasion, I’m told.” Edeena replaced the book on the table and turned back to him. But still, she couldn’t stop the dread building in her stomach. “This is bad, though,” she said. “I want this curse to be over and done with.”
“Then we’ll get the jewels back,” he said firmly. “I’ll take care of it, Edeena. Let me help.”
She blinked up at him, ready to argue . . . then something unraveled inside her. Yes, she decided. Yes. She would let him take care of it, take care of her, in this way. But she would take care of things, too.
“I will let you,” she said, putting her arms around him and leaning back, the smile once more in her eyes. “But here’s a suggestion. My sisters want nothing more than to embrace adventure, and it’s time I let them do that. Caroline would love that old Pinnacle House with all its treasures, especially if Mr. Blake’s grandparents are present with stories to share.” She smiled. “If you could spare a security guard or two, maybe we could send her there with a replacement set of jewelry as a peace offering. Then, everything will be okay.” She said the words like a benediction, but it had the ring of truth.
Vince lifted his brows. “I hadn’t thought of that,” he said, a smile playing about his lips. “Does everything work out the way you want it to, in the end?”
Edeena gave a soft, quiet laugh. “No,” she said, looking back at him with her heart in her throat. “Sometimes I just say the right thing at the right time, and the universe responds.”
She lifted up on her toes, her lips a bare inch from his. “Like this one time, I closed my eyes and whispered an old Disney princess lyric about a prince I’d been waiting for all my life . . . then I opened my eyes, and you were there.”
She smiled, Vince’s face sliding softly out of focus as the tears built behind her eyes. “Someday,” she barely managed, singing in a terrible falsetto, “my prince will come . . .”
Vince tipped up her chin, dropping the softest of kisses on her lips, but when he spoke, it wasn’t in falsetto, but in his slow, rich South Carolina drawl.
“And he and that beautiful countess of his?” he asked, holding her close. “Why, they most certainly lived Happily Ever After.”
~~~
Charmed
With the curse of the Saleri family all but vanquished, Caroline Saleri returns to the picturesque idyll of Sea Haven Island, South Carolina. There she plans to lose herself for a few months in low country bliss—helping to prepare her family’s home for sale, pursuing some advanced university courses…and daydreaming about the brooding, enigmatic professor of her masters-level anthropology class. Unfortunately, one detail remains to ensure the family curse is never invoked again. Caro is tasked to recover a collection of supposedly charmed costume jewelry from a local private museum—a simple afternoon's adventure. Then she recognizes the museum’s proprietor, and her life turns upside down.
Determinedly misanthropic Professor Simon Blake has long since kept the world at arm’s length. The one chink in his armor? His beloved grandparents and their eccentric collection of friends. But when one of his newest students shows up on his doorstep and turns out to be the woman his grandparents and their cronies have been talking about for more than eighty years—a real, live, fairytale countess, intent on breaking an ancient curse—he doesn’t know whether to throw her out, welcome her in, or call the cops.
One thing’s for sure…he’s in no mood to be CHARMED.
Coming in late Spring, 2017!
About Jennifer Chance
Jennifer Chance is the award-winning author of the contemporary romance, Rule Breakers, and Gowns & Crowns series. A lover of books, romance, and happily-ever-afters, she lives and writes in Ohio. She’s also urban fantasy author Jenn Stark, whose Immortal Vegas series is now available; and YA author Jennifer McGowan, whose Elizabethan spy series, Maids of Honor, is also available. She really, truly, loves to write.
When she’s not at work on her newest book, you can find her online at http://www.jenniferchance.com/, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/authorJenniferChance and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Jenn_Chance.
Cursed: Gowns & Crowns, Book 5 Page 22