Gerard's Beauty
Authors: Marie Hall
Gerard’s Beauty
“Bad boys need love too…”
Betty Hart has had it with men. Jilted in love, her life now consists of shelving books by day, watching too much Anime by night, and occasionally larping on the weekends with her fellow ‘Bleeding Heart Rebel’ nerds. Men are not welcome and very much unwanted. Especially the sexy Frenchman who saunters into her library reeking of alcohol and looking like he went one too many rounds in the ring.
Gerard Caron is in trouble. Again. Caught with his pants down (literally) he’s forced to seek asylum on Earth while his fairy godmother tries to keep Prince Charming from going all ‘Off with his head’. Maybe, messing around with the King’s daughter hadn’t been such a great idea after all, not that Gerard knew the silly redhead was a princess. But his fairy godmother knows the only way to save his life is to finally pair Gerard with his perfect mate, whether he’s willing or not.
From the moment Gerard lays eyes on the nerdy librarian he knows he must have her, but Betty is unlike any woman he’s ever known. He thought Betty would come as willingly to his bed as every other woman before her, but she is a woman who demands respect and even… horror of all horrors… love. Is it possible for a self-proclaimed Casanova to change his ways?
Gerard’s Beauty
by
Marie Hall
Gerard’s Beauty
Copyright Marie Hall 2012
Cover Art by Elaina of For the Muse Designs Copyright June 2012
Edited by Brent Taylor
Formatted by
Ironhorse Formatting
Kindle Edition
This is a work fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Marie Hall, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in the context of reviews.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. Thank you for respecting the hard work of all people involved with the creation of this ebook.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Marie Hall. Unauthorized or restricted use in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.
The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patent Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.
Published in 2012 by Marie Hall, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America
Dedication
To Iliana. Because you are perfect just the way you are…
Table Of Contents
Chapter 1
Danika-- fairy godmother extraordinaire-- blazed through the night like a tiny falling star.
Damn that pompous bastard Gerard.
She shivered, holding her wand tight to her heaving bosom. Trying to think up a few more bad words for the odious man, but words failed her. He’d turned her into a laughing stock in front of her peers.
Galeta the blue-- Head Mistress of Fairy Godmother Inc.-- threatened to rip Danika’s title from her. From her! How dare they even insinuate that she’d lost control of her charges?
Of course Gerard’s pending trial only strengthened their allegations.
The oaf
. If he’d only kept his nose clean like she’d implicitly instructed. But the man was incapable of thinking with something other than the snake in his pants. She’d hoped after his last trial he’d be a little more thoughtful of whom he seduced. Last time they’d been lucky that the father had been willing to settle the debt for a few gold coins. She doubted gold would appease this situation.
Cinderella’s daughter… of all the lass’ Gerard could have beguiled, why her? Now Prince Charming was all ‘off-with-his-head’ and Danika had a serious problem on her hands.
She ground her molars so hard her jaw ached. “Relax, Danika. Must not allow yourself to get angry.” Even though she suffered a violent urge to turn Gerard into a toad, it would only prove to her peers she had lost control and unfortunately it was not a viable option. Using magic for revenge was the very thing that’d cursed Jinni to non-genie status. Danika had no desire to be striped of her powers as well.
She beat her wings faster, streaking through the trees with a furious buzz.
She had to get to Gerard first, before the angry mob could get their hands on him. Thankfully she’d sic’d the best tracker in the Kingdom on him, and just received the missive she’d been waiting weeks to get. Gerard had been found. And not a moment too soon.
For tonight the jury and tribunal convened-- comprised of jilted lovers, fathers with revenge on their minds, and the three most powerful godmothers in the land-- if she could get Gerard out of Kingdom, perhaps she could convince the court he’d not return unless reformed.
Perhaps... just perhaps, that would be enough to mollify the crowd and prevent a retaliatory execution.
And after her smashing success with the Hatter and his Alice. None had thought that romance possible. She’d proven them wrong, had made a true love match. In fact, the two were so in love it bordered on disgusting.
But now none of that mattered, thanks to the French baboon. If Danika had been smarter she’d have known Gerard planned to flee. He, more than the others, hated the very notion of love. After Alice and Hatter’s successful match Gerard had become withdrawn and quiet. That was so unlike the gregarious Frenchman that at first Danika had thought him jealous. What a fool she’d been to let him have his space. She’d thought nothing of his leaving, but as time progressed and he’d not returned, an awful suspicion rose in her gut.
He’d gotten himself into trouble.
By that point so much time had passed his trail had gone cold. She’d searched his favorite haunts, to no avail. Out of sheer desperation she’d questioned the flowers, as they always knew what was what, but the flowers had been less than helpful. One saw this, another that, but none could pinpoint him accurately. It seemed the moment his location was discovered, he’d hie himself off to the next pair of plump arms and ample bosom.
The man was a nitwit. Did he not see she had his best interest at heart? But maybe it was her fault for the whole Belle debacle.
To Danika’s credit making a love match was no easy feat. Still she did feel partly responsible. The night Belle had married the Beast she thought Gerard had gone as mad as the Hatter.
Gerard had gotten thick in his cups-- face splotchy and red-- sniveling that Belle was a tramp all along and he’d known and wouldn’t have her anyway. However the insult of her marriage was nothing compared to the greater insult he believed he’d suffered afterwards.
Forced anonymity.
Through the ages mortals had learned of the lives and roles of the Kingdom’s inhabitants through song and tale. All knew of Hook’s obsession with Pan, Wolf’s run in with Red’s grandmother-- but of Gerard, well... he wasn’t even a cliff note in a text book. He simply did not exist outside of Kingdom. Ironic, since his story was easily one of the better known, but... as he’d so often done, he’d screwed the pooch (to use an oft used Earth phrase). He’d angered the wrong people and they’d exacted their revenge. Danika might have felt sorry for him if he were anyone else, but Gerard was Gerard. He angered everyone.