Page 2 of Perfectly Right

“Four weddings to go to—and two of them to be in! Celebrating everyone else’s happy future is expensive and exhausting. But I’m fine, really.”

“‘Fine, really?’Andthat’s why you invented a fake boyfriend?” Jane’s left eyebrow rose, mirroring the expression she gave to misbehaving five-year-olds.

“What?”

“You are never just ‘fine’ after a breakup. You care too deeply to be ‘fine’. So either Matt was the dullest man alive or he didn’t exist. Plus,” Jane said, grinning, “a month ago, you said he had brown hair and tattoos, and last week, he was a ginger with freckles.”

Elizabeth laughed. “Good old ‘Matt-With-No-Last-Name’ existed long enough to keep Mom off my back for two months.”

Shaking her head, her expression a mix between exasperation and amusement, Jane picked up Elizabeth’s phone from the table and pushed it into her sister’s hand. “Check your email. I sent you an early birthday present. You, Lizzy Bennet, now have an account on MeetMe/LoveMe?—”

“No way!”

“—and unless you want me to tell Mom all about your imaginary boyfriend, we’re going to sit here and swipe through all the guys who liked your profile.”

“Ugh. I hate you.”

CHAPTER TWO

Fitzwilliam Darcy leaned back in his chair, trying to ignore the hum of the crowd and the overly loud music and listen to the conversation going on at their table in the ridiculously small bar. Louisa Hurst was quickly gathering her things to race home to her helpless husband and hungry baby, but she had asked a question very pertinent to his interests.

“I’ll leave my seat for Elizabeth in case she shows up. You did say she’s got a night off from her boyfriend, right? Is he clingy? What do you think of him, Jane?”

“Well—”

Two weeks back in Chicago and Darcy kept hearing the same conversation. He was sick of it. Sick and tired of Elizabeth Bennet not being around, and worse—even worse than suspecting she was avoiding his company—was that she was occupied with some guy. A boyfriend named Matt with whom she was so enthralled that even Jane hadn’t met him. Darcy was embarrassingly curious about the kind of man who could captivate Elizabeth Bennet. All he knew for certain was that thisMatthad excellent taste in women.

Darcy considered himself to be a decent, rational man. He could tell himself that Elizabeth’s dating life was none of hisbusiness, and that he had to keep some distance from her. But the woman made him irrational. He could not get her beautiful eyes out of his thoughts or keep himself from hearing the sound of her laugh ringing in his ears—even when that laughter was aimed at him. He could not stop seeing her mischievous smile, her sexy figure, or the elegant way her hands moved when she spoke. He couldn’t stop thinking about her.

“Lizzy’s very busy, but she’s coming tonight,” Jane said.

Darcy scarcely had a moment to consider the news when Charlie laughed. “And speak of the devil, here she is! Lizzy!”

Unable to control his inexorable yearning to see her, he turned and watched Elizabeth emerge from the crowded doorway and weave her way through the bar towards their table. No date. No boyfriend. Alone. Her hair was shorter, she was wearing a scarf he remembered she’d bought in San Francisco, and she was vibrant and glowing. She looked happy, giving Louisa a smile and a brief hug before the beleaguered new mother made her exit. Darcy pretended he didn’t see Elizabeth’s eyes narrow when she saw him at the table, but he did notice something in her expression that looked like relief when Charlie included him in his teasing about being dateless tonight.

“I wanted Darcy to check out the wine list and since he works all the time anyway, I knew he’d be home and bored on a Sunday night. And,” Charlie said, turning to Darcy, “Lizzy is working too hard and just broke up with her boyfriend before we even met him, and we thought she needed a night out as badly as you do.”

“This one is good.” Jane touched Charlie’s hand and steered his attention back to the wine flight.

They broke up?

The couple began comparing labels, but Darcy’s attention focused only on Elizabeth. The single, unattached Elizabeth. His eyes settled on her, observing her mood as she took the empty seat beside him at the table. Her cheeks were flushed, likelyfrom Charlie’s announcement, but she didn’t look upset or hurt. Recognition coincided with the realization that they were sitting in awkward silence. He picked up the wine list, now covered with Charlie’s scribbles as he decided on favorites.

“Would you like some wine, Elizabeth? Or something else?”

She turned towards him, still looking amused at whatever Charlie had just mumbled to Jane. “Something else, thank you. I’m sure Charlie plans to ply me with vino. Perhaps club soda and lime?”

He lifted his arm to signal a server and felt Elizabeth’s eyes still on him. “Welcome back,” she said. “I understand you’ve been traveling a lot.”

“Yes.”

“Business, I assume?”

“What else?” He shrugged, trying to appear casual. “How are you?”

She seemed to hesitate, but then, in a voice that mixed resignation with playfulness, she said, “You caught the headlines from Charlie. I’d prefer to keep the news from my mother for a while, but it’s true that my relationship bit the dust and, much to Jane’s disappointment, MeetMe/LoveMe was a bust, too.”

Overwhelmed by Elizabeth’s presence and the sudden influx of new information she was offering him, Darcy’s mind was racing too quickly to respond before Jane leaned in to defend herself.

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