“You’re rushing things, Mr. Collins,” Lizzy’s voice was loud now. “I haven’t agreed to marry you, and while I appreciate the offer, my answer is no.”
I backed up a step, running into Riley’s hard chest. “We shouldn’t be listening to this,” I whispered.
“There’s nowhere for us to go, remember? The door is locked.”
With me this close, his voice rumbled in his chest, sending delicious shivers through me.
“I’ve recently learned it's common for women to tease a man to build suspense, so with that in mind, I won’t take your rejection to heart."
Riley choked on a laugh and buried his head against my shoulder to muffle the sound.
“I don’t play those games with guys. When I say I’m not interested in you, I mean it,” Lizzy said. “A marriage between us would be a huge mistake. You wouldn’t make me happy, and I definitely wouldn’t make you happy.”
“If you are nervous about what Lady Catherine might think of you, don’t worry. She’s very generous and accepting, and you don’t need to be intimidated by her status.In fact, the next time I see her, I’ll tell her how wonderful you are.”
Lizzy sighed. “You don’t need to tell Lady Catherine anything about me. All you need to do is believe me that when I say no, I mean no.”
“Since I can’t see any logical reason for you to turn me down, I have to assume you’re teasing me,” Mr. Collins said. “Honestly, with my position, connections, and everything else, this marriage would be nothing but a win for you, so you rejecting me makes no sense.”
“Poor Lizzy,” Riley murmured to me. “She deserves better than that.”
A twinge went through me at his words even as his warmth bled into my back.
I leaned on my tiptoe to whisper in Riley’s ear. “I can’t make her go through any more of this.” I couldn’t resist a smile at his slight shiver, but I turned and shoved the mirror aside before he could say anything.
Mr. Collins’s mouth fell open as he took in my Sally costume, then grew even wider as Riley came out behind me in his pinstriped suit.
“Sorry if I interrupted.” I widened my eyes innocently—a move I’d learned from Lydia. “We got turned around upstairs and ended up in this passage.”
“You didn’t interrupt anything.” Lizzy darted to my side and locked her arm around mine. “Mr. Collins was just leaving.”
Poor Mr. Collins. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, his gaze jumping between the three of us. Clearly, he hadn’t expected an audience for his proposal.
“Right. Of course.” He bobbed his head toward Lizzy. “Thank you for your time.”
Once we were alone, Lizzy glanced between us, Riley in his Jack Skellington costume and me in my Sally one.
“Fancy seeing you here, Bennet.” Riley stuck his hands in his pockets and squinted at her.
My stomach twisted at the nickname. Riley never called me anything special.
“I could say the same to you. I thought you were working tonight, so what are you doing here?” Lizzy looked between us again but thankfully refrained from including “in matching costumes with my little sister” like she clearly wanted to.
“Iamworking. Kitty and I are gathering information.”
Lizzy’s eyes widened, and she turned to me. “Is this about what happened to your boyfriend?”
“Ex-boyfriend,” I reminded her with a glance at Riley, then flushed because that wasn’t important right now. “But yes, we’re looking into Graham’s death.” Not in the mood for one of her famous Lizzy interrogations, I added, “I don’t have a lot of time to talk now though. I need to find Jaxon.”
“I get it,” she said.
“You get it?” I blinked at her. “I thought you’d try to tell me not to or insist on helping or something.”
She laughed. “I’ve got my hands full tonight, and you’re more than capable of taking care of this on your own.” She gave me a rueful grin. “Besides, I can’t very well tell you not to get involved when I did the same thing a while back. But”—she turned a serious gaze on Riley—“you better not get my little sister into any trouble.”
“Would I do that?” He held a hand over his heart.
“In a wing beat.” Lizzy shook a finger at him. “Now go follow your lead or whatever you need to do. I need toconvince Mom to leave this party before she embarrasses anyone else in the family.”
