“This wouldn’t have happened if you had been honest with me.” The gnome turned his scowl on Darcy. “But I simply said there was nothing I could do, not that nothing could be done.”
“Why didn’t you say that earlier?” The words escaped me on a sigh of relief.
The old gnome flicked his fingers toward Darcy. “He was too busy making a fuss.”
Despite the situation, my lips twitched.
“Tell us how to undo this,” Darcy gritted out.
“All you have to do is kiss, and the magic should dissolve.” The man eyed Darcy, his purple eyes narrowed in annoyance.
“A kiss?” Darcy and I said, my voice as high as his was low. I stumbled back a step, and the cord pulled taut, giving us about two feet of space.
“Aren’t the two of you in love?” the gnome asked.
“Of course not.” I’d thought Darcy was a killer until fifteen minutes ago.
“Then why would you come to get your fortune told as a couple—” he cut himself off, mumbling about how he needed to charge more for his services.
Darcy glared at me, ignoring the man’s rant. “If it’ll free us, aren’t you willing to try anything?”
“It won’t work.” I shook my head, sending my braid flying around my shoulders. “We’re the farthest thing from being in love.”
The gnome’s lips pulled up in a sheepish grin. “It doesn’t have to be true love. That’s just better for marketing. As long as you can at least understand one another, a kiss should do the trick to break the spell.”
How could I understand Darcy? He was everything I hated in a man. Arrogant. Rude. Condescending. Too handsome for his own good.
Wait. Strike that last one from the record.
“It’s worth a shot, Lizzy,” Jane said softly.
Easy for her to say. She wasn’t the one stuck to Sir Secretive.
“Fine,” I muttered.
Charles elbowed Darcy. “Maybe the two of you are a better match than you think. You hate when girls fawn over you, and now we’ve found one who can’t stand the thought of kissing you.”
“You’re really not helping.” Darcy’s eyes darkened as he took me in, and the tension in the room grew so thick I could feel it like a spell gone wrong.
Our gazes locked in a silent battle of wills, each of us daring the other to make the first move—a move that neither of us wanted to make.
My pulse sped up. Was I really about to kiss Darcy? Better to kiss him than be stuck with him indefinitely.
Finally, Darcy stepped forward, and I braced myself. It wasn’t fair for his muscles to fill out his shirt so well or for him to move with such an annoying blend of athleticism and grace.
No, I wasn’t supposed to be thinking of how attractive he was. He’d practically had Mom arrested and made our family the center of town gossip once more. Plus, his actions had Dad worried, which was the last thing he needed right now.
Wait. That was wrong too. I needed to banish all my negative thoughts of Darcy to increase our chances of this working.
Darcy’s warm fingers brushed the hair away from my face before he cupped my cheek—an oddly tender gesture that sent sparks through me. Maybe he was trying to confuse the magic into thinking this was real. Pretending was probably our best bet.
I shivered, and in response, Darcy put his free hand on my hip, drawing me in until we stood chest to chest. Reluctantly, I tilted my head back, granting him access to my lips since his mouth was too high for me to reach even on my tiptoes.
For a long moment, we looked at each other. Acutely aware of the way the other three watched us, my cheeks heated and my heart fluttered wildly. I breathed in his scent, a mixture of cardamom and a forest.
“I don’t think this is a good idea.” My words came out shaky, betraying the way my pulse raced.
“You have a lot of opinions.” His hand against my cheek slid to the back of my neck, and he pulled me forward.
