To our left, a wall of jack-o’-lanterns from the pumpkin carving competition leered at me with their distorted expressions, as if they knew how miserable I was. Their triangular eyes and sharp grins glowed in the twilight. One of them looked like one I’d seen walking around earlier, but now the enchantment had worn off and each pumpkin was firmly in place.
“Darcy?” a feminine voice called out. “You’re so tall I’d recognize you any—” Caroline drew closer and took in our interlocked hands.
Her sister Louisa stayed quiet, but her wide eyes spoke volumes. Her gaze flicked between Caroline, Darcy, and me, completely ignoring Jane and her brother.
I tried to pull my hand free, but Darcy tightened his grip.
“I didn’t know you did country fairs.” Caroline wrinkled her nose. “Or country people.”
“There’s a first time for everything,” Darcy said through gritted teeth.
Caroline narrowed her eyes at me. “I see. Well, I suppose I’ll see you at home tonight?”
I didn’t think I was imagining the possessive hint to her tone, so I filed away that information as well.
“Perhaps.” Darcy glanced at me.
Caroline’s eyebrows shot up, and I held in a groan. Didn’t he know what he was implying?
My heart squeezed as I realized wewouldbe together. Instead of examining that thought and how it made me feel, I focused on the fact that this was my chance to uncover more information. Darcy wasn’t the murderer, but I couldn’t help but suspect someone at Netherfield was since the murder had happened there.
“We better go. See you, Carl and Lou.” Charles propelled Darcy and me forward and winked at his sisters.
“Charles.” Caroline’s lips pinched in a way that told me she hated that nickname. Maybe Charles did it to get her attention off us, or maybe he was just being a big brother.That sort of teasing wasn’t as common among sisters. We were prone to other forms of antagonizing one another.
Louisa bumped my shoulder as Darcy pulled us past, letting me know that no matter how quiet she was, she didn’t approve of me any more than Caroline did. If her husband were here, he probably wouldn’t have approved either. The only one in the family who seemed to like us was Charles.
“What should we do?” Charles asked once we made it to the darkness on the festival’s edge. A few sprites fluttered nearby, their wings glowing in a rainbow of colors that left iridescent trails of light in their wake.
“How about we go to Netherfield?” I suggested. Maybe I could scour for clues about the murder… and about the mysterious man I was stuck with. After all, either way, I still owed Maxine a front-page story.
Darcy shot me an amused smirk. Clearly, he was also thinking about our conversation in the Ferris wheel.
I tried to reel in my enthusiasm. “I mean, it’s better than going to our place. My roommate is having a few friends over tonight, and there isn’t a lot of room.” Not to mention she thinks I can’t stand Darcy.
Which I couldn’t, obviously. Just because he wasn’t a killer didn’t mean we suddenly got along.
But I didn’t particularly relish the idea of explaining everything to her with Darcy standing right there. I’d gotten away with it earlier with Jane since he’d been distracted talking to Charles, but I doubted I’d get that lucky again.
“It might be our best option.” Darcy ran his other hand through his black curls—a move I was beginning to associate with his frustration, and with me. “We need time to look into this spell and a few other things.” He shot Charles a meaningful look, his green eyes expressing more than I could decipher.
“But if we don’t figure this out right now, we’ll have to spend the night together.” My voice squeaked, and I dropped my gaze to our interlocked hands.
“Do you have any better ideas?” Darcy’s gaze raked over me, snagging on my lips momentarily.
“Not really.” After our kiss, even his looking at me felt far too intimate. I swallowed and shook my head, then shot Jane a panicked look.
She gave me an encouraging nod, as if that would help. She was probably already imagining Darcy and me becoming the best of friends while forced to spend all this time together. Jane had the kind of sweetness where you could believe the universe conspired against you forherbenefit without her even needing to ask. If Jane wanted Darcy and me to spend more time together, the universe was more than happy to oblige in the form of a spell gone awry.
“Let’s head back.” Darcy led the way, not waiting for anyone else’s agreement.
“As you wish, your majesty,” I grumbled, unsure if I was more put out by him acting like we were all pawns to do his bidding or the fact that I was now stuck with him.
He chuckled as if I’d said something funny instead of trying to call him out on his bossiness. Or maybe he was just laughing at me, which wasn’t totally uncalled for since he’d only gone along with the plan I’d suggested.
We made it to the bales of hay that sat by the entrance to the festival. Vines wrapped around the gate, enchanted so they glowed in welcome to light the way after sunset.
“Elizabeth? Is that you? And Jane too, I see.”
