Page 11 of All For You

Jane skipped in about an hour later and bounced on my single bed. “Oh, Lizzy, what a lovely evening.”

“Look at you, all moony.” I rested my open book on my chest. “I think my sister might be keen on someone.”

“William is the perfect man. Kind and sweet and funny,” she said as she changed for bed.

I giggled. “And incidentally, good-looking and rich. And he is already smitten by you, as any man with eyes and a brain in his head would be.”

She blushed. “I don’t know about that.”

“I do, and what’s more, he seems to be the real deal.”

“He really does.” She slipped under the covers.

“Pity about his dreadful brother, who’s the opposite of kind and funny. Jane, I’m sorry, but I’ve decided to leave first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll make an appropriate excuse. I can’t face that man again. He is the most arrogant, snobbish, rude person I’ve ever met. I don’t ever want to see or speak to Darcy Wainwright again in my life.”

She turned her head to me on the pillow, her face fallen. “I’m sorry, Lizzy. Hewasrude. But maybe there’s some explanation for his behavior? William is so polite and considerate, it’s hard to believe he’d have a brother so mean.”

I gave a little laugh. “Oh, Jane. You always think the best of people, but even you can’t find an excuse for why he was so awful tonight.”

A ringtone sounded—my agent, who also happened to be my best friend, so it was hard to ignore her calls. Why did I complicate my life like this?

“You are my favorite author client, Ms. Bennet. A veritable genius,” Charlie said.

I drew back in surprise. I hadn’t handed her anything for six months or offered her any hope of making a commission out of me ever again. She must be joking.

“To what do I owe this accolade?” I asked. “What the hell has happened?” Maybe one of my previous books was surging slightly?

“Darling, you arerelevantagain.”

My shoulders jumped reflexively. “What? Why?”

“Did you know the production company with the matchmaking show put that dance scene on their socials?”

“The dancescene? You mean shots from us dancing here at the Amor Inn? Tonight?”

“The very one.”

“Already? That was only two hours ago.”

“That’s like a million years ago in IG time, darling. Look at the comments on your socials. What that Darcy guy said about romance novels has bumped your sales. Readers’ reaction was all, ‘I’m going to order her books right now and show that bloody man.’ And they loved the way you reacted to him—likable and relatable and kind of boss, because you laughed at him instead of letting him crush you. Good woman.”

“Believe me, it wasn’t that thought through. I was actually quite upset by him. And Mum was embarrassing as well. Ireallydon’t want to stay for the weekend.”

“Sorry, but you have to. I’ve got a note from your publisher. Look how many downloads your books have this evening. Ithasto be linked to the footage. Sending you the stats now.”

My jaw locked with worry at how this might lead to more time with Darcy Wainwright. The last thing I wanted was to go viral for something related to him.

I waited for her text and did a double take. “Oh. Oh, that’s good.”

“Yes, I may be able to eat this week.”

“Oh, come on, Charlie, enough of the guilt trip. It hasn’t been that bad.”

“Lizzy, we’ve both got mortgages and lives. And you know Mary and I want to start trying for a baby. I want to say no presh, darling. Honestly, I do. But…presh. Truckloads of presh. Gobs of presh. The publisher wants to rush your deadline to capitalize on the momentum of this show. Youmustget those first pages to them in two weeks. Three chapters or fifty pages.”

My heart stopped. Two weeks?No, no, no.I had a month.

“Otherwise…you know what happens when you miss that deadline and break the chain.”