Dating Mr. Darcy - Kate O'Keeffe Page 0,25
wouldn’t. Maybe next date.” I nudge her with my elbow and her blush deepens.
“Are you talking about the date?” Shelby asks as she and Reggie join our little group.
“You’ve gotta tell us, darlin’. We’re starved of male attention here,” Reggie says.
“Reggie, we’ve only been here for twenty-four hours,” I point out.
“A woman has needs you know, and twenty-four hours is a long time in my books,” she replies with a wink.
“There’s not much to say,” Phoebe says. “We talked and ate. It was nice.”
I clutch her arm dramatically. “Tell me you got to eat cucumber sandwiches.”
Phoebe laughs. “No cucumber sandwiches. It was cheese and crackers with grapes and a glass of wine.”
“Bliss.” Reggie sighs. “I wonder who’ll be next?”
“Oh, it’ll be me, for sure,” Shelby says with confidence.
I cock my head. “How do you know?”
“On account of the fact they’re destined to be together,” Reggie says. “Remember?”
Kennedy arrives, drink in hand. “How’s it going, girls?” she asks.
“We’re talking about who Sebastian is going to take on a date next,” I say. “Shelby is sure it’ll be her.”
“You are?” Kennedy asks her. “How do you know?”
“Because I do,” she states simply.
“Okaaay.” Kennedy widens her eyes at me.
‘You know, I can tell by looking in his eyes he’s got a wise soul,” Shelby says randomly. “You can tell a lot by looking in someone’s eyes, you know.”
“Like what color they are?” I offer.
Kennedy’s face shines and Reggie lets out a giggle as she drapes her arm around Shelby’s shoulder. “What Shelby means is he’s totally hot and she’d go there in a flash. Right, Shel?”
“It’s so much deeper than that, I can’t even,” Shelby protests.
“How long do you think Sebastian will be here tonight?” Phoebe asks, changing the subject.
“Well, if it’s anything like last night, it’ll be as long as it takes to talk to all of us before we get to be picked off in the line-up,” I reply.
“You make it sound like a shooting range, Emma,” Kennedy says.
Phoebe pulls a face. “It kind of is. It’s brutal for the one who gets sent home.”
Not if they want to go, it’s not.
“I’ve heard somethin’,” Reggie says as she leans in closer to us and we automatically follow suit. Funny how that happens. “Apparently, one of the girls is gonna fake faint in front of him tonight.”
“Why?” I guffaw.
“So he’ll get all chivalrous and the like and catch her as she falls, I suppose,” Reggie replies. “Oldest trick in the book, darlin’.” She rolls her eyes as though it’s something every woman has considered at least once in her dating life.
“Isn’t a damsel in distress play taking this whole ‘1813’ thing a little far?” Kennedy asks.
“Not to mention that it’s insulting to womankind,” I add. Plus, his pompous demeanor aside, doesn’t Sebastian deserve someone better than a contestant who thinks it’s perfectly fine to fake faint to get his attention? Not that I care, of course. It’s the principle of the point, you understand.
“She might hurt herself, too,” Phoebe adds. “And that would be horrible.”
“Oh, I’m sure she’ll faint at just the right time, and in front of the cameras, too. The nation will feel sympathy for her, and watch as sparks fly between their hero and potential heroine,” Reggie replies.
I give a sardonic smile. “If there’s no one to record it, did it really happen?”
Reggie replies, “Stop! You’re makin’ me miss my phone. My pretty, pretty phone.”
“Sebastian would be a total gentleman if some poor girl actually did faint,” Shelby states with confidence based on nothing but thin air. None of us know this guy.
“Either that or the girl will land on her tush,” Reggie says with a laugh.
I try not to think of my own recent experience with that.
“I want to know how she would be confident that he’d catch her,” Kennedy muses.
“Because he’s a gentleman,” Shelby repeats with total assurance.
I eye her suspiciously for a moment. And then the penny drops. “It’s you, isn’t it, Shelby? You’re the one planning to faint on him.”
Shelby’s eyes widen. “He’ll catch me. You’ll see.”
We all gape at her. Is she serious?
“What if he doesn’t catch you?” I ask.
“Oh, he will,” Reggie replies for Shelby. “He’s her destiny.”
“Right. I forgot about that.” I chew the inside of my lip.
Kennedy cocks her head to the side. “But if he’s your destiny, why have you got to pull out a trick like that to get his attention?”
It’s a good point. We wait with interest for her reply.
“Because even destiny needs a helping hand every now