Dating Mr. Darcy - Kate O'Keeffe Page 0,57

you do.”

“Well, tell me this then: why do I want to leave, Mr. Know-It-All?”

“You see, that’s where you’re wrong. You don’t want to leave.”

“I do.”

“You did, but you don’t anymore.”

Ha! The cheek of the man! The fact that he’s right is totally beside the point.

“For your information, I have put my own very important needs aside so you could dispense with the crazies.” I land on an appropriately grand sounding word to describe my sacrifice and add, “I’ve been magnanimous.”

“But you still want to stay.”

“Seriously?” I throw my hands on my hips. “And you call me irritating.”

His eyes smolder as his gaze holds mine. It does things to my insides as thoughts race through my mind.

Does he ... ?

Do I ... ?

Will we ... ?

My eyes drop to his mouth. Are we about to kiss?

“Well,” he says.

I swallow. “Well.”

“Whether or not you want to stay, we’ve got a long flight tomorrow. I expect you’ll need your sleep.”

“Right.”

He’s not going to kiss me. He doesn’t feel it, too.

To my surprise, I feel like I might cry, which I know is insane. There are a million reasons why kissing Sebastian would be a completely terrible idea. Like the fact he’s not my type. He’s formal and uptight and I bet if you looked up the word “overprivileged” in a dictionary, you’d find a picture of Sebastian Huntington-Ross, smiling that sexy smile of his. Or what about the fact that he’s from an entirely different world from me? A world that, frankly, scares the crap out of me. Or how about the doozy of all doozies: he’s come on this show to find love? Surely that’s got to be the biggest deterrent of all?

But none of them mean anything right now. Because as I look at him, all I want to do is feel his lips against mine, his body pressed up against me.

“I guess I’ll go, then,” I say, but of course I mean the opposite.

“Yes. Of course,” he replies.

“Now. I’ll go now.”

He opens his mouth as though to say something, and then closes it again. He nods. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I let out a resigned puff of air. “Tomorrow. Sure.”

His lips curve into a smile I can feel right down to my toes. “Good night, Brady.”

As Sebastian closes the door behind me, I lean up against the wall and scrunch my eyes shut.

He told me he likes having me around, but he didn’t kiss me. I wanted him to, and he didn’t. I let out a heavy breath.

I’m a total fool.

Falling for Mr. Darcy was never in the plan.

Chapter 19

I barely sleep, I’m so amped. Thoughts race around my head, competing for thinking space. Promoting Timothy, staying longer on the show, going to England. But there’s one that keeps fighting the others off for pole position.

I think I’m falling for him.

It gets my head spinning so much, I fear it ricocheting off my neck and slamming up against the bedroom wall.

How could I have let this happen? The plan was to get enough exposure for the label to move from fledgling start-up to profitable business and then get the heck out of dodge. Not fall for the guy I’m morally opposed to for going on reality TV to fall in love, a guy who’s from an entirely different world from mine. A guy with whom it could never, in a million years, work.

Eventually, the sun rises and Reggie’s alarm sounds. I get a temporary reprieve from obsessing over him. Today is the day we go to England.

I spend the morning racing around the contestants, offering them Timothy activewear for the flight. I tell them it’s super comfortable and perfect for a long flight, which it is, and since most of them brought a wardrobe full of sexy low-cut dresses and bikinis—neither of which exactly scream Regency or long haul travel—I get a few of them choosing to wear it. Of course, the fact that all the tops I hand out have “Timothy” emblazoned across the chest along with our cute monogram is just a happy coincidence.

We’re filmed leaving the ranch, traveling to the airport, boarding the plane, and in the bus on the drive from Heathrow Airport to Sebastian’s family home. I’m not sure it’s going to be riveting TV for the audience, but at least the label gets some screen time.

We’ve been on the bus for half an hour when Kennedy yawns loudly in the seat beside me. “This is the longest trip I’ve ever been on. I don’t care