Hiring Mr. Darcy - Valerie Bowman Page 0,18

of my Sprite. Normally I drank water, but I hadn’t wanted the waitress to think I was that cheap. And there was no way I was going to drink wine. Even so much as only one glass made me act like a lush, and I wanted to keep this meeting strictly business. To that end, I’d worn another skirt, this time a pleated, navy-blue and white striped one that provided decent camouflage for my belly. My white shirt had cap sleeves and a Peter Pan collar, and I wore navy blue patent leather flats. I was going for the cute nerd look, but I also wanted to appear professional, poised and in control. I was paying this guy five thousand dollars, so technically I was his boss. That called for looking boss-like.

I pushed the straw around the glass, propped my chin on my palm, my elbow braced against the table, and glanced around the bar morosely. It was one of those upscale places that business people frequent. Sleek and silver and a little too hip for me. There seemed to be couples everywhere. I wondered what Harrison was doing right that minute. I hadn’t seen him on campus today, but that wasn’t particularly unusual. He and I didn’t have similar class schedules. He also hadn’t called me yesterday to tell me he’d made the worst mistake of his life and begged me to be his partner again. I hadn’t really expected that call, but I wouldn’t have minded if it had happened. Instead, he’d texted me to ask if I could have lunch on Wednesday. He wanted to talk more about the competition.

As for that, I’d tried to work up the courage this morning to find Dr. Holmes and inform him that I intended to participate in the competition against Harrison and Lacey. I figured telling him ahead of time would prevent any issues if I were to win. By the time the day was half over, however, I’d decided to hold off telling him. I wanted to speak to Jeremy first, to ensure he was fully committed and knew what he was getting himself into.

I’d spent the day grading papers and fantasizing about the moment that Jeremy and I would win the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, and how graciously smug I would be when accepting Harrison and Lacey’s congratulations. “No hard feelings,” I would say. “You did a great job, too.”

Jeremy, of course, would be standing behind me, his hand resting on the small of my back in a protective gesture. He’d shake his head sadly at Harrison. “Better luck next time,” he’d say. “Plus, I’m taller than you.”

I’d thought about Jeremy a time or two over the last forty-eight hours. How could I help it? The man was a smoking-hot fox. Too bad he was my brother’s friend. Brothers’ friends were off-limits, of course. You only got together with your brother’s friend in movies and novels. I mean, I knew Jeremy when he was fifteen! Of course, his smoking-hot foxiness hadn’t yet emerged at that time, but then again, that meant he’d known me when I was thirteen and had braces. And one’s future husband should never have seen one with braces. It just seems wrong. Not to mention he knew my parents, which meant he was completely off limits. I’d carefully kept Harrison from meeting either of my parents for nearly three years. No easy feat, I assure you.

But there was one reason that was bigger than all the others as to why Jeremy and I were never going to be a thing, even if I had been single and was of a mind to go for it—the simple fact that while Jeremy had grown up into his previously mentioned smoking-hot foxhood, I was still a short, squat, brown-haired, brown-eyed mouse with glasses. Foxes and mice didn’t date. Foxes tended to date other foxes or gazelles or similarly beautiful animals. Mice are neither smoking, nor hot. Plus, add my nerd factor in and it was a complete impossibility. Besides, Jeremy probably already had a similarly smoking-hot girlfriend. Luke had mentioned it. Maybe I could find out tonight with some investigative questioning. At any rate, none of that mattered. Hiring him to be Mr. Darcy had nothing to do with our personal lives. This was business. Although…Harrison could probably use a little competition. Maybe then he’d understand how I felt about his spending time with Lacey.

“Hey there.” Jeremy was standing next to my booth. I jumped and