Hiring Mr. Darcy - Valerie Bowman Page 0,69

We won!

I jumped from my seat and nearly leaped into Jeremy’s arms to hug him. “The ace! The ace! Oh, Jeremy, I could kiss you, you ringer!”

His lips hovered just above mine. “You can if you want.” An electric shock rocketed through my body. I stared into his eyes, entranced and oh, so tempted to do it, but he was joking, wasn’t he? He had to be joking.

We were pulled apart by the other players slapping us on the back and congratulating us. “Well-played,” Nigel allowed, while Mary managed a sullen smile that lasted all of about two seconds before she swept up her skirts and exited the tent.

From the corner of my eye, I spied Lacey slinking over to me like a cat. Her Regency gown was made of pale yellow silk, embroidered with tiny beads, and her bonnet was trimmed with yellow bows. She stopped at my side and stared out across the tent. “We won too,” she intoned. “Looks like we’re all tied up, Dr. Knightley.”

Damn it. It was true. The rudimentary scoreboard (which consisted of a whiteboard and a marker) in the grand tent confirmed it. Lacey and Harrison had won their set too. We were tied at ten points each. Migel was close behind us at eight. Jeremy and I grabbed an early dinner and went directly to our room to retire and put an end to our jet lag.

Staking my claim in the tiny lavatory, I slathered green goop onto my face and pulled on my pajamas with classic books all over them. I peeked out the door to make sure Jeremy was decent (he was) before scurrying out of the bathroom and hopping into my little couch bed. I faced the window, hoping Jeremy wouldn’t see me. Green goop was not attractive. There was no debate on the subject.

“What’s happening tomorrow again?” Jeremy asked from the bed, his voice sleepy.

“The costume competition,” I replied, hoping he’d turn off the light...like immediately.

“Oh, yeah. That one should be a breeze. Mitchell made me some great threads.”

“Yes, but we’ll also be judged on how we walk and how we carry ourselves. Remember to keep your back straight and your chin high.” I managed to say all that on a yawn.

Jeremy’s muffled laughter filtered through his pillow. “Don’t worry. I can walk around with a cane and a cravat holding up my neck with the best of them.”

Thankfully, he switched off the light.

Since it was safely dark, I flipped over to face him. “We aren’t going to get a ten, but I’m hoping for an eight.”

“What? Why wouldn’t we get a ten?” I could see in the shadows that Jeremy had lifted up on his elbow and was looking toward me. Thank heavens for darkness.

“No one gets a ten for clothing.” I sighed. “Mr. Periwinkle is the clothing judge. He’s a ridiculous stickler. I doubt he’d give Beau Brummel himself a ten.”

“We’ll just see about that,” Jeremy mumbled, settling back down into the bed.

Smiling to myself, I snuggled onto my side, hoping I didn’t snore. If Jeremy snored, I hadn’t heard it last night. Then again, maybe that was because I was too busy snoring. I doubted he did though. People as beautiful as he was probably didn’t make annoying noises at night. I propped up my head on a plethora of pillows, hoping to ward off my potential snores, and fell asleep dreaming of how Jeremy looked in his breeches.

Chapter 22

Friday

By the time I woke up late the next morning, Jeremy and his Regency clothing were gone. He’d left me a note saying he’d meet me at the venue at thirteen hundred. The venue, of course, was the biggest tent on the lawn. It had been set up with a catwalk, with judges’ tables facing it and small sets of bleachers spread out behind that for the audience.

I ordered coffee and scones up to the room and took my time dressing. For today’s event, in addition to the white stays that I’d bought from an authentic recreator woman I’d met on the internet, I had made myself a gown from emerald green satin. It had an empire waist and white trim and tiny white flowers embroidered all over it. It had taken me the better part of six months to embroider those damn flowers. I’d also managed to procure some authentic-looking period glasses. They had silver wire rims that I’d had specially made. It cost me a small fortune. I was hoping the attention to detail