Marrying Mr. Darcy (Love Manor #2) - Kate O'Keeffe Page 0,39
Brady?”
“In what way?” I bat my eyelashes at him and milk the compliment for all its worth.
“Too many ways to count. She treated you like you were nothing, and you’re not. You, the future Lady Martinston, are everything to me.”
My heart swells with love for him. “Ditto,” I reply.
He turns on the ignition and the stereo springs into life, playing a popular song from a while back. Sebastian turns to me and says, “I think of you whenever I hear this song, because you are amazing, and I love you just the way you are,” he says, quoting the famous line.
“Ditto,” I say, beaming at him. “Bruno Mars sure has a way with words.”
We sit and listen to the song.
“Beautiful lyrics,” I say.
“Maybe we should have it as our wedding song?”
“Although I love the idea, your granny has made it clear to me that we should only have classical music played on an organ and probably by a woman called Mabel who needs bottle-thick reading glasses to see the sheet music.”
He rolls his eyes at me. “That sounds like Granny.”
He pulls the car away from the curb and drives a lot more sedately the rest of the way back to Martinston, London suburbia giving way to small, quaint villages and fields with old stone walls.
“You know what? Maybe I’ll go back to Houston while you’re filming the show? Penny is always telling me how busy she is, and by then I might have found us some retailers here to stock Timothy. That way I won’t have to creak around in the attic the whole time.”
Not that I’m seriously considering hiding out in the attic, of course. I might be bowing out gracefully here, but I’m not a masochist, or clinically insane (sorry, Mr. Rochester’s wife).
“That won’t be necessary,” he says as he pulls into Martinston’s long, tree-lined driveway.
“It’s for the best, Seb. I’d feel weird being here while they were filming, trying not to get spotted. And you need the money from this show.”
He drives the length of the driveway in silence, turns the car to the back of the house, and parks in one of the garages. Turning to me, he says, “I’m not sending you away like some embarrassment. You’re the woman I love. The woman I’m marrying.”
“I love that you’re being so gallant and honorable about this, really I do, but it’s no big deal. I’ll get a lot done back home, and then I can come back here in time to become your wife. See? It’ll all work out.”
He shakes his head. “I’m not going to do the show.”
“I know you said that, but you didn’t mean it. You were just being all manly and defending my honor. Which I totally appreciate, by the way.”
He shakes his head, his lips pulled into a thin line. “I meant it. I refuse to allow the woman I love be treated like a second-class citizen.”
I knit my brows together in confusion. “But…the house.”
“We’ve got a plan already. We’ll just open in winter instead of waiting for spring. I’ve been doing a lot of research into how to do it. We will need to put off having a café, but we can at least start to get some the house working for us.”
Worry rushes through my bloodstream. “Will that be enough?”
“It’ll have to be.” He shoots me what he thinks is a confident smile, but I know better. Losing Saving Pemberley means the house is still in jeopardy. And I cannot help but feel responsible.
* * *
“Well, I’ll say one thing for the guy, he’s a total gentleman,” Penny says over the phone after I’ve recounted the story of the reality show disaster meeting to her. “Probably shortsighted but a total gentleman all the same. I mean, is opening the house to the public enough to save it?”
Anxiety churns in my stomach. “The debts are big, Penn. Seb’s family has consolidated all his dad’s debts into one sum, and from what I know it doesn’t make for fun reading. I think the guy was the worst gambler ever.”
“I thought when you fell for an English aristocrat, it’d be all champagne and private jets. Maybe even a private island.”
“No such luck, Penn.”
“Just as well. He’s a great guy, then.”
“Oh, yeah. He’s a totally great guy.”
“How’s it going talking with the people at Body Sports? Have you got a meeting yet?”
“I’ve been talking with the Apparel Purchasing Manager there. He says he’s interested, but so far, he won’t take a meeting with