Marrying Mr. Darcy (Love Manor #2) - Kate O'Keeffe Page 0,91

his flight number and see it landed sixteen minutes early. Gah!

With sweaty palms, I locate the area he should exit from, and I stand and wait, my eyes trained on that exit, my pulse drumming in my ears.

“Going somewhere?” a familiar sexy English voice says behind me.

Startled, I turn and gaze up at him.

Sebastian.

His jawline is stubbled, his hair tousled, and there’s tiredness around his eyes. But it’s him. It’s him.

Boom. Mic drop.

“I’m-I’m booked on a flight to London,” I reply, amazed I actually have the power of speech as I gaze at this man in front of me. “I-I was coming to see…you.”

“Well, great minds must think alike, because I came here to see you.”

My heart dances as the edges of his mouth lift into a smile, his eyes soft and full of love. For me.

“Brady Bunch,” he says, and as happiness bubbles up inside of me, I drop the handle of my bag and leap into his arms, pressing my lips to his as my love for him overflows. He kisses me back, holding me close to him as I wrap my legs around him.

As tears of joy spring to my eyes, I say, “I’m so sorry, Seb. I love you so much, and I made a huge, huge mistake.”

He brushes hair back from my face and looks at me with such love in his eyes it sucks the air from my lungs. “You showed me that you would sacrifice your own happiness for me. That is the most incredible thing anyone has ever done for me, Brady. I didn’t think it were possible to love you any more than I did, but I do. Oh, how I do.”

I pepper his face with kisses, and after a while he places me back on my feet. “I love you so much,” I gush.

He pulls me into him and claims my lips with his once more. “I know you do, and you’ve made me the happiest man on Earth.”

Epilogue

We stand together hand in hand, facing one another, our gazes locked.

This is it.

This is the moment.

Sebastian looks more handsome than I’ve ever seen him—which I did not think was possible. This guy looks good in sweats, he looks good first thing in the morning, and he even looks good when he’s got a cold.

Not that I’m complaining.

Today, he’s wearing the black tux with a crisp white shirt he was wearing the day we met, and he’s added a buttoned-up waistcoat to the look—his little nod to Mr. Darcy.

He’s my dashing gentleman, and I’m his blushing bride.

Okay, not blushing exactly, more unbelievable ecstatically deliriously happy bride.

As I stand beside the man I love, I feel absolutely beautiful in my dress. After Jilly’s terrible advice that women of the British aristocracy choose to look like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man on their wedding day, I called Susan at the village wedding shop to save me the very first dress I tried on. The dress I fell in love with. The Empire dress with the deep V-neckline and pretty chiffon layers that made me think of Lizzie Bennet.

Which is one hundred percent appropriate, considering who I’m marrying today.

Jilly, it turns out, wasn’t exactly my friend. Far from it, in fact. She had been trying to break us up from the moment Sebastian declared his love for me in the final episode of Dating Mr. Darcy.

Nice, right?

When I met Chris at the opera last summer, Jilly saw an opportunity to drive a wedge between Sebastian and me. Knowing what Geraldine thought of me, Jilly approached her with a plan: photograph me in a compromising position with Chris Hampshire, send those photos to news outlets at the right time, and let Sebastian see what a lowlife I truly was. Jilly would then swoop in to comfort Sebastian, he would realize she had been the woman for him all along, and I would be well and truly forgotten.

Chris had happily gone along with the plan. Not because he had any real interest in me, but because he had a real interest in getting back at Sebastian for him wrecking his plans to steal Jilly’s money.

As Kennedy said when I divulged the whole sorry tale to her, Chris would make a very good George Wickham. But then I reminded her this is my life and not a Jane Austen novel.

Jilly had broken down when Sebastian questioned her about why she told me to let him go, and she came clean about the whole sordid plan. Although I would never