‘Oh that.’ He rubs his face awkwardly. ‘I was such an idiot. I’m surprised you didn’t punch me there and then, to knock some sense into me.’
‘It was tempting.’ I smile.
‘You came in like a whirlwind and I felt irritated by you, threatened almost. I’d never met a woman like you, but right from the beginning I was transfixed. I still am, you know.’ He pulls me to him and kisses me again, long and slow.
With difficulty, I pull myself away. ‘But we’re so different. I mean, I still find business boring and I’m not sure I can promise to totally give up reading romantic novels. And speaking of which, aren’t you engaged to Hattie?’
‘No. I never was. We don’t even like each other. It’s just what my mother wants.’
‘Oh God, and what about your mother?’
‘I’m so sorry. I couldn’t believe it when she told me what she had said to you, but I knew then I must see you again, try to explain. I’m not like her. She has always wanted me to be a certain person and I can’t live my life being something I’m not. I need you, Sophie.’
‘Lots of people do,’ I joke modestly.
‘No, I mean it. I really need you to remind me how to be a decent person. I might slip back into my old hard-hearted, scheming “profit is everything” businessman ways.’ He smiles, an irresistible boyish smile. ‘I also require your help for the agency.’
‘What agency?’
‘The Jane Austen Dating Agency,’ he says simply.
‘But I thought it was over, finished.’
‘That was the old, fake, Jane Austen Dating Agency. I’m talking about a new one, headed up by an amazing new Managing Director – Miss Sophie Johnson, and Head of Membership, Miss Emma Woodtree.’
I stand and stare at Darcy in amazement. ‘You mean me? To run the agency?’
‘Don’t you want to do it?’ Darcy asks, his eyes on mine, hopeful, pleading, expectant.
‘Of course I’d love to.’ I fling my arms round him again, then I recollect. ‘But what about my writing? I need to carry on, I can’t stop now I’ve really started to get somewhere.’
‘There’s no reason why you can’t do your freelance writing as well. Emma will help you and you’ll have plenty of space here to write.’
‘Here?’
‘Yes, here at Chawton House. Didn’t I tell you? This is where you’ll be running The Jane Austen Dating Agency. You approve, don’t you? Surely there could be nowhere more appropriate other than Jane Austen’s house, but I think that’s a little small and it’s only just down the road from here anyway.’
He smiles at my face, which must be a picture. Because I can’t believe how happy I am, I think this must be how Lizzie Bennet feels at the end of Pride and Prejudice, but I don’t really have time to consider this, or anything else for that matter, because Darcy’s kissing me again and I feel that we might just live happily ever after.
The End