“Excuse me for interrupting.” Jeremy’s voice was clipped. He turned on his heel and stalked away, back toward the front of the assembly rooms.
My heart was beating a rumba in my chest. Kneeling in front of me was everything I thought I’d ever wanted, security, a Ph.D., a husband who could intelligently discuss the Luddites. Walking away from me was Jeremy, a man who had memorized lines from a book for me, who’d remembered that I got car sick, and who’d traveled across an ocean to dress up in fancy pants for me. And damn it, he was right. My planner did have a matching eraser. A really cute one.
Harrison stood, my hand still clasped in his. “We can be married next June. It’ll be perfect.”
Perfect? I used to put so much stock in that word. But at the moment it meant nothing to me. I stared up into his handsome, familiar face. “Oh Harrison, perfect’s not what I want anymore. The last couple of weeks have taught me just how much prejudice I have, in addition to pride. I’ve been an awful snob and a stuck-up tight ass. But now...” I smiled from ear to ear. “I just want to be happy.”
Harrison’s smile crumpled into a frown. “What? I don’t understand.”
It started to rain. Of course it started to rain.
“I know you don’t.” I shook my head. “But I do. We need to break up. But don’t worry. No hard feelings. We can still be friends.” I pulled my hand away from his and shifted my planner to my newly freed arm. Then I lifted my skirts, pushed past Harrison, and raced down the alley after Jeremy.
When I got to the front of the assembly rooms, Jeremy was nowhere to be seen, but Patsy was leaning against one of the columns drinking a high ball. I hurried over to where she stood under the portico, beneath the columns out of the rain.
“Patsy, have you seen Jeremy? Did he go back inside?” I moved to enter the building.
“I saw him,” she drawled. “But he didn’t go inside. He’s gone.”
“What?” I froze.
She took a drink and nodded out into the darkness. “He left.”
“In the rain?” I stared into the darkening, rainy sky, completely confused.
Patsy shrugged. “Didn’t seem like he even noticed the rain, if you ask me. Love will do that to a bloke.”
“Love? What? Did he say anything?” I lifted my skirts with my free hand. I was frantic to find him, but I wasn’t entirely sure which way to go.
“He said you were ditching the contest for Dr. Macomb. Said he heard Dr. Macomb say that you were going to let Migel win.”
My heart pounded. Oh, God. Had he decided I was going to abandon him for a proposal from Harrison? “No, I’m not. Is that all he said?”
“Just now, yes, but earlier he had a lot more to say.” Patsy took a healthy swig of her drink.
I turned to her and searched her face. “Earlier? What else did he say?” The woman was speaking in riddles. I wanted to shake her. Even if it would mess up her beehive.
Patsy took a long, slow sip of her drink. “I talked to him a bit ago when he came outside for some air. I nearly choked on my throat lozenge when I saw him all done up in his finery. Most handsome bloke I’ve ever seen.”
“Yes, he’s extremely good-looking,” I nearly growled. “Please tell me what he said.”
“Seriously,” Patsy continued. “I’ve seen my fair share of these re-enactors over the years. But that young man is the first one I’ve seriously wanted to shag.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and counted to three. No good could come of shrieking at Patsy, no matter how much I wanted to.
“Not that he’d take me up on the offer, mind you,” the older woman added. “He’s madly in love with someone else.”
My stomach did a somersault. Oh, God. Had Jeremy told Patsy who he was pining for? “Who?” I blurted, not caring if it had been a private conversation. She shouldn’t have brought it up if she didn’t want me to ask questions.
Patsy stirred her drink with the little straw in it. Then she pointed straight at me. “You, Dr. Knightley. He’s loved you since he was fifteen.”
“What?” The air sucked from my lungs and I nearly crumpled to the ground. Letting my skirts drop, I pressed my hand to the cold stone side of the building to hold myself upright. “What?” My brain throbbed with the news.
“Yep.” She slowly shook her head back and forth. “The lad’s got it bad for you. Told me himself.”
“For me?” I pointed at myself this time, my heart pounding. Had the world gone mad? “You must be joking.”
“I wouldn’t joke about something as important as true love,” Patsy replied. “Besides, you would’ve noticed it yourself if you didn’t always have your nose in that damn planner.” She pointed to the planner with disgust. “You’re so busy planning everything that you didn’t even notice the most handsome bloke in the whole place has the hots for you. I told him you’re a clever one, but sometimes you can’t see what’s right in front of your face.”
I gulped and swallowed and made the weird strangled-cat sound.
“I tried to convince him that he should tell you how he feels,” Patsy continued, “but he said you already had your mind made up and your life planned out. Plus, he said you were going to marry Dr. Macomb and telling you how he felt would be unfair to you.”
Oh, my God. It was all true. The truth and the fact that I’d had my head up my ass about it this whole time hit me like a stack of term papers dropped on my head. “Which way did Jeremy go?”
She shrugged. “If I was guessing, I’d say toward the train station.”
I spun around. The train station was too far to walk. He’d be looking for a taxi. I had to find him fast.
I believe I’ve previously mentioned the universe’s penchant for creating dramatic moments in my life. I picked up my skirts and turned my back on Patsy and ran out into the rain, down the cobbled streets and around the side of the building in the general direction of the train station. The rain made my chignon fall over like the melted top of a wedding cake.
“Jeremy!” I shouted, finally seeing his dark figure far ahead of me, a silhouette against the streetlights. He stopped and turned toward me. He looked so handsome, so heartbreakingly handsome in his boots and skin-tight breeches and cravat.
He waited for me to catch up with him. I ran into his embrace, and wrapped my arms—planner and all—around his neck, and kissed him for all I was worth.
He pulled away almost immediately. “What are you doing, Meg?” Rainwater streamed over the brim of his hat.
“I’m...” What was I doing? “We still have our dance,” I breathed. “The waltz.”
The streetlights highlighted the confused expression on his face. “I saw you talking to Harrison. I thought you were quitting the competition and getting engaged.”
“Yes. I mean, no. I mean, yes, he proposed, but I didn’t accept, and I’m definitely not quitting the competition. Have you met me?”
Jeremy still didn’t look entirely convinced. “Didn’t Harrison explain his kiss with Lacey?”
All I could do was nod. “Yes.”
“And you believed him, that it was innocent?”