Chapter Sixteen
I turned around, expecting to see Nick glaring at Darcy, but instead it was me he was staring at. And this time, there were no twinkling eyes or a flicker of a smile; his look was pure anger.
“So, let’s grab a drink and you can tell me everything,” I heard Bianca say to Darcy. “Where do you live, what do you do, how amazing is my girl Zoe?”
Oh God, how was he going to answer all that? But I didn’t get to hear, as there was suddenly another voice closer to my ear.
“What the hell is Mr. Darcy doing here?”
Shit, what was the best way to play this? Should I a) try to deny it, or b) confess all and plead for mercy?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, going with option c) panic and play dumb.
“Please don’t lie to me, Zoe. I’ve met the man before, so I know exactly who he is.”
Nick had met Darcy? I opened my mouth to ask him how, but Nick spoke first.
“Tell me when he appeared and how.”
He was looking at me with such intensity that I swallowed. “It happened the night I stole the book. I was reading it on the bus, and then I fell asleep, and I think that’s when he turned up.”
“Oh my God!” Nick barked, then lowered his voice. “I knew something weird was going on when you kept coming back to the shop, but I thought you’d just come across a rumor online and were suspicious. Why the fuck didn’t you tell me Mr. Darcy had appeared?”
“Excuse me, but you’re not really in a position to complain here,” I hissed back. “You told me it was a completely ordinary book and laughed at me for thinking it might be magic. So if this is a ‘who did the biggest lie by omission’ competition, I think you definitely win.”
“This isn’t a game, Zoe! This is bad, really bad; you have no idea what you’ve done.”
“I haven’t done anything. It was your book that thrust Mr. Darcy into my life.”
“But that’s not possible,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “It’s never the books.”
“What do you mean, it’s never the books? How did this happen, then?”
Nick didn’t answer, and I saw him glancing around to check that no one else was in earshot. When he looked back at me, I could see the anger in his eyes had been replaced by something else. Fear.
“OK, so it’s too complicated to explain it all now, but basically the women in my family had a special ability…
a power, for want of a better word,” he said, his voice so low that I had to lean in closer to hear him under the thumping music.
“This power meant that when they read a passage from a book and at the same time wished with their whole heart for a character from the book to appear in front of them, it would happen. They quite literally read the fictional character into real life.”
Not long ago, if someone had said this to me, I’d have thought they were either drunk or really into fan fiction. But given that Mr. Darcy was currently doing tequila shots with my best friend at the bar, I didn’t doubt Nick for a second.
“So your family’s power made your mum’s copy of Pride and Prejudice magic, which is why Mr. Darcy appeared when I read it?” I said.
“But that’s what I don’t understand,” Nick said.
“It wasn’t my mum’s books that were magic—it was her.
So she could read Darcy out of any copy of Pride and Prejudice—and in fact, she did, several times—but if I tried the same thing with exactly the same book, it wouldn’t work.
That’s why I didn’t ever think you’d actually read Darcy out, because I’ve never heard of anyone outside of my family ever being able to do it. But clearly I was wrong.”
“Hang on, are you saying I have some freaky book-witch powers?” I said, my voice going squeaky with incredulity. “That’s ridiculous! Nothing like this has ever happened to me before I picked up your mum’s book.”
“Are you sure? You’ve never read a book and suddenly been confronted with a character from it?”
“Erm, yes, I’m sure. I think I’d have remembered.”
“Well, however it happened, we need to fix this tonight.”
“What do you mean, fix it?”
Nick looked at me as if I’d just asked him if Cruella de Vil was a recommended puppy breeder. “We need to return Darcy to Pride and Prejudice before it’s too late. Did you actually throw my mum’s book away, or were you lying about that too?”
I grimaced, but I saw Nick exhale with relief.
“Thank God, otherwise we’d be totally buggered. OK, so I’ll take Mr. Darcy to Baskerville Books now, and you can go and get the book and meet us there.”
Nick moved past me in Darcy’s direction, but I stayed where I was.
A few days ago, this was all I’d wanted: for someone to tell me they knew a way to get Darcy back into the book.
But everything had changed over the past forty-eight hours, and not just for me but for Darcy too.
I remembered his words on Wednesday night.
“Were you to tell me that you had found the means for me to depart, and that I must bid you farewell at this very moment, I believe I should feel quite bereft.” Darcy didn’t want to go back to Pride and Prejudice, and I didn’t want him to go either.
I turned around and grabbed Nick’s arm. “What if I don’t want to fix this?”
He looked back at me. “What do you mean? He has to go back.”
“No, he doesn’t. Darcy likes it here; he told me he wants to stay in our world.”
“But that’s impossible! Zoe, you don’t understand how dangerous this is. He can’t stay here any longer.”
“Yes, he can. He’s happy and I’m happy too. We’re not doing anyone any harm.”
Nick’s eyes bulged as he took a step back toward me. “Oh my God, is he in love with you? Shit, have you two…”
He trailed off, and I found myself blushing. “No, we haven’t! Not that it’s any of your business, you perv.”
Nick shook his head. “You have no idea what you’re doing. This can’t happen; you and Darcy cannot be a couple.”
I felt a flash of anger at his patronizing tone. “Excuse me, but just because you don’t believe in happy-ever-afters, that doesn’t mean the rest of us have to lead miserable, loveless lives too. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to enjoy my best friend’s engagement party.”
I began to march toward Darcy and Bianca at the bar.
“Zoe, you have to listen to me!” Nick called after me. “He doesn’t belong here, and you need to get him back in before the damage is irreparable. If he stays here, then—”
“I don’t care!” I interrupted. “Just piss off and leave me alone.”
“Zoe, is everything all right?” Darcy must have heard my raised voice, because he was striding toward me, staring dark-eyed at Nick. “Is this gentleman causing you problems?”
Nick glared back at Darcy. “I’m not the one causing her problems, Fitzwilliam.”
I saw Darcy blink in surprise at hearing his name, but he quickly regained his composure. “I have no idea who you are, sir, but it is clear to me that Zoe no longer wishes to converse with you, so I demand that you leave her alone.”
“Not until she agrees to what I’m asking.”
“I said leave her alone, before I am forced to take action.” Darcy had taken a step toward Nick, pulling his shoulders back, and I saw Nick mirror his actions.
Were they about to fight, right here in the middle of Bianca’s engagement party?
Others around us must have picked up the scent of danger, too, because I was aware that people had stopped talking and were turning to watch the three of us.
Nick’s eyes flicked to me again. “Zoe, please—this is far more serious than you realize. The two of you can never have a real relationship.”
I felt another stab of rage at Nick. Darcy may be fictional, but what I felt for him was 100 percent real, so why couldn’t we have a real relationship?
Sure, maybe there was a lack of sexual chemistry, but a relationship was about more than just physical attraction, and I was confident that with time, my libido would kick back into action, and then Darcy and I wouldn’t be able to keep our hands off each other.
At this thought, another idea flashed into my head. I knew a way I could show Nick that my relationship with Darcy was real—a way I could show myself that it was real. And so I stepped forward, I took Darcy’s face in my hands, and I kissed him.
I was aware of several things at once. Of Darcy’s body going rigid with shock.
Of someone letting out a gasp behind me.
Of a distant shout of “Go, girl,” from someone at the bar.
But I tried to block them all out as I held my hands against Darcy’s smooth cheeks and kissed the man I’d been in love with for fourteen years.
For a few, painful seconds, he didn’t respond, but just as I was about to pull back in despair, I felt his lips soften and his arms curve around me, and then Mr. Darcy was kissing me back.
I closed my eyes and tried to lose myself in this incredible moment that I’d fantasized about for so many years.
But Darcy kept trying to put his tongue deep into my mouth, like he wanted to lick my tonsils, and when I adjusted my head, our teeth banged painfully against each other.
Crap, were we incompatible kissers? No, of course not!
We just needed a bit more practice, and then we’d get in sync.
And right now, all that mattered was that I was having a real kiss, with a real man, in what was definitely a real relationship.
When we stepped away from each other, Darcy looked slightly shell-shocked by what had happened, and I was about to ask him if he was OK when something caught my eye. Standing to my right was Nick, his hands hanging limply by his sides, staring at Mr. Darcy and me with a look of absolute horror.