Marry Me, Matchmaker

by Kristi Rose

  Now, her overwhelming desire to proclaim her love for him was rendering her useless in trying to develop an action plan. This was not how she imagined finding the one would be like. She’d stupidly believed finding the person meant for her would be easy, obstacle-free, butterflies and fireworks.

  Her next step should be to tell him she loved him and ask him to run away with her. Because leaving all this drama behind was oh-so-appealing. “It’s over, William. My company.”

  Another truth? Sometimes a person might find the one but not be able to have them.

  But here she was now, knowing she was going to have to let him go. Hoping that maybe one day their paths could cross again and the timing for them would be right. But to declare her feelings now would surround him with negative press. It would taint his reputation. He had people to think about. Not his family, but those that worked for him. If his businesses suffered, then his employees felt it.

  “Don’t give up yet,” he said, glancing at her. “I need time to think.”

  “We’ve been outmaneuvered, and it will happen again because we don’t know who the snoop is. We can spend time trying to figure it out, but we risk more inaccurate info leaking out.”

  “I don’t like conceding a win to an unknown enemy. This underhand method of attack makes me angry and disgusted. When I find out who the leak is, and rest assured I will, that person will pay.” He pounded a fist on the wall next to him then spun to face her. He was a competitor facing a loss. His reaction was no surprise. But more than that, this drama and betrayal of his close circle threatened what he deemed important. His reputation. The reputation and the privacy of his family and friends. And to be portrayed as cunning and careless about affairs of the heart…well, she would protect him from any more damage. She owed him that.

  “I’m going to make a statement. I’m going to announce the closing of Meryton. I’m not going to sell my client list. However, I will ask Dating NoDrama to offer discounts should my former clients want to move over to them.” She would also have to sell her house and start over, but Elizabeth knew this was the right thing to do.

  She took out her phone and stood. There wasn’t time to gather Anne, Jane, and Bill so a video call would have to suffice.

  He walked to her, then put his hand over her phone. “Don’t. Wait. Let’s not be too hasty.”

  “William,” she whispered, her voice breaking. To prolong it would only drag out the pain.

  He cupped his hand along her cheek. “Elizabeth, please. Just a little while longer. I’ll find a solution. I always do.”

  Her gaze met his and held. They’d come a long way. From adversaries to friends to… She leaned into his hand and closed her eyes. A lone tear slid down her cheek. “I don’t want to bring you any more trouble,” she whispered.

  As if he cared about that. The urge to rescue her, to make her heartache go away, pulsed through him. If he couldn’t save Elizabeth Bennet and her small company, then what would become of them? Would she hold him responsible? Would seeing him always bring back this painful time?

  “Just give me a little more time.” He would beg if he needed to.

  A rap on the door startled them both and Elizabeth stepped away, wiping at her eyes.

  “Come in,” he called.

  Emma was the first to enter, followed by Hannah, Caroline, James, and Knightley.

  Emma said, “Hannah has an idea, and though I’m not sure it’s the best, it’s worth listening to.”

  Hannah stepped forward and held out her phone. “We’re trending.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t understand,” Elizabeth said.

  “The image of William and I talking as we hiked up the mountain, that’s trending. Lots of positive remarks and likes.”

  William took the phone and shared the view with Elizabeth. The picture was good. They were looking into each other’s eyes, smiling, as if there was a connection. He recalled the moment. They’d been talking about Montana and the lifestyle here, one of his favorite topics.

  Hannah tapped the screen. “I say we go with this. It’s a positive spin. We say that Elizabeth noticed we had similar interests and paired us. We connected because of her. We say that captioning a photo a certain way doesn’t make it so. Elizabeth gets credit, and her presence here is validated by our coming together.” She surveyed the room. The group was quiet, he assumed, as they processed her proposal.

  “Except,” Elizabeth said, “people will be following you after this weekend to see if what you’ve said is true. If they don’t see the two of you together, then they’ll know we lied. It will give even more credit to my mother’s post.”

  William nodded. Hannah stepped close to him and put her hand on his upper arm. “Only we don’t have to lie. There is something here, don’t you think? Even if it’s small. We have a lot in common, and maybe we can go on real dates and get to know each other better.” She slid her hand down his arm then picked up his hand. She clutched it between both of hers. “What do you think?”

  William looked at Elizabeth. “It could work,” he said, tossing the unspoken question at her. Did she want him to go through with it?

  She hesitated then shrugged her uncertainty.

  William let go of Hannah’s hand and went to the phone on his desk. He called his assistant Tolliver and asked for him to come to his office.

  “I think a statement of sort is needed,” he told them. “Hannah makes a point. Her idea is solid.”

  Caroline grunted in disgust and walked from the office.

  Hannah clasped her hands, a broad smile on her face, then she moved around William’s desk to stand beside him. “It’s only a good point because it’s based on truth. I think we should have someone take pictures of us on your property. I can put them out on my social media accounts, and we can turn this conversation around our way.” She leaned forward, then following a slight hesitation, kissed his cheek. “Come on, Emma. I’ll need your help.”

  Emma gave a hapless look then followed her friend out of the room.

  Knightley cleared his throat. “I say everyone can stuff it. Do what you want. Be with whom you want.” He considered Elizabeth, then William. “Know what I mean?” He strolled from the room.

  William faced her. “This is a solution. It might work.”

  Tolliver, a mid-twenties young man who was tall and lean with red hair, came into the room.

  “Miss Bennet,” he said with a nod. “I’ve seen the rags, William. I have a couple of ideas.”

  William said, “I do as well. We’re going to make a public statement. I want it on the front page of Pemberley International’s website, as well as all other places we can think to blast it.”

  Tolliver pulled out an iPad. “I’m ready when you are.”

  Elizabeth sucked in a breath. She stepped close to William and said, “Don’t do this if you don’t want. I’d rather lose my company a million times over than know I had a part in connecting you to someone you’re not completely happy with. Ruse or not. Your happiness is not for sale. Even if it is pretending for a little while.” She shook her head. “No, William. This is not what a matchmaker does. This isn’t what I do. I don’t feel right about this. I feel yucky.”

  “And if I went through with it and you were asked in the press about Hannah and myself?” He stared down at her. In her short declaration, she’d told him a lot. Enough.

  “I wouldn’t want to lie, but I would never embarrass you either.”

  He pushed a lock of hair off her forehead. “Trust me, Elizabeth. I’m doing the right thing.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Monday

  Elizabeth left Tolliver and William to work on the public statement. Knowing she could burst into tears at any moment, she headed for the privacy of her room. Picturing William and Hannah together gave her chest pains. Part heartbreak, part discomfort for her role in setting William on this path, equaled a sadness she’d never experienced before.

  Regardless of today’s outcome, she was shutti
ng down Meryton. She would do what she told William earlier and not sell her list. She’d sell her house to pay back Anne and Bill, and then maybe she’d go hide in Australia with Lydia and Wickham. Life was working out for them since they moved there. Perhaps that was the change she needed, too.

  At the top of the stairs, Emma rushed by, carrying a robin’s egg blue sundress. She shook her head in annoyance. “Hannah wants to borrow this for the pictures with William.”

  “I want you to know I’m not the leak, Emma. I wouldn’t misuse someone’s trust like that.” Elizabeth knew to protest might make her look guilty, but she couldn’t help it.

  Emma stopped and faced Elizabeth. “Of course, you aren’t. I never thought you were. I’m so embarrassed that I once again caused you problems. I’m so sorry, Elizabeth.”

  “You don’t owe me an apology.” She glanced at the dress. “No offense to your friend, but I wish William would wait before putting out his statement.” She laughed bitterly. “I said I wanted to put out a statement about closing Meryton, and he said I was being hasty. Ironic, right?”

  Emma rolled her eyes. “You know what’s funny? I think they’re not suited at all.”

  “Really? Why?” Though Elizabeth felt the same way, she believed it to be because she loved William.

  Emma laughed. “William is high maintenance. He needs someone who is headstrong and solid. Hannah is… Well, let’s just say she doesn’t do confrontation well. If you were to upset her, then you might get a strongly worded email or a few angry texts. She’s passive aggressive behind the scenes. William likes to face confrontation. Hannah skirts around it and goes after it differently.”

  Elizabeth’s stomach tensed from all her niggling doubts. “Any chance she would have a problem with William or me or…?” She searched her mind for possible reasons why Hannah might be the leak. “Even you, I suppose, but I think William or myself is the target here.”

  Emma pondered Elizabeth’s question. “None of what I’m thinking sounds reasonable. Her father had trouble with one of William’s companies. I don’t know which one. But it wasn’t personal. It was a business thing. She hates Caroline, but that’s because Caroline makes it difficult for people to get to know her. I can’t think of anything, really.”

  “Did her dad’s business suffer?”

  “I suppose, though I hear he’s bouncing back.” Emma stepped closer. “It can’t be Hannah. She wasn’t at my house, and pictures were taken there.”

  “But she’d been to your house before, right?”

  “Several times.”

  Elizabeth pulled out her phone. “What’s the name of her dad’s company?” She plugged it into a search engine and scrolled through the stories. “Yeah, there doesn’t look to be anything here.”

  “Good, I found you,” Anne said to Elizabeth as she came down the hallway. “I just went to your room.”

  Emma held up the dress. “I’ll go take this to Hannah. She’s probably wondering where I am.”

  Anne grabbed Emma’s arm to stop her from moving. “You stay. You’ll want to hear this.” She turned to Elizabeth. “After I got the story from my mother, something wasn’t sitting right with me. I can’t say it’s anything in particular, but for your mother to involve my mother appears as if this is against you and Darcy, a personal issue. So, I went through the guest list and tried to whittle it down to a common thread. That was unsuccessful. Then I decided to look into outliers. By that I mean those that don’t attend every party. The Dashwoods, James Rushworth, and Hannah Smith.”

  Emma’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “We looked at them, too, but Hannah and James weren’t at my party, and I haven’t found a reason for why the Dashwoods would do something like this.”

  Anne arched a brow. “Other than the rumors that their father died and left them in debt?” Elizabeth and Emma gasped. Anne continued, “But you’re right. It’s not them. It’s Hannah, and here’s why I know it’s her.”

  Anne had both woman’s full attention. They leaned in close as Anne spilled her story. In a whisper she said, “I dug into the deep web. Did you know Hannah worked as a photographer for a magazine owned by Pemberley International?”

  Emma shook her head. “I knew she had a job as a photographer, but I didn’t know it was a Pemberley company.”

  Elizabeth said, “I never even heard of her until this weekend.”

  Anne harrumphed. “Well, she did. And Darcy sold that company when he decided to unload all his media corporations.” She faced Elizabeth. “This was right after your sister and Wickham hooked up.”

  “Okay, go on,” Elizabeth said.

  “Darcy sells the company. The new company lets over seventy-five percent of the employees go and brings in new people. Hannah was one of them let go.”

  Emma shook her head. “But why go after Darcy? That doesn’t seem like enough to warrant trying to destroy both him and Elizabeth.”

  “I agree,” Anne said. “So, I made a few calls to see if there was more to the story. And there was. Seems Hannah was not in good standing with the new bosses because she wasn’t showing up to work on time and missing deadlines. Her reason? She was dumped by her boyfriend. From the gossip mill there, she was a hot mess.” Anne focused on Elizabeth. “It would seem she believed she’d reformed a certain playboy, only to find he’d run off with a no-name nobody hairdresser.”

  Elizabeth gasped. “Lydia?”

  Anne nodded. “Yeah, George Wickham.”

  “Oh no,” Elizabeth said.

  Emma shook her head in confusion. “Okay, I’m connecting those dots, but how did she get those pictures from my party? She wasn’t there.”

  Anne’s face lit up. “This is my favorite part. Even if it shows I’m a little bit slow. Bear with me. Did you invite Hannah to your party?”

  Emma nodded. “But she had a prior engagement.”

  “By chance did she come up before the party?” Anne asked.

  “The weekend before. She helped me with the final details while we hung out,”

  Anne raised her brows, a smug smile on her face. “There’s your answer.”

  “I don’t get it,” Elizabeth said.

  “Me either,” Emma said.

  Anne laughed, “Oh sorry, I left out the important part. Cameras. Hannah placed cameras around the property that were set to take shots at certain intervals. I suspected as much by the angles and quality of the photos. She’s dumb enough to use Darcy’s WIFI so I hacked into her computer. All the pictures used in your mom’s article are on her hard drive.”

  Emma groaned. “I brought this mess to us.”

  “I ruled her out as a suspect because she was too obvious and because she’s in the pictures. She’s very crafty,” Elizabeth said. “How did she get herself in the pictures?”

  Anne gave Elizabeth a disappointed look. “Technology, Lizzy. She can remotely take pictures with her phone. All she has to do is have the camera in the right place.”

  Elizabeth flashed back to when Hannah had left her camera on the trail. Elizabeth thought it weird then but didn’t know why. “Do you think she’s out to ruin me and my family, or do you think she really wants William?”

  Anne answered, “Well, he is a catch. And she could get the ultimate justice if she married him.”

  Elizabeth clasped her hands to her face in horror. “I have to tell William.” She pushed past Emma and Anne and dashed down the stairs and the long hallway to William’s office. Tolliver was just coming out when she reached it.

  “Where is he?” she asked, breathless.

  “He took a walk.” Tolliver pointed out the back door toward the mountains.

  Elizabeth took off in that direction. She stepped outside and scanned the vast yard for him. He wasn’t walking toward the mountains like she’d thought a man with much on his mind would do. Instead, he was chatting with Rushworth, Eleanor Dashwood, and Knightley.

  “William,” she called.

  When he turned, a smile broke across his face. “It’s
done. I can’t undo it,” he told her. Palms up, he shrugged. “And frankly, I won’t undo it.”

  Elizabeth stopped short. “But she’s playing you. Anne found out that Hannah used to date Wickham and she was fired from one of your former companies.”

  William’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

  “Which part don’t you understand?” Something was off, only she couldn’t figure out what.

  “I’m talking about what I posted on Pemberley International.”

  “I haven’t seen it, but I came out here to stop you from posting. Don’t give this to her. Please. It’s not right.”

  Understanding crossed his face. He stepped toward her. “Elizabeth, I need to know something right now. Did you come out here solely to stop me because of what you found out, or might there be an additional reason?”

  He searched her face. He knew. Of course, he did. He had to know she was in love with him. Lying would be foolish and pointless. Everything was a mess, and holding back her feelings would only make the mess worse.

  She cupped her hands to her cheeks, feeling the heat underneath. She was going to confess. To bear her soul to the one. And she wasn’t confident the end result would go her way. So many regrets. So much lost time. If only she hadn’t been focused on protesting his presence when he’d first came to Meryton. Or protesting change. If only she hadn’t been preoccupied with fighting her feelings. Maybe she would have said yes when he’d proposed.

  “Oh, William. So much has changed. Or maybe, I’m seeing the truth for the first time. I’ve been a fool.” She stared up at him, hoping he could see her heart in her eyes.

  He placed his hands over hers. “Elizabeth, tell me now how you feel because my feelings and wishes haven’t changed since that night on your doorstep when I asked you to marry me. I look at you and see possibility. I see hope for us. Am I wrong?”

  Someone behind him gasped and whispered, “He loves her?”