Backstage Romance: An Austen-Inspired Romantic Comedy Box Set by Gigi Blume (ebook reader with highlighter txt) 📕

box in the wastebasket. I needed to get out of there before I was caught. They’d probably think I was snooping around. Then I’d really be on his Burnt List. But as I snuck out into the hallway, I heard a sad, high-pitched whine. It was a constant and persistent yelping and as I followed the sound, I heard the accompanying scratch, scratch, scratch on wood. The dog was just beyond the double doors of what was probably the master suite. Or a library, judging by the doors which were heavy and imposing. I told myself to go. Just find the way back and sneak away. But I couldn’t stand the cry of an animal. Especially a sweet, brown and gold Cocker Spaniel with eyes like shiny buttons. Besides, who could know how long her human would be too busy to take her out. Maybe she had to do her business. I could totally relate to that. My heart just broke in two for the poor dear.

Maybe I’d leave a note. Took Lady for a walk. BRB. In all probability, I’d have her back before he even noticed. When I opened the doors, she jumped repeatedly with sheer excitement.

“Who’s a good girl?” I crooned, getting on my hands and knees to scratch her ears. “Who’s a good girl?”

She rolled onto her back for a belly rub, and her little tongue hung out of the side of her mouth. The skin on the corners of her snout sagged with gravity, and it appeared like she was smiling. Maybe she was smiling. I believed dogs could do that. Especially a smart, lovely dog like Lady.

24

The Woman Who Stole My Heart and My Dog

Will

“No. Absolutely not.”

I sliced my hand through the air between Stella and me, drawing the line on her crazy idea. Her sweet, soft face scrunched into a fierce, wrinkled scowl.

“Why on earth not?”

“Because…” I began but turned my head and decided to draw her away from the line of patrons waiting to be served. My sister and I had been pouring libations at the beer garden. Georgia thought it would be fun to get our hands sticky with volunteer hours. The press went wild for it, but that’s not why I did it. The smile it put on my sister’s face to work together for a good cause was all the reason I needed. We had a rhythm going until Stella sprang her news on me. I crouched to meet her ear in the corner of the booth, away from listening ears.

“Because,” I continued with a whisper, “one, we haven’t rehearsed this. Two, Beth would never agree to it, and three…” I counted on my fingers, the third digit hanging there waiting for an excellent excuse to spring forth from my earnest and level-headed brain. But said brain was inundated with thoughts of Beth. She was somewhere close—on my property. Probably only a few hundred feet away. She’d seen my home in the wild state it was in. I wondered what she thought of it—how much of it reflected me. And I ached for her to see it on a quiet evening when it was just me and Lady by the pool or on the balcony overlooking the hills.

My thoughts also turned to her every time I looked at that blasted keg. I made a point to serve mostly boutique beers for the event, but Stella’s board of directors insisted on a couple of mainstream brands for those who might want it. And so they added a keg of Bud Lite, and I laughed inwardly whenever it caught my eye. Oh, Beth.

And now, Stella tried to convince me to sing a duet with Beth for the banquet. Like it was no big deal to pick up Bing’s role at a moment’s notice. She stared at me and my third finger. Waiting. I had nothin’.

“Well?” she said, raising a brow. “Is that all?”

“How do you know Beth knows Mabel’s part?” I sputtered. There. My third excuse. Sort of.

She laughed, waving a hand like she was swatting flies. “My dear boy,” she exclaimed. “Every girl in the cast knows Mabel’s part. Besides, I happen to know Beth played Mabel in college. She’s got the chops for it.”

Oh, I knew she had the chops for it. That’s what I was afraid of. There was something extremely attractive in a woman who could sing, and to perform a love song with her would be the end of me.

“I think you should do it,” Georgia piped in, smiling ear to ear. She winked at Stella, sharing a conspiring look. What were these women up to?

I turned around to face her eye to eye. “Georgia, what if I were to ask you to perform Franz Liszt’s La Campanella with little to no practice time?”

She crossed her arms and peeked at me under her lashes. “I would give it a try. For love,” she said that last bit under her breath.

“For what?” I asked. We weren’t having this conversation again. Not here.

“For love of the theatre,” she said with a smile. “Sheesh!”

Grrr. These women in my life. I needed to do some guy stuff—like watching football and maybe some masculine grunting while blowing things up.

“William Martin Darcy.”

Uh oh. Stella meant business when she used my middle name.

“I’ve been looking forward to this gala for months, and I will be quite put out if I don’t get to perform tonight.” Her hands were on her hips. “I need you to sing Frederic’s part in Oh, False One. I know you can do it.”

“I can do that, Stella,” I conceded, cowering under her glare. How could anyone say no to this lady? She was knighted. It would be like sticking it to The Queen herself.

“And while you’re at it…” She grinned. “You can do the duet with Beth.”

She had it all figured out, didn’t she? Duet with Stella followed by a duet with Beth. A duet in which Frederic and Mabel kiss.

Stella rolled her shoulders back