Jane and Austen by Stephanie Fowers Read Free Book Online Page A

interrupted in a calmer voice, “because I don’t have them now.” He looked surprised, and I quickly amended my words. “For you. For you!” And then I flushed, because that sounded even worse. I knew the telltale redness had crept up my neck and nestled into my ears, because Austen stared at me in fascination. I hadn’t meant to let him know how I’d felt. I was like one of those idiots who gave everything away to the bad guy in the first five seconds of an interrogation.
    Austen’s brows furrowed. I didn’t dare move, but if he did, I’d be out the door faster than he could get to me and try to smooth things over between us. I couldn’t face him after what I’d just admitted. Except here we were, face to face, and I couldn’t breathe. I listened to the jingling bells of the door behind me.
    “Hello? Uh, hello, do you work here? Who gets my car keys?”
    I swallowed and turned. A beautiful girl at the doorway gave us an uncertain smile. A dimple deeper than the Grand Canyon appeared at her right cheek. “I’m one of Taylor’s bridesmaids. I have reservations. Bella Thorne.”
    The girl walked in and I was immediately sorry when I got her full glory. Bella Thorne was the youngest in Taylor’s group of friends, and I felt like an evil stepsister staring down Cinderella. She had long blond hair that hit the middle of her back. Freckles decorated a sun-kissed face. Her jeans and wrap shirt might as well have been a paper sack, because she’d outshine anything she wore.
    Freddy, our errant bellhop and valet, careened into the driveway on his golf cart. His red porter jacket mirrored a captain’s in the British army, and the way he held himself made me think he never lost a battle. His dark hair was messy but purposely so, and his normally brooding looks were more pronounced than ever. He had barely parked before he was out of the vehicle and hurrying for the front door. Since he was never that eager to report to duty, I had a feeling he had seen the girl on her way in and was desperate to be of service.
     “Jane,” he greeted me. He normally wasn’t so pleasant. Without sparing me another glance, which was completely normal, Freddy swept his dark hair from his arrogant eyes. “I’ve got this,” he told me under his breath. My suspicions were immediately confirmed when he swept an elegant bow to the beautiful bridesmaid and plucked her luggage from her hands only to drop it at my feet. “I’ll take you to your room,” he said.
    Bella dimpled again, looking pleased at the effect she had over our handsome baggage handler. Freddy was already ushering Bella onto his golf cart before I came to another realization. He had left me with all the luggage again. Even worse, I was afraid to look back at Austen and see just how little my accidental declaration of love meant to him after he had seen the perfect girl. I took a deep breath and dragged Bella’s luggage to the pile in the middle of the room.
    “Hey, Jane,” Austen said.
    I turned cool eyes on him, hoping I looked like the heartless jade I wanted to be. “Are you offering to help me with the luggage?” I asked.
    “No.”
    Of course he wasn’t. If he cared about me at all, he’d stumble all over himself to make sure that my dainty hands never felt any kind of strain. I knew the true-love drill. I was fooling myself that I meant anything to him. I managed to get the smaller bags under each arm and the larger bags in my hands. I backed my way to the door that led out to the hallway—which unfortunately made it so that I was facing Austen again.
    He looked as though he wanted to say something, but then when he saw my struggle, he started to laugh again. “If you need help, just ask.”
    “Oh, you mean I have to beg?” I hit the door with my back and realized that it wasn’t going anywhere unless I possessed a third hand to turn the knob.
    He sighed and circled the front desk to get to me. “I’ve got it.”
    He cornered me against the door