The course of true love doesn't always run smooth -- not even for millionaire bachelors...
Everyone thought Beth Ann Bennet and Dr. Will Darcy had an unexpected romance in Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match (Perfect #1). Now, Beth's best friend, Jane Henderson, and Will's first cousin, Bingley McNamara, begin their own unlikely love story in Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet (Perfect #2), which starts at the Darcy/Bennet wedding when they find themselves in the roles of maid of honor and best man for the newlyweds.
Jane is an interning school psychologist and a woman who wears an angelic mask in public, but she's not as sweet tempered as she'd like everyone to believe. Turns out, she may have just crossed paths with the one person who'll unnerve her enough to get her to reveal her true self.
As for Bingley, he's a wealthy, flirtatious and compulsively social guru of finance, who likes to wager on stocks and, let's face it, on just about anything that strikes his fancy. But this dedicated ladies' man may have finally met the woman who'll challenge his bachelor ways!
Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet...where life's biggest gamble is the game of love.
STORY EXCERPT:
Finally, the procession out of the church began, and Jane, as maid of honor, had to walk back down the aisle with Bingley. Oh, joy.
"Delightful ceremony," he pronounced loudly, insuring that everyone nearby would hear, as he formally offered her his arm. But he looked at her as if he'd much rather promenade with a python.
"I agree," she said, smiling tightly and playing the part.
He cast an absolutely ecstatic grin at the friends and family in attendance as the two of them took their first steps toward the church's vestibule. "Only the receiving line and the final pictures," he hissed, his lips near her ear as if sharing a secret. "And then I can start getting drunk. I plan to be pretty damn buzzed before our special dance."
She leaned closer to him and hissed right back, "So funny! I was thinking exactly the same thing."
"Yeah? I remember the last time you got your hands on some champagne, Jane. Who are you gonna be making out with tonight?"
She gripped his arm perhaps a little more forcefully than necessary. "Not you."
He winced but didn't stop walking or faux grinning at the congregation. "Oh, I wasn't offering, sweetheart. I've already been burned once. I don't do second chances."
She gulped. To her ear, he sounded hurt, which both surprised her and pissed her off. He was acting like some innocent in the whole thing. Like he hadn't been trying to take advantage of her--one way or another. That he hadn't made a bet that involved her. Ha. She'd tear him apart limb by limb, this very second, in fact, if it wouldn't ruin her dress before the reception.
Beth and Will had stopped just up ahead of them and were getting ready to greet their guests in the receiving line. Before Jane pulled away from Bingley to dutifully take her place next to the bride, she gave the quote-unquote "best man" her parting shot. "I don't do second chances either," she informed him. "And, for the record, you might as well pay up Dustin and buy your own beer because there's no way you'll win your gamble with him. At least not with my help."
Jane had the satisfaction of seeing him freeze in his spot, a look of shock and confusion on his handsome face, as she turned her back to him.
Now that she'd told him off at last, he'd have to stay away from her, except when their attendant duties made interaction absolutely necessary. Seriously, how much more trouble could the guy cause in less than twenty-four hours, right?
Right.
