My Darling Bride (The Darlings, #1)

by Ilsa Madden-Mills

I’ll never know who she is.

Dressed in designer jeans that cling to his thighs and an expensive-looking button-down with the cuffs rolled up, he has a blade for a nose, sculpted cheekbones, and sensuous lips. Tall. Broad. Muscled. Sex on a stick. Swipe right, ladies.

That’s what they all say.

Oh, FYI, I told him your name was Darcy.” An eyebrow rises. “The hero in Pride and Prejudice,” I say. “Guess that makes you Elizabeth Bennet?” Kill me now. He knows Jane Austen.

“Wait! There’s a girl at A Likely Story Bookstore, you know the one off Fifth Avenue?” “No.” “She also works at the bar across from our apartment. Surely you’ve been inside.” I’ve seen Marcelle’s Martini Bar, but if I’m drinking, it’s at the Baller, a private membership place for athletes. “Never been. Any moles?” “Shut it. She’s perfect. And fun. You need fun.” He hums. “Jeez, what’s her name? It starts with an E . . . Esme? No, wait, I’ve got it—Emmaline Darling. Isn’t that adorable?”

Emmy, Got your note and thought I’d reply. Look at what you did (see enclosed photo), and you’re going to do something for me to make up for it. Because you stole my fucking car. I’ll be in touch. G

“My ma always said that life changes come in threes, especially the bad ones. Kian, the bookstore being sold, which means you’ve got another thing coming.” Funny. It just arrived. By messenger.

but the other side of me feels abandoned by the person who was supposed to always protect me.

“About that. I have”—he looks away, his hands flexing—“a proposal.” If he says he wants some kind of sex thing, I’m going to freak. “I’m listening.” “I’m in need of a wife.”

“Yes, merde. Lots and lots of shit. But we cannot hide in a hole to protect ourselves from getting injured, because all life is a risk. You walk out of the house, and boom, you might die from a piece of the space station that falls from the sky.”

There’s a baseball saying: you can’t steal second base without taking your foot off first.”

“Like I say, no therapy here. You will find many books about the topic, about people who claim to have experienced it. Are they true? I do not know. I cannot advise on what happened when you were clinically dead, but I believe you saw what you saw. It happened. It was your experience. It is valid. There are many things we do not know about the brain—or life—after we die.

Some of the best people I know have broken bits, and I’m usually drawn to them in some fashion, as a friend, as a lover.

Darling, You need another favorite flower. No more calla lilies. Your future husband I whip out my phone and send him a text. With what you spent on flowers, I could have bought a small car. But not a Lamborghini. Did you pick a favorite yet? No. Then I’ll send more tomorrow.

Don’t get close to him, Emmy. Just play the game like you promised.

“I forgot, okay. It felt real, and I was getting to know you. I forgot that there was an ulterior motive for our evening out.”

I feel like the moon is a she. For me anyway. She might mean something altogether different to someone else. She changes every night, evolving and becoming something new. How fucking awesome to be her.”

He’s suddenly sitting at attention and walks over to me. “Let me see it again?” Londyn pulls out her washcloth and watches Graham as he lifts my tank top and peers at the scar on my rib cage. He frowns as his fingers lightly trace over it. “Did surgery fix it forever?” “Are you worried for me?” I ask, surprise in my voice. “You’re going to be my wife.”

“I had my surgery the night of the Super Bowl. You and I were in the same hospital on the same night, Mount Sinai.”

“This isn’t about the NDA. I don’t want him near you, Emmy. You’re my wife, and it worries me that he might hurt you. Don’t you understand?”

“Just saying. If things don’t work out between you two—” Jane’s voice cuts like a knife. “Of course it will work out. It’s Emmy. She wouldn’t commit unless she means it with her whole heart.”

“I’m sorry, darling. I’m yours, I’m here, and I’m not leaving. I came back from the dead—for you.”

Life gave me you. I dreamed of you before I even met you.”

The world fades as we make love, as I experience the life I was always meant to have.