Free Undressing Mr. Darcy by Karen Doornebos Page A

show you the footage—”
    “Yes, I want to edit it and get a teaser uploaded to the sites right away. I’ll be right down.” She eyed her watch. “I’m going down to the lobby first,” she said to Chase as she took long strides toward the elevators.
    “I’ll find your aunt and Paul and let you know where they are.”
    “Thank you, Chase.” He was a quick thinker, and that was cool!
    Once she stepped into the lobby full of creatures from Hero Con and headed for the coffee bar, she had the sense that Lexi had already done some damage.
    Sherry made her way toward her through the winged, caped, and antennaed crowd, her ponytail bobbing.
    “Guess what?” Sherry asked. Without waiting for an answer she said, “We’re all going to Bath! Bath, England! For the mother of all Jane Austen events: the nine-day Jane Austen Festival! Julian invited us and you’re invited, too! Your friend Lexi was already planning on going, but Julian has given us free passes! Do you have any plans for the week of September fourteenth?”
    “I don’t think I’ll be . . . going to Bath,” Vanessa said as her eyes landed on Julian. Was it his height, or something more, that set him above the crowd? “I’ll be working, for one thing. But how nice of him to give everyone free passes.”
    The costumed woman next to him turned around and it was none other than Lexi in the guise of Xena, Warrior Princess, complete with a black-haired wig to cover her usual severe red bob, an armored bustier, scrolled wrist guards, studded leather miniskirt, and black fringed boots.
    Her costume alone could slay entire nations.
    She air-kissed Vanessa.
    “Vanessa. Great to see you again.” She eyed Vanessa up and down. “You look fabulous, if a little—plainly dressed for the occasion. But you never did like playing dress-up.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Listen, I’d really love for us to be friends again. Bury the hatchet? I’ve changed, thanks to you.”
    It didn’t look like she had changed at all, not even her fashion sense.
    Vanessa took a deep breath. “Hello, Lexi.” She had run into her a few times since their fallout but had managed to avoid any real interaction since she’d dissolved their co-owned PR boutique.
    They had honed their PR chops together, but Lexi had slept with a client who happened to be a friend of Aunt Ella’s. It turned out he was not the first of their mutual clients she had slept with. Aunt Ella never found out. But all this had happened more than six years ago now, and the details had become fuzzy. Vanessa found it hard to remember exactly what happened, and the anger had long since subsided. They were, after all, just kids in their twenties, and people grow up, don’t they?
    Nevertheless, Vanessa had no desire even to befriend her on social media, but she didn’t want to engage in female warrior combat, either. She just wanted to go on without Lexi in her life. A simple request, really. “I’m guessing you’re here for Hero Con and not the Jane Austen Society?”
    “Both. I’m here on business for Hero Con first and foremost, though.”
    Had Lex Luthor hired her to do damage control? Perhaps she had joined forces with Darth Vader. Or was she sleeping with the Joker
and
Mr. Freeze? Instead Vanessa asked, “Oh? For whom?”
    “I’m doing the PR for a graphic novel publishing house promoting a series of books about Xena.”
    So, she was putting the “graphic” in “graphic novel.”
    “Hero Con has become so huge. Huge! But, you know, not even the young vampires of Hero Con can keep me away from Darcy.” She cast her blue eyes at Julian, who held a ceramic mug of tea from the coffee bar in one hand and a pen in another.
    He had attracted a sizable crowd. Fans encircled him, asking him to sign his book, and this meant the show had been a hit.
    Vanessa took a shot of him with her phone and posted:
    Found: Mr. Darcy. Join the fray in the lobby near the . . . tea bar. #JASNAagm