“ … do you not agree, sir?” Miss Elizabeth’s eyebrow arched as she smiled up at him. He had no idea how to answer.
“I beg your pardon, Miss … ”
Darcy did not understand such an out-of-control feeling. It was an entirely foreign experience for one who had always been proud of his restraint and mastery of emotions. The situation was intolerable to him, especially in front of his father. He jumped when his sister spoke.
“Brother! Has the cat got your tongue?” Georgiana glared at her blushing sibling with annoyance and amusement; yet when he looked to her with desperation and supplication, she took pity and said, “Come, everyone. Please let us all have a seat before my brother agrees with Elizabeth’s remark about the improvement in temperature since they were introduced. It was rather hot that day at Pemberley, if you remember, Fitzwilliam.”
“Why, yes, Miss Elizabeth, I quite agree. The sultriness of that afternoon may, however, explain certain … unique circumstances.”
Everyone had taken seats, and although Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy were safely distant from one another, they locked eyes from across the room and continued their private conversation in public.
“You are, of course, correct, sir. There was a certain humidity and dampness in the air which caused a most uncomfortable clinging sensation, if I recall.”
“I regret you were made uncomfortable by such steamy conditions at Pemberley, madam.”
“Not at all. I assure you it would take considerably more than the heat generated that day for me to become overly hot and bothered.”
“Just how close, hot, and heavy would it have to be, Miss Elizabeth?”
Mr. George Darcy cleared his throat in order to put an immediate stop to whatever the two were discussing. To his disgust, he feared it was not strictly atmospheric conditions. Both Bennet sisters were strikingly magnificent women, and he was fully aware of his son’s preference for shapely brunettes. Miss Elizabeth certainly qualified as such; though she seemed quite different from the usual empty-headed, fawning, and compliant ladies who constantly dangled after the Darcy heir. This one had some wit about her and did not seem afraid of confrontation. He decided it would be prudent to do a little inconspicuous prying into the Bennet family connections and wealth.
Miss Bennet was surprised by, and ashamed of, her sister’s unladylike teasing of the poor fellow. She wondered what on earth had gotten into Lizzy to behave in such a scandalous manner. Jane kept up her end of the conversation with Lady Anne, Georgiana, and Anna while she eavesdropped on what was being said by the room’s other occupants.
Elizabeth was, in fact, rather shocked at her own audacity in front of the illustrious, upper crust Darcy family of Pemberley.
She smiled enigmatically, looked at him from beneath her lovely lashes, and caught her full bottom lip between her pretty teeth. Fixated, Fitzwilliam Darcy was totally and utterly captivated. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
Dinner was announced, to the relief of just about everyone. None could fail to see, and almost feel, the attraction between the obviously besotted young man and woman. The hostess had decided on a seating plan before her guests’ arrival; she had not given a second thought to placing Fitzwilliam directly opposite the younger Bennet sister. When she witnessed Miss Elizabeth and her son exchanging fervent looks, blushes, and shy smiles throughout the meal, Lady Anne was amused, amazed, and alarmed.
Lizzy’s fluttering butterflies had returned to her stomach with a vengeance, and they were not at all interested in food. She did not wish to offend her hostess by not eating; nevertheless, handsome Fitzwilliam Darcy kept distracting her, smiling, and making her toes curl. Every movement he made sent his tantalizing sandalwood scent in her direction. She wished he would just keep still and not move a muscle, like when she first set eyes on him at Pemberley.
While her brain screamed abuse at her, Miss Elizabeth smiled back at the sophisticated man who sat across from her. The devious part of her brain recalled the ruffian with an unforgettable wet linen shirt moulded to his rather impressive pectoral muscles.
When the rather awkward meal was over, the five ladies removed to the music room. It had initially been planned the two gentlemen would immediately accompany them there; however, George Darcy wanted to first have a private word with his son. He signalled for a footman to bring the port and asked Fitzwilliam if he would partake.
“What? Oh. Ah, no, thank you. Well, perhaps … maybe, I should … yes, of course. Yes, please.”
“Good God, son. That bad, is it?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I have been in your shoes, Fitzwilliam. It is not the end of the world, you know.”
“I am sorry, Father, to what are you referring? I do not have the pleasure of understanding you.”
“Poor boy, I do not think you understand much of anything tonight, do you?”
The son hastily left his seat, pacing between the table and the window and twisting his signet ring.
George Darcy handed him a glass of port, gave him a quick pat on the shoulder, and said, “She seems a nice enough girl and certainly a tempting armful. Be that as it may, what do you know of her connections?”
A stricken look crossed Fitzwilliam’s face as he turned toward his father. “Again, sir, I do not understand. To whom are you referring?”
“Enough, Fitzwilliam. It is sufficient you have behaved like a lovelorn fool tonight. Do not make it worse by denying your fascination with the younger Bennet girl. I realize you may think me a hypocrite, as I always drilled into your head the notion you must hide your emotions. In spite of that, a man
The young man flopped back down in his chair, looked at his father with a smirk, and asked, “Who?”
When the father and son entered the music room, the ladies were in the middle of a conversation about their favourite pastimes while in the country. Jane was saying, “ … in addition to playing the pianoforte and reading, I also enjoy needlework as well as drying and arranging flowers.”
