Only Mr. Darcy Will Do

him, but Elizabeth, you play!”

Elizabeth shook her head firmly and laughed. “Oh, no, I am sure I will not be much of a challenge to Mr. Hamilton, either.”

“Come! You must agree to play!” Hamilton’s face brightened. “Darcy, I insist that whoever wins this game will play Miss Bennet!”

“I am sorry,” she said. “I must take Emily upstairs, and put her to bed.”

At that moment, Mrs. Willstone came over. “If you do not mind, I am rather fatigued and I believe I shall retire for the night. Miss Bennet, I shall take Emily upstairs and put her to bed.”

“There you have it!” exclaimed Hamilton. “I shall finally have a more challenging opponent!”

“I do wish I could learn to play!” Rosalyn lamented. “Elizabeth, you must teach me. Perhaps whilst you and Mr. Hamilton play, you could explain the game to me.”

Elizabeth shrugged. “I doubt it will be an ideal match. Mr. Hamilton thinks me a proficient. I fear he shall be greatly disappointed.”

“Well, at least you shall be better than my cous… Darcy! What did you just do there?”

“You are blabbering about and obviously not concentrating,” he answered wryly.

Hamilton studied the board. “But I have had no need to concentrate!” He studied the board for some time, and finally, after moving his hand above each piece, trying to decide which one to move, he finally settled on one. “There!”

Darcy shook his head. “Do you really want to do that?”

Hamilton placed his palms firmly on the table, leaning over the board to give it a better scrutinizing. Without much conviction, he answered, “Yes, I do!”

Arching an eyebrow and looking up at Elizabeth, Darcy asked, “What is your opinion, Miss Bennet?”

“I shall hold my opinion for a few more moves,” she answered him, giving him a knowing smile.

It took only those few moves for Darcy to win the match. A brooding Hamilton shook his head. “You tricked me, Darcy. You allowed me to think I had finally learned how to out-play and out-strategize you!”

“I did no such thing,” Darcy answered smoothly as he returned the pieces to their starting places.

“Hamilton, please allow Miss Bennet to have a seat.”

When she sat down, Darcy said, “You may begin, Miss Bennet.”

“So how do you decide what piece to play? How to begin?” Rosalyn asked eagerly, having taken a seat at the table. She watched as Elizabeth reached out and moved one of her pieces.

“The object is to capture the king,” began Darcy as he pointed out the king to her. “He is the most vital piece of all, for once he is trapped, the game is over.”

“True,” said Elizabeth, “but he is also one of the weakest pieces…”

“Vulnerable,” interjected Darcy. He made a move and then looked up. “Not weak. Rules are such that he can only move one square at a time. He is not at liberty to move as one might wish. What he can do is greatly limited.”

Elizabeth gave a slight nod of agreement. “Now the queen,” she said, pointing it out with a smile, “is without doubt the most powerful piece, being able to move in any direction as many squares as she wishes.” She looked at Mr. Darcy to see whether he had a differing opinion on that.

Darcy cradled his jaw with his hand and studied Elizabeth with careful deliberation. “Barring any obstruction, of course.”

“Of course,” conceded Elizabeth.

They each made several moves in silence until Darcy offered, “Sometimes she must be sacrificed to save the king.”

Elizabeth looked at him oddly. “Yes, but that is not often wise!” she said with a nervous laugh, noticing the intensity of his gaze.

Rosalyn let out a groan. “This is no help to me at all!”

“As you develop your strategy, it is wise to study your partner to help you anticipate what he might do,” Elizabeth said as she moved one of her pawns and then looked back up to Mr. Darcy. “You must think several moves ahead, but then your partner may surprise you.”

Darcy rubbed his jaw as he heard her words. “Very true. It is extremely risky to make a move without considering all possibilities.” Suddenly his voice changed. “I once made a move based on what I thought would prompt a particular response, having foolishly considered no other option. I was… gravely mistaken.”

Elizabeth fixed her eyes on the board, unwilling to look up as she felt her head spin. Is there some hidden message to me in those words? What had previously been light banter about the game had evolved into something else. Has our conversation all along been about us? He spoke with more gentleness than animosity, however, and she suddenly realized how confident he must have felt coming to her and expecting her to accept his suit. Of course he would have! How much more she comprehended now, and how much more ashamed she felt for the cruel words she lashed out at him that day.

“It took me quite a while to recover from that miscalculation,” Darcy added as he made his move. “It is always wise to be ready with another strategy if you find yourself faced with that situation.” Elizabeth found the courage to lift her eyes to him and noticed that he was now looking at Rosalyn.

Elizabeth quickly dropped her eyes back down to the board. Her heart beat wildly as she contemplated his meaning. Is his pursuit of Rosalyn a new strategy of his? She felt her cheeks warm and stared down at the board absently, finally taking her turn. Her insides tightened as she considered that he had every right to turn his affection toward Rosalyn.

Darcy quickly made another move. When she did glance up at him again, his eyes were back upon her. She wanted to look away, but she could not, feeling as though his eyes were communicating something more than words could do.

“So what are you going to do next, Elizabeth?” asked Rosalyn, who was, by good fortune, looking down at the board instead of up at them.

“Well… um… that is a good question, Rosalyn,” Elizabeth said, a tremble in her voice. She attempted to turn her full attention to the match, but her mind staunchly forbade her to think of anything save for the meaning of his words. She reached out and her fingers hovered over a knight. She drew it back when she saw it was shaking.

Elizabeth stared at the board a long time, her hands gripped tightly together under the table. She saw nothing but the individual pieces that were now scattered around the board. His words had so unsettled her that she could formulate no strategy in defence.

She finally moved another pawn, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly as she attempted to rein in her thoughts. She needed to say something to Mr. Darcy, but was unsure how to say it and whether he would even understand her meaning.

Very softly and slowly she said, “I recall a time when I, too, greatly misjudged a partner, and due to that misapprehension, I made a very grievous, thoughtless error.” She quickly lifted her eyes to Darcy and then looked back down. “I have only of late come to regard my response as insulting and offensive…” She swallowed hard, as her mouth was now dry. “…and I am very remorseful for my actions.”

Elizabeth’s heart pounded, and she could barely breathe, but she had admitted to him that she had realized how wrong she had been! Had he recognized it?

Darcy’s eyes remained fixed on the board, his chin resting on his fisted hand. She saw his jaw tighten and an eyebrow lift ever so slightly. He raised his eyes slowly, his face following shortly thereafter. A slight nod of his head gave Elizabeth the impression that he understood.

“This is proving to be quite an interesting game,” Hamilton spoke up, quite certain something of great import was being communicated between his cousin and Miss Bennet that had nothing to do with the game of chess. He looked over at Miss Matthews to see whether she had any expression of similar comprehension on her face. She did not.

“Watch out, Miss Bennet,” Hamilton exclaimed. Both Elizabeth and Darcy turned to face him. “He is getting ready to strike the final blow!”

“You underestimate Miss Bennet, Hamilton,” Darcy said softly. “I am sure she has some strategic moves planned.”

This time, when Elizabeth looked down at the board, she saw it. In four moves, one of her pawns had