When they started to dance, he put his hand on her waist, and her flesh was warm and soft under her dress, and he could feel it through the fabric, and he had a horrid desire to drag his hand down over her hip and explore her upper thighs. He could remember their shape, glowing through her white dress in the window, and he snarled at her.
“Oh, I had hoped you’d be in an improved mood, but I see that you are incapable of anything other than peevishness,” she remarked.
He was too frustrated by everything to do anything other than growl at her. Instead, he seized her, and they began the dance anew, only this time, he had pulled her rather closer than the waltz indicated. There should be an arm’s length between them, but there was not. Once or twice, her bosom brushed his chest.
She gasped.
The third time it happened, he pulled her even closer, and their bodies were pressed against each other, nothing between them at all except that travesty she was calling a dress, and he thrust his leg between her thighs when they circled each other.
She gasped again.
And then…
She giggled.
He let go of her. What in the name of heaven was he doing?
She looked up at him, her mouth open, her eyes dancing with laughter, breathless. “Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to—”
He licked his lips. He looked at her eyes and then at her mouth, and then he tore his gaze away. “It is I who should be apologizing.”
“Oh?” she said, still out of breath. “Mr. Darcy apologizes?”
“On occasion,” he said. He took a step backwards. “That is not the way the dance is meant to be danced.”
“No?” she said, giving a toss of her head.
“No,” he said. “You must excuse me, really. I don’t know what came over me.”
She was quiet, simply looking at him. Then she slowly dragged her teeth over her bottom lip, as if in thought.
But the movement undid him. He had to turn away.
“Well, what was it that I was doing wrong this time?”
“You…” His voice was hoarse, and he still couldn’t look at her. “No, you were perfectly fine, Miss Bennet. The fault was mine. I was… carried away by…”
“By what?”
He didn’t know how to answer that.
Seconds ticked by, and neither spoke.
He was going to have to turn around and attempt the dance with her again, but at that moment he didn’t seem to have the capability of looking at her.
“How goes it?” came the voice of Mrs. Fortescue.
Darcy snapped his head up to look at her.
Elizabeth turned to look at her too.
By heaven, they both looked guilty somehow.
Mrs. Fortescue looked back and forth between the two of them. “I thought perhaps you might like some music. I feel up to playing the piano-forte if you are amenable.”
“Oh!” said Elizabeth very brightly. “I think music would be a great help. Yesterday, it seems that I was frightful at learning the steps, and today I am ‘perfectly fine’ but Mr. Darcy is at fault. Music, I think, would be most helpful.”
“Indeed,” said Darcy.
Mrs. Fortescue smiled. “Very well, then.” She crossed the room to find the piano, which was sequestered in a corner, surrounded by furniture that had been moved out of the way for dancing.
“Oh, let me help you,” said Darcy, going over and pushing a table out of the way so that she could get the bench out.
“Thank you,” said Mrs. Fortescue, laughing. “I do have to sit back a bit further these days.”
Darcy shot an alarmed look back at Elizabeth.
“Oh, Miss Bennet is aware of the situation,” said Mrs. Fortescue.
Darcy raised his eyebrows. “You are?”
“Why else would I be helping?” said Elizabeth.
“I don’t know,” he said, looking her over. “It doesn’t seem to me the kind of story that would move a woman like you to be charitable.”
“Why do you say that?” Elizabeth lifted her chin.
“Not you personally,” he said. “Only that most people would find fault with Mrs. Fortescue’s behavior.”
“I can’t blame her,” said Elizabeth. “I have met Mr. Wickham, after all.”
A cold hand closed over Darcy’s spine. “What has Mr. Wickham done to you?” It came out like a growl again. By heaven, he should challenge the blackguard to a duel and be done with it. True, it would mean that he would never make peace with his father, not after killing his father’s favorite, but it would be worth it, and surely the evil that Wickham did in the world needed to be stopped.
“Nothing,” said Elizabeth.
He let out a breath.
“It is my sister that he has his sights set on,” said Elizabeth. “She thinks he is going to marry her, but I know it is not in his character. In fact, my sister is even now in his company, so if we could begin dancing again, I should like to take my leave of you as soon as—”
“What do you mean, your sister is in his company?” said Mr. Darcy.
“I could not very well get permission from my parents to learn a scandalous dance here, with a gentleman, with no chaperone.”
Darcy grimaced. “Listen, Miss Bennet, I hope you realize that I would never— I am not Mr. Wickham. I am sorry if you don’t feel safe with me.”
“I should be here,” said Mrs. Fortescue. “I am sorry. It is only that I have been so tired lately.”
“I am quite capable of taking care of myself,” said Elizabeth. “But we are straying from the point. That is that my sister and I struck a bargain of sorts. We would pretend to be going on lengthy walks in the morning, but we would truly be going our separate ways. Her to meet secretly with Mr. Wickham and I to come here.”
“You mean your sister is alone with Mr. Wickham?” said Mrs. Fortescue, shooting up from the piano.
Elizabeth nodded.
“Well, you cannot leave her there,” said Mrs. Fortescue. “She is in the very lion’s den. Mr. Wickham and his silver tongue will destroy her.”
“But I had no other choice,” said Elizabeth. “You needed me. We had to learn the dance. The ball is only days away.”
“But your sister,” said Mrs. Fortescue. “You must go after her now. There is no time to waste.”
Elizabeth looked frightened. “Oh, dear, I knew it was a bad idea, but I did not think that it was so very dire. Jane promised me she would be on her guard.”
“You must go to her now,” said Mrs. Fortescue. “Tell her everything. Tell her what he did to me.”
Elizabeth cringed. “I may have already done that. I’m sorry! I know I promised not to break your confidence, but—”
“No, it’s all right. You did what you thought was best,” said Mrs. Fortescue. “You have told her, and it did not change her opinion of Mr. Wickham?”
“No,” said Elizabeth.
“Sadly, I know about that,” said Mrs. Fortescue. “Mr. Darcy spoke to me many times, trying to tell me that there was no hope of Wickham marrying me, but I could not believe it.”
“Listen,” Darcy spoke up. He had been thinking this through. “Here is what we will do. You and I will go and seek out your sister and Mr. Wickham together, Miss Bennet. You will get her home, and I will deal with Wickham.”
“What do you mean, you’ll deal with him?” said Elizabeth.
“I will keep him from seeing your sister,” said Darcy. “At all, if possible. If not, at least tomorrow, so that we can practice once more before the ball.”
“How will you do that?” said Elizabeth.
“Well, I’m not sure yet,” said Mr. Darcy. “But I’ll think of something.”
* * *
Elizabeth took a long breath. “So, that is how I discovered them, walking the halls in Netherfield.”
“It’s all so strange to me that Wickham should have latched onto Bingley as strongly as he did,” Darcy said. They were walking together through the woods back to find Jane and M
r. Wickham.
“I understand they were friends in school,” said Elizabeth.
“I was friends with Bingley,” said Darcy. “Wickham, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with us, except when he wanted me to introduce him to people he knew were rather free with their wagers during card games. He spent the whole of his schooling doing nothing but cheating men out of their wealth.”
“That rather sounds like him,” said Elizabeth.
“Eventually, I put my foot down,” said Darcy. “I told him I wouldn’t do it anymore. He was only using me, and it irked me. For some reason, I have always seen through him. Everyone around me has always thought he was goodness personified. ‘Oh, poor Georgie Wickham. Such an unfortunate circumstance, but such a sweet boy.’” Darcy rolled his eyes. “But to me, I have always seen him as wheedling and manipulative and two-faced. As a boy, I was scolded often by my father, who said that I ought not be jealous of one who was not my equal, and that I should learn to give charity freely, as the Lord would command.”
“Oh,” said Elizabeth. “I know Jesus said to turn the other cheek, but certainly he could not have meant to give in to one such as Wickham.”
“I know not,” said Mr. Darcy. “I must admit that I am not always properly charitable.”
Elizabeth smiled to herself. No, he was not. He was awful, wasn’t he? But… there was something else to him. He was snappish and in a bad temper, yes. However, he also was willing to do whatever he could to help Mrs. Fortescue and, when he learned of Jane’s predicament, immediately sprang to action. He wasn’t obligated to do either of those things. He was noble, and that was better than being charitable.
As for the dance earlier, their bodies pressed against each other…
Well, she wasn’t sure what she thought about all of that.
Mr. Darcy was talking again. “Wickham was angry and spiteful that I would not help him anymore, and so he began doing something worse. He began impersonating me.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “How could he do such a thing?”
“He stole identifying objects from me. A signet ring. Various important papers, including deeds to certain properties that I had inherited on my mother’s death.”
“I see,” said Elizabeth. “So, that is how the estate of your mother’s was lost.”
“Yes,” said Darcy. “He did it vindictively. Wickham doesn’t ever have to lose at cards. He is a genius with them. He pays attention and counts, and he knows what everyone’s hand is before they ever lay anything down.”
“Is such a thing possible?”
“I do not know how he does it, but he does,” said Darcy. “Anyway, he set my reputation by pretending to be me, and he did what he could to destroy me.”
“But certainly there must have been some recourse. If you went to the people who won your properties and explained—”
“They’d just give them back? They’d just take my word that I was who I said I was?”
“You could have taken it to the law,” said Elizabeth. “You could have challenged him to a duel. You could have gone to your father and told him what happened.”
“Oh, the latter I did do.” Darcy laughed bitterly.
“He didn’t believe you?”
“He always believed Wickham over me,” said Darcy.
“Monstrous!” Elizabeth balled her hands up into fists.
“My father cut me off and kicked me out of my home. He cannot bar me from inheriting, not with the way the estate is entailed, but he made it clear that if he could have excluded me from that, he would have.”
“But the injustice of that. How could your father not believe you?”
“I don’t know,” said Darcy. “That is the way it has always been. The worst of it is being kept from my sister. I have not seen her in two years now. I miss her dreadfully.”
“Oh, Mr. Darcy, I am beside myself with anger.” She wanted to strangle Wickham. Someone should.
“I suppose it beat me down,” said Darcy. “I could have pursued justice against him, but I lost any hope that I would be able to. He always seemed one step ahead of me with his cunning. And he had already gone to everyone that I had any ties to and turned them against me, even Bingley.” He shook his head, sighing. “Instead, I decided that all I could do was to try to redeem myself. I needed to buy back Hawthorne Abbey.”
“Your mother’s estate.”
“Yes, if I could get that back, if I could do that all on my own, without any help from my father, it would show that I could do it. Before all this, I had it easy, and I didn’t realize it. But I was given everything I might want. I had resources. Money. Respect. Then it was all ripped away. And I thought it would decimate me, but it didn’t. I was still alive. I knew that if I could rise up, all on my own, that would mean something. And even if it didn’t mean anything to my father, it would mean something to me. I would know that I could do it.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Yes, I see that.”
“But then, in the midst of all of that, I happened upon Mrs. Fortescue,” he said.
“And you helped her out because she was also a victim of Mr. Wickham,” said Elizabeth. “Even though you didn’t have to. Even though you realized she was with child.”
“Well, it was because of that that there was no choice but to help her,” said Darcy. “She bears that burden and Wickham has no consequence whatsoever.”
“But when people find out she’s with child, they won’t blame Wickham,” said Elizabeth.
“You mean they’ll think it’s mine,” said Darcy.
“Yes,” said Elizabeth.
“Well, it’s not.”
“I know that,” said Elizabeth.
“Good,” said Mr. Darcy. “It’s rather important to me that you understand there’s nothing but friendship between myself and Mrs. Fortescue.”
“Well, other people won’t understand that,” said Elizabeth.
“I don’t care about other people.”
Just me, she thought, looking up at him. Her chest felt oddly tight. But this was madness. Mr. Darcy was handsome, and dancing close to him made her feel powerful sensations, but… well, she must not fall for him. What future was there in that?
Why had he danced with her in that manner? She hadn’t allowed herself to fully think that through, but it was quite irregular. If anyone had seen them together, that close, why she might be as good as ruined. He had taken liberties with her, and yet she somehow still thought of him as noble?
She shook herself. She would not think on this any longer.
“At any rate, what people think is of no consequence. People think a great deal of terrible things about me,” said Mr. Darcy. “But I would never behave as Mr. Wickham has.”
“No,” she said. “I don’t think you would.”
Suddenly, he stopped walking.
She stopped too, confused.
He passed a hand over his face. “Blast.”
“Sir?”
“I need to apologize to you, Miss Bennet. The way I behaved with you earlier, it was abominable. And now…” He gestured around in the woods. “Here we are, walking alone. I’m not doing your reputation any favors.”
“It’s all right,” said Elizabeth. “The abandoned house where my sister and Wickham are meeting, it’s just around the bend.”
“Yes, of course.” He started to walk again. “It’s only that I really do feel dreadful about my behavior. I have no real excuse other than to say it has been a very long time since I spent any time in the company of ladies, especially not ones as lovely as you.”
Her heart skipped a beat at the compliment, not because it was flowery, but because it was given offhand. He didn’t say it for the effect it would have on her, but simply because he thought it was true.
“In fact, the company I keep has not been entirely savory. Perhaps all the good manners I was raised with have been eclipsed by my current surroundings.”
“Perhaps it is the waltzing,” said Elizabeth.
�
��What do you mean?”
“Dancing like that,” she said, sucking in a breath. “It stole away our wits, both of us.”
“Indeed,” he said softly. “We must guard against that in the future.”
“Yes,” she said.
And then the house came into view.
Before, Jane had been on the porch, but she was not. Instead, the door was open and the sound of laughter filtered out from within.
Elizabeth felt terror seize her. She took off at once, hurling herself into the small house.
Mr. Darcy came just behind her.
Inside the house, she found Jane and Mr. Wickham in a dilapidated kitchen. Jane was sitting up on a ragged table, and Mr. Wickham was standing in front of her, hands on her knees, which were slightly parted, as if Wickham was gently prying them apart.
“Jane!” cried out Elizabeth.
Jane looked up, startled.
And then Darcy crashed into the house behind her. “Why don’t you leave her alone, Wickham?”
Wickham let go of Jane, letting out a wild chuckle. “Darcy? What are you doing here?”
“Outside,” said Darcy. “With me. You and I need to have a conversation.”
Elizabeth held out a hand to Jane. “Let’s go.”
“What is the meaning of this, Lizzy?” said Jane.
“Come,” said Elizabeth. “Come now.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Wickham pushed past Darcy, purposefully colliding with him, and then he started off into the woods.
“Where are you going?” Darcy called after him.
The Miss Bennets were going the opposite direction, although the eldest one seemed a bit distressed that her time with Wickham had been interrupted.
Wickham didn’t answer. He whistled and strolled away, ignoring Darcy.
Darcy went after him. He caught up to the other man and took him by the shoulder. “By heaven, Wickham, I won’t let you walk away from me.”
“How are you going to stop me?” said Wickham.
“What are you doing with Miss Bennet?”
“What did it look like I was doing?” said Wickham, smiling.
“It looked like the time I discovered you in Georgiana’s chambers,” said Darcy, narrowing his eyes. “As I seem to remember, that was the only time that my father ever took you to task. No matter how much he cared about you, you weren’t good enough for his only daughter.”
Mr. Darcy's Indiscretions Page 27
