by Aimée Avery
Mary, Jennifer and the latest flat mate, Iris, all had been charged with enough to make them the latest in campus gossip and scandal, not to mention pay a pretty penny in fines. They also sat awaiting their families to come and bail them out of their latest infractions.
Unlike Elizabeth, the trio found copies of Hello and various tabloids with their favorite subject and pin-up, William Darcy, to keep them entertained. Elizabeth couldn’t help but be thankful that none of the three knew she had known William Darcy as a child, or about her dream. Pleased with her flat mates’ ignorance, Elizabeth sighed and let their giggling whispers lull her into sleep.
Just about to tip over into slumber, Lizzy was pulled from the shades of rest by Mary’s loud and startled gasp, while Jennifer and Iris uttered in quiet stereo, “Oh. My. God!” She opened her eyes and stared at the faces of the girls just across the room from her. All three sat in shock with their magazines abandoned on their laps. Elizabeth sat up and studied them for a moment. Just as she was about to ask what they found in the magazine to cause such a reaction, Elizabeth heard a very sexy male voice behind her, “Hello, Princess.” Elizabeth turned to see the one person she never thought she would see up close again, William Darcy. The humor in his eye and the soft smile on his face as he looked at her reminded her immediately of another time she saw that same smile, in her dream, just before he told her how she tasted.
Elizabeth couldn’t keep the embarrassed blush from rising, and tried to defuse her thoughts by saying, “You weren’t supposed to come!” She turned redder. “Er, um… Mmm, Mister Reynolds was to fetch me. What are you doing here?”
“Nice to see you too, Elizabeth.” William Darcy said as he picked up her bag and pulled the chair out for her to stand. “James and Emma are on holiday in the North. They called me.” William reached out and fingered the small white-gold suit of armor charm that hung around Elizabeth’s neck. “The night ‘tis dark, but yours, true. You should but call, and come I will to rescue you.”
Elizabeth looked back at the still gawking threesome and, with a small smile, waved. William nodded at the women, “Ladies.” He turned back to Elizabeth and said, “Let’s go home now, Princess Lizzy. You’ve tarnished your crown enough for one day.”
Elizabeth swatted him on the arm and they left the building.
Chapter 6
Elizabeth kept muttering to herself about being embarrassed as William held the car door open for her. He had to laugh when he sat down in the driver’s seat and she was still muttering.
“This isn’t funny!” she snapped.
“Oh, Princess, I would say it is,” William continued to chuckle as he started his car.
“Would you stop calling me that! I’m not a little kid anymore!”
“I’m well aware of that, Elizabeth,” he emphasized her name. “It’s so nice to see that you haven’t changed. Still fast to get your back up.”
“Oooh! Listen, I’m thankful you took the time out of your busy schedule to haul me out of the police station, but I really don’t need to be made into a joke! I’ve had nothing but problems since those girls moved in with me, and I’m sure I’ll live through tonight’s embarrassment. But besides being behind in my research study, I also have no place to live! It. Is. Not. Funny.” Elizabeth pressed herself into the seatback and crossed her arms over her chest.
William sighed, pulled out onto the road, and in a stern voice, said, “I hardly had anything going in the middle of the night, and so I can’t say my schedule was interrupted. You are not without a place to live, so my saving you from the chain gang was quite funny, especially given the looks on your fellow convicts’ faces. Stop being so dramatic. As you said, you’re not a little girl anymore.”
“Apparently, I’m not the only one who hasn’t changed!” Elizabeth huffed. “And for your information, I have changed.”
“Oh, I’m sure you have,” William said sardonically.
Lizzy turned and looked at him with her mouth open in surprise. When did he become so… so rude? “How the hell you would you know? You haven’t seen me in twelve years!”
A red traffic signal caused William to stop at an intersection, and after he did, he turned toward her and said, “We both know that isn’t true!”
Though it only lasted a split second, the hurt in his eyes was plain to see. Lizzy turned and looked out the window for a few minutes.
“Where are we going?” she asked with humility.
“Home.” His answer was fast and clipped.
“Where…” she couldn’t finish the question. The night’s strife, the argument and the uncertainty she was facing were about to bring on a flood of tears if she didn’t get a handle on it now.
William seemed to realize her struggle, and softly anticipated the question and answered her. “Holland Park. We’re going to Holland Park.” After a brief silence, he continued, “I spoke to your Mr. Donovan, and he will allow us into the flat tomorrow – before the others – to get your things.”
Elizabeth just nodded and tried to ponder her situation. When no answers would come, she shook her head and began to examine the interior of William’s car.
“This is a Honda. Why are you driving a Honda?”
“Because I like Hondas?” William said it more as a question because he wasn’t sure why she was asking.
“I have the same car. Or I did when I was in the States.”
“I always knew you had good taste, Princess.”
“But you, in the pictures…”
“What pictures?” William asked as he stole a glance at her.
“In the magazines. Mary, Jennifer and Iris… my flat mates… my former flat mates…”
“The chain gang?”
Elizabeth couldn’t help but giggle. “Yes. They liked, well… they… you… um, you just happen to be their beefcake of choice.”
He laughed. “Their what?”
“Beefcake, hunk of burnin’ love, two dimensional drool candy.”
William let out a groan, making Elizabeth laugh.
“Don’t worry though, I didn’t tell them you were my knight in shining armor. Or should I say, knight in a gleaming Honda CR-V?” She laughed at her own joke. “Anyway, in the pictures they would plaster on the refrigerator or on the loo mirror, you were always getting out of or standing next to a little red classic sports car.”
“I suppose I was,” he answered quietly, and then after a few silent moments added, “It was my mother’s car. And when I go out to those functions she loved to attend, I drive it. It seems to play into the ‘playboy’ image the press is determined to brand me with.”
“Which is why you drive a Honda?”
“Yes! Honda just screams ‘playboy,’ don’t you think?” he said with a wink and pulled the car up to a house. “We’re home.”
~ • ~
Elizabeth awoke and stared at the ceiling. It had been just over a month since her former flat mates managed to cause her uprooting, but now she was glad it had happened, for many reasons. First and foremost, she was back on schedule with her studies, though it had come with a price. Mary King and friends managed to spread the word that it had been because of Elizabeth that they lost their flat. Between Mary, Jennifer and Iris, word spread that Elizabeth was vicious and backstabbing. It was enough for all but two of Lizzy’s students to back out of their tutoring arrangement.
She looked around her room and smiled. The room was large, with white walls and an old white wrought iron bed. A rocking chair with a cushion covered in small blue flowers sat off in a corner and a highboy dresser, also white, stood next to a window with draperies that matched the rocker’s cushion. A white chenille rug, one she purchased at IKEA, covered a bit of the dark hardwood floor. It was a beautiful room, and Will allowed her to stay rent-free.
A light tap on her door pulled her from her reverie.
“Elizabeth? Are you awake?” Georgiana’s soft female voice asked as the door creaked open and the young woman appeared.
“G
eorgie!” Elizabeth scrambled out of the bed.
“I was wondering if you would like to go shopping with me on Oxford Street today?”
“Well, I can this morning, but I tutor one of my students this afternoon. However, I’m meeting him at the Starbucks near the Bond Street Tube, so if we don’t get lost in the sale racks at Marks & Spencer, I can do both.”
Georgiana laughed. “Okay! Um, is this the same guy you were telling me about?”
“Yes. Ronny.” Lizzy said with a smile.
“You know, I don’t think my brother likes him much.”
“Ugh!” Lizzy huffed. “He’s never met him. How can he not like him?”
“Well, simple. Ronny is a guy… a guy who will be alone with you, probably sitting very close to you.” Georgiana said suggestively.
“He needs to get over it! I can’t see how you stand it.” Elizabeth said as she pulled a pair of jeans and a T-shirt from the cupboard.
“Well, I always introduce any guys I’m going to be with to him.”
“Yeah, and he gives them the if-you-do-anything-to-my-sister speech, scaring the crap out of them! I am not about to let him do that! I’m not his sister, so he doesn’t have the right to, anyway.” Lizzy said as she padded into the bathroom and started the shower
“I don’t think that’s the speech he would give him,” Georgiana shouted.
“Yeah, right!” Elizabeth shot off from inside the shower.
~ • ~
“Morning, Georgiana. Princess. Sleep well?” He said with a smile as the two ladies entered the breakfast room. “You two off somewhere?”
“Shopping,” Elizabeth answered as she grabbed his coffee cup and drank half its contents. As she placed it back down, she teasingly asked, “You want to come along?”
“I’m not sure I’d have the strength if you continue to devour my breakfast,” he replied snidely.
“Ah, poor baby!” Elizabeth continued to tease him, just catching his smile as he flipped his newspaper up in front of his face.
“Will is absolutely hopeless when it comes to fashion advice, Lizzy. And he grumbles too much. Do we have to take him along?” Georgiana asked.
William flicked his newspaper and mumbled something about only needing three different pair of shoes: trainers, causal shoes and dress shoes.
“See what I mean?” Georgiana laughed. She might only be twenty-two, but she knew her brother felt more for Elizabeth than he tried to show. She also knew that Elizabeth cared for her brother more than she let on. What she couldn’t understand was why the two of them couldn’t see it.
“I see what you mean. Well, we don’t need to drag him along. He’ll only slow us up,” Lizzy said.
“Mm!” came from behind the paper.
“And we will need to get in a lot of shopping before you meet Ronny this afternoon.” Georgiana said purposefully, and watched as the newspaper slowly lowered and William’s eyes peered at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth sobered rapidly. “I am his tutor, after all.”
“Right!” William snapped and rose, dropping the newspaper on the table. Just before he left the room, he turned and looked at the two women, “I hope the two you remember we have guests tonight, so if you wouldn’t mind being home at a decent hour.” The last, he addressed to Elizabeth before storming down the hall and out the front door.
“Grump,” Lizzy mumbled as she stole his toast from his plate.
~ • ~
“Sorry to eat and run, but I must be going,” William said as he pushed back from the table. “This is a nice place, Caroline. Thank you for inviting me.”
“My wife and I invite you to lunch, and you stop in, sit, eat my chips and then try to run off. What’s going on with you?” Richard asked.
“Sorry. I forgot that we had planned to meet.” William stole another potato wedge from his cousin’s plate. “I’m picking up Elizabeth’s parents. They are flying into Heathrow, and if I leave now, I should have plenty of time before they make it out of customs.”
“Where’s Elizabeth? Isn’t she going to go with you?” Caroline asked.
“She’s tutoring a student. Besides, it’s a surprise… for her birthday,” William said with a smile. “She’s seemed a bit down with Christmas coming. Since she won’t be able to go home this year, I thought I would bring her parents here.”
“That’s generous of you,” Richard said.
“Yes. Well, I’d better run.”
“Will?”
“Yes, Caroline?”
“She’s still under your skin, isn’t she?”
William looked away and took in a deep breath. “Yes, well, it doesn’t matter really.”
“Why is that, cousin?” Richard asked.
“She has a boyfriend,” William said cheerfully, though his eyes let the Fitzwilliams know he felt otherwise.
“A boyfriend?” Richard asked unbelievingly.
“Yes. Ronny Saunderson. He’s an American.” William clarified.
“Ronny Saunderson? He’s a friend of Terrance and Therrin’s!” Caroline added.
“Terry and Therrin!” William stared at her.
“Yes. I met this Ronny last week when I went to collect my little brother to drive him north to meet with Sally and her parents.”
“Oh, Lord!” William rubbed his brow.
“Apparently, this Ronny and Terry are good friends,” Caroline offered. Shuddering, she continued, “I do wish my mother had never married Joseph Younge. The man was slime. Terrance is just as bad. I’m just happy as can be that I don’t have any of the Younge blood going through my veins. It’s bad enough the monster adopted me and fathered Therrin. I’d keep my eye on this Ronny if I were you, William.”
“Right,” William said in defeat.
“Will, are you sure he’s her boyfriend?” Caroline asked.
“Well, she says that she is ‘just his tutor,’ but I can read between the lines.”
“You might be reading wrong. After all, how many men truly understand the female of the species?” Caroline said with a raised brow.
“She has a point, Will. Don’t give up. Lay on a little of that Darcy charm,” Richard winked.
“I don’t know. She ran away that summer years ago, and she ran away this past summer.”
“Sounds like she is running scared, not away,” Caroline suggested. “Maybe you need to play knight and slay a dragon.”
William was confused, but didn’t have time to ask Caroline Fitzwilliam to explain. He needed to get to the airport.
~ • ~
“This is a lovely house, William.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Bennet.”
“Oh, Fanny. Please call me Fanny!”
“Er, I… I don’t think…” William stuttered as his sister tried not to giggle.
“Perhaps Will would feel better calling you Franny. Would that be all right with you, dear?”
“Oh, of course, that’s just the same!” Thomas Bennet’s wife said as she looked at the room’s décor.
“I see a distinct difference,” William muttered to himself, and Georgiana pinched his arm, letting him know that she heard him.
“I’m sure Elizabeth will be home any minute. She was to tutor a student this afternoon. I’m sure they lost track of time,” Georgiana offered.
William rolled his eyes and fidgeted with his wine glass. He looked at his watch and then the door and, finally, back to Elizabeth’s father, who just happened to be watching him closely. Instantly William was as nervous as he was when he was seventeen and his father told him that he and Thomas Bennet were aware of the “way” he was watching Elizabeth.
“Georgiana, I was wondering if perhaps you would give my wife a tour of the house?” Mr. Bennet asked.
“Oh! That would be a lovely idea!” Mrs. Bennet gushed.
“Of course!” Georgiana said as she led the other woman from the room.
“Will? Is there a problem?” Thomas Bennet asked, knowing that there was more going on than met the eye. He had
a suspicion he knew what it was. Though a dark-haired version, Elizabeth Bennet was the spitting image of her mother at the same age. And if he read the young man in front of him correctly, he would bet everything he owned that the student his Lizzy was tutoring was male.
He knew that Will had been attracted to Elizabeth as a child. Her quick mind and wit challenged the boy, and it was easy to see he enjoyed her company. And he wasn’t entirely surprised that the seventeen year-old young man found the newly developed twelve year-old girl fascinating. Though as a parent, it was important that he kept both of them from doing something that neither was ready for.
But now, things were different, and if he wasn’t mistaken, William Darcy, the man, had it bad for his daughter.
“No. No problem,” Will answered, still staring at the door as he sipped his wine.
“Will.” Mr. Bennet tried to pry the young man’s attention from the door. “Will!”
“What?” Will turned and asked in surprise.
“So you think she is interested in this young man?”
“How did you know it was…?”
“I’m an old man, Will, not to mention a father. Trust me, you get a clue after a few years.”
