by Wendi Sotis
Still, that didn’t explain why Anne would send a photo of William... unless she had brought William with her. Why on earth would she do such a thing?
Elizabeth returned her attention to her phone and sighed wistfully. How could any woman not be attracted to a man who had the physical attributes usually found on a statue of a mythical Greek god?
From all the photos Anne had shown her, she knew he was tall. In this picture, his dark hair was cropped short, and his beard had grown in just enough to make him look the slightest bit scruffy, which she thought extremely sexy on a man usually seen in the tabloids all spiffed up, sporting an expensive suit or tuxedo. The polo shirt and khaki shorts he wore were tight in all the right places, accenting his muscular build. Her hands twitched—she’d love to run her fingers through his hair.
If those tabloids ever got ahold of this picture, she was sure it would be plastered all over the front page. She giggled, thinking she could already see the headlines “Darcy Dressed Down.”
Elizabeth cocked her head to the side and decided she preferred him this way. It really was a shame William was so unpleasant—even with a scowl plastered on his face as he was shown in the picture, he was the best looking man Elizabeth had ever seen. The frown fit right in with Anne dragging him along to a place he didn’t want to go. Judging by how rude he was whenever she answered the dorm room phone, he must dislike her, though she could never figure out why. If Anne had brought him along, he was probably feeling as happy to be there as Elizabeth would be to see him.
Knowing her friends were still waiting for her, Elizabeth forced herself to return inside. Figuring out the photos would have to wait a while longer.
~%~
A few hours later, as she always did whenever entering the Bennetts’ new house—the first of her architectural designs ever to be built—Elizabeth smiled widely. “I’m home.”
Jane popped her head out the kitchen door as Elizabeth entered the great room. “Don’t come in the kitchen, Lizzy!”
“I’m going up to my room to change. I wasn’t expecting it to be so hot today.” Elizabeth headed upstairs.
The first thing she did was look on the balcony for the gift pictured in the photo, but it wasn’t there. She smiled.
Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to wait to open it, Anne must have moved it after taking the picture.
Elizabeth threw on a comfortable T-shirt and pair of shorts. Usually, she’d head straight into the kitchen to help with dinner preparations, but since it was her birthday, she was exempt from that duty. Instead, she kept busy flipping through the channels on the television for a few minutes.
Jane startled her when she seemed to appear out of nowhere. “Happy Birthday!” Jane handed her a small box. “Everyone is home for dinner tonight, but I wanted to give you this while we’re still alone.”
Elizabeth opened it to reveal a lovely set of earrings. “Jane! How did you remember? We saw them such a long time ago. Thank you!” Elizabeth hugged her sister. “Is Anne in the kitchen?”
Jane shook her head. “Why would you think Anne was here?”
“Oh, I got some pictures on my phone, so I automatically thought they were from her.” Elizabeth reached for her cell phone, brought up the photo of the gift on the balcony, and then showed her the others. Jane only glanced at the first two but stopped at the third.
“That’s strange. Why would Anne send you a picture of William Darcy?”
“I have no idea, but she’s the only person I know who also knows William.” Elizabeth chuckled. “Since all these photos came in together, I expected the first was a gift from her and that she must have showed up to surprise me.”
“Not unless she’s hiding from me, too.” Jane laughed. “Come on. I’m supposed to take you into the dining room. Lydia went to get Tom and Dad from the library.”
~%~
After enjoying a combination of Elizabeth’s and Tom’s favorite meals, Elizabeth sat with Tom and her father at the dining room table.
“The best thing about my children’s birthdays is that I get a break from clearing the table so that I can keep the birthday child company.” Her father teased.
Elizabeth smiled. “I don’t mind getting out of it, either. I’d much rather make the mess than clean up afterward.”
Tom agreed. The three discussed Tom’s new plan to continue on to get a master’s degree in business after his graduation next year.
Tom turned to Elizabeth. “How are things going with the Lambton project?”
“The area has been re-zoned, and the plans for the hospital and medical office building have been approved by the Planning Committee and the Town Board. Uncle Ed isn’t optimistic about the construction beginning as soon as it should, because the Commissioner of the Planning Committee is retiring.”
Her father nodded. “Ed told me he doesn’t have much confidence in the new commissioner.”
“He feels it may take the new commissioner a while to become acclimated, especially taking over in the middle of a project as large as this.” Elizabeth sighed. “I’m glad to have a few days off, but there are quite a few buildings to work on. I really should head back on Tuesday and work full-time for the two weeks before summer session begins.”
Her father placed a hand on hers. “You deserve a break, Lizzy.”
Glancing toward the kitchen, Tom smiled and gestured toward the door.
Elizabeth had to stifle a giggle when she saw a feminine hand groping the wall, obviously searching for the light switch. The lights dimmed, and in came the remainder of the Bennett family. Their song wishing her and her brother a happy birthday filled the room. Her mother placed a cake covered with candles before Elizabeth and Tom, and they blew out the candles together.
Elizabeth’s and Tom’s preferences were usually so different, but their taste in cake was the same—Triple Chocolate Truffle. Born three minutes before her brother, Elizabeth traditionally received the first piece of cake, and then Tom was served. Lydia impatiently snatched the third slice from her mother’s hand as soon as she plated it. The dessert slid off onto Lydia’s blouse and landed on the floor.
Elizabeth’s head began to spin, and a chill made its way up her spine.
The photo!
She examined the room. Though what happened next was very typical of her family whenever something went wrong, everyone seemed to be moving in slow motion.
Her mother screeched, Lydia huffed and pouted, Tom leaned over to scoop the remains of Lydia’s cake off the floor, Jane rushed into the kitchen to grab something to clean up with, and her father watched his family’s antics with amusement. Usually Elizabeth would be helping either Jane or Tom, but she couldn’t move.
When Tom straightened, his expression changed to one of concern. “Lizzy? Are you all right?”
Lydia proclaimed loudly that it was Elizabeth and Tom’s fault that her favorite shirt was ruined, since they had asked for a chocolate cake, and she stomped out of the room, passing Jane as she returned with cleaning supplies.
Elizabeth blinked several times in confusion. Movements returned to normal speed.
“Lizzy?” Tom repeated. “You’re so pale.”
“I was a little dizzy, but I’m okay now.” Or maybe I’ve gone insane!
“I hope you aren’t coming down with something.” Jane knitted her brow.
“No, really, I’m fine. I’ll be right back.”
Elizabeth rushed up the stairs to her room and pulled her cell phone from her pocket, unable to catch her breath as she paged through the menus. There, she found it—the photo.
She stared at her phone for a long time before admitting to herself that it really was that exact moment captured in the photo—one that had been sent to her hours before it actually happened!
How is this possible?
She jumped when the phone made the same noise it had made while she was eating pizza earlier in the day. Printed across the display was *New Photo*
Hands shaking, she found that more pi
ctures of William Darcy had been uploaded.
The first was William, taken from a different angle than the one she already had received. The painting on the wall looked just like one in their common room at the dorm. It seemed that he was speaking to someone while looking away from the camera.
When she opened the next picture, she gasped. He was in their common room at school... and he was speaking to her!
This never happened. I would never forget meeting him.
The next was of Elizabeth heading toward her bedroom, either upset or angry, her arms crossed over her waist. William was in the background, watching her walk away with such a look of regret on his face that it caused a pang of sympathy in her chest.
Anne is probably showing off a new program she bought to alter photos, she rationalized. He must have helped her move in at some point and merged that picture with one that included me.
The intercom in her room beeped. Elizabeth could barely hear Jane’s voice over the pounding of her heart.
“Lizzy, are you coming? You didn’t eat your cake, and you have gifts to open.”
But no matter how skilled Anne may be with a camera or the computer, she can’t predict the future.
Elizabeth hesitated a few moments before punching the power button on her phone. Dropping it into a drawer, she slammed it closed with a bang. Yes, I am going insane, but maybe it’s only temporary. I can’t mention this to ANYONE.
She opened her closet door and looked down at the trunk she had come across in the attic years ago. She had found it in her closet the day they moved into the new house and assumed the movers had placed it there because it had her name on it. Repeatedly, she had been tempted to go through it, but every time she decided to open it, she became too nervous to follow through with the plan.
It was a joke—none of this can be real!
“Lizzy?”
Elizabeth pushed the “answer” button on the intercom. “I’ll be right down, Jane.”
~%~
~Mid-August – six weeks later
Anne held up her sticky hands and frowned. “Can you answer my phone, Lizzy?”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at seeing the caller ID on Anne’s phone. She swiped the screen to answer it. “Hi, Will. Can Anne call you back in a few minutes?”
Silence.
“Will?”
Silence. “Uh... yes?”
She sighed deeply before speaking carefully and distinctly. “Anne will call you back in a few minutes, okay, Will?” She waited a few seconds and then ended the connection.
~
William groaned, placed the phone down on the desk of his home office, and stared at it.
It had not been necessary for him to ask who had answered the phone because that was a fact of which he was painfully aware. It had been Elizabeth Bennett. In fact, he would recognize her voice anywhere, anytime, for it affected his soul like no other. How could he forget when it haunted him for days each time he heard it?
He rose from his office chair and paced over to the window. Maybe something on the street below his townhouse would distract him. He sighed. Barring an emergency, there was little chance of that.
Anne had a habit of forgetting to charge her cell phone, so she had a landline installed in the common room of her suite at school. Whenever he called that number, by either coincidence or design, Elizabeth answered. The rich timbre of her voice had affected him even before he put it together with her name, which was immediately after he had seen her photograph.
The images from the countless photos that Anne continued to send to him of her friends, combined with the stories and descriptions of her that he would hear from Anne, Richard, and Edward and Madeline Gardiner, invaded his dreams almost every night.
Everything about her seemed perfect... perfect for him.
But it was all an act. It had to be.
William ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head.
Whenever Elizabeth answered the phone, his mind went completely blank. Not able to speak coherently, he would barely get the idea across that he wished to speak to Anne, and then he would spend the next few hours chastising himself for being so pathetic. Eventually, he resolved never to call the landline again, but his fingers betrayed him and dialed it anyway—every time. Once summer session at school was over, he was forced to call Anne’s cell phone.
Now Elizabeth was answering Anne’s cell phone, too? Would it never be safe to call Anne again?
He was twenty-seven years old, in charge of one of the largest construction companies in the nation, on the board of several corporations, and he socialized with some of the most important people in the world—when he had to. Meanwhile, he could barely find the words to say “Hello” to a twenty-year-old student who had absolutely no claims to fame or fortune or anything else he dealt with on an almost daily basis. The entire situation was ridiculous.
This time, Elizabeth’s saying a simple thing like “Hi, Will” had put him deeper into a stupor than ever. She had said his name for the first time—times three—and for some reason, he knew he would never be the same. Hearing her say it in an annoyed tone the second time and a condescending tone the third made no difference; it was still a heavenly sound.
This girl was going to drive him insane, and he hadn’t even met her yet.
William noisily huffed out a deep breath and walked over to the coffeemaker he kept in his office. As he waited for the single-cup to brew, his thoughts returned to Elizabeth Bennett.
If she could do this to him from a distance, he was sure she could manage an alarming amount of harm to him in person. A few correctly placed words, paired with the right flash of those incredible green eyes, and he knew very well that he’d be completely under her control. It was frightening enough that part of him longed to experience what he thought she would do to win him. However, no matter how hard he tried not to give in, another part of him hoped she would save him, which left him utterly terrified when in a more rational frame of mind.
Elizabeth Bennett was as dangerous as anyone he had ever known.
No! She was worse. Just like the others, if he let her, she would use him. But with the way he reacted to her, she would be the one who would hold all the power.
When she eventually realized she’d have to sign a prenuptial agreement as a stipulation of his inheritance, the thought of marrying him would lose its appeal. She would chew his heart to bits and spit the pieces right back into his face.
William nodded vigorously.
He had to hold onto that thought. He would refuse to allow it to happen. He had to meet her and stay strong to prove to himself that she was as bad as those who had come before.
I wonder if she would pick up again if I called back?
William closed his eyes and sighed. “Pathetic!”
~
When Anne returned the call a few minutes later, her voice betrayed her anger. “You know, it wouldn’t hurt to put a tiny bit of effort into being nicer to my friends. Lizzy has never done anything to you, but from what I hear, you’re very rude to her when she answers the phone at our suite. From the look on her face when she handed me my cell just now, I’d bet you just repeated that performance.”
“That wouldn’t have been necessary if you had picked it up yourself.”
Anne huffed. “I asked Lizzy to answer my phone while I washed the gunk off my hands. What’s going on, Will?”
Since the truth was too embarrassing to admit, William’s answer was delayed while he took a sip of his coffee, giving him a few moments to think. His answer had to be something that was true, but would actually make some sense. “I have to be very careful that I don’t lead anyone on, Anne. From what I understand, the delusions that Charles’s sister, Caroline, had about me began the moment I said hello to her.”
Anne gasped. “Will! When did you become so conceited that you think every woman you meet will think of marrying you?”
“Except for you, the sum of my experiences with women is that they
’ve either fawned all over me or acted a part to trick me into liking them for all the wrong reasons. Forgive me if I’m expecting it to happen with others I meet,” William snapped. “I thought summer session was finished. Why are you with her?”
“I’ll let you get away with avoiding the subject of your attitude this time, but when I visit you and Georgiana next week, we are going to have a long talk about it, Will.” Anne sighed. “Summer session is over, but Richard is away at a job site, as I’m sure you know, and Georgiana isn’t in the city yet. And Mama... well, Mama is off traveling somewhere or other, as usual. I was so lonely that I decided to visit with Lizzy and Jane.”
“Oh.” William needed to change the subject, and soon. “What gunk?”
“Huh?”
“You said you had to wash gunk off your hands.”
“Oh… I’m learning to cook!”
“You’re cooking? Miss I-can’t-even-toast-bread-without-having-to-call-the-fire-department?”
“Yep! I’m enjoying it, too.” She hesitated only a moment before changing the subject again. “Hey, Will? Richard is coming here to visit this weekend. Why don’t you come with him? He says you like the Meryton area… the Lambton Village project will be built near here.”
“You’re kidding? She lives there?”
“She?” Anne giggled. “Jane and Lizzy live here, Will, and Charlotte lives nearby, too. Come on... I’ll even cook a meal for the two most important men in my life.”
William massaged his temple, trying to ease the headache that had been his constant companion these past few days. He was tempted to go just to get away from his troubles, but how could he go to meet her without inviting even more trouble? Perhaps bursting his concept of “perfect Elizabeth” and proving to himself once and for all that she was a mercenary shrew would be a good thing. But he didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of his cousin and friend by turning into the blabbering idiot that he became every time he heard her voice. “Thanks, but I can’t. I’ll take you up on the offer of a home-cooked meal when you come to town.”
