Deception

by Ola Wegner

  She shook her head vehemently. “No, sir. I thank you, but no. Please do not demand this from me.”

  “I will not,” Darcy said gently, slightly surprised with her violent reaction.

  There was a visible relief written on Elizabeth’s face. “You frightened me. I was beginning to think you were going to say that every Mistress of Pemberley should ride like an Amazon.”

  He smiled at her. “No, that is really not necessary, though there are several lovely places in Derbyshire that are best reached on horseback. And as both the mistress of Pemberley and my wife I would dearly love to show you them.”

  “I prefer walking,” Elizabeth stated firmly.

  “I understand. My mother was afraid of horses as well. She was very petite, even smaller than you. I reached her height at eleven. Perhaps she was afraid she would not be able to control the horse as well. She was terrified when I rode too fast.”

  “I can well believe that. Your poor mother. If I had a son, I would never allow him to ride so recklessly.”

  “Elizabeth, you are not being rational. A boy should learn to ride confidently, and yes, sometimes even a bit risky.”

  “Like you?” she demanded with feeling, her hands on her hips. “You do ride too fast, sir. And I truly do not consider it to be necessary, not justified. I have seen you a couple of times on horseback, galloping through the fields. I noticed as well that Mr. Bingley rides in a very different, much calmer way.”

  “It is a matter of temper, I believe. I like to feel the maximum speed from time to time.” He smiled at her devilishly.

  “Whatever for?” she marvelled.

  He leaned forward, looking deeply into her eyes and speaking in a low, deep voice. “It is difficult to explain. You would simply have to experience it to understand, I believe.”

  “Well, I think that the way you ride is simply dangerous and very risky. You shall break your neck one day.” Elizabeth looked at a grinning Darcy suspiciously. “Why are smiling like that? Have I said anything amusing?”

  “Oh, nothing. I just like it when you are scolding me.”

  “You do?”

  “I do. You are worried for me. It means you care about me, if only a little,” he clarified.

  She blinked repeatedly before turning on her heel. “I think we should join Jane and Mr. Bingley. I guess they reached Netherfield long ago,” she said quickly, starting off eagerly at a fast pace. She had not walked far when she felt herself pulled by the waist from behind. She felt a hot kiss on her neck, with his hand placed low on her stomach.

  “You are worried for me,” he murmured close to her ear.

  The very next second she was alone, and Mr. Darcy was walking briskly in front of her with his mount following him obediently.

  ***

  “Here you are, Darcy.” Bingley said, handing him a glass of brandy. It was quite late, and both men were sitting alone in the darkened library at Netherfield.

  “Thank you.”

  “You must agree that our future mother-in-law is a piece of work.”

  “It is your own fault, you know, that you admitted to her you have a sweet tooth,” Darcy pointed out while sipping from his glass slowly.

  Bingley stretched lazily on the sofa, patting his middle. “I think I shall never again taste ginger cookies of my free will, but I do think that Mrs. Bennet’s intentions are for the best.”

  “Perhaps. However, I sometimes wonder how Elizabeth and Miss Bennet could possibly be related to her,” Darcy said haughtily.

  Bingley looked at his friend with concern and spoke slowly. “Darcy, you should not say that, especially not in the presence of Miss Elizabeth. Mrs. Bennet is her mother, after all. There is a strong bond between Mrs. Bennet and her daughters, even stronger now since Mr. Bennet has passed away. You cannot have this kind of condescending attitude towards their mother. Besides, Jane looks a lot like Mrs. Bennet.”

  Darcy just shrugged his arms dismissively. “Thank goodness for your sake, Miss Bennet did not inherit her mother's disposition. Elizabeth has clearly taken after her father’s side, for which I thank heavens that it be so." He put the half empty glass aside, stretching himself into a comfortable armchair.

  There was a prolonged silence between the men. Bingley still considered that Darcy should not refer in such a manner to the mother of his fiancée, but he remained silent on the subject. After a while, he spoke again. “Both our Miss Bennets appear to be in better spirits, have you not noticed , Darcy? They are not so sad and grief stricken as they were just after Mr. Bennet’s funeral.”

  Darcy shook his head. “It has only been two months since Mr. Bennet died. Elizabeth is far from being her old self. Every conversation, almost every subject, turns her thoughts to her father and reminds her of him. She becomes gravely quiet and starts crying.”

  “It is the same with Jane. But you are lucky; you at least have the right to comfort your Miss Bennet,” Bingley said wistfully. He and Jane were still rekindling their relationship, and there were no talks about the engagement yet.

  “You are sure of that?” Darcy interrupted with harsh bitterness.

  “Of what?” Bingley asked, clearly dumbfounded with the sudden switch of his companion’s mood.

  “Nothing,” Darcy murmured darkly.

  “But, you know, today, Jane finally smiled at me,” Bingley babbled dreamily.

  Darcy looked at him with a smile. “You hope to win her. You have said our Miss Bennets and our mother-in-law.”

  “Why, yes, you have said yourself she was in love with me last autumn, that she was heartbroken when I left.”

  “That is what Elizabeth told me.”

  “It must be true,” Bingley announced happily. “Miss Elizabeth and Jane are very close.”

  “True. But if Jane is only a little like her sister, I would watch your guard and what is more important, your heart,” Darcy said blankly, rising from his place and walking to the mantelpiece.

  At length Bingley spoke hesitantly. “Darcy, is something wrong between you and Miss Elizabeth?”

  Darcy stared in Bingley’s direction, but as if not seeing him, and said slowly. “No, I think she starts to warm to me a bit. But sometimes I think it is just her kind heart and that she is just grateful. Nothing more. That she feels obliged to me.”

  “I see,” Bingley’s quiet voice was heard.

  Darcy smiled ruefully. “I doubt she is even aware what power she has over me.”

  “They are not like that, Darcy, I mean Jane and Miss Elizabeth. I do not imagine them to harm or use us, or anyone, for that matter, on purpose.”

  “I know. Otherwise I would not know what could happen with me. Sometimes I simply think I am obsessed with her. She not like any other woman I have ever known… I do not know.”

  Bingley approached him closely placing his hand on his arm, and spoke reassuringly. “Darcy, that will change. You will marry her eventually; you will know her better and from a more earthy side, as well. Live with her every day. The children will come, and that will strengthen the bond between you.”

  “Bingley, I want her to need me, to love me as I need and love her, not because I can get her with child, but because she loves me for myself,” Darcy cried almost brokenly.

  “All in time, man. All in time.”

  “Yes, I hope you are right. I am tired, Bingley. I bid you goodnight., Darcy said, leaving the room without one backward glance.

  Chapter Seven

  “What do you think about this idea, Kitty?” Elizabeth asked her sister.

  All of the Bennet ladies and Darcy were gathered in the drawing room at Purvis Lodge. Elizabeth had just acquainted her two youngest sisters with the design of their going to school in London this autumn.

  “Oh, Lizzy, I have never thought about such a thing, but I think I would like it very much indeed, going to a school and learning how to be a true lady,” Kitty said, shyly looking at her elder sister’s intimidating fiancé and adding.“I thank you, Mr. Darcy.”
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br />   Darcy looked somewhat surprised at these words, but he answered earnestly. “You are welcome, Miss Catherine.”

  “And what about you, Lydia?” Jane asked gently.

  Lydia pursed her lips and spoke with nonchalant confidence. “I do not see any need to go to a school. I know everything I need to be the most sought after and admired lady among the officers. I do not wish to know history and poetry. I can get the gentlemen’s interest without all that reading you do, Lizzy. Being too smart only frightens the most amiable men away. Mr. Denny told me himself that he did not understand half of what you told him when you once danced together. I do not need to learn more. What I need is to go to Brighton.”

  “Brighton?” Jane echoed.

  Lydia raised her chin high and spoke proudly “Yes. I got a letter from Mrs. Forster this morning. She has invited me to spend time with her at the seaside to draw myself from the sad thoughts, as she wrote. She is convinced that some sea bathing and the company of my numerous friends from the regiment will do me good.”

  Mrs. Bennet interjected fretfully. “Lydia, child, you must see you cannot go there. I have told you earlier today that we are in mourning and we cannot entertain now. What would people say?”

  Lydia shrugged her arms dismissively. “I cannot see why I cannot go. I am always deprived of the best fun. It is so unfair.”

  “Lydia, Papa died only two months ago. How can you think about such things as officers or sea bathing at such a moment?” Kitty cried with feeling.

  “Oh, Kitty you have turned so boring lately. You have started keeping to Jane and Lizzy, but I know you are just jealous because it is I who have been invited to Brighton as the special friend of Mrs. Forster and not you. If you were in my place, I am sure you would wish to go as well without a moment of hesitation.”

  “That is not true!” Kitty cried fiercely.

  “Oh, yes, it is true. It is the same, like the fact that all the officers admired me and not you. They only kept your company because I dragged you with me everywhere and now you repay me like this. You can study for ten years at this school but even then you never will be so popular among gentlemen as I am.”

  “Lydia, that is enough!” Elizabeth said in a firm, composed voice. “You will not go to Brighton. You shall go to school and try to gain some sense and reason in that silly head of yours. You should be grateful for such an opportunity.”

  Lydia glared at her elder sister with narrowed eyes and cried haughtily. “Do not be so smart, Lizzy! You are so important now because you are to marry first; but, in truth, you are just jealous, the same as Kitty is, because Mr. Wickham has liked me more than you, even though you fancied him first. And now he is in Brighton, and I am not be able to see him because you say so? I do not envy you your Mr. Darcy. You think you are so clever, but I would never have agreed to marry a man I despise only because of his fortune. We all know that the sole reason why you marry him is because he is rich. We know how you hated him in the past; and I feel sorry for you because you have to marry that bore!”

  Mrs. Bennet stood up, her face pale. “Lydia, you will go to your room. This very instant,” she ordered.

  “But, Mama!”

  “Go to your room, or I shall call the servant to take you. You shall stay there until you apologize to your future brother,” Mrs. Bennet announced firmly.

  “What did I say? Lizzy said herself many times last autumn that he was the most disagreeable and arrogant man she ever met and even that he should not appear in company because he makes other people uneasy and that…”

  “Lydia!” Jane exclaimed.

  “What! It was Lizzy who said that, not me.” Lydia cried with tears in her eyes and she added brokenly. “I hate you all! You are all against me! Father would have let me go to Brighton.” She stared desperately at her family, only to flee a moment later from the room with a loud sob. Mrs. Bennet, Jane, Kitty and Mary followed her, leaving Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth alone.

  For the first few moments, Elizabeth was simply afraid to look at him. He had been standing by the window, staring out of it, his hands clasped tightly behind him, since the moment Lydia had mentioned Wickham.

  Gathering her courage, Elizabeth walked to him, touching his arm gently. He turned to face her, and her heart gave a painful squeeze. He wore such a heart-wrenching expression in his dark eyes of a man deeply hurt.

  Raising herself on her toes, she hugged him to her, as far as the considerable difference in their sizes and heights would allow. She stroked his curls and kissed his cheek. Soon she felt his arms coming around her waist, drawing her to him, almost lifting her from the floor. He sighed, buried his face into her neck, crushing her to him.

  “I am sorry,” she whispered into his ear after a long moment.

  Darcy put her gently on the floor but did not remove his hands from her waist.

  He shook his head with resignation. ”Do not apologize, not for the truth. Did you really hate me so much?” he asked, his voice sad and miserable.

  She stepped a little closer to him, so their bodies were touching lightly, and spoke softly, her hands on his chest. “It was not like that. I allowed my own pride and prejudice to influence me. You hurt my feelings and my vanity when you said to Mr. Bingley that I was not handsome enough for you. I pretended it was funny, an excellent anecdote to tell friends, but, in truth, I covered up my hurt feelings.”

  Darcy gazed down at her worriedly. “But I hope you have changed your opinion about me, if only a little.”

  “Of course, I have.” She rolled her eyes, smiling at him and raising her brow impishly. “Several times, I must say.”

  His face broke into a smile, and he spoke tenderly, cupping her check and stroking it lightly.“You little minx."

  Elizabeth’s smile grew bigger. “I am not that little, sir, for a woman at least. I am taller than many ladies of my acquaintance. It is just that you are so uncommonly tall.”

  “And do you object to my being tall?” he teased her.

  Elizabeth stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. “No, it is quite comforting, I must say.”

  Darcy looked into her eyes and then stared at her lips. When his gaze returned to her eyes, he searched for some sign of objection, but he found nothing.

  Elizabeth closed her eyes, soon feeling his breath on her face and, a moment later, his lips on hers. It was a gentle kiss, just a light pressure of his lips on hers. He finished it quickly and looked back at her. She opened her eyes very slowly, dazed, her lips parted.

  Then his left hand embraced her waist firmly, bringing her steadily to him, while his right palm cradled her face. This time he caught her lower lip between his lips and tucked at it persistently. He kissed the corner of her mouth, then her cheek and the soft skin just beneath her ear.

  Pulling away, he looked at her again, but she just stared at him with expression of utter wonder written all over her face.

  “And how did I do?” he asked, anticipating the praise. “I mean for your first kiss.”

  “It was not my first kiss,” she answered without second thought, still in a daze from the kiss.

  “What! Who!?”

  Elizabeth’s eyes widened when she realized what she had just said. “Oh, my, sir,... well... it happened a long time ago. It was truly nothing,” she assured.

  “Elizabeth, who?” Darcy asked with a dead seriousness in his voice.

  Perplexed with his glaring eyes and his commanding tone, she whispered. “It was Lady Lucas’ cousin. He was visiting together with his sister one summer. His name was Henry Crawford.”

  Darcy went red in the face and seethed. “That rake.”

  She blinked in surprise. “You know him?”

  “Do I know him? He seduced the wife of one of my acquaintances. He dared to touch you?”

  “Pray, sir, please calm down! I do not think he even remembers me. I was thirteen at the time, and he was just a few years older. He met me on one of my walks, he started to flirt with me, saying that I looked like q
uite a woman, and just did this..." Elizabeth quickly pecked Darcy's lips to demonstrate to him how innocent the situation had been. “I pushed at him and ran away. You see, it was nothing. And very much different from how you have just kissed me.”

  “I do not like it,” Darcy muttered.

  “Please, be reasonable,” Elizabeth pleaded, grasping his hands.“It was nothing. In fact, I saw him a year ago in London, and he did not even recognize me, I assure you. Please.”

  “If he ever dares to even speak with you…”

  “There is little chance of that. I should not have told you. It was nothing, and I cleaned my mouth for the next three days. What you did cannot be compared in any way, so we can count your kiss as my first real kiss.” she whispered, smiling sweetly at him, her fingers stroking his chest through his shirt.

  He stared happily at her, but his expression faded when she said. “I am so sorry for what Lydia said.”

  “I think she is simply missing your father, suffering after his death,” he offered generously. “She is still very young and cannot master her emotions properly.”

  “You are too kind. She is spoiled, rude and cruel, that is what she is. Poor Mama cannot control her at all. She has indulged her too much in the past. She is the youngest of us, and perhaps because of that, she was Mama’s favourite. Mama spoiled Lydia for certain, but even so, she does not deserve such behaviour in her own house. Father was the only one able to curb her. I do not know how we should deal with her now.”

  “Elizabeth, please do not fret over this. You have enough worries.”

  “How can I not? She is my sister, after all. I feel responsible for her,” Elizabeth whispered miserably.

  “I would interfere …” Darcy began, but Elizabeth interrupted him quickly. “No, no. You are not her father, and it is not your responsibility to admonish her. You have done enough. She will have to accept this. She has no other choice.”

  Darcy gathered her closely to him, placing her head on his chest. Wrapping his arms around her, he kissed her temple. “Please, love, do not worry yourself over this. Do not think about Lydia right now. You are correct that she will have to accept the situation. She just needs some time. This is not worth your nerves.”