What Would Mr. Darcy Do?

Chapter 12

When the gentlemen retired for port after dinner, Mrs. Bennet was left to hold forth at length to the ladies about the plans for Elizabeth’s wedding. This was more tolerable to her daughter than it might have been otherwise, since it was her first opportunity to hear from Mrs. Gardiner what plans had been made. Mary was to assist Elizabeth in her preparations, since Jane would not arrive until the actual time of the ceremony; while Kitty and Georgiana were to gather the last flowers of the season to decorate the church early in the morning. Georgiana, to no one’s great surprise, had accepted an invitation to remain at Longbourn for an additional week before returning to London in order to give the newlyweds some privacy.

A knock was heard at the front door, and a few moments later, Hill entered the drawing room. “There is a gentleman to see Miss Elizabeth,” she announced, managing to imply through her tone that no unknown man who called so late in the day could truly be deemed a gentleman. Curious, Elizabeth bade her to show him in, and shortly after, Hill announced the mysterious gentleman.

“Colonel Fitzwilliam!” cried Elizabeth. “This is indeed a surprise!”

“As was the express I received yesterday from Darcy, I assure you,” he responded. “It is most delightful to see you again, Miss Bennet.” He spotted Georgiana and, with an expression of surprise, greeted her with a kiss on the cheek.

Elizabeth introduced the colonel to her mother, sisters, and aunt, and asked Hill to request that Mr. Darcy join them at his earliest convenience.

“So he is here,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam. “I must apologize for the hour of my call, but when I presented myself at Netherfield looking for my cousin, I was told in no uncertain terms by the servants that not only was Darcy absent, but that Bingley was not receiving guests since it was his wedding day. Since you, Miss Bennet, are the sole acquaintance I can claim in Hertfordshire apart from Bingley and Darcy, I decided to throw myself on your mercy in hopes that you could direct me to my cousin, and the Netherfield staff were so kind as to provide me an escort here.”

“Very wise, Colonel,” laughed Elizabeth. “It is certainly the case that Mr. Darcy is generally here if he is not at Netherfield, and we are all avoiding Netherfield today! But please, will you join us? I would imagine you would be in need of some refreshment after your journey—have you come from London?”

“Yes, fortunately I was in town to receive the post. So, I understand I must offer you my felicitations, Miss Bennet. I must say that Darcy has been more sly than usual; I admit that I had no inkling that the wind was blowing in this direction.”

At that moment, Darcy himself entered and greeted his cousin heartily. “So you did make it, Fitzwilliam,” he said, “I doubted you would be able to come on such short notice.”

“Well, it is traditional to give more than one day’s notice on a wedding invitation,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam with a laugh. “You should have heard my mother on the subject!”

“I am just as happy I did not,” said Darcy dryly. “Sometimes it is best to hope for forgiveness after the fact.”

“Well, Father was quite entertained, I must say—he said immediately, ‘Well, we know where he gets that from. I don’t want to be the one to tell Catherine, though.’” His imitation brought a delighted smile to Georgiana’s face.

“So, Mr. Darcy, where do you get that from?” asked Elizabeth archly.

“I see no reason to dredge up old family stories for you until we are actually married, my dear,” said Darcy austerely, “no matter how much my cousin chooses to embarrass me.”

“Well, I shall take pity on you, Miss Bennet,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam. “Let me just say that his father was known for his, um, forthrightness and persistence in his courtship of my aunt.”

“I see,” said Elizabeth with a sparkle in her eyes. “I shall look forward to hearing the full story someday.”

The conversation continued in this vein for some time, until the colonel remarked, “Well, I am sure it is past time for me to take my leave. Darcy, I wonder if you would be so kind as to direct me to a nearby inn. I confess that I had planned to throw myself on Bingley’s mercy for the night, but under the circumstances, I believe I should make other arrangements.”

Elizabeth cast a significant look at her mother, who, quite overwhelmed by having the son of an earl in her home, had said barely a word. Thus prodded, Mrs. Bennet said, “Oh, Colonel Fitzwilliam, there is no need for that! The inn at Meryton is hardly suitable for a gentleman such as yourself. We would be most honored if you would consent to stay here.”

Colonel Fitzwilliam looked at her in surprise. “That is a most gracious offer, madam, but I am well aware that, with your daughter’s wedding tomorrow, you must have quite enough without a guest, as well,” he said courteously.

Mr. Bennet said dryly, “Although it is true that we have a wedding tomorrow, it is hardly an unusual burden; we marry off daughters nearly every day here—Jane today, Lizzy tomorrow, and I am certain that Kitty or Mary will have found someone by the end of the week. So you can see, sir, it will not put us out in the least.”

Colonel Fitzwilliam looked puzzled, and Elizabeth took mercy on him. “Mr. Bingley’s bride is my eldest sister, Colonel Fitzwilliam, so you see that it is indeed quite a week for weddings here.” A look of understanding passed over his face, followed immediately by a quickly veiled doubtful look directed first at Darcy, then at Elizabeth. Clearly he recalled all too well Darcy’s confidences about Bingley, and was drawing some interesting conclusions.

“Indeed, Colonel Fitzwilliam, it would be no trouble. As you can see, we already have the Gardiners and Georgiana as houseguests, and one more would make little difference,” said Elizabeth warmly.

“Yes, do stay,” Georgiana added. “I have so much to tell you about!”

“In that case, I gratefully accept your offer of hospitality, Mrs. Bennet,” he said.

The addition of Colonel Fitzwilliam to the party added a certain liveliness; he entered into the conversation directly and talked very pleasantly. Elizabeth found she enjoyed his company as much as she had in Kent, and she was pleased to see Georgiana was well entertained as well. Kitty was clearly quite taken with his manners and demeanor, and indulged herself in the occasional fluttering of eyelashes in his direction, though, fortunately, without the blatancy that characterized her behavior when the regiment was in Meryton. The colonel had a well-informed mind which allowed him to challenge Mr. Bennet to a degree that intrigued the latter, who for once chose to remain in company rather than retreat to his library.

It was not until near suppertime that Elizabeth noticed that Darcy was not contributing to the conversation. At first she thought the party had grown too large for his taste, but as she continued to observe him, she began to suspect he was actively displeased. Perhaps the invitation Mrs. Bennet had extended in all civility made him unhappy; she could well understand that he might prefer to limit his cousin’s exposure to the Bennet household. She could feel the tension radiating from him, and could think of no other cause. With concern, she redoubled her efforts at amiability toward Colonel Fitzwilliam, hoping to alleviate Darcy’s anxiety over what his cousin might think, but his grim looks continued unabated, and the responses he made were as brief as civility would permit.

When Darcy finally deemed it late enough for him to return to Netherfield without risk of disturbing the newlyweds, he asked Elizabeth to walk him out. Noting he still had a forbidding set to his mouth, she put a hand on his arm as soon as they were beyond the lights of the house. To her surprise, he gathered her tightly into his arms without any of his usual preliminaries and kissed her with fierce demand. Elizabeth was at first taken aback by his approach, but the intensity of his ardor soon stirred an equal need in her, and she matched his desperate possessiveness as she sought her own satisfaction from his lips. His grip on her bespoke a more violent and uncontrolled passion than was common for him, but, instead of frightening her, it seemed to tap into a well of desire she had never known existed, and a hunger which could not be quenched. Intoxicated by his urgent kisses, she pressed herself against him as if she could never get close enough. Finally he broke off as abruptly as he had begun, and she clung to his shoulders, feeling dizzy from her response to his forceful passion.

“Oh, Elizabeth,” he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers. “You have no idea how much I need you. Forgive me for being so rough; I know I should not…”

Barely able to speak, she put her hand to his cheek. “There is nothing to forgive, my love.” In the darkness she could barely make out his face. “I assume you are less than happy that Colonel Fitzwilliam is staying here, but I will try to make sure my family does not embarrass itself too much before him; it should not be hard with both the Gardiners and Georgiana here.”

Darcy gave a short laugh. “For once it makes no difference to me at all if your family behaves completely disgracefully.”

She looked at him closely. “Then what is troubling you? And do not tell me it is nothing, since I will not believe you if you do.”

“Elizabeth…” he paused, “sometimes there are things that are better not discussed.”

“That may be true, but, as it happens, I seem to have a gift for jumping to the wrong conclusions when I am forced to guess at whatever it is that we are choosing not to discuss.”

He was silent for a moment. “I cannot argue the point. If you wish, I will tell you, but please understand that I know that what I am about to say is completely without justification, and you have every right to be angry that I am even thinking it.” He took a deep breath. “I… disliked seeing you laughing with my cousin; in fact I disliked it a great deal.”

She stared at him, shocked. “Do you mean to suggest…?”

“I mean to suggest nothing except that I would happily toss him out on his ear to keep him away from you. As I said, I know full well that it is completely baseless, at least so far as you are concerned.”

She considered this startling information for a few moments. “I am unsure what to say. There has never been anything between us in the past, and certainly there could not be now.”

“Nothing on your part, perhaps—apart from having liked him better than you did me—but I cannot say the same for him,” said Darcy darkly. “He was very taken with you at Rosings, and felt it necessary to tell me about it at length and repeatedly, an experience which I can assure you I did not enjoy. So when I see you happy in each other’s company now… well, you can imagine, certainly.” He might have added that, during the painful time after Rosings, one of his preferred methods of self-torture was to mull on the likelihood that Elizabeth would have happily accepted his cousin had he been the one to propose. The mere thought was enough to make him desperate to seek relief in Elizabeth’s arms, and he embraced her fiercely, burying his face in her neck.

“I see,” said Elizabeth, distracted by the exquisite sensations he was creating with his urgent caresses, but making a valiant attempt to continue the conversation. “Well, I cannot deny that there was a time I liked him better than you, but—” Her words were stopped as he captured her mouth, exploring it with a forceful and intoxicating thoroughness which threatened to deprive her of the possibility of rational speech. “…But as we both know, that was based on a misapprehension, and it is quite some time that I have loved you far more than I ever liked him.” Having managed to say her piece, she finally allowed herself the guilty pleasure of surrendering once more to the passionate demands of his lips.

“He gave some thought to asking you to marry him, before deciding it was too imprudent financially,” Darcy said, his hands beginning an insistent exploration of the curves of her body which threatened to overwhelm Elizabeth with fiery sensations.

“Well, under the circumstances, I am glad he did not; it would make things quite uncomfortable now, I would imagine,” she said, struggling to stop her voice from shaking.

“Would you have refused him, then?” Darcy’s voice was tense.

She hoped desperately that he was unable to tell just how thoroughly he had devastated her defenses with his passionate advances, and how much she wished he would not stop. “I truly cannot say what I would have done; I had only known him for three weeks, after all. I can only say that had I accepted him, I would have missed something far deeper.”

He gripped her tightly. “Is that true? It is vain of me, I know, to want to be more important to you than any other man could have been.”

“Have you never considered, my love, that I have always had a strong response to you? Even when I disliked you, I did so with a passion. Had I never met you, in all likelihood I could have found a man whom I could have learned to love, but I cannot believe it would have been with such depth, so… without reserve.” She was amazed that she could speak so openly to him of her feelings, especially when her vulnerability to him was so great.

“Thank you,” he responded, his voice muffled by her hair. “I know I should not need to hear such reassurance, but I do.”

“Well, if you think I never have similar moments of anxiety about your regard, you are mistaken,” she said softly.

He looked at her in astonishment. “You do? Why, in heaven’s name, would you have the slightest doubt?”

She laughed and wound her arms around his neck. “Because I love you. Because I need you. Because I am all too human.” She kissed him lingeringly, earning his full cooperation in the endeavor as he gathered her close, the touch of his lips becoming gentle and seductive.

“Because tomorrow cannot come soon enough,” he added. He ran a finger across her lips, still somewhat swollen from his earlier ardor. “I have to warn you that no one seeing you tonight is going to be in doubt about what we have been doing out here.” He trailed tantalizing kisses across her face.

“Do you think any of them will be surprised?”

“Well, if our guilt is to be obvious, I suppose that I might as well indulge myself a bit further,” he replied, recapturing her lips. Giving in to an urge which had long tempted him, he ran his fingers deep into her hair, heedless of disrupting its careful styling. The intimacy of his touch caused her to arch herself against him, and he responded immediately by deepening the kiss, sending shivers of delight through her.

“You should send me away, my love, since I would happily stay here with you half the night,” he said, demonstrating the truth of his words as he took his pleasure from her lips again.

She could not resist the opportunity, and said provocatively, “Well, you will need your rest for tomorrow.”

He responded as she had known he would, pulling her to him hungrily and placing demanding kisses along her neck and shoulders until she was trembling with desire. “You need have no worries in that regard, madam,” he responded. He tangled his fingers in her disheveled hair again, encouraging some silky locks to escape their close binding and fall along her flushed cheeks, and deeply enjoying seeing the results of his lovemaking in her appearance. With a mild possessive vindictiveness, he hoped that his cousin caught a good glimpse of her before she made herself presentable again.

She looked up at him with unconscious seductiveness, allowing her fingers to stray along the warm skin of his neck above his cravat. “I don’t want you to go,” she admitted softly.

He closed his eyes. He knew that she had no notion of how near he was to taking advantage of her responsiveness and need, nor how powerfully his jealousy, justified or not, made him long to possess her. Carefully he removed her hands, and with a chaste kiss to each, joined them together and stepped away from her. In his most controlled voice, he said, “Elizabeth, no more provocation tonight, if you please.”

She regarded him carefully. “I will bid you good night, then, Mr. Darcy.”

“Good night, Miss Bennet.” Recalling that it was the last time he would ever refer to her by that appellation, he smiled. “The next words I want to hear out of those lovely lips of yours are when you tell the parson ‘I will’ tomorrow morning.” Unable to completely resist temptation, he kissed her once more with deep ardor, then took his leave.

Elizabeth sighed and wrapped her arms around herself as she watched him ride out of sight, then smiled and returned to the house.

“Mr. Darcy, you look particularly elegant this morning,” said Jane over breakfast the following morning.

“Thank you, Mrs. Bingley. I hope your sister shares your opinion,” he responded agreeably.

“Are you off to Longbourn this morning, then?”

Darcy busied himself with his food. “Yes, I expect to be there later, and then off to London this afternoon.” Both Elizabeth and Bingley had been enjoying keeping Jane in the dark about the morning’s events, and he would not be the one to spoil their amusement.

Jane looked concerned. “You are leaving today? Lizzy mentioned nothing of it—does she know?”

“Mmm, yes, she is well acquainted with my plans.”

“We also have an engagement this morning, darling,” said Bingley cheerfully, as if social calls on the day after one’s wedding were nothing to be remarked on. “We will need to set out shortly after breakfast.”

“Really? What is the occasion?”

“Ummm… it’s a surprise,” said Bingley, smiling broadly at Darcy.

“I take it that this is no surprise to you, Mr. Darcy.”

Darcy stood. “Far be it from me to interfere between a new husband and wife, Mrs. Bingley. If you will excuse me,” he said with a smile, taking his leave.

Elizabeth was, as usual, the first of her family to come downstairs in the morning, and, after a brief turn about the grounds in lieu of her usual morning ramble, she sat down alone for a light breakfast. Within a few minutes she was joined by Georgiana and Kitty, followed soon thereafter by Colonel Fitzwilliam, who chose a seat next to her. She greeted him warmly, but found that she felt somewhat discomfited by his presence after Darcy’s revelations of the previous night.

“I must admit that I was quite surprised to receive Darcy’s letter that you and he were to be wed,” he said in a measured manner. “I had guessed at Rosings that he admired you, but I must admit I had thought you less taken with him.”

“That is, I take it, a tactful way of saying that it appeared that I disliked him heartily,” Elizabeth said with a laugh.

“I certainly do not mean to imply that there was any… discord between you,” he replied.

“Well, it is quite true; I did have an aversion to his company then, owing primarily to some misapprehensions about his behavior.”

“I am glad you were able to resolve them, then. It is, indeed, a most prudent match for you.”

Elizabeth looked sharply at him. Was he implying what she thought he was? Despite his neutral tone, she suspected a true concern on his part, as well as, perhaps, an element of the same feelings that had plagued Darcy about him. “Georgiana,” she said with a cheerful smile, “Colonel Fitzwilliam is worried I am marrying your brother for his wealth, and that I have no true regard for him.”

Georgiana and Kitty looked at each other and burst into peals of laughter. Colonel Fitzwilliam said hastily, “I certainly did not mean to imply anything of the sort, Miss Bennet; I am certain you would only marry for the best of reasons.”

“Do not trouble yourself, sir; it is a perfectly reasonable conjecture on your part,” she responded amiably. “It is, however, quite untrue.”

Georgiana finally stopped laughing long enough to respond. “Oh, Richard, wait until you have a chance to see them together a bit more—they are so enamored of each other that the rest of us might as well be in China! I would venture they would not even notice if none of us came to the wedding!”

“They are always gazing into each other’s eyes, or watching the other from across the room,” Kitty added. “It can be quite embarrassing to see!”

“And then they go off by themselves again and again, and return looking so very calm and saintly, and no one is fooled at all, because they have been caught so often, but everyone knows that there is no winning an argument with either of them,” said Georgiana.

Kitty giggled. “Do you remember what Father said yesterday? He looked at his watch and said, ‘I wonder how long they will be this time!’”

“If I am ever caught in any misbehavior in the future, I will only have to remind Fitzwilliam of this time, and he will be unable to make any complaint!”

Elizabeth’s cheeks were scarlet. “Georgiana, Kitty! Please excuse them, sir, they are very giddy today, I fear.”

The girls looked at each other and laughed. “You asked what we thought,” said Kitty.

“I shall certainly know better than to do so again!” cried Elizabeth.

Making little effort to hide a smile, Colonel Fitzwilliam said, “Very well, I withdraw any objection; I am clearly not current with developments here.”

Still mortally embarrassed, Elizabeth said, “I am sorry to have teased you, sir. My rather extreme change of heart is well known here, as is the very ill-kept secret that Mr. Darcy made me an offer of marriage while we were in Kent, and I refused him.”

“So that is why he was in such a foul mood when we left! I have often wondered.”

“Wasn’t he awful?” agreed Georgiana.

“Monstrous,” said the colonel. “Personally, I would rather spend my time with a maddened bear! Well, Miss Bennet, I am glad to know all is well between the two of you. I must admit I was finding it difficult to attribute mercenary motives to you given what I knew of you from Kent.”

“I shall take that as a compliment,” said Elizabeth. “Now, if you will excuse me, I am certain I can find something pressing to do somewhere where I will not be subject to more embarrassing stories!”

The sound of laughter followed her up the stairs.