The temptation to touch him was more than she could control. She allowed her hands to explore the firm muscles of his shoulders, where, as if unsatisfied, they seemed to travel of their own accord inside the reaches of his coat and around his neck. The exhilarating feeling of his strength through nothing more than the thin cloth of his shirt left her weak.
“Elizabeth,” he groaned. “What are you trying to do to me?” His kisses grew even more demanding as he pressed her closer to him.
Brought back to herself by his words, she drew her hands away, and removed temptation by concealing her face in his shoulder. He buried his face in her hair as he worked to regain control. “You seem to have moved from playing with fire to sitting on the volcano, my love,” he said softly. “Please remember I am only too human.”
“As I am well aware,” she replied. “But you tempted me first, sir, by suggesting I might disregard your warning. I do not think I will believe you if you tell me that you were not hoping that I would say something provocative!”
“Caught again!” he exclaimed. “You are a dangerous woman, Miss Bennet.” He stepped back from her and looked at her critically. “I would add that if you really do not wish to be married tomorrow, I suggest that you had best not meet your family until you have had a chance to repair some damage.” He touched her hair lightly.
“I shall say good night then.”
“Until tomorrow,” he responded. Giving her one last look, he paused to trace his finger lightly along her collarbone. “I hope you sleep better than I shall!” he said, and then was gone.
Two nights later, a large party assembled at Netherfield for the benefit of the many out-of-town guests arriving for the wedding. A number of neighborhood families were invited as well, including the Lucases and the Philips. Darcy chose to wait upstairs until the Bennets arrived along with Georgiana, who had surprised no one by choosing to remain at Longbourn until her return to town. He preferred to limit his exposure to the crowded scene, a sentiment which was reinforced by the knowledge Miss Bingley had been trying to corner him on his own ever since her arrival earlier that day. Finally the carriage he had been awaiting appeared, and his aspect changed to one of smiling anticipation.
He met the party at the door, offering one arm to Elizabeth and the other to Georgiana, who had received special permission to attend the gathering although she was not officially “out.” Her excitement at the occasion was visible, contrasting with her brother who was quite ready to quit the assembly before he had even entered, and she was clearly more interested in enjoying the occasion with her friends than with her sedate older brother.
Darcy and Elizabeth drew a certain amount of attention from members of the assemblage due to the news of their engagement, and were thus required to circulate more than they might have chosen to otherwise. At one point, Darcy was drawn off by Bingley to converse with some mutual friends, and Elizabeth took the opportunity to search out Georgiana. She found her with Kitty, Mary, and some of their Meryton friends, in close conversation, which Elizabeth, glad to see her enjoying herself, chose not to interrupt. As she was returning to the main group, she chanced to hear her name spoken in a separate conversation by a familiar voice.
“Miss Eliza Bennet? A disappointment, to be sure, but not a fatal one.” Miss Bingley’s autocratic voice came clearly from the next room.
“You must be quite angry that she managed to allure him away from you,” responded an unknown voice.
“I am not best pleased to lose Mr. Darcy’s favor, it is true, but as for Miss Eliza, I feel mostly pity for the poor thing.”
“Why would you pity her? She has made a brilliant match for herself—one has to wonder how she did it.”
Miss Bingley sniffed. “I pity her because he will make her miserable. Oh, right now he is completely infatuated with the little chit, and will do absolutely anything to please her, even to the point of tolerating her abominable family. But will that be the case when the infatuation wears off? You know his pride—he may submerge it, but it will never disappear, and when he truly realizes what he has done, what sort of woman he has tied himself to, for whom he has been cut off by family and no doubt part of the ton, whom he has chosen to be a model for his sister—what will be the result then? She will be an embarrassment to him, and were her motives solely mercenary, this would no doubt be tolerable enough to her, but the poor thing clearly fancies herself in love with him. Indeed, I pity her for what will happen then, although a more sensible woman would have foreseen it and kept to her own level of society.”
Elizabeth had overheard more than enough, and withdrew the way she had come to avoid detection. Her initial reaction was fury, but she soon converted herself back to humor as she realized that Miss Bingley’s jealousy would not be able to let her engagement pass without any attempt at sabotage. There was bound to be talk of this sort when a woman of little fortune married a man of his wealth, and she needed to inure herself to the innuendoes. She reminded herself that, for all the relative brevity of their relationship, she knew Darcy far better than Miss Bingley did, and she knew the changes in his character were real ones. With that, she determined to seek him out again, and eventually found him cloistered in the library.
She smiled warmly at him. “Hiding away, my dearest?”
“Never from you.” He stood, and, taking her hands in his, allowed his lips to brush lightly against hers. “Perhaps I was only waiting for you to find me so I might steal a few moments of your company to myself. Have I told you how very lovely you look tonight?”
“If you have, I give you permission to repeat yourself.”
“As long as I may repeat this part as well.” He leaned to kiss her again, with more passion this time. Elizabeth slid her arms around his neck and allowed herself to enjoy his kisses for several minutes, and then murmured, “Sir, we shall be missed.”
“Let them miss us, then.”
Elizabeth gave him a look which he could not misinterpret.
Darcy sighed. “Once more unto the breach, then, my love?” he said, offering her his arm.
They returned in time to hear Mary and Georgiana take a turn at the pianoforte playing their newly learned Mozart duet, which was indeed lovely and received far warmer applause than Mary’s usual performances. Both performers, flushed with pleasure, were immediately surrounded by friends praising their music. Darcy, amazed to see Georgiana performing in front of strangers in the first place, much less such a large assembly of them, determined to pay his compliments to her himself. They were somewhat delayed by Sir William Lucas, who felt a need to share his positive impressions of the event, though not without a necessary comparison to the Court of St. James. Elizabeth, who noted that Darcy was becoming increasingly taciturn as the evening progressed, made their excuses as quickly as possible.
Georgiana was in a circle of young people who were clearly enjoying themselves with substantially less dignity than their elders. Her hand resting lightly on the arm of a young man whom Elizabeth recognized vaguely as one of the Bingley cousins, she was laughing heartily at something Kitty was whispering in her ear.
Darcy’s countenance changed. He stepped forward and drew Georgiana away from the others with a particularly hostile stare for the young man. She followed somewhat unwillingly. Elizabeth was able to hear only the beginning of the lecture Darcy was delivering with quiet anger to Georgiana, “Remember who you are and where you are!” Elizabeth bit her lip as she watched all the animation drain out of the girl’s face. She made a whispered response, eyes on the floor, as her brother ended his scolding, and when he turned away, Elizabeth noted that she did not return to her friends, but instead looked around the room, and then approached Mrs. Gardiner and attached herself quietly to her.