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How he wished otherwise!
“Mr. Wickham?” Darcy bit out when Elliot did not answer him.
“Sorry?”
“Is Mr. Wickham your visitor?” Darcy demanded.
“No,” Elliot said softly. “It is our cousin. The heir to Longbourn. Come to stay with us.”
“Then you certainly should keep him entertained!” Charles said with a laugh, back to his usual amiable self and completely oblivious to the riot of emotions now running through Darcy. The idea of Wickham visiting with Elliot was unacceptable and Darcy was quite certain that had Elliot confirmed the visitor was he, then Darcy would have put an immediate stop to it!
And yet…he had no authority to do so!
He had no claim on Elliot!
The omega was not his!
“When did your cousin arrive?” he eventually asked, trying to calm his anger as he did so.
Jack described Mr. Collins arrival and his subsequent visit. “He is staying with us for a few days,” he said. “Here to reacquaint himself with the whole family.”
A new thought hit Darcy then and it did nothing to help with his very unreasonable anger. Cousins visiting, especially when they were heirs, usually had a very specific outcome, unless...
“Has his family accompanied him?” Darcy demanded.
“He has no immediate family,” Elliot replied, and Darcy could hear the surprise in his voice, likely wondering why Darcy was behaving so strangely. Darcy wished he knew himself!
No, that was not correct.
He did know.
He could not continue to pretend otherwise.
“I see,” was all Darcy could reply, the anger now replaced with something else entirely.
“Mama is keen that you attend dinner this evening,” Jack said to Elliot. “She was quite animated about it.”
“She is always animated about something,” Elliot said with a wry smile.
Darcy’s stomach clenched unpleasantly. Suspicions were forming, and he tried his very best to ignore them, for what business of his were they? And yet for them to come so soon on the heels of their interaction with Wickham!
The way Wickham had taken Elliot’s hand.
The little smile Elliot had given him.
There had never been any such smile for him!
Elliot Bennet was fast turning into a damn menace! It was obvious now why Darcy was spending far too much of his time thinking about the other man. Considering what he might be doing. When they may see each other again. When he could possibly hold his hand once more!
Darcy narrowed his eyes and scowled at Elliot, feeling very much that this was his fault, that he had done something to make Darcy feel this way, and it was simply not acceptable!
Elliot’s smile faded. He took a step back. It was the worst thing he could have done.
He was an omega.
Darcy an alpha.
Convention was clear that Elliot should be responding in the way that Darcy wanted! Only, Darcy did not know what he wanted, or at least, if he did it was not something he should want.
