“Jane,” she whispered, grasping her sister’s hand, “stay close to me.”
“I have no choice at present,” Jane whispered back. “I think no one will ask us to stand up at all this evening, Lizzy. Oh, how mortifying this is! If it were not deceit, I should feign illness and ask to return home.”
Elizabeth said nothing, only watched him… them… approach. They had collected Sir William Lucas, and now their object was perfectly clear. The elder gentleman smiled his pleasure at being useful, then, glancing at them, looked doubtful when Darcy made some request. Good Sir William tried, it appeared, to dissuade Netherfield’s new tenant and his wealthy friend from any embarrassment, but their resolve appeared to be fixed, and in a moment, the three gentlemen walked directly toward them. Jane stiffened beside her.
“Miss Jane Bennet, and Miss Eliza Bennet,” Sir William bowed, “may I have the pleasure of introducing Mr Charles Bingley, our new neighbour at Netherfield, and his very good friend, Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy of Derbyshire.”
Jane lowered her lashes modestly as both gentlemen bowed first to her, as the eldest, and then to Elizabeth. Sir William turned back to the gentlemen with an air of confidence, as if he were imparting some secret in his full speaking voice. “The elder Miss Bennets of Longbourn are considered quite the beauties, and I think you must agree they are fine looking young ladies, eh, Mr Darcy? And such dancers they both are! Why, a more graceful young lady was never born than Miss Bennet, and Miss Eliza’s enthusiasm is always a delight.”
Elizabeth was looking steadily at Sir William, but Darcy was not. She felt the heat of his gaze on her and knew very well that every symptom of discomfort rose from her décolletage up to her cheeks.
“A delight, indeed,” she heard Darcy reply, and from the corner of her eye, she could see that dry teasing warmth tugging at his mouth. “Your recommendation has not fallen ill, Sir William, for I find I am curiously tempted to dance, and certainly hope the ladies do not object.” But he did not offer for her… not yet. That honour should go first to Jane, but he would not even look at her sister.
“Miss Bennet,” Mr Bingley bowed, his manner ebullient and his face awash with every expectation of pleasure, “Would you do me the very great honour of granting me the next set?”
Jane accepted at once, and as the music from the previous dance was just ending, they were away before Darcy could make his obligatory request. Elizabeth had no alternative but to look at him now.
“Miss Elizabeth,” he bowed and offered his hand, just as he had done to help her into the carriage… and the balloon... and the waltz. “May I have the pleasure?”
There was no possible way to refuse, even if her treacherous heart had not desired it. She rose and gave him her hand, and he smiled down at her as he led her away.
Once Sir William could no longer have heard, she murmured, “I believe I must thank you for the condescension, sir, in introducing your friend to my sister. I fear there are… more ladies than gentlemen present this evening, and the sweetest girl in the room has been passed over. You may suppose, after what you must have heard, that you have done the most deserving person in the world a very great service. However, it is not necessary for you to follow form and dance with me. I assure you, sir, you must not exert yourself out of any perceived sense of obligation.”
He looked down in surprise. “You mistake me, Miss Elizabeth. While I was pleased to introduce a very good man, one whose happiness is of particular importance to me, to a woman whose character has been made known to me as exemplary, that was not my first object. I wished to speak with you.”
“But what remains to be said between us? You must not deny yourself the pleasure of a more cheerful partner for the half hour.”
“You may not have guessed as much, Miss Elizabeth, but I am not fond of dancing. The most pleasurable instance of the exercise in my memory was last week’s indulgence. That incident stands out as the exception, but I would hope it to become the rule. Thus, I prefer the company of the woman who partnered me for that memorable encounter.”
“I think we would be very likely to quarrel, and would you then engage yourself to suffer through an entire set with such a partner?A few moments at the punch bowl would surely suffice, for is not your new…” she bit her lip. “I am given to understand that newly engaged gentlemen are not expected to dance with every young lady who must be sitting down in want of a partner. Would it not displease your bride?”
A low laugh rumbled beside her. “I have the pleasure of disabusing you of one misapprehension. Allow me to assure you that I am not unhappily betrothed.”
“I thought…” she felt herself faltering as the floor beneath her feet seemed to tilt and the figures before her blurred. “That is… I had heard there remained some obligation….”
“Indeed, I have pledged myself to my aunt and cousin’s support, but not in such a way that I had once feared. Your assumption is natural, of course—when you left me that evening, I grant you that my circumstances looked rather bleak. However, certain developments followed which, I hope, I shall one day have the liberty to disclose in full.”
Elizabeth felt as if a great fist had been closed round her heart, and then suddenly withdrawn, but the heat remained in her face. “That must have pleased you, sir.”
“More than you can imagine.”
The couples were forming now, and they parted to stand opposite one another in the line. She could feel the weight of his gaze, the admiration he scarcely troubled himself to conceal, and she felt conspicuous. Oh, if anyone around her could see that flame kindled in his eye, could understand what he meant by it!
Who was she to attract his notice? One of five disgraced daughters of an impoverished private gentleman? Of what virtues could she boast which might make her worthy of an honourable offer? No, surely, he, stubborn man that he was, meant to renew that conversation from which she had once fled. The humiliation of what he had certainly come to ask of her would be hers for the rest of her days, even if she refused—which she must! Elizabeth glanced nervously down the line, and while one or two had takennote of the fine-looking gentleman, there were no gloved titters as they appraised him, nor knowing smirks as they identified his partner.
Elizabeth dared to raise her eyes to his face. He certainly was fine. If he had been imposing and powerful-looking in livery, he was now resplendent in his own dress attire. His look was grave and steady, his eyes never stirring from her face, but perhaps one who knew him less well, did not know his habitual aspect, would miss that slight twitching of his mouth, or the softening around his eyes. She swallowed, and the music began.
His hands were as warm and strong as she remembered. She tried to look away, her eyes on his shoulders as they passed one another, but this only recalled to her the memory of another dance, when her hands had rested there….
“Miss Elizabeth, is my company distressing to you?” she heard him murmur lowly as they passed one another again.
“Not at all, sir,” she stared directly at his chest, and thought somehow that she rather missed the brass buttons and gold braid of the livery.
“Yet your eyes tell another story. Do you fear that I have come to expose you, Miss Elizabeth? I assure you, nothing could be farther from my intentions. Why this obvious discomfort when I have been previously acquainted with your ways? Think you that I do not well remember your characteristic impertinence?”
She bit her inner lip and parried with a question of her own. “You did not say before that you were on intimate terms with our new neighbour at Netherfield and intended a visit to the area. Surely you might have, for I recall clearly that we spoke of it.”
He bent low as he turned her in the dance. “And you failed to mention that your father is a private gentleman with a respectable estate. You might have made note of that rather pertinent detail, though it matters little to me now. You were rather vague, as I recall.”
