“I do not sound anything like that!” Caroline spluttered, outraged. “How dare—”
“Do you know what your problem is, Caroline Bingley?”
Caroline’s fists were clenched so hard, she was beginning to worry she might be doing permanent damage to her finger joints. “Oh, do tell me,” she snapped. “Listing my flaws appears to be the preferred pastime of the Darcys. Why stop what your brother started?”
Georgiana approached with one finger held out and didn’t stop until it was pressed against Caroline’s right collarbone. “This process, or whatever you call it, is all about you.”
“Well, yes,” she agreed, her attention caught by the feel of Georgiana’s finger against her bare flesh, of the dark eyes pinning her in place with a savage glare. Even furious, Miss Darcy was uncommonly beautiful; in fact, the anger heightened her attractiveness rather than diminished it, rendered her a wild creature of wind and fire rather than the poised, glossy perfection of the ballroom.Pay attention, Caroline scolded herself. “That was rather the point, wasn’t it?”
“All about you,” Georgiana repeated, jabbing her finger for emphasis. “Like everything else is. You clearly have not thought about me at any point.”
Caroline blinked, baffled by the accusation. “I came to youin the very first instance. I asked you for help. Clearly I thought about—”
“I mean about me as a person!” Georgiana turned and strode a few paces away, her chest heaving. When she turned back, her eyes were bright with hurt. At the sight, Caroline felt as if someone had slapped her across the face. “I am so tired,” Georgiana whispered, her voice low and dangerous, “of being perceived as faultless. I am unable to make mistakes like a normal person, for the consequences of a fall from grace would be twice as hard. Perhaps it has never occurred to you that I too would like to be selfish sometimes. That, when in the company of people who disparage my dearest relations, I might like to do something other than smile politely and accept the blow. If we are really the dear friends that you keep insisting we are, then I do not understand why you did not stand up for my family and say something in support of them instead of fawning at the feet of your new acquaintances, no matter how many connections they have.”
Caroline opened her mouth but could not think what to say. “You’re being rather selfish now,” was what came out. “You have insisted this entire time that I strive to be kind and polite, which is exactly what I did, and now you are saying that I ought not to have been? This is dreadfully unfair! Did you want me to leap across the table, grab that stuffed boar, and wield its tusks in defense of your family’s honour? The Radcliffes are of no consequence whatsoever, so I shall not act as if they are equal to you or your family.” She took a deep breath. “Peace, Georgie. They mean nothing to me, while you mean everything.”
Georgiana marched towards her, the offending finger heldout again, and once again it made contact with Caroline’s bare collarbone, sending a shiver rippling down her arms. “And yet you continued to flirt with him after his sister slighted my cousin,” Miss Darcy said, though her voice held only half the temper it had a minute prior. “You show your loyalty in very strange ways.”
Ah, this is the true crux of the matter, Caroline thought. Georgiana had assumed that Caroline’s lack of reply meant that she agreed with the Radcliffes, or at the very least, thought along the same lines with respect to Colonel Fitzwilliam. While Miss Darcy had known where Caroline’s principles lay on the subject of circles and status, she had evidently not expected it to apply to her own family, a topic about which she was extremely sensitive. Caroline was aware that she ought to apologise, but Georgiana’s earlier comments still rankled.
“I did not flirt,” said she. “I merely helped the conversation along in order to get us through the lunch. There is a vast difference.”
“I never liked him.” Georgiana’s lip curled. “You have terrible taste in men. I hope the next will not be so uncouth.”
“I never said Mr Radcliffe was to my taste,” Caroline snapped. “And you do me a disservice to be angry at me when you’re really angry at him and his sister. You cannot hold me responsible for the behaviour of a man I only just met, nor for any of his relatives’ behaviour. Please be sensible, Georgie. I could not possibly have guessed at his bad habits and discourtesy before I got to know him, or else I should never have agreed to go to lunch. I cannot be expected to find out what I like in a man if I do not try to get to know a few, and if we discover their vices or cruel natures quickly, that is all the better. Or would you rather I marry the next suitor on sight alone andsimply hope for the best? Never mind that he may be yet another rabid huntsman whose idea of fun is—”
“You—” Georgiana prodded at Caroline again, her lips pursed, and Caroline grabbed her hand, forcing it down to their waists.
“Stop poking me like a prize pig, Miss Darcy,” she hissed.
“Then stop acting like a hard-headed goat, Miss Bingley. And what on earth do you mean, what you like in a man? Don’t you know?”
“Well, I... certainly have more of an idea now of what I do not want.” Caroline hesitated. She ought to let Georgiana’s wrist go, but Miss Darcy had made no move to pull away, her pulse fluttering under Caroline’s fingertips. “It is impossible to know what I like in a man. Other women seem rather sure of their tastes, but I am finding it difficult to... to...”
“To what?”
“To discern mine,” Caroline cried, dropping Georgiana’s hand. “For all of my talk and my opinions, I simply do not know what I like in men. Or if I particularly like them at all. There, are you happy? I am doing my best with what little I have, and what little I have is decidedly queer.”
That was more than she had meant to say. Quite a lot more, in fact.
“Difficult to discern,” Georgiana repeated, and Caroline knew, without quite knowing how she knew, that her friend was looking at her in an entirely new light. Long seconds passed, those glittering eyes raking her face with such intensity that Caroline could have sworn she felt her skin burn at the contact. “And let me ask you this: Has there ever been any man who—”
The reply was immediate, without requiring any thought. “No.”
“Not even my—”
“Not even him.”
Georgiana didn’t move. They were still standing only a few inches apart, and Caroline became aware of Georgiana’s closeness in a way she had not fully appreciated before. Those full, plump lips. That bosom, heaving with passion. Those dark eyes, so fiercely locked on her own.
“And,” Georgiana breathed, barely moving, as if afraid Caroline would skitter away like a feral cat at the slightest provocation, “what about women?”
Caroline opened her mouth, ready to retort with something incisive, but nothing came out. Instead, a series of pictures filled her mind. Her childhood friend Victoria with the red ringlets. The green-eyed woman from the inn who had pressed against her so knowingly.Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
Oh, God. Oh, no.
Oh, hell, she thought, a split second before Georgiana Darcy lunged forward and kissed her full on the mouth.
