When they returned to the house, all was quiet. Mrs Reynolds appeared as if she’d been lying in wait for them, and after checking to see that neither lady required anything before bed, she retired for the evening. Caroline followed Georgiana into the candlelit library, where the faint smell of struck matches suggested that the housekeeper had anticipated their arrival perfectly, and poured two small glasses of sherry. She turned, holding one out for Georgiana, and made sure their fingers brushed. “Did you have a pleasant evening, Georgie? Would you like to have an even more pleasant one here?”
“I beg of you to stop this,” Miss Darcy said, her voice quiet, strain evident in her tone.
“I do not know what you mean,” Caroline said airily, pretending to examine the bookshelves.
“You know exactly what I mean,” Georgiana snarled, advancing on Caroline. “Wearing your lowest-cut dresses. Bending over every two minutes. Flirting outrageously with me in private, then smiling at every gentleman in the room. Leaning close to me, so that I can smell that perfume which you know I—” She cut herself off, her free hand clenching into a fist. “Just... stop it.”
“I absolutely will not,” Caroline said, as sweetly as she dared. She could see that Georgiana was on the edge, and it would only take a moment of weakness to send them both over the precipice into the abyss. Romantically speaking, of course.
The delicious, delectable abyss.
“You will not?” Georgiana repeated. She turned away, taking a large gulp of her sherry, and placed the glass on the nearby table. “Caroline”—her voice caught—“why are you doing this to me?”
“I am not doing anything to you. I am merely displaying what is on offer, should you choose to imbibe it. And besides, when I enlisted your help in the first place, you told me that I had to agree to be open to trying new things. If this is one of those things, then know that I am very open to it. I only mean to make you acutely aware of that fact.”
Georgiana looked as if she did not know whether to laugh or cry. “You know very well that I did not mean anything like this.”
“Firstly, I do not know that at all. I have no idea what you were referring to when you said it, and you have not exactly elaborated since. And secondly, now that you have introduced the idea, I find myself... unable to stop thinking about it.” She sidled closer, a spark of triumph flaring in her chest when Georgiana did not back away. “The truth is that I would very much like another taste of you, Miss Darcy.”
Georgiana swallowed hard, her throat bobbing, yet she stood her ground. “You are incorrigible, Miss Bingley.”
“Yes, so I’ve heard.”
“We really shouldn’t—”
“Did not you tell me recently that you were tired of being perceived as faultless? That you would like to be selfish sometimes? So why not be selfish with me? Why shouldn’t we indulge ourselves in a pleasurable pastime?”
Using Georgiana’s own words against her wasn’t exactly fighting fair, but Caroline was beyond caring.The ends justify the means, she thought,especially when the ends are so warm and sweet.
Georgiana sighed so long and hard that Caroline instinctively clamped her hand over Georgiana’s mouth. “Sad lung,” she said, by way of explanation when Georgiana’s eyes widened. “You really ought to be more careful, especially if you insist on swimming in that freezing lake.” She released her hand, letting it drift down to Miss Darcy’s shoulder, where it hovered. “I admit that I do not possess much in the way of expertise upon the subject of kissing,” she added. Georgiana’s bosom still rose and fell with sharp breaths, drawing her attention; her blood was already hot with jealousy and frustration, and introducing a competitive element into the situation would surely be the means by which Caroline won this particular battle. “But my opinion was that you performed the previous action with moderate skill, and therefore, I politely request a second kiss in order to pass better judgement on your talent.”
“Moderate?” Miss Darcy repeated, her tone outraged, the flush on her cheeks darkening.
“Moderate,” Caroline confirmed, holding Georgiana’s gaze.
“You are so unbelievably infuriating,” Georgiana hissed, before lunging at Caroline again, pulling Caroline towards her so hard, they fell onto the couch together in a tangle of lips and teeth and grasping, clumsy hands.
In an instant, their mutual irritation turned to passion. For a glorious moment, Caroline felt the warm satisfaction of knowing that she had got precisely what she wanted; the victory was sweet, and the reward was even sweeter.
Really, this is the way the world ought to be.
