An Unequalled Affection

Part 9

"How often have I tried to tell you that life is not like a novel? Would you risk our friends like that just to - to create some romance or some drama? It is something I might have expected from Lydia but from you?"

Jane's bitter accusations rolled around and around in Lizzy's brain, so that she was scarcely aware of their reaching Netherfield, and almost before she knew it Mr Darcy was steering her towards the parlour when the sound of feminine voices reached her ears and she stiffened.

I cannot endure Caroline Bingley at this moment! It was a stark realisation and one she was certain she could not put into words, particularly with Mr Bingley close enough to hear. Her gaze met Darcy's and by some miracle he seemed to understand her wishes and changed their direction in an instant, steering her towards another door off the long corridor.

"We will join you in a moment, Bingley," he called to his friend. "I recall a book I mentioned to you, Miss Elizabeth, and now is as good a time as any to locate it."

It was a feeble lie, and were Mr Bingley not entirely caught up in his own concerns for the moment he would surely have commented on it, but to Lizzy's relief, he seemed to accept Darcy's words as truth, continuing without them. All the same, Elizabeth did not let out the breath she was holding until Darcy closed the door of the small library behind them.

"There, I have bought us a moment or two. Sit down, Elizabeth." He gestured her towards a pair of chairs that sat on either side of a chess board, readied for a game. Lizzy sank gratefully into one of them, knocking the board with her elbow and sending several pieces tumbling to the floor.

"Oh!" She stooped to retrieve them but Darcy was quicker, his hand brushing hers as he collected them. She snatched her hand away from his and did not look up at him again until he had straightened, replaced the pieces and moved away. His back was to her, and she chewed on her lower lip, trying to think how best to put into words her feelings towards him at that moment. It had been a kindness to bring her here. Surely he had seen how Jane's dismissal had stung her and he had stepped in to help. Again, he comes to my aid when I am not entirely sure I deserve him to. She could not help but reflect on how bitterly she had misjudged Darcy again and again and she opened her mouth to tell him so, praying the words would find her in time. Before she could venture a single one, though, he turned, fixing his dark eyes on her, his brow furrowed with concern.

"I am sorry, Elizabeth," he said, quietly. "You bade me stop this duel from going ahead. If I had managed to do so we might have avoided this unfortunate course of events from ever taking place." He raked a hand through his hair, leaving it still more dishevelled than it ever had been. He looked so unlike his usually neat and perfectly contained self that Lizzy almost smiled. She was seeing a new side to Mr Darcy, one she had scarcely before credited him of possessing, let alone displaying for all to see.

Hardly all, she countered, reminding herself with a glance around the room that they were alone. This, too, was a strange development. She could count on the fingers of one hand the times that she had been alone with Mr Darcy and to her surprise, she found she rather liked it. She ventured a smile.

"It was an impossible task. I ought not to have expected you to be able to bend others so easily to your will, even if your will is for their good." She let out a low sigh, thinking of Jane and her part in the heartbreak her sister must be feeling. "I have learnt to my detriment that people cannot be commanded about as if they were characters in a novel." Her breath hitched, recalling Jane's bitter accusation and she sank lower in her seat, turning her attention towards the chess board and quite without meaning to, playing an opening move.

She did not see Darcy's lips quirk as he looked at her, but she heard the ghost of a smile in his voice as he replied.

"I suppose we are both to blame in thinking we know what is best for other people. I am sure my interference would merely make matters worse, as it has done thus far." Two quick footsteps echoed on the parquet floor and he leaned over the board, playing her opposite in silence.