A Continued Affection

Part 29

It did not seem to matter how hard Darcy tried to avoid her, his eyes were perpetually drawn to Elizabeth Bennet. It seemed to him that even when he was not looking at her he was still only too keenly aware of precisely where she was. No matter what, he could pinpoint her position in the crowd with ease.

"Darcy! Here you are."

His cousin's voice was a trifle too loud and a trifle too merry, considering the assignation they had witnessed upon their arrival. Darcy scowled at him, but that made Richard grin all the wider.

"Will you not introduce me to your friends?"

Darcy resisted only a moment before politeness compelled him to do as his cousin bid, turning back to the party he had escaped to the very edge of. He had been grateful for Bingley's show of friendliness when it came, but when he invited Jane Bennet and her parents to join their circle, Darcy had made every effort to slip away without being seen to slip away, lest Elizabeth join them next. After so many hours dreaming and thinking and planning what he would say when next they met, he found all of his rehearsals had been wasted when confronted with Elizabeth Bennet in a private, intimate conversation with George Wickham.

And I thought him changed! I thought her changed...

Now, he did not know what to think, but he had little enough time to dwell on it, with his cousin standing expectantly before him and Mrs Bennet pausing for breath at that very moment, providing the sort of opportunity that would not come around again soon.

"Might I introduce my cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam?" he said, thrusting Richard forward and grateful that the colonel's broad frame would obscure him from view a little.

"You need not introduce, Darcy! We have met before." Charles Bingley beamed, pleased to be reacquainted with the gentleman he had shared good sport with once on a visit to Pemberley. "You recall my sister, I am sure, Colonel Fitzwilliam."

"Indeed." Richard turned to greet her. "Miss Bingley."

Had Darcy not been in the battling his own private emotions he might have laughed to see how Caroline's smile became pinched as she was compelled to shake hands with the man she had taken an instant and lasting dislike to.

"Colonel Fitzwilliam," she murmured, peering past him towards Darcy. "Mr Darcy did not tell us about your visit."

"That's because he did not know of it!" Richard let out a jovial, booming laugh that drew a few glances from their neighbours and Caroline flinched, visibly irritated.

Her reluctance to associate with the newly-arrived colonel was outstripped by Mrs Bennet's eagerness for an introduction, however, and Charles mercifully saved Darcy from the task. He smirked a little to see the way Mrs Bennet's avaricious eyes lit up as she demanded every detail of Richard's history and present occupation, delighting to hear of his rank and that he was, by birth, a gentleman, albeit a second son to Darcy's uncle.

"You do not look at all alike!" she giggled, laying a hand on Richard's arm. "But then I suppose that ought not to surprise me. I have five daughters, Colonel Fitzwilliam."

"Five? You are too young for such a flock, surely. Or, now I see it, they are all babes, tucked up safely at home in bed and watched over by their nursemaid."

"Oh!" Mrs Bennet blushed, her laughter grating on Darcy's already frayed nerves.

He ought to rejoice to see his cousin so ably and easily ingratiating himself into the affections of their friends, but Darcy could not help but feel a little annoyed that it had happened so easily for Richard when he, Darcy, had struggled.

"I have five daughters," Mrs Bennet repeated. "The eldest, Jane, is standing over there beside Mr Bingley. You see how she takes after me, with her bright eyes and fair complexion."

Darcy managed to disguise his disbelief better than Caroline. She tried to meet his gaze, which fate he narrowly avoided by consulting his watch.

"But the other four look quite unlike her. Why, Lizzy is almost her exact opposite: dark, instead of fair and not half so pretty..."

This was enough to bring Darcy's habitual frown back into place once more, though he rued himself for the action and the feeling that provoked it. If only he could agree with Mrs Bennet's assessment that Elizabeth Bennet be not pretty perhaps he could put her from his mind for once and for all. He might have avoided the mess his heart was now in if she had only been not pretty. Yet he knew that looks were not even one-quarter what he valued in Elizabeth Bennet. Her mind, her spirit and her soul were elements that could not be quantified, nor compared adequately with any other.

Why then must she waste them on association with Wickham?

He let out a tiny desperate sigh of frustration, low enough to be missed by all except Richard, who turned to look at him with concern. His features rearranged themselves into a smile almost immediately, the same brash smile he tended to reserve for Caroline Bingley but which was deployed with equal success against Mrs Bennet.

"And where are these other daughters of yours, Mrs Bennet? It is almost time to dance and I am certainly eager for a partner. Darcy?"

Darcy said nothing, and Caroline took the opportunity to squeeze a little closer to him, hoping that if he was to ask anyone to dance it would be her.

"There she is! Oh, look, she is standing with your sister, Mr Darcy! What providence!"

Mrs Bennet waved the pair over and Darcy's mood sank still further when he spotted Georgiana and Richard exchange a glance. Had this been a plan hatched between them? To disperse, to divide and conquer? Yes, that would be the very militaristic approach his cousin would take. Yet why Elizabeth? It could not be so very obvious, surely, that he thought well of her? How could Georgiana have guessed? How could Richard?

"Miss Elizabeth! Your mother has just been telling me all about you."

"This is Colonel Fitzwilliam, Lizzy," Mrs Benne said, with a significant look at her daughter. "Mr Darcy's cousin," she added, when Elizabeth did not show any immediate spark of recognition.

"Good evening, Colonel." Elizabeth smiled, but her eyes rested on Richard for only a moment before jumping to Darcy. There was some light in them, some shadow he could not place, and his heart constricted. It was true, then. He had not misconstrued what he saw. She had been speaking to Mr Wickham, perhaps she often spoke to him. Perhaps...perhaps...

"Well, if you are not going to dance then I shall," Colonel Fitzwilliam declared, after waiting a long moment in silence for Darcy to make his move. "Miss Elizabeth, perhaps you will honour me with the first dance?"

Elizabeth hesitated a moment, glancing at Darcy, but he remained stoic and when whatever silent question she asked was left unanswered, she turned to the colonel with a faint smile.

"You are very kind."

"Kind? Nonsense. I care to dance, and I have it on good authority you have some spirit. Let us show the rest of them how it is done."

Their party paired off easily: Mr Bingley inviting Jane, of course, and Caroline, despite her best attempts to hover around Mr Darcy, accepted the invitation of a neighbour. Only Georgiana was left without a partner and she placed herself carefully by Darcy's side, not looking at him.

"Do you not care to dance, Sister?" he asked, as the first strains of music began to play.

"Not at present," Georgiana replied, with a tight smile. "I have all evening to dance. I shall spend a little time with you if you do not mind it?"

Her small hand wormed its way into the crook of Darcy's elbow and squeezed, an unasked for but needed encouragement. Darcy smiled.

"Of course I do not mind it. Only come, let us retreat a little to allow the dancers all the space they require." And allow me to avoid being forced to watch Elizabeth Bennet dance with my cousin!