Page 17 of Darcy's Guarded Heart
“She wouldn’t. She does not know him as I do,” Darcy said, unable to take his eyes off the pair. Then, Wickham caught his eye and dipped his head in his direction as though they were old friends. He wanted to dash across the dance floor and grab him by the collar, dragging him out and sending himaway forever, but none of those options were available. He could not make a spectacle of himself and Georgiana would never understand. She was naive and gullible when it came to Wickham, just as Darcy’s father had been.
Without warning, he found himself suddenly bereaved of a partner as Miss Elizabeth let go of him. He paused, confused by the sudden development.
Bingley and Jane were dancing right behind him, and if it weren’t for Bingley’s swift movement, they would have crashed directly into him. He stepped aside just in time to see Miss Elizabeth bending down. He hadn’t been aware that she had dropped anything, and when she rose again, he saw her pull a handkerchief out of her pocket.
What was she doing?
Then he saw it. They were standing just a few steps away from Thomas Bennet, and she quickly fiddled with her handkerchief so everyone could see but as she bent forward, he saw she was whispering something to the young Mr Bennet. Then she turned around and got back into position. “Excuse me, Mr Darcy, I was rather clumsy and dropped my handkerchief.”
“You did not—” he said, but she gently moved him back onto the dance floor, and they fell back into step. From the corner of his eye, he saw Thomas Bennet walking in the direction of Georgiana. He smiled charmingly while Wickham looked decidedly unamused.
With a smooth movement, Thomas Bennet inserted himself into Wickham and Georgiana’s conversion before bowing to Wickham and then escorting Georgiana away.
“Thomas shares your feelings regarding Mr Wickham,” she said quietly. “Rest assured, your sister will be perfectly well looked after.”
The rest of the dance passed without any interruption, though conversation between him and Miss Bennet ceased. He was too busy watching as Thomas Bennet led Georgiana, Lydia Bennet, and the officer whose name appeared to be Mr Denny towards the other side of the room.
Wickham, meanwhile, disappeared into the crowd on the other end of the room, and an unease filled Darcy’s stomach to the point where he did not know how to rid himself of it. Once the dance concluded, he bowed before Miss Elizabeth.
“Thank you for your interference,” he said quickly, and before she could reply, he dashed off in search of Georgiana.
However, to his dismay, he could not find her at once. The spot where the group had been now occupied by Mr and Mrs Hurst.
“Are you in search of your sister?” Mrs Bennet said from somewhere to his right. He spun and saw her standing there with a satisfied smile. “She and my daughters are having a rather grand time and are about to dance the Quadrille.”
“Thank you, Mrs Bennet,” he replied, loathing that he had to converse with her at all, let alone be grateful.
“I saw you danced with my Elizabeth. She is a gifted dancer, she studies dance as if it were a science, but I did attempt to share her delight with you before,” she said, not hiding her snide tone.
“I thank you, Mrs Bennet,” he replied and left to find Georgiana. Alas, once more, time was not on his side as by thetime he found her, she was already in line to dance the Quadrille with Thomas Bennet.
She stood beside the young man on her left, while Mr Denny, Lydia Bennet, Kitty Bennet, and another officer stood on her other side. Bingley and Jane Bennet then joined them, each with their partners. He recognised the woman on Bingley’s arm as Sir William’s daughter, but he wasn’t sure who was the man with Jane. Whoever he was, he wasn’t Wickham.
The merry group chatted and then made their way onto the dance floor, all of them unaware that Darcy had been staring at them the entire time.
Across the room, he spotted Wickham making his way over to Elizabeth, who had left his side and unknowingly had given him no further thought after bidding her goodbye. He realised that this was perhaps rude. He found his eyes darting from one side to the other. On one side, his sister was dancing with a man most unsuitable. In fact, if any of his Fitzwilliam family had seen her dancing with a gentleman’s ward, they would have been mortified and accused him of not looking after her properly.
Meanwhile, on his other side, the man he had long regarded as his greatest rival his entire life was making conversation with Elizabeth. Both sides were disturbing. And yet he found that right at this moment, he was not going to be able to do anything about either.
Chapter Nine
Elizabeth
Elizabeth took a weary step back as Mr Wickham approached. She hadn’t been surprised when Mr Darcy seemed less than fond of him after realising they knew one another.
Mr Wickham had been utterly charming when she first met him a few months ago, but since then, she had come to find him not the most trustworthy of people.
Still, she thought Mr Darcy’s reaction to seeing him speak to his sister was somewhat of an overreaction. After all, what could the man have done? It wasn’t as if he had approached her in haste; rather, she had been quite delighted to see him.
Not so for Mr Darcy, of course. But then again, when had he ever appeared delighted to see anyone? Both tonight and at the assembly, he had regarded everyone with disdain. Still, something more than simple antipathy had governed his reaction to Mr Wickham. His tone had made her realise he was genuinely distressed about the prospect of his sister speaking to Mr Wickham, and she had felt compelled to intervene.
Her intervention hadn’t been just for Mr Darcy’s sake. If there was something amiss, she did not want to expose the young woman to it. She couldn’t deny that Thomas’s words of warning still echoed in her mind. Thomas was friendly with Jerome King, cousin to Miss Margaret King, whom Mr Wickham had recently attempted to court. The Kings had soonrealised that Mr Wickham’s intentions were not sincere and his motivation for courting her was more the debt he’d run up at the Carlton Arms Inn where he’d lost more than his fair share of card games. Thus, Miss King had been swiftly moved away from Meryton for an extended stay with an aunt in the Welsh countryside.
Due to this, Thomas had been more than willing to stir immediately when he had whispered to her about Mr Darcy’s concern.
Now he was on the dance floor with the young woman and her sisters, along with Mr Bingley, having a grand time. Elizabeth smiled, but a little sorrow tugged at her heart, for she knew that while Thomas appeared perfectly happy now, surrounded by friends whilst dancing, he was very much alone off the dance floor. She had seen the way Mr Darcy had looked at him, with such condescension, knowing now that Thomas was not the Bennet’s son. She wished it were only Mr Darcy who looked down upon him, but she knew he was merely a reflection of their entire society.
“Miss Elizabeth,” Mr Wickham said, closing the distance between them. “Did I see you dancing with Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy?”
