Page 4 of Bitten By Mr. Darcy
“Darcy was in a mood earlier,” giggled Louisa. “I daresay he needed something to improve his constitution.”
“I was not in a mood,” said Darcy, aware he sounded sulky.
Louisa giggled more and Bingley joined in.
“Which girl did you taste?” said Caroline, her voice sultry.
“One of the Bennets,” said Bingley. “They are the clear diamonds in the rough of this little country town, I think.”
“You were dancing with one all night,” said Caroline.
“Not all night,” said Bingley. “Two dances is all.”
“That was the eldest,” said Caroline. “Which one was Darcy putting his teeth in?” She leaned forward, and he could see her smile in the scant light. “Howdidshe taste,cor meum?”
“She was…” Darcy had the odd intention to conceal what she tasted like, but then he decided that it would be more prudent to let them all know. “She was a sirensong for me, actually. The likes of which I haven’t ever encountered.”
“Truly?” Caroline chuckled. “More than that little orange-haired thing in Ireland back during the de Courcy invasions?”
“A great deal more,” he said.
“A great deal more than that one?” said Bingley. “Are you quite serious, Darcy?”
Darcy sighed.
“Well, how astonishing,” said Bingley. A long pause. “I wonder if you ought to go back to London.”
“No, no, it’s nothing so dire as all of that,” said Darcy, who had already decided that he wasn’t going back to London after all. Elizabeth Bennet was intriguing and delicious, and he didn’t wish to go far from her at all.
“Speaking of that orange-haired girl, though,” said Louisa. “That went badly.”
“I didn’t do that,” said Darcy, huffing.
“It’s been quite some time,” said Bingley. “You may admit it now, surely, old friend. None of us would judge you. We know how it may come upon you with a sirensong. All of us have experienced it.”
“I tell you,” said Darcy, “I did not kill her.” But the truth was, it had been a near thing with that one, too close too many times.
“Yes, even so,” said Louisa, “with a sirensong, one can’t stop oneself from going back for more, and that will expose us all here.”
“Not if I’m careful,” said Darcy. “Not if I’m diligent about charming her.”
Bingley scoffed. Louisa scoffed. Because everyone knew that charming grew less effective the more often one did it to one human, and that if he was going to drink her blood again and again, she would eventually become immune to his charms.
“They are called sirensongs for a reason,cor meum,” said Caroline softly. “If you wish someone to accompany you, I shall go to London with you. We can go on the morrow.”
“I am not going back to London,” said Darcy firmly.
CHAPTER TWO
ELIZABETH BENNET THOUGHTthat Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy was the most disagreeable man in the whole of England. She had overheard him saying she was not handsome enough to tempt him to dance, and then… well, that was all, but there was something about the man that made her feel something strange and odd and dreamy, and this made her even more determined to hate him.
After all, when a man insults a woman, a woman does not spend the rest of her time going strangely soft on him, or daydreaming about him from time to time, or finding his handsome countenance dancing on the edge of her consciousness, imagining him saying things like,You are exquisite.
Hewashandsome, that was the truth.
He was altogether awful in every other way, however.
She had spent the past several weeks since the ball at Meryton telling positively everyone how much she disliked him. It was to the point that her sister Lydia had told her that anyone who spent so much time actively hating someone obviously didn’t hate them, and Elizabeth had resolved to say nothing else of Mr. Darcy ever again, for if Lydia had noticed, that meant everyone had.
