Page 49 of Bitten By Mr. Darcy
“I know you will not hurt me,” she breathed. “I am sure of it.”
He was sure of it, too, and he was moments away from taking her to his bedchamber to strip away every stitch of her clothing and to finally—finally—taste her blood again, but a servant came in and said that he had visitors.
It was Mr. Bingley and Caroline.
“Lizzy,” he said to her, “perhaps you might go and entertain yourself elsewhere while I speak to them.”
“No, don’t send me away,” she said. “Please, do not keep secrets from me, husband.”
So, they all sat down together. He poured wine for them all. He sat with Elizabeth close, close enough he could pull her onto his lap if necessary.
“You’ve been reckless,” said Bingley, getting right down to it. “This marriage is the talk of all of Meryton and parts of London as well. The Matlocks don’t know what to make of it. Your aunt is affronted on the part of her rector, Mr. Collins.”
“Yes, but I have had a letter from home about that,” said Elizabeth. “He’s asked Charlotte Lucas to marry him, as I understand.”
“The point isn’t Mr. Collins or how easily settled he is with someone else,” said Mr. Bingley. “The point is that you, Darcy, are calling too much attention to yourself. We can’t go around marrying young human girls with special licenses in private ceremonies, charming their families into not objecting. We can’t go about charming people to forcibly break entails. This is not done, Darcy. It’s not even like you.”
Darcy felt embarrassed. If he’d still been human, perhaps he would have blushed. He glanced at her, this woman who had made him not act like himself, and he found a strange and silly smile was spreading over his face.
“Darcy,” said Bingley coldly.
He turned back to him, struggling to stop smiling and failing. “I suppose I have positively nothing to say for myself.”
Caroline’s expression narrowed.
Mr. Darcy turned to her, looking her up and down, and then this all began to make sense. He turned back to Bingley. “Why does it matter to you, Charles?”
“Are we doing it that way?” said Bingley. “Well,Fitzwilliam, it’s because you and I are quite heavily associated, and if everyone discovers you’re a vampire, it will not take long for them to notice that we, too, do not ever come out in the day and that no one ever observes us eating and that—”
“No one is going to discover we are vampires,” said Mr. Darcy, brushing this away. “Caroline put you up to this.” He looked directly into her eyes.
Caroline’s nostrils flared.
“Indeed, she did not,” said Bingley. “She and I have spoken about it, of course.”
“Yes, whispering back and forth on one pillow, as I suppose she has crawled back into your bed,” said Mr. Darcy. “How many times must she do that before you realize she only ever gives you her favor because she wishes something of you.”
Bingley sighed heavily. “I don’t expect you to understand, I suppose. You’re so solitary.”
“Understand what?” said Mr. Darcy.
“This sort of love,” said Bingley. “What it is to be with someone for this many centuries, the way it ebbs and flows and the way you hurt and devastate each other, but the way you always come back to each other also. Caroline and I…” He looked at her.
She looked at him.
Darcy looked between them, back and forth, and he shook his head. “You may love her, Bingley, I shall grant you that. It may be that way for you. But I don’t think Caroline is quite capable of love, only obsession and indifference, and a fluctuating between the two. She is currently obsessed with me, not you, but this obsession has soured and now she thinks only to hurt me.”
Bingley grimaced. There was a long pause. “No,” he said finally, but Darcy could tell his words had affected the other man.
Caroline spoke up. “Cor meum, you forget what has been between all of us. It is as Charles says, that there is a longstanding relationship between us all, and that it morphs and grows through various phases of our long lives. I am not, and have never been, obsessed with you, but you are connected to us, and we worry about you.”
“Worry,” repeated Darcy, nodding knowingly. “All of this is for my benefit.”
“Your actions do affect us,” said Bingley.
“What is it you are here to ask me to do?” said Darcy. “You have come to ask something.”
Bingley furrowed his brow. He turned to look at Caroline. “Ma belle, I am thinking it through now, and I wonder if it makes as much sense as I thought.Areyou punishing him? Is it that?”
