Page 30 of Bitten By Mr. Darcy
She pressed into his chest, seemingly unable to stop herself, remembering how nice it was when he bit her. “You want me now?”
“Quite a great deal,” he said in a thick voice.
“Are you going to bite me?”
He sighed. He touched her neck, gentling his fingers over her there and it made her shiver. “I should like nothing more than to taste you, but we are alone, and I am not certain I should chance it. If I lost control, no one could stop me.”
“You could kill me?” she said.
“I could, Elizabeth.” He searched her gaze.
“But you don’t usually kill humans.”
“No, I have not in a very long time,” he said. “And it woulddestroy meto lose you. So, I am fairly certain I would be careful.”
“I don’t trust you, Mr. Darcy,” she said. “I would be a fool to trust you.”
“Yes, you would.”
“But I crave you,” she said.
He groaned, capturing her lips with his own. She clung to him as he kissed her quite senseless.
Then, abruptly, he pulled away, no longer touching her, and began walking, rather quickly, away.
She caught up to him. “Are you leaving me?” she said, breathless.
“What were we speaking of?”
She tried to think. “I know not, only that it was a conversation with a man named Mr. Wickham, who says he knows of you—”
“Wickham!” Mr. Darcy rounded on her, shaking his head. “He’s not entirely trustworthy, I’m afraid.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Are you saying that because he knows how to kill you? For you should know he declined to help me do it, but he did say that I must, that if I do not, I shall turn into a vampire.”
“So, he is the one putting ideas in your head,” said Mr. Darcy. “No, I tell you, Elizabeth, you are not going to turn.” He walked faster.
“He says that you have no reason to be truthful with me,” she said.
Mr. Darcy smirked. “Ah, does he? Did he tell you what he attempted with my sister?”
“You mean, Mr. Darcy’s sister, sir? Because Mr. Hurst explained to me that you are not really the Darcy heir, that you are only posing as the heir.”
“Ah, he did,” said Mr. Darcy. “Well, she is like my sister, truly, and I am dearly fond of her. When I came into her life, she was all alone, poor little duckling, just a small girl with no parents or brother, and I have watched her grow and taken care of her. She is like a sister to me, like a daughter in many ways, I may say. I would not allow harm to come to her, and Mr. Wickham tried to harm her.”
“What do you mean?” said Elizabeth. “He said that she was kind to him when she was a small girl but that she had grown haughty.”
“Oh, haughty? Because she did not wish to marry him? She is the heir to a great deal of money and property, and Mr. Wickham wished to take control of her in that way. He tried to convince her to elope with him, and she nearly was swayed, but she sent word to me, asking if I thought it a good idea, and I came to her straightaway and prevented all of it from happening.”
“Truly?” said Elizabeth, thinking that over.
“Mr. Wickham does not like me,” said Mr. Darcy.
“He said something else,” she said, “that you blocked him from making a living?”
“Oh, that is how he saw that?” said Mr. Darcy. “There was a position in Derbyshire as a parson, and it was to be offered to Mr. Wickham in accordance with the late Mr. Darcy’s wishes. I did so, but Wickham would have none of it. He did not wish it, but he did beg me for the value of the living instead, and I paid him out of the Darcy coffers.”
“Oh,” said Elizabeth. “He sounds… horrid, then.” But she wondered. If they did not like each other, Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham, then was there any way to be sure they saw each other clearly? And was there any reason to trust Mr. Darcy was not lying to her?
