Page 119 of A Searing Acquaintance
“You are quite the all-in-one package, Mr. Darcy. Not only do you have a well-stocked pantry and fantastic bathroom amenities, you’re charming, sexy, cute, rich, and vexingly strategic.” She looked at him, his face red and apparently biting back laughter. “However,” she continued, “I don’t think you learned the charming part at business school. I find it hard to believe you never met a woman smart enough to snatch you up.”
“Oh, but I did. I’m bloody well snatched now. Is it a plan?”
Elizabeth set aside her mug and crawled onto the bed. “It’s a smart plan: you playing to all my weaknesses.” She straddled him andleaned down. “You’re one of them, you know. So is chocolate, and I have to tell you, sweetie, I love you scruffy, but you have this little chocolate mustache that needs some attending to.” She kissed him, and pulled back a bit, her eyes sparkling with mirth. “Nope, there’s a bit more over here…”
He smiled and flipped her over on her back. “I’d best check you too.”
Half an hour later, with all chocolate cleaned up, and all of Darcy’s bits checked and tested for damage, a naked Elizabeth was curled up in his arms. “So, I talked to Mr. Philips today about working at home two days a week. Working here if that’s okay.”
“Of course it’s okay. It’s your home too.” He turned and caressed her face. “I love the idea. What prompted it?”
“Getting to the office from here has been difficult, and it’s going to be harder come winter.”
“I know. I’m sorry about that. Rudy will drive you.”
She considered the idea. “That would be sweet. I could use the travel time for working on my book.”
“Did he agree to a home office?”
“Yes, right away.” She was still surprised at the alacrity with which her boss had greeted the idea. “I’m going to work here Tuesdays and Fridays. Assuming you werejokingabout firing the poor woman, Mrs. Reynolds isn’t here those days, and it’s useful if we’re leaving for the weekend.”
He laughed. “Splendid idea,” he said, before kissing the parts of her that she knew he found even more splendid.
It was half past ten when Darcy arrived at the door to Ted Bennet’s office at the University of Meryton.Too late for coffee, too early for lunch.He’d had Sara call to check the man’s schedule, but the Classics Department library had no central office or secretary, and he’d determined it was best not to leave a voicemail message since Elizabeth’s father seemed as likely to avoid him as to deepen his grudge against him. So he was counting on Ted being on campus and in his office on Wednesdays. He’d been happy to ride along with Rudy and Elizabeth to her office after convincing her he had a meeting at the airport.One white lie in service of a greater purpose. She’d know the truth soon enough.
He’d taken a stroll around the campus, wanting to see his girl’s old stomping grounds and, if he was completely honest, to steel himself for Mr. Bennet’s acerbic wit. He hoped to see something more than mere humor in Ted Bennet, to glimpse sincere paternal love for his daughter. Darcy knew he was far from a perfect man, but he was improving every day with Elizabeth, and he knew he would do whatever it took to be his true, best self with his children. No child of his would ever feel the hurt and embarrassment he’d seen too often on Elizabeth’s beautiful face.
He took a breath and knocked.
An exasperated and familiar voice beckoned. “Whoever needs to bother me may enter. Those who know too much, run away now.”
Darcy rolled his eyes and turned the doorknob.
“Hello, Mr. Bennet.”
“Mr. Darcy, darkening my doorway?” Ted peered up from a book, his forehead wrinkled in concentration. “This must be important.”
Darcy glanced around the cramped room, books piled on tables and shelves, the floors covered with precarious stacks of thick tomes. The whole pace smelled of moldy paper and old coffee. He gestured toward a chair. “May I?”
“If you don’t mind moving a badly translated copy ofBeowulf, be my guest,” Ted replied, a smirk supplanting the surprise that had appeared when he first saw Darcy.
“You’ve left the safe confines of Manhattan to venture to our bucolic land-grant campus. I dare say you’re not here to endow a chair or purchase tickets for next week’s performance ofMarat/Sade.” Ted leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping on a magnifier and his eyes on Darcy.
“Right on all counts as you know. I’m here to talk about Elizabeth.”
“Not Lydia, who has been requesting a $600 camera ever since your encouragement to her at the rehearsal dinner?”
“Lydia has an artist’s eye for composing a shot. She should be encouraged. Elizabeth and I hope to take her to the Steichen exhibit next month.”
“No praise for Mary?”
Fine, I’ll play your game.“Mary has a sharp, analytical mind. I enjoy discussing books with her. I look forward to hearing the outcome of that research project she’s joined on gender politics in education.” Darcy could tell Ted Bennet had no idea Mary was part of any academic study.
He leveled a serious look at the older man. “I’m happy to praise Jane as a lovely, smart, kind woman who can crunch numbers with finesse and accuracy. I’m pleased to know all three of them.”
“And happier still to know ‘she who has not been named?’” Ted chuckled at his joke while Darcy tamped down his ire.
“To know and love her, yes.” He rubbed a hand across his jaw as he debated stating his full feelings. “I love your daughter. She is the best woman—the smartest, kindest, most insightful woman—I’ve ever known.”
