Page 29 of A Searing Acquaintance
Darcy affected a long-suffering mien and said quietly, “I’m standing right here, you know.”
Elizabeth grinned and looked back and forth between the two men.
“How are you, Elizabeth?” Darcy asked. “Have you been well?”
“Busy, but very well, yes. And you?”
“As you, busy but well. Traveling a bit much.”
“Oh.”
“So, Elizabeth,” Rich broke in. “How did you puncture my cousin’s notable reserve?”
“You mean his ego?” Elizabeth shrugged. Bewilderment crossed one man’s face as amusement burst across the other’s. “I have to ask you, Richard. Does your cousin ever smile? Make small talk? Eat with his fingers?”
“Excuse me?” Darcy said.Small talk? That’s all we did for an hour before she kissed me.
“You used a fork to eat nachos. Who does that?”
“What? No, I didn’t.” Darcy paused, confused. “When?”
“She’s right,” Bingley guffawed. “At the football game, you were scooping up the cheese with a spoon and pushing the chips onto a fork!”
“It was…it was messy. The chips were?—”
“Orange,” Elizabeth inserted. Bingley snorted before wandering off toward Jane, who was across the room, talking with a mutual acquaintance.
Elizabeth looked up at Darcy, her eyes sparkling with laughter. “You really do have a thing about that color, don’t you?” Their eyes met, and her smile faded. “Well, it was a bit messy, I suppose.”
Rich, whose head had been moving back and forth as though at a ping-pong match, burst out laughing. “Wow. Sorry I missed that. Way to behave among the masses, Darcy.”
“I seem to recall your telling me that you hated orange, Elizabeth,” Darcy said lightly.
“Fitzwilliam, a moment!” Darcy closed his eyes upon hearing his aunt’s shrill voice. “Excuse me,” he said quietly, opening his eyes to focus on Elizabeth before slowly walking over to Annabella and her mother.
She was surprised, but only a little, to see Darcy’s quicksilver emotions shift yet again. From friendly-ish to anger yet again. It annoyed her. It annoyed her more that, no matter what expression he wore, he was so handsome.
Rich looked at Elizabeth. “Join me for a drink at the bar? I promise Annabella hasn’t booby-trapped the cocktails.”
Her gaze fell on Rich as she considered his offer. Both men were tall, but Darcy was slimmer, and his dark eyes, wavy chestnut hair, and somber expression were a contrast to the more robust Rich’s mirthful eyes, dark red hair, and perfectly groomed mustache and goatee. He looked like and acted like a player.Maybe he’s the charming version of his dour cousin.
She smiled and agreed, and within five minutes, Rich learned she was in marketing, was able to speak knowledgeably about currentaffairs and literature, and could name the starting lineup of last year’s Yankees.
“Please.” He pressed his card into Elizabeth’s hand. “I don’t want to pester you for yours, so you take my number. I have seriously great seats, and I can’t always use them. It’s your choice: pick a game with me or take your friends.”
He squeezed her hand. “It was lovely to meet you, but I have to go. I have dinner plans, but first,” he said, nodding his head grimly toward Annabella, Darcy, and his aunt, “duty calls. I must forge into the headwaters and say my goodbyes. Be in touch, all right?”
He took a step before turning back, an odd expression on his face. “Keep an eye on my cousin, won’t you? You appear to be one of the only people he knows here, and he might need you to rescue him from strangers. Or family.” He winked and moved away.
Elizabeth Bennet, white knight, rescues Fitzwilliam Darcy, damsel in distress.She muffled a giggle and looked at Rich’s card.Hmm, the UN. Flexing his diplomatic skills here too.The two cousins seemed like yin and yang. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. Darcy needed someone to balance his unbearable darkness of being. She wondered whether he was actually upset over being teased about his aversion to orange.Best not to wave a carrot at him.And when did she say she didn’t like orange? She didn’t remember that conversation.
“I thought we were past our mutual misunderstanding about orange.”
Startled, Elizabeth looked up from the card Rich had handed her. Darcy stood, looming over her, wearing yet another version of his angry face. She smiled up at him, one eyebrow raised. “Perhaps, though you seem a bit confused about my affection for orange. I must say, you have many amusing habits that bear further inquiry.”
“And in my cousin, you’ve found a new comrade with whom to make sport of me?”
Elizabeth tapped the card against his lapel. “He works at the UN? He seems less, um, diplomatic than I would have expected.”
