A Teasing Courtship: A Pride & Prejudice Variation by Kaurifish

Author:Kaurifish [Kaurifish]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kindle Direct Publish
Published: 2024-07-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10: At Supper

Darcy was still somewhat numb from Elizabeth’s confession, but the feel of her was comforting, close by his side — not shrinking away, as he must now admit she had previously done.

Now, he could admit it, when instead she stood by him firmly.

“My model of goodness is Jane,” she explained. “Her sweetness, her readiness to believe the best in everyone. She is truly the best person I know.”

“Do you feel that you fall short of her degree of goodness?” he asked.

“Oh yes. I am positively wicked, compared to Jane. Jane never would have accepted a man’s addresses, if she had not meant to take him.”

“Have you ever done anything so wicked, before?”

She thought while she ate her peas.

“Believing Wickham,” she answered.

“He was an accomplished liar.”

“Still, there were contradictions in his speeches that should have caught my attention, if I hadn’t been so set on hating you.”

“Why were you so inclined?” he asked worriedly.

She blushed.

“You do not remember… at the assembly,” she said, gazing down at her plate.

He looked at her in puzzlement.

“When Mr. Bingley asked if you would like to be introduced to me that we might dance. You do remember how you replied?”

Darcy cast his mind back. The first part of the dance had passed in an unpleasant haze of strange, uncouth faces and boisterous country manners. He had perhaps been a bit touchy when Bingley braced him to dance with a country maiden, the first of many most likely. He had said something rather strong in hopes of warding off the hordes of hopefuls.

“I don’t remember quite what I said,” he admitted.

“You called me tolerable and criticized my lack of partners,” she supplied. “Then spent the rest of the dance staring at me, searching out my every flaw, I thought.”

“I was abominably rude,” he confessed. “I am sorry. I allowed the stress of the crowd to make me act in a quite uncivil way.”

“The crowd? Our few dozens in Meryton?” she asked.

“I do not do well among strangers,” he admitted. “Always I grow awkward.”

“But gatherings in town might be hundreds of people,” she objected.

“I endeavor to stay with my friends,” he explained.

“Then we must certainly escape before the threatened ball,” she exclaimed, looking at him with great sympathy.

“I think it would be much easier to bear such a gathering, if you were with me,” he offered.

“But to spend the evening with your jilted dozens,” she objected.

“None of them can claim to be jilted,” he said calmly.

She looked at him.

“Merely disappointed, then?”

“If so, not through any doing of mine.”

“You were too busy fleeing to flirt, I suppose.”

“There is substantial truth to your observation,” he said.

She watched him, taking this in, when she realized the covers had been removed.

She rose, and instantly Darcy was at her side to escort her. His touch on her was tender, yet possessive, and it stirred her disturbingly.

He paused at the entrance to the drawing room.

“You must be exhausted. Would you prefer to retire?”

“Perhaps we might sit for a time,” she suggested.

Promptly he seated them in chairs set close by one another.

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