Page 22 of First Impressions (Passion and Perseverance #1)
Ben, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, was cute but not cute enough to interest Lydia, which was clear as she promptly forgot about him and only had eyes for George.
George Wickham, on the other hand, was very good looking, with an alluring smile and charming eyes; he had wavy, blond hair and was stylishly dressed in shorts and a colorful button-down t-shirt.
“A pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” said George as he extended his hand with a warm smile.
“Very nice to meet you boys.” She shook both their hands and began her interrogation. “So, are you a student at NYU as well, George?”
“No, ma’am,” he chuckled. “I’m flattered but I graduated from Boston University almost ten years ago and I’ve been in Europe for the last five years. I’m in town about to start a new job and Benny let me stay with him while I get on my feet. ”
“Oh, well, we actually are helping a close friend from Boston acclimate to the city as well,” Mrs. Bennet said with pride and a quick glance to Jane.
“Oh yes!” exclaimed Lydia, “Do you know Charles Bingley?”
“Ahh, Charles. I actually do. He was a little older than I am but we went to the same high school for a while – very successful lawyer now I hear.”
“Oh yes, very . And what luck that he and my Jane have just recently started dating,” Irene exclaimed excitedly.
She always felt obligated to share any sort of good news with everyone that she met, especially when it connected them to very rich and very important people.
Beth tried to contain her eye roll as Jane lost the battle with the blush that was slowing staining her cheeks.
“Now if only his friend Mr. Darcy had been more charming, we might have seen love blossom in two couples.”
Sometimes, Beth just wanted to hit her head against the wall.
At that last statement, George seemed to become more interested in their family, His eyes lighting up inquisitively. “You don’t say? That’s actually who I’m in town to see; what a coincidence. I’m taking over a management position at the NY branch of Fitz Corp.”
“Mom, can we move on? I want to look at the dresses,” Kitty whined, clearly bored by the conversation and not caring that she was interrupting.
“Would you like to keep us company while we shop?” Lydia asked, beaming up at George.
“I think Ben was about to leave to go to work, but I would love to,” he responded, looking at Lydia and the rest of the group eagerly.
Everyone said their goodbyes to Ben and headed up the escalator to the women’s dress department.
Beth was intrigued by George Wickham. He had a warm and inviting personality and he looked like an Abercrombie or it could just have been that he seemed to enjoy Lydia’s shameless flirting.
Lydia, Kat, and George meandered off on their own into the sea of formal wear while their mother trapped Jane in a conversation about Charles and how to “reel him in.” Beth pretended to see something she liked and snuck away from the group, already needing a break from her mother’s scheming.
She wandered along among the sequins and tulle, not really seeing any of the dresses, letting her mind start to daydream.
Deciding to punish herself later for it, she thought of Darcy and his kisses; how when he touched her, her whole body had come alive - every cell saturated with yearning, every pore effusing passion.
She couldn’t deny how much she wanted him; it had been an ache since the day they’d met, constantly preoccupying her mind.
Even now, after she spent the whole morning thinking about him, here he was again, the first thing that her mind latched on to.
She wondered if he ever thought about her or if he even cared about how he had treated her.
“Excuse me, Beth, is it?” A strange voice drifted into her thoughts as she realized that someone was talking to her.
She turned around to see George Wickham behind her holding up a pink dress against himself.
“Sorry to interrupt your thoughts, but I was wondering if you think this dress is really my color?”
He looked so serious that Beth couldn’t help herself from laughing out loud, her emotions looking for any outlet at this point.
“Yeah, I think pink goes very nicely with your skin tone,” she joked back.
He smiled back at her as he hung the dress back up. “Well, you looked like you could use a laugh.”
“Thank you, I appreciate the thought.” She gave him a grateful smile as they continued to walk along together.
“Care to share what had you running away from the group? Not literally, even though you do have your running clothes on.”
“Oh, nothing. Just life, I guess.” She wasn’t going to open up that easily just because he made her laugh. “What happened to my sisters? I’m surprised Lydia let you out of her sight. ”
George chuckled, “Well she and Kat went to try on dresses and they won’t let men back in the women’s dressing room, even though I tried to tell them that I was there to try on a dress, but they didn’t believe me.
So, it looks like you are stuck with me.
I can be your fashion consultant if you want.
You know, I did live in Paris for a year. ”
“Oh my, well I don’t have anything in mind. I’ll probably just get something last minute, I’m not too fussy,” she admitted. Then, realizing this was an opportune moment, she gave into her curiosity about his relationship with Darcy. “So, you’re going to work for Mr. Darcy then?”
“Yes! It’s very exciting. William promised me a management job right out of college, but I was out of the country for a few years so now that I’m back, it’s time for me to get to work.”
“I see. Well that’s surprisingly nice of him. Have you known him a long time?” Beth assumed this to be the case, since he was the only person she’d ever hear refer to him as William, and not Darcy or Mr. Darcy; not even Charles addressed him like that.
“Oh yes, almost our whole lives. William’s father took me in when I was young, so we grew up practically as brothers,” George began to explain. “I take it from you and your mother’s comments that Willy has been his usual charming self lately.”
She laughed again at his evident sarcasm. “Yes, you could say that.”
“He does have a tough exterior.” Letting out a deep sigh, he continued, “The job was actually promised to me by his father, who started the business and saw me as a second son. When he died, he asked Will to make sure I had a place in the company when I finished school. When I was done though, Will wouldn’t hire me, even though he swore to his father that he would.
Being young and adventuresome and angry, I decided to gallivant off to Europe for a few years but now I am back and ready collect on what was promised to me. ”
Trying to lighten the mood after revealing that unfortunate incident, he gave her a mischievous smile and pulled off a black satin, strapless gown from a nearby rack and held it up to her with a questioning gaze.
She made a face at him. “No, I don’t like to wear black,” she said as if her expression wasn’t clear enough.
“It’s too depressing. Plus, most people wear black to this ball.
” Although blending in wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world right now.
Not ready to let him off the hook that easily, she redirected back to Darcy.
“So, Mr. Darcy refused to give you the job that his father had promised you?”
“Ahh…” Surprisingly, George appeared to be a little flustered by the comment, turning and pretending to be distracted by a different navy blue gown for a minute before he was ready to respond.
“Well, not that I would say anything bad about Willy, but we didn’t always get along so well, especially as we got older.
He, very formal and rigid, always concerned with school and then the business, and then there was me, the free spirit, always looking for some fun,” he grinned sheepishly.
“It’s understandable; he was inheriting an empire, but we were just two different people.
I think he was a little jealous of my freedom to do what I wanted and how much his father enjoyed spending time with me.
When they were together it was always business, but with William, his father, and I, he was able to relax and have fun.
I think it built up resentment. So, William refused to give me the job at first, maybe because I was just out of school and inexperienced, maybe not.
I got back from Europe about a month ago though and have emailed and called his office several times, trying to get ahold of him but haven’t received a response; I heard through a friend that he was going to be in the city for the summer so here I am, attempting to track him down in person. ”
Beth gave him a puzzled look. Not that she could say that she knew Mr. Darcy with any degree of confidence, but he certainly didn’t seem like the type to ever be jealous of someone.
Like her, he was proud of what he had accomplished, even if he was an ass about it; and she would never resent any of her siblings like that and she couldn’t imagine that he would either .
Then again, his reactions to her were complete contradictions - unwilling to notice her and then unable to keep his hands off of her.
She wondered if he had done the same thing to George - offering him the position and then threatening to take it away; she didn’t know what was worse, playing with someone’s personal or their professional emotions.
Still though, there was something that just didn’t sit right with her about George Wickham.