Page 5 of First Impressions (Passion and Perseverance #1)
“Gentlemen, Mr. Bingley, Mr. Darcy, may I introduce my two eldest daughters, Jane and Beth.” Mrs. Bennet’s voice sabotaging any and all further thought.
Jane blushed attractively as she shook hands with Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley. It was clear to Beth that Jane’s looks alone had already peaked Charles’ interest as he pulled her hand up to his mouth to kiss it.
Her cheeks reddened even more as he spoke.
“It is my pleasure to meet you, Jane. I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things from both of your parents,” Charles responded, unable to take his eyes off of Jane.
Someone quietly cleared their throat causing Charles to remember himself, he quickly turned to Beth to shake her hand and warmly greet her.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Bingley.”
“Oh, please, call me Charles,” he insisted with a smile.
In comparison with that pleasant greeting, Mr. Darcy gave a brief glance and nod of his head to them accompanied by a curt, ‘a pleasure,’ and promptly resumed his conversation with Mr. Lucas.
Charles seemed a bit embarrassed by his friend’s response and quickly took the opportunity to start up a conversation with Jane.
Mrs. Bennet discreetly leaned over to Beth and huffed, “What a snob. All that money and a handsome face can’t buy you good manners I guess; too proud of his own self-importance to converse with you beautiful girls. What a disappointment.”
Mr. Bennet, hearing his wife’s not-so-discreet whisper touched her elbow and gave her a stare that suggested she be careful insulting the man who had the power to make or break their potential business arrangement.
Deciding that the brief spark earlier must have come from her rapid consumption of champagne, Beth enthusiastically threw herself into Jane and Charles’ conversation.
By this point, the DJ had started playing some classics and people were moving out onto the dance floor.
Starting to feel like the third wheel in the conversation, Beth excused herself from the group and made her way to the bar, hoping that holding a full glass of wine would deter any dance requests.
As she waited for her drink and chatted with some of the other gala attendees, she saw that Jane and her father had made their way to the dance floor along with Mr. Lucas and her mother.
Glad that no one had come looking to dance with her, she moved around the corner column to the other side of the bar, trying to hide herself from view and take a minute to herself.
Looking around from her hiding spot, Beth was happy to see Char making her way over to her after being separated earlier before they had a chance to talk.
The girls took a few minutes to catch up on work and family drama before they became distracted into silence as more guests made their way out to the dance floor.
Just when her mind had returned to gorgeously rude Mr. Darcy, Beth saw him and Charles making their way through the small crowd gathered around the bar to get themselves another drink; fortunately, they didn’t notice that she was standing right around the corner from them as she was effectively obscured by the decorative column.
As they waited for their drinks, Beth began to listen in on their conversation.
“I think I’m going to ask Jane for a dance,” Charles stated excitedly as he looked transfixed on his prospective partner dancing with her father.
“Do you think that’s wise? We are about to be in the middle of a business arrangement; it’s never a good idea to mix business and pleasure,” Darcy replied, scolding him .
“Oh, Darcy come on. It’s a party, try to have a little fun. I almost regret asking for your help with this venture, if you’re not going to enjoy yourself.”
“I am enjoying myself, and part of that enjoyment comes from not dancing. You know I can’t stand dancing, especially with someone I don’t know, or even worse, some insipid chit,” Darcy retorted.
“There are plenty of gorgeous, very nice women here. You don’t know any of them so you can’t know that they are brainless,” Bingley replied, appearing to be quite anxiously awaiting the end of the song so that he could make his way back over to Jane to request a dance.
“Charles, your quarry is the only beautiful girl in the room and I’m presuming that you don’t want me stealing her out from under you.”
Charles shot Darcy a look at his smart comment.
“Well, I can’t disagree that she is the most beautiful one here; but with your manners, I doubt she would enjoy being stolen by you.
What about her sister, Beth? I don’t see her out on the dance floor.
She is very sharp, definitely not vapid at all.
She’s probably the only one I’ve met so far who could deal with your deplorable social skills. ”
Even though they couldn’t see her, Beth blushed slightly at Charles’ compliment and was eagerly waiting for a moment later when she could tell Jane what he had said about her. However, her small pleasure was short-lived as Mr. Darcy responded to his suggestion.
“Beth? You mean the one in the red? I can’t dance with her; she’s barely tolerable, but not my type and definitely not on my level.
I’m just not in the mood to entertain someone who is so inconsequential to me.
It looks like the song is ending though, so you better go over and find Jane before I decide to. ”
Charles looked like he wanted to respond, but Darcy was right, the song had ended and he wanted to ask Jane for the next dance before someone else beat him to it. So, with a disapproving stare, he left Darcy standing at the bar to finish his scotch old-fashioned alone.