Page 16 of Why I Kissed You (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

“Further,” Darcy continued, “if you can still bear the sight of me, you are more than welcome to come to Darcy House.”

“I must see Jane,” said Bingley, and he started up the stairs again.

Darcy went after him and took his arm to stop his progression. A muscle in Bingley’s jaw twitched and he glared pointedly at the hand that held him.

Letting go at once, Darcy said, “I know you’ve no wish to heed my advice at present, but it is too late to call on her tonight.”

“And frankly, Bingley,” added Fitzwilliam, “you are in no fit state to be in her company. I daresay Miss Bennet would be much distressed to see you as you are now.”

Bingley clearly did not want to agree with either of them, but still he nodded. “You’re right, I can’t let her see me like this—it would only frighten her.”

Darcy breathed a sigh of relief. “Will you come to Darcy House?” he asked quietly. “The Miss Bennets and their aunt and uncle will be dining with myself, Georgiana, and Fitzwilliam tomorrow evening. By then, I am sure, your temper will be in a much better state for entertaining your lady.”

“My lady,” said Bingley with a mirthless chuckle. He looked to Darcy then and asked, “Does she know—the truth, I mean?”

With a shake of his head, Darcy replied, “Not unless Miss Elizabeth has told her in the last couple of hours.”

“Best let her take the lead then, I daresay,” Bingley mused, then continued up the stairs. Darcy let him go and headed back toward his cousin.

“Mr. Darcy,” Mrs. Hurst addressed him. “What can be the meaning of this? Why did you tell Charles about our keeping that girl’s presence from him? You said yourself that we were acting for his own good!”

“Indeed,” added Miss Bingley in a haughty tone as she crossed her arms. “You told the same lies we did.”

Darcy was once again angry and lifted a hand to stave off further comments. “I never lied to your brother. He could hardly ask me if I had heard from Miss Bennet—though as he said a moment ago, you did lie when you said you had not.”

Mrs. Hurst raised her hands to her hips. “What about that chit’s being in London, or when we told you she’d called here and asked you not to tell him about it?”

“To refrain from mentioning something is not the same as telling a lie,” said Darcy.

“However, my agreement to do so was the second time I erred in judgment, Mrs. Hurst. At the time, I did think it for the best that he not know, but that was only because I truly believed Miss Bennet indifferent to him. Believing her indifferent was my first mistake, as I now know she is not and never was.”

“And how do you know that Miss Eliza Bennet has not lied to you?” Miss Bingley challenged.

“She could be swearing that Jane Bennet is in love with my brother solely for the sake of securing a rich husband for her sister, as she has somehow manipulated you into marrying her! What tricks did she use against you? Oh, come now, Darcy, you need not marry her because of some silly compromise! Surely your revered uncle the earl can get you out of it—I am certain he would never countenance damaging the respectability of his nephew or the credibility of his family by allowing such a connexion. She is so… so ill-mannered and ill-bred and … and plain! Pemberley deserves a lady of great beauty and refinement for its mistress.”

Fitzwilliam snorted behind him and made a poor attempt to disguise it with a cough.

Darcy ignored his cousin and glared at Miss Bingley as he said, “Pemberley will have a mistress of great beauty and refinement, Miss Bingley, when I am married to Miss Elizabeth. Even were her features plain as the day is long, her irreproachable character and loyalty to her family would give her an air of beauty far greater than the prettiest face in London.”

“Well said, Darcy!” exclaimed Fitzwilliam with a laugh. “If my father did not already approve your marriage, I do not doubt that he would give his most hearty consent after hearing so impassioned a speech!”

Feeling rather disgusted with Bingley’s sisters and even more so with the flaws in his own character that their behaviour reminded him of, Darcy stepped away from the ladies after bidding them a good evening.

He motioned to Fitzwilliam to follow and walked determinedly toward the door, ignoring the pleas of Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst to come back and help them fix the mess he’d created.

Fitzwilliam turned back to them with an indignant gaze.

“Darcy is not the only one to blame for this ‘mess’ as you call it,” he snapped.

“At least he has had the decency to come forward and confess his part in deceiving your brother. He has done his friend the courtesy of making him an honest apology, whereas the two of you can do nothing but shift blame. Not once have you accepted any responsibility for your own actions, nor have you shown even a shred of remorse. If your brother should never speak to you again, I would not be at all surprised.”

At that moment, Mr. Hurst emerged from the drawing room. “Ah, Mrs. Hurst, there you are! Where is Bingley—whatever can be keeping the three of you? Our guests are wondering what’s become of you.”

He then peered more closely at Darcy. “What the devil happened to your face, old boy? You get into a fight with one of your friends at the club?”

“A friend, yes,” Darcy muttered, then went out the front door.

Fitzwilliam followed him after bidding Hurst a polite farewell; the latter was overheard asking his wife “What in the world was that all about?” as the door closed between them.

They were in the carriage and on their way back to Darcy House in only a moment. About two blocks were passed before Fitzwilliam ventured to ask, “Do you think he’ll come?”

“I don’t know,” Darcy replied, then lifted a hand to lightly touch the wound on his lip; he suppressed the urge to hiss, as it was still quite sore, though thankfully the bleeding had stopped. “He was very angry, as you saw.”

“Aye, that I did. But I also saw that you genuinely regret your part in all this. You apologized to Bingley, whereas his sisters did not.” Fitzwilliam paused to scoff.

“And even if they do, I highly doubt they shall mean it. The only thing those two will be sorry for is having their plans for climbing up the social ladder thwarted. If I may speak my true opinion, Will, both you and Bingley would be wise to give up the connexion with his sisters. Ignorant as they are that their actions have consequences…”

“I have every intention of doing just that,” Darcy said. “However, Bingley’s amiable nature will not likely allow him to go so far as to cut his own sisters—thought he may treat them as we do Lady Catherine, and only see them when it is necessary.”

“All the better for him either way,” said Fitzwilliam.

They had been home about an hour—ensconced in the billiard room where the colonel played a lonely game and Darcy brooded over his brandy—when Tolliver, the butler, entered the room to announce the arrival of Mr. Bingley.

Darcy shot to his feet at once and hurried out, Fitzwilliam close on his heels.

It was clear that Bingley felt awkward being there, as he had remained near the front door and his posture was tense.

Darcy could not say he felt any better. Still, he welcomed his friend as warmly as he felt it reasonable to do and invited him into the drawing room.

Bingley went first, with Fitzwilliam again bringing up the rear.

“I am glad you are come here instead of going to a hotel. I’ve had your room prepared, just in case,” said Darcy as his cousin was closing the drawing room door.

“I, uh… I thank you, Darcy, though I do not know that I shall stay,” Bingley said.

“Bingley…”

Bingley held up a hand and Darcy fell silent. “I cannot determine which direction to go in without knowing one thing, and I beg you would answer me honestly.”

Darcy nodded. “You have my word, Charles. What would you like to know?”

“Did you truly think Jane indifferent to me, or did you only talk me out of marrying her because her mother and sisters are a little bit ridiculous, and you wished to spare me—and yourself—the embarrassment of a connection to them?”

“Both,” Darcy replied immediately. “When I came to realize that you were interested in Miss Bennet more than you had been in any other girl in the two years I’ve known you, I thought to put aside my disgust at the impropriety of her mother and youngest sisters for the sake of your happiness.

After all, you had only leased Netherfield, and might eventually settle somewhere that you’d not be in their company often.

“However, not only did Miss Bennet guard her true feelings so fiercely that I thought her indifferent, Mrs . Bennet so freely spoke of the match as a certainty that I began to suspect she was pushing her daughter to spend time with you only to secure a rich husband. I know you well enough to be certain that you’d be devastated if you found out the woman you loved cared more for your money than she did for you. ”

“Yes, that… that is true,” said Bingley.

“Also, given my growing attraction to Miss Elizabeth and the knowledge of how much more a connexion between us would be frowned upon, I latched onto any excuse I could find to absent myself from Hertfordshire.”

“You hardly needed me as an excuse to leave Hertfordshire,” Bingley said. “And I could have gone back without you.”

“Yes, you could have done—but if you did, if you married Miss Bennet and chose to purchase Netherfield, I would at some point have to go there to see you at risk of seeing Miss Elizabeth. I could not take the chance of being swayed by my feelings if I were to see her again.”