Page 39 of Why I Kissed You (Pride and Prejudice Variation)
Lord Disley stepped toward him. “Just what was it that Anne asked you to do, boy?”
“Nothing, Uncle! I did not ask this wretch to do anything!” cried Anne. “And I certainly would never give my virtue to a lowly servant’s son!”
“Oh, Anne, you wound me!” said Wickham, drawing his hand to his heart.
“My lord, in her letter, dear Anne said she simply could not allow Darcy to make a mistake or to humiliate her by choosing to marry beneath himself—because as everyone knows, they’ve been betrothed from the moment she was born.
She said Darcy was only marrying Miss Eliza because she’d inherited a small fortune from some distant relative, and that she could not understand the attraction, as hers was much greater.
Anne begged me to help her bring Darcy to his senses and humiliate the strumpet he was to marry—her words, my friend, not mine.
“So, I met her in Hyde Park late yesterday morning—as requested—and she explained the plan to me, as she ‘could not possibly risk putting such words to paper.’ Dear Anne said she would grant me the enormous privilege of bedding a ‘real gentlewoman,’ so that she could use the evidence of her broken virtue to force Darcy to ‘do as he’d been told.’”
Lord Disley grabbed Wickham by the lapels of his jacket. “And how do we know that you’re actually telling the truth for once? Given what you tried at Ramsgate last summer—”
“That was a mistake, I admit that!” Wickham said. “Yes, I wanted the money to pay off debts, but I genuinely cared for—”
“Wickham, that is enough!” shouted Darcy.
Not everyone present was aware of Georgiana’s blunder last summer, and he wasn’t about to let Wickham drag his sister’s name into the mess that it appeared he and Anne had created together.
He nearly shook his head in wonder—what the devil had made her even think of going to Wickham for help?
“How do we discover which of them is lying?” asked Elizabeth softly.
“Mr. Wickham’s account of meeting with Mr. Bingley matches up, especially as regards my alleged inheritance, but how can we prove whether they lay together, or if Miss de Bourgh fabricated the evidence she claims to have above stairs? ”
“I can tell you something about her person that no one would know unless they had seen or felt it,” said Wickham.
Anne scoffed. “Like what?” she sneered as she crossed her arms again and turned her nose up.
“You’ve a small mole on the inside of your right thigh, not too far from… Well, I shan’t say where,” Wickham replied with a lascivious grin. “I touched it… kissed it…”
“Sir, do please desist,” said Bishop Keller.
Anne stared daggers at Wickham, her expression telling Darcy that, indeed, his longtime nemesis was actually telling the truth.
“How did you get into—and out of—Darcy House undetected?” he asked .
“She let me in after everyone else had gone to bed,” Wickham said simply.
“We went straight to her room quiet as a creepmouse. I did ask if she was certain she wished to lose her maidenhood in such a fashion, but she seemed quite determined that it was the only way to achieve her goal of forcing you to marry her. So, we undressed, and I made love to her. When we were both of us well sated, and had rested a bit, she said it would be best if I left to avoid the risk of anyone seeing me, and she walked me out.”
The earl slowly released Wickham and turned to his niece. “Is it true, Anne?” he asked.
“Of course, it isn’t, Uncle!” she pleaded. “He is lying and trying to ruin Darcy because he hates him! You know he’s always been jealous of Darcy and your sons for being the gentlemen he will never be!”
“There’s a very simple way of proving Mr. Wickham’s claim,” observed Elizabeth. “Lady Disley could have a look at her leg.”
Anne laughed. “What a ridiculous idea! My aunt would never subject me to an examination to discount the word of a known whore-mongering, lying, gambler!”
“Oh, but she would—and even if she refused, I would find another to do it,” stated Lord Disley.
“Why not allow my mother to have a look at you?” challenged Lord Rowarth. “If you’re telling the truth and Wickham is lying, she’ll be able to prove it.”
“But I should not have to prove myself—you should all believe me! For heaven’s sake, I am family! Why would I lie?” cried Anne.
“Because you are desperate,” said Elizabeth, pity in both her voice and her expression.
“You’re seven-and-twenty years old, have not been presented at Court or even had a proper debut—you hardly ever leave your house—and you’ve always suffered from a sickly constitution.
You feel like you’ve no chance to marry other than Darcy because the viscount won’t be allowed to marry any girl not from a titled family, and Colonel Fitzwilliam is too poor for your mother’s preference.
Only someone rich and nobly connected would satisfy Lady Catherine. ”
Darcy watched as Anne’s expression colored and turned hateful.
“ You bitch! ” she screamed as she reached for the candlestick on the side table next to where she stood and raised it with the clear intention of hitting Elizabeth.
Swinging his body in front of Elizabeth to protect her, Darcy felt a sharp pain as the silver implement was brought down hard against his shoulder .
Moments later, the candlestick fell to the floor and a screeching Anne was dragged away from him. “Take her to her room and make sure she stays there,” snapped Lord Disley as Darcy turned; two of his cousins all but carried the third from the room by the arms. Anne did not go easily—or quietly.
“Are you all right? Did she hurt you?” Elizabeth asked.
Darcy turned back to her and smiled through the pain. “My shoulder does hurt. But it’s nothing, I assure you,” said he.
“You should have it looked at to be certain, son,” said Mr. Bennet.
Darcy and Elizabeth looked to him in unison—Mr. Bennet had never called a younger man ‘son’ before, and indeed, the expression now on his countenance betrayed very strong emotion.
“Thank you, Mr. Darcy, for preventing that young lady from harming Elizabeth,” he said quietly. Mr. Gardiner seconded the notion.
Darcy nodded his acknowledgement, certain that he felt much the same as the two men did: he would have been devastated if Elizabeth had been hurt.
“Whatever shall I do with you?” said Lord Disley then, and Darcy turned to find his uncle once again squaring off with Wickham.
“As you’ve admitted to despoiling my niece, I should make you marry her—but then you’d be benefitting from this wretched mess if I did that, wouldn’t you?
Besides which, I don’t believe I want the likes of you as a relation. Makes me ill just looking at you.”
“Not to mention, my lord, that your dear niece is clearly more than a little mad, and I don’t want a wife who is dicked in the nob,” quipped Wickham.
“It would serve you right to be stuck with her—and her mother,” muttered the earl.
“Begging your pardon, my lord,” spoke up the bishop, “but regardless of your personal feelings toward this young man, it is only right that he should marry the young lady, given they were… intimate.”
“And you must find some way of keeping the whole mess from becoming a scandal,” opined Bingley.
The men—and Elizabeth—all stared at one another for a moment until Mr. Gardiner said, “As you know, my lord, I am a businessman. And I think I have an idea…”