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Fitzwilliam’s head was pounding something fierce, and he suspected the apothecary had been correct in his assessment that he shouldn’t travel today, but while he had Charles prepared to do so, and wanting to get Georgiana away from Netherfield now that she felt uncomfortable there, he had been determined to leave.
He gritted his teeth as the carriage hit another rough spot, barely biting back his irritation when Caroline Bingley patted his arm in a soothing fashion. Perhaps she was trying to make him feel better, but all it did was exacerbate his irritation. He wished he could find refuge in sleep, but each attempt he made had ended with the next bump in the road.
He supposed maybe he deserved this level of suffering, since he was acting partially to thwart the blooming romance between Miss Jane and Bingley. He did not believe Miss Jane held any regard for his friend, but he felt a little guilty at his interference just the same. He blamed that unwanted sentiment on Elizabeth Bennet, who seemed adept at engendering unwanted emotions in him.
He was still thinking about her today, wondering if she was all right. To his knowledge, she had not been injured in the altercation with Wickham, and indeed, she had been the one doing the injuring, but he almost chuckled at the idea this morning.
Last night, he’d been more nonplussed, but he’d never suspected she had done it to help Wickham escape. That it had been her fear, and she’d striven so hard to convince him she hadn’t acted in such a fashion, was enough to give him hope. Hope for what, he couldn’t say.
After all, Miss Bennet was still as unsuitable as she had always been, and her family was an intolerable burden. She had a lively mind, and he owed her a debt of gratitude for helping him find Georgiana and rescue her with only the minor injury she’d given herself to help them find her, but there was nothing more to it than that.
Perhaps he would send her a quick letter and maybe a trinket to thank her for her help, but then she would inevitably fade from his mind, and he would return to the peaceful life he’d known before Miss Bennet. The idea should’ve bolstered enthusiasm rather than a vague sense of ennui and dissatisfaction at the notion.
Just because she had a pair of fine eyes didn’t mean she had anything else to recommend her to him, and it would be for the best for everyone if he never saw Lizzy Bennet again, and if Jane Bennet stayed away from Bingley. That was the appropriate ending they needed for the situation.
Bingley was likely to be depressed for a bit, but he would recover and move on from his heartbreak soon enough. As Darcy assured himself of that, he couldn’t help wondering if he was clinging so hard to the hope it would be easy to recover from the infatuation for his friend’s sake or for his own, because as much as he hated to admit it, he was infatuated with Lizzy.
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This is the second book in a five-part series that needs to be read in order, just like Jane Austen’s masterpiece.
If you missed book #1, you can get “Rapacity & Rancor” at your favorite vendor and look for Book #3 of the Crime & Courtship series, “Extortion & Enmity.”
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