Compulsively Mr. Darcy (10 page)

“How about another egg? I can cook you another.” Elizabeth wanted to stretch their time together. “Or another piece of toast?”

“I'm full, sweetheart,” William said. “I can't eat another bite.”

Resigned, she nodded and cleared the table. She had no appetite this morning but had forced herself to eat so he would too. She didn't want him to travel on an empty stomach.

He moved to the front door. “I'm going to test the locks one more time.”

“Okay.” She bit her lip to hide a smile. No one in this neighborhood had locks on their front doors, much less their back doors. After William's inspection visit last week, the new locks on both the front and the back doors of her cottage would be the envy of any bank.

He returned. “Are you sure I can't convince Jane to let me put a security system in here?”

“Yes, I'm sure Jane's firm about that.” Besides the fact that she didn't want him to spend money, she didn't want to tell him Jane had threatened to throw away the keys to the house locks the minute he left the country.

His eyes swept the kitchen.

She waited.

He frowned. “Where's the fire extinguisher?”

“Here.” Jane had put it atop the refrigerator, behind a box of noodles. He'd bought them one for each room of the cottage and the orphanage.

“It should always be in an accessible spot, especially in the kitchen.” He placed it in a prominent place atop the counter, blocking access to their coffeemaker. “I'm going to check to make sure the carbon monoxide monitors are plugged in correctly in the back rooms.”

“All right.” A few minutes later, while she stood at the kitchen sink soaking the dishes, he returned and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned back against him and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she inhaled his spicy scent. She squeezed her eyes tight and fought her tears.

“I don't know how I can leave you. It hurts,” he whispered against a spot behind her ear. “I'm afraid something might happen to you while I'm gone and I won't see you again.”

She turned. He tried to hide his face in her hair. His vulnerability embarrassed him, she realized. “I'm fearful of water, never of flying, but the thought of you on a plane today made me borrow Jane's rosary for a prayer this morning. And I never pray.” She meant to kiss him softly for comfort, but her lips clung to his.

When they pulled back for air, she held on to him and tried to calm down. A few moments later, his lips sought hers again. This time, desire had replaced despondence. His tongue explored her mouth. His caresses became less tight and tense, more seeking and sensual.

Her body aching with need, she nudged him away from the kitchen. “Let's go to my room.”

He resisted. “I don't want your first time to be like this, rushed.”

Frustrated, she snapped, “I want to fool around a little before you take off for god knows how long. Is that too much to ask?”

Taken aback, his eyes rounded. Then he grinned and pulled her toward her room. “No, not too much to ask at all.”

When she stood next to him, inches from her bed, her fingers tensed. Nervousness hit her. She wished she hadn't missed her sexuality class about foreplay. He gently kissed her cheek. She relaxed, recognizing that
he
knew what to do.

He trailed his lips down one side of her neck and whispered how he adored her scent.

Though she loved his unhurried pace, she voiced her concern about their shortage of time.

“Impatient, aren't you?” Chuckling, he stopped his kisses on her neck. Nimble masculine fingers deftly unbuttoned her shirt and expertly released the clasp of her bra.

She frowned and jealously wondered how many times he had done that before. When his hands skillfully cupped and kneaded her bare breasts, she immediately forgave him for his experience.

His mouth closed around one nipple. His tongue! What a wonderful use of lingual muscles! She purred, “Yesssss.”

He pulled at her skirt. While his mouth kept busy at her breasts, his hands discarded her panties.

She pressed against his hand. Her bare legs brushed against his pants. She pulled back and complained. “You're still dressed.”

He undid his shirt and unbuckled his belt. She slipped her hand into his briefs. Liking the silky feel of his hardness at her fingertips, she tried to grab more of him. At her pulling, he gasped.

Suddenly shy, she whispered, “I want to feel more of you.”

He wasn't shy with his response. He immediately loosened his pants and grabbed both of her hands and placed them fully on him. Wanting to hear him gasp again, she gave another hard pull at the tip. To her disappointment, he didn't gasp. He took her hand and moved it lower, showing her how he liked it. She fondled and stroked and tugged.

He threw his head back and loudly gasped his approval.

“I want us to be together,” she paused, “but we don't have a condom.”

He pulled her hands off him and adjusted their positions. When he was fully on top of her on the bed, he asked with a rakish grin, “Is this what you wanted?”

She eagerly nodded. He wrapped her legs around his hips and began a gentle rubbing. Needing more, she shifted restlessly under him. He intensified his rhythm.

***

“Should we interrupt them?” Jane said. “What time is your flight scheduled to leave?”

Standing at the window of the orphanage office, Bingley stared at the good-bye scene between the lovers in the courtyard. “Let's give them another five minutes. My flight crew is ready. Darcy normally would have gotten to the airport hours ago and checked to make sure the pilot knows what to do. You had a taste of his inspection process.”

Jane rolled her eyes. He chuckled. Darcy had finally agreed to leave Vietnam, but only after he had checked the safety of all places Elizabeth spent time at: the cottage, the orphanage, and even her office at the hospital. Elizabeth was amusedly patient through the whole process, twice, but Bingley could understand Jane's exasperation.

“I'm sorry it didn't work out with the adoption,” she said.

“That's all right. I knew deep in my heart before we even arrived the adoption wasn't going to happen. I had half feared for the child who would have my sister and her husband as parents anyhow. I know that's a terrible thing to say about one's own family.”

“They're not ready now, perhaps someday…”

Shrugging, he changed the topic. “How long is George Wickham expected to stay in jail?”

“At least a year before they're ready to deport him.”

“How did your sister arrange it?”

“She asked her patient Mr. Vinh to check Mr. Wickham's activities. They caught him trying to lure young girls to go to South Korea to meet his cult's guru.” Jane smiled a satisfied smile. “He's either too stupid to realize or remember there's no freedom of religion here.”

Bingley glanced at his watch. “It's time to deal with the lovebirds.”

When they approached the couple standing next to the car, Bingley turned away to hide a smile when Jane's eyes bulged at the rumpled appearance of Darcy's normally immaculate clothes. Bingley coughed. “Darce, we need to get going. The crew called. They're ready.”

The couple reluctantly parted. Jane came up to Darcy to give him a good-bye hug while giving Bingley a head tilt in the direction of her sister.

As he hugged Elizabeth, she instructed him, “Charles, take care of him for me, please. Don't let him push himself too hard. Make sure he doesn't let his headaches get too bad. Caffeine would do him good at the start of one, and he needs peace and quiet.”

He nodded to her and heard Darcy telling Jane, “Keep your doors locked at all time. Be careful with cooking and fire. Don't let Elizabeth near any water, she'll panic. Make sure she eats healthy and doesn't work too much. Take care of her for me. I'll be back soon.”

Bingley met Jane's eyes; she looked as amused and exasperated as he was. He grabbed Darcy's arm and pushed him toward the car. Three minutes later, they were on their way.

***

As soon as they were on the jet, Darcy disappeared into the small private cabin, closed the door, and didn't come out until they stopped in Honolulu for refueling. Bingley ignored the red in Darcy's eyes, offered him some coffee, and worked to distract him.

For ten minutes, they discussed the difficulties of one of their companies. Bingley said, “What's Richard think about the Mushatt deal?”

“He thinks it's not as big of a problem as Anne made it out to be. He may be minimizing, though.”

“He doesn't want you to return to the stress of your normal life yet. Your cousin is one protective mother hen with you and your sister.”

“I wish he'd stop it. I'm a grown man,” Darcy grumbled.

“He still feels guilty for not telling you about Georgiana's boyfriend. If he had, it wouldn't have gotten as far as it did.”

“He shouldn't blame himself.”

“Have you told them about meeting Elizabeth?”

“Not yet. I don't want to suffer Richard's teasing and I want to talk to Georgiana in person. She might want to come with me when I return.”

“What about Anne?”

“Anne? What about her?” Darcy looked surprised. “I suppose if she wants a vacation.”

“No, I meant did you tell her about Elizabeth?”

“You know I don't share details of my personal life with Anne. She lives with my aunt, remember?”

“Don't share anything.”

“You usually like everybody.” Darcy leaned back in his chair. “I've never understood why you've never warmed to Anne.”

“It's not that I don't like her.” Bingley's protest sounded weak even to him. “But it's odd how focused she is with DDF. It's all she lives for, the company.”

“She's proven herself as a valuable vice president, even if I was forced by my aunt to hire her,” Darcy pointed out. “Don't forget, she also handles PTF's grants process and attends functions for the foundation all over town.”

“Anything that has to do with DDF and the Pemberley Trust Foundation is still work. She's not going to be happy that you plan to return to Vietnam and ignore business again.”

Darcy shrugged. “Too bad.”

“Why didn't you have Elizabeth come with you to New York? It's not like she has a real job.”

“It's more than a real job,” Darcy said in a how-dare-you-insult-my-woman voice. “She's contributing her time and commitment. She and Jane are doing more than writing checks, which is all that you and I do.”

“True.” Bingley turned away to hide a smile and agreed to pacify him.

“I did think about it, asking her to come with me,” Darcy admitted with a sheepish smile. “But she can't leave Jane alone until something more permanent is settled with the orphanage.” He stood. “I need to stretch my legs.”

While Darcy paced around the jet, Bingley sat and thought about what his friend had just said. When Darcy returned to his seat, Bingley faced him. “Listen, I'm going to help you smooth out some of the urgent problems Anne thinks we're having. As soon as things are settled at DDF, I'm thinking of taking an extended leave to go do something.”

“Like what?”

Bingley shrugged. “Contribute more than writing checks. I'm in a bit of a funk and I need a change. Not another vacation, but something else.”

Darcy's knowing eyes scrutinized him for a long moment, but all he said was, “All right.”

Bingley switched the topic back to Darcy's girlfriend. “I can't see you handling a long-distance relationship well. You'll go nuts worrying about Elizabeth. When are you thinking of returning?”

“Hopefully in no more than a month, at most two. I might set up something so I can work in Asia until Elizabeth and Jane are done with their work there.”

“Then?”

“Then I'm going to get down on my knees and beg the most beautiful, wonderful, adorable woman to take pity on me and move to New York and marry me. Then I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure she doesn't regret it.”

Three more hours. Elizabeth glanced at the clock and absently picked at the water-spinach leaves.

“You're thinking of William, aren't you?” Jane stood beside her, peeling a cucumber.

“I know it's silly, but I've never missed anyone this much before.”

“Why is it silly?”

“We only met last month.”

“You've never told any guy you loved him, either,” Jane said in her gentle voice. “He's special to you.”

“You're going to make me cry.” Elizabeth sniffed. “At least I'm not at the resort. I'd miss him even more.”

“I can't believe Hussein went through all that trouble. Did you get ahold of him?”

“All I've gotten is a voice mail: ‘Darling, I'll explain soon.'”

“In the end, it didn't cost him anything. William paid for it.” Jane sliced a star fruit. Perfect star-shaped slices came off the knife. Tangy, fruity smell infused the air.

“Yes, my new boyfriend, who I initially thought was gay but turned out not to be, paid for the shenanigans of my old boyfriend, who I initially thought wasn't gay but turned out to be very gay. Careful.” Elizabeth removed the sharp knife from her laughing sister's hand. “It was a lot of money William paid for someone who's unemployed. I didn't know he did that until after he had already left, otherwise I would have stopped him.”

“How's his job search going?”

“I don't know.” At Jane's look of surprise, Elizabeth said, “He hasn't told me yet he's unemployed.”

“Still?”

“I think he's waiting to get some firm offers before he does. I heard him talking to his cousin about preferring to work for some company based in New York versus Holland.”

“Are you sure he's hard up financially if he's friends with Charles? They flew out of here on a private jet.”

“That was Charles's family plane. The Bingley family is loaded. William must have lost his job with the last company when he took time off to take care of his sister last year.” Elizabeth stole a slice of star fruit and popped it in her mouth, then smacked her lips from the sour aftertaste.

“What kind of accounting work? Auditing or tax or something else?”

“He specializes in acquisitions and mergers. I don't know what that means exactly.” Elizabeth had never understood the various business terms. “He doesn't like accounting though; never wants to talk about work.”

Jane laughed. “Probably because no one ever wants to hear about accounting.”

“He told me once on the phone that, of all the work he's done, what relaxed him most and made him happiest was looking over grants for art and cultural foundations. Some type of nonprofit work would suit him better than being stuck in some dreary accounting department shuffling papers around.”

“He strikes me more as management material, rather than someone in a cubicle.” Jane pursed her lips. “Something doesn't add up. He didn't act like a man who worries about money.”

“Guys are too proud to show they have money trouble, or any trouble for that matter,” Elizabeth reasoned. “He's had a tough time. At the age when most guys loaf around drinking beer through their belly buttons, he was raising his sister. Little sister finally off to college, and bam, got hooked into a cult. No wonder William's been depressed. He blamed himself for working so much that he neglected her.”

“True. When we first met him, he was tightly wound.”

“He's going to find another unsuitable job for the money, and then he'll be back in the same grind. He's only been back there a week and he's having headaches again.”

“Are you sure it's not the stress of missing you?” Jane made kissing noises.

“Stop it.” Elizabeth laughed, knowing her sister was trying to cheer her up. She took a deep breath. “Listen, I've been thinking. I need to find a job.”

“You mean a paying job?”

“Yes. I want to earn enough money so that William—”

“Whoa! Hold on.” Jane held up her palm. “How would your getting a paying job affect William?”

“I'm going to find a job in New York. Then I can help support us both and help him with his sister's college tuition. He'd only need to take a job he'd love. Everybody will be happy.” To give her sister time to adjust to her news, and to close her mouth, Elizabeth moved to the dining room and set the table for dinner.

“What?” Her sister followed. She sat down and stared blankly at Elizabeth for a few long moments. “You just met last month and you guys are talking about moving in together, consolidating finances and all that, already?”

“Not in so many explicit words. But he's mentioned he wants to grow old with me. I do want to marry him, take care of him, and help his sister.” Elizabeth blushed. She sounded exactly like Chau with Bill Collins.

“You haven't discussed this with him?” Jane gave her that I-think-you-are-crazy look. “You're moving too fast here. I don't think it's going to be that simple.”

Elizabeth crossed her arms. “Life doesn't always have to be complicated.”

“He does not seem like a man who would let his girlfriend or wife support him financially, and I seriously doubt that he'd let you help with his sister's college tuition.”

“I don't see why not.”

“Lizzy, you have a sweet tendency to try to take care of people and you think you know what's good for them, and we love you for it, but he's not one of your sisters. He has his male pride—”

Elizabeth cut her sister off. “I won't be totally supporting him, only sharing his financial burden. But you're right about his pride—he has too much—that's why I'm not going to tell him until it's all done.”

Jane pinched her temples. “Are you sure you've thought through this very carefully?”

“I have,” Elizabeth assured her. “Remember when I did a two-month stint as a visiting fellow in New York last year? I already have an active license for the state and, more importantly, connections to a few hospitals from my time there. I've been making calls and there are definitely some good leads. The hospital where I did my rotation even asked me to give Grand Rounds.”

Jane dropped her hands. “Wow, you have thought things through. That's the first time I've ever heard you carefully planning your career.”

“I didn't have any reason to make plans before.”

“What if you're misunderstanding the situation with William? Before you fly across the world and change your life and your whole career focus, you need to call and talk to him.”

“And have him refuse my help? I'm not going to let his sensitive male pride get in the way.” Elizabeth was firm. “I've made my decision. I've thought of nothing else for the last few days.”

Her sister buried her head in her hands and groaned. “Most people take weeks or months to decide on something like this.”

“We spend most of our phone calls talking about how much we miss each other and wishing we're together.”

Jane lifted her head. “For your sakes, I hope he'll be so happy to see you, he'll agree to your crazy scheme.”

That was exactly what Elizabeth hoped would happen. She refused to think beyond that—that William might not appreciate her boldness—for fear she'd lose her nerve. “Let's have Mary come and stay with you. I want to leave as soon as possible, next week if everything works out. I need to be in New York to job search.”

“That soon?” Jane looked shocked, then resigned. “I shouldn't be surprised. You were always quick in making decisions, and you're even quicker with acting on them.”

“About Mary, what do you think?”

“Might be a good change of scenery for her. She's at loose ends now that she's out of the tree she was living in,” Jane said. “I can't believe she lasted that long, living in a tree for weeks, just to protest the logging industry. She's not going back to grad school yet?”

“She's holding off going back for a while to see if she wants to protest something else.”

“Get her here quick, before she gets involved in another eco-terrorist stunt.”

“I'll make some calls tomorrow.” Elizabeth jumped to hug her sister. “Thank you for understanding I want to be with William soon.”

Thirty minutes before ten that night, Elizabeth, wearing William's old Harvard T-shirt she had begged off him, lay in bed and counted the minutes until his nightly phone call.

Her cell phone rang and her heart skipped a beat. She frowned when it wasn't his ring. She looked at the caller ID and saw the interloper's name.

“About time, you asshole!” she shouted into the phone.

“Darling, I've been busy. I'm in between breasts, you know,” Hussein calmly returned.

“Why did you waste my time? I was seeing sunburn cases at that damn resort when I could have been at the hospital treating people who could use some real medical help,” she screamed the last words.

“This is the thanks I get for giving you a few weeks of relaxation?”

Not hearing outright excuses or denials, she was immediately suspicious. “You don't have a ready excuse?”

“Are you not trophy-wife material yet?”

“You have four minutes to explain, or I'll call your mother.”

“Ouch. You're getting vicious. All right, since you brought my mother up, I'll tell the truth. She's been trying to set me up to marry some girl back home. I told her you and I are getting married and she's coming to plan our engagement party.”

“What?”

“I thought if I gave you some relaxation time at a spa, you'd get yourself all spruced up. I knew you wouldn't go to a five-star resort without some noble purpose—you have a terrible work ethic—so I had them set up a little nothing-work for you.”

“So it really was just to make me into trophy-wife material?”

“I'm desperate to get married and, of all the fake girlfriends I've had, my mother loves you the best. You're beautiful in pictures, but you're not exactly princess material. You don't highlight, you don't varnish, you don't wax. No one would believe I'd marry a granola, natural girl. I'm a plastic surgeon. You wouldn't be good advertisement.”

She shook her head. He was ridiculous, but she knew he thought he made perfect sense. If it wasn't for the comic relief he gave her, she would have chucked him and his opportunistic hubris years ago. “I assume you will have a good explanation planned when the fake engagement party doesn't lead to a fake wedding.”

“But, darling, nothing has to be fake. My green card status isn't all that settled. It does not help to be an immigrant named Hussein living in Arizona right now.”

“You're fricking serious?” She glanced at the clock and decided she didn't have time to listen to him anymore; William would be calling soon. She got down to business and told Hussein in no uncertain terms she would never go along with his fake engagement or fake marriage or whatever else he had cooking. She threatened his life, his body, and—the scariest threat of all to him—to tell his mother everything. When he realized she meant it, he quickly changed his tune; he was a mama's boy.

After Elizabeth got him scared enough, she extracted promises of restitution from him.

She hung up satisfied. Mary's airfare would be paid for. Her own trip to New York and job search expenses would be covered. What William paid for her resort bill was about equal to what she would extract from Hussein.

Her cell phone rang again a few minutes later. Grinning in satisfaction, she flipped it open again.

“Hi, love,” she said, smiling with happiness.