Darcy and Elizabeth What If? Collection 3 by Jennifer Lang Read Free Book Online Page B

game?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Afraid you cannot beat me?’ asked Wickham with an irritating smirk.
    The onlookers laughed.
    Mr Darcy controlled his temper with difficulty.
    ‘I have not come here to quarrel with you, Wickham. If you care to join me in the private parlour you will hear something to your advantage.’
    Mr Wickham looked alert. He picked up his drink and said, ‘Lead on.’
    The three men went into the private parlour, where they would not be disturbed, and Mr Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam told him what they were prepared to do for him.
    Mr Wickham finished his brandy and said, ‘It is a tempting offer. But why are you doing this for me? I know you hate me, both of you.’
    ‘With reason,’ said Colonel Fitzwilliam.
    ‘We are doing it because you seem to be making an effort to mend your ways,’ said Mr Darcy, who refused to be provoked. ‘You have found yourself a profession and you are paying court to a respectable young woman. This is your chance to change your life, and I want to help you.’
    ‘Ah, yes. Miss King,’ said Mr Wickham, naming the object of his attentions. ‘Tell me, Darcy, why are the rich women always ugly?’
    ‘That is no way to speak of your future wife,’ said Colonel Fitzwilliam sharply. ‘Assuming your intentions are honourable,’ he added scathingly.
    ‘You are right,’ said Mr Wickham, and a curious expression crossed his face. ‘That is no way to speak of my future wife. I take it back. The future Mrs Wickham is beautiful, witty and charming.’ He turned towards the door and shouted, ‘Landlord!’
    The landlord came hurrying in, wiping his hands on his apron.
    ‘Yes, gentlemen, what can I do for you?’ he asked ingratiatingly.
    ‘A bottle of your best brandy. We are celebrating,’ said Mr Wickham.
    ‘Thank you, but we will not be joining you,’ said Mr Darcy, as the landlord bowed himself out of the room.
    ‘I did not think you would, but there are other men here who will celebrate my good fortune with me,’ said Wickham.
    ‘No doubt,’ said Mr Darcy.
    ‘Are you not forgetting something?’ asked Mr Wickham.
    Mr Darcy knew that Wickham wanted money and he was tempted to make a contemptuous reply. But he thought of Elizabeth and fought down his anger. He was not doing this for Wickham, he was doing it for Elizabeth.
    As he thought of her sparkling eyes and the way a delicious smile played about her lips when she teased him; as he thought of her light step and her arch conversation and the way she held her head a little to on side when she was thoughtful; as he remembered her slender white arms and the smoothness of her skin, he could not help smiling.
    Although she would never know it, he had taken her words to heart. He no longer stood in the way of her sister and Mr Bingley. And he was about to make George Wickham amends for depriving him of the living.
    Perhaps, if Elizabeth heard of it, she would look more kindly on him.
    At least, that was what he hoped.
    He took a banknote out of his wallet and laid it on the table.
    ‘That should cover your celebration,’ he said.
    Wickham took it and handed it to the innkeeper.
    ‘The best of everything!’ said Wickham to the innkeeper.
    Mr Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam then left Wickham to his celebration,
    ‘Thank Jove that is over,’ said Colonel Fitzwilliam, as he and Darcy left the tavern. ‘Every time I see Wickham I want to knock him down.’
    ‘You need never see him again. He has no more call on us,’ said Mr Darcy. ‘We have done our duty by him.’
    And, to himself, he added, And now Elizabeth cannot blame me for ruining his prospects .
    With her words attended to, Mr Darcy knew that he had done away much of Elizabeth’s ill feeling towards him.
    But when all that ill feeling had been removed, what would remain?

Chapter Five
     
    Mr Darcy spent the day with his sister before returning to Rosings Park in time for dinner. His aunt, Lady Catherine, did not keep country hours and she dined at eight.