Darcy knew she would reach this point eventually. He had the argument with himself often enough that he expected it from her. “And what would you suggest, my dear?”
“We tell the authorities.”
For years, Darcy had avoided emotional involvement with any woman. It was all in the past now, however; this woman looked How does Mr. Darcy come by this information? And you disclose that my family is cursed, thanks to our ancestors’ love affair, and I could be as evil as Wickham if I chose.We would be ruined. My reputation—Georgiana’s future—your future and your sisters’ futures—your entire family’s status in the neighborhood—some will believe the tale and believe I am also evil. Others will consider your words madness.”
She glanced at him, her thoughts scattered.“You are right,” she finally acknowledged,“but we cannot let him get away with killing that woman.”
“From what I know of Wickham’s pattern, he will not strike again for a week or more, other than the occasional animal—a dog or a sheep.”
“I cannot believe you speak so lightheartedly about this wickedness,” she said challengingly.
Darcy’s face reddened with anger. “You are mistaken if you think I find no contempt in this situation. I have lived with it longer than you. It has been my existence, and what I relay are the absolute facts. Forgive me if I am aware that evil corrupts absolutely.”
Elizabeth wondered momentarily what she would be doing right then if Darcy had not entered her life—certainly not considering how to kill a vampire before he struck again. “So we cannot go to the authorities.What do we do, then?”
“First, I need to lure Wickham from the area—get him away from you. His normal mode of operation means he comes looking for easy victims. He chooses very vulnerable targets; rarely does Wickham select a woman of circumstance. If he did, he might draw more notice from the local law officers. In most small villages and towns, the law is incompetent, at best. By the time someone makes a connection, he is gone.”
“That does not make these women not worth saving!” she
He spoke coldly and curtly.“I never meant to imply otherwise, Miss Elizabeth.” He belatedly realized his rudeness.
“Did Wickham kill Vivian Piccadilly?” she blurted out in frustration.
Darcy spoke unguardedly.“I always assumed he was the perpetrator. Miss Piccadilly’s body was found close to a stream. Her father was devastated by the condition in which he found her. I always felt the shame in my part of his pain.”
“Your part?” Elizabeth seized upon the words. “What part did you play inVivian’s death?”
Darcy seemed reconciled to his role in the murder. “Does it matter?”
“It matters to me, Fitzwilliam.” Elizabeth stood suddenly, staring at Darcy as if seeing him for the first time.
“If I tell you, you will turn away from me.”
Suddenly, she saw things in a sharper focus; she remembered her aunt’s description of Vivian’s body. In a voice of resigned contempt, she said,“You prevent them—Wickham’s victims—from following him, do you not?” She was acknowledging as much to herself.
“The only way I know to stop them from becoming one of the walking dead is to break the connection between the body and the soul…letting the soul out, so to speak, to make its way to heaven, rather than dwell in hell.” His words pierced the air, increasing the cold, which invaded their bodies.
“How can you do such a thing?” she insisted.
“It is the most responsible thing I do. I offer prayers of redemption for the victim’s soul and forgiveness for mine, and then I do what must be done.” His eyes were dark with anger at the injustice.
A frown creased across her forehead.“Did you do the responsible thing today?” she whispered.
“It is done.”
“Oh, Fitzwilliam!” She collapsed onto the seat beside him and took his hand in hers; he needed the comfort now.“You have been placed in the most tragic scenario. It is no wonder you try to withdraw
“I did not succeed where you are concerned,Vixen.”
“You simply like a challenge, Mr. Darcy.”
“I suppose you could be right. I want what I cannot have.”
Taking to heart her role in this mad situation, Elizabeth demanded, “Explain to me what you plan to do.”
Darcy summarized his plans for the next few days.“I will come to you tonight. Tomorrow, we put in place some tried-and-true deterrents to vampires—to Wickham—at Longbourn. We will decorate the sashes of all the windows with garlands containing cloves of garlic, work iron crosses or bars at each door, and a few other such ornamentations. I will ask you to do so without raising the attention of your family members.Tell them these are gifts from Netherfield; I am sure your mother would wish to please Mr. Bingley. We must be careful. Wickham cannot cross the threshold of any house unless invited to do so. As he already was in attendance at Longbourn, we need stronger deterrents than usual. The garlands and iron will keep him from entering the individual rooms.Wickham may cross the main entrance, but his evil will not be able to seep into your lives.”
“I will see to it,” Elizabeth said in a businesslike tone.
“I suspect,” Darcy continued,“that Mr.Wickham will call upon you in the next couple of days.”
Elizabeth’s eyes grew wide with surprise.“He would not!”
“He will, Elizabeth, and you will respond graciously to his concern for your well-being. It will soon be common knowledge that Mr. Bingley and I found you, and the three of us discovered the body. Mr. Wickham will want to know how you feel about me after this incident.With your words and your actions you must convince him that although you appreciate my gentlemanly behavior towards you, your feelings have not altered. I am still the man who cut you at the assembly.”
“I doubt I can feign those feelings,” she asserted.
“You will do the responsible thing, Elizabeth, because what you
The truth of his words settled over Elizabeth like a cold fog.
Darcy continued, “Bingley plans a ball at Netherfield in less than a week; I cannot leave before that time without disappointing him severely. Without Wickham’s knowledge from where the suggestion comes, I will convince Colonel Forster to send Wickham to London for several days. After the ball, I return to Pemberley. With luck on my side,Wickham will follow; he is not likely to stay in the military, for it has too many regulations. I cannot imagine why he places himself in a situation where he is constantly watched and supervised.”
Elizabeth speculated,“Maybe he thought they would send him to the front. He has no fear of dying, and he would have access to plenty of bodies.”
Darcy considered her words. “As bizarre as it is, I do not think your theory is an unlikely one.”
Her jaw clenched as she studied him carefully; she could see the worry in his eyes.“Must you leave, Mr. Darcy?”
The emotion in Elizabeth’s words soothed his aching heart. She would miss him for himself—not his estate—not his wealth. Even with all the chaos, Elizabeth would feel the deprivation of his departure. It was a heady feeling; yet Darcy knew he could not stay. His preference for her put Elizabeth in danger. His primal need to protect her overruled his primal need to possess her. “We said our—our flirtation—would be for the memories. My staying would only make the situation awkward.”
“For the memories,” she repeated softly.
Darcy leaned over her, lightly kissing her eyelids, which fluttered open like the wings of a hummingbird. “Ah, there you are,” she mumbled.“I tried to stay awake until you came.”
“I am happy to just watch you sleep.” He kissed her temple before brushing a curl from her face.
Elizabeth rolled on her side and turned the coverlet back. “Come join me,” she invited him.
Darcy slipped off his boots and crawled under the bed linens. He settled her into his arms. “Rest,” he said.“I am with you.”
Elizabeth wrapped her arms around him. “Someday you will tell me how you do this,” she mumbled, drifting back to sleep. “How you keep us in our own cocoon while the rest of the world is suspended in sleep.”
“It is not worth knowing, Sweetling.” Darcy kissed the top of her head. As she drifted back to sleep, he prayed to have this night last forever.
When the first rays of daylight broke through the draped window, Darcy gently rolled Elizabeth to her back. “Wake, my Vixen,” he whispered close to her ear.“It is nearly light, and I must leave you.”
Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his neck, but she did not open her eyes. “It is so warm here under the blankets.” She kissed his cheek as she pulled him down to her. Darcy nuzzled her neckline playfully, and Elizabeth giggled.
Then those icy blue eyes slid over her in deepest approval before he began to kiss her in all seriousness. Elizabeth’s eyes drifted shut as Darcy rolled her to her back. His lips traveled from her face to her jawline and down her neck. Her pulse hammered there at its base, and he was drawn to the spot by an ancient hunger. His tongue circled the point, teasing her with its rough texture. Elizabeth’s skin was pale in the light of the dawn, and Darcy audibly groaned in an acknowledgement of what he most desired. He could barely tear his gaze from the spot. He burned to possess her, but he fought the urges coursing through him. At last, he snarled, “Sweetling, you are tempting, but I can maintain the spell for only so long.” Brushing his lips across hers, he whispered, “Before someone finds us together, we must part.”Then he rolled away from her, sitting on the edge of the bed to put on his boots.
Elizabeth crawled up on her knees behind him and slid her arms over his shoulders, her breath warm upon the side of his neck.
“You will not—unless danger is evident.” It hurt to say the words, but Darcy knew she was in peril. “A servant from Netherfield will bring the ornaments we spoke of as a gift from the Bingley household later today. Among them will be something special for you—a crucifix. It will be like the one I gave Georgiana; it is made of iron, something to which Wickham’s sect is most susceptible. Promise me you will wear it always.”
“I promise.” She withdrew to sit cross-legged behind him on the bed, but Darcy did not turn around. Even without touching, he felt her.
“You gave me a taste of the life I could never know otherwise,” he blurted out.
“I did nothing.”
He continued, as if checking off items from a list.“Do what you must do to protect yourself from Wickham. You must convince everyone that you hate me.”
Elizabeth fought back tears. “Everyone but me,” she whispered softly to his back.
As Darcy had anticipated, George Wickham, along with Mr. Denny, made a late afternoon call on the Bennet household. Stepping into the room with her eldest sister, Elizabeth felt nauseated by Wickham’s presence, but she hid her contempt for Darcy’s sake. Receiving the creature who had forced Darcy to leave made her want to scream in frustration, but she schooled her countenance into the semblance of a smile.
“Mr.Wickham.” She offered her hand, and he kissed the back of it. Elizabeth fought the urge to scrub away his touch.
“Miss Elizabeth, we came at once to assure ourselves of your well-being,” Wickham began. “I chastised myself for not having seen you home.The horror of such a discovery!”
Elizabeth gritted her teeth in disgust.“It was incomprehensible
Mr. Denny took the seat to which Jane gestured. “Colonel Forster, Ma’am, is conducting a thorough investigation.”
“I hope the woman finds peace in that.” Elizabeth and Jane settled together on a settee.
“You were missed at Mrs. Philips’s gathering,” Denny continued.
“It was not appropriate,” Jane declared,“under the circumstances.”
Wickham wasted no time in getting to the reason for his visit.“I understand, Miss Elizabeth, that Mr. Darcy served as your rescuer.”
“Mr. Darcy was a gentleman in the way he aided my sister,” Jane asserted.
Mr. Denny concurred,“I would expect nothing less from a man of Mr. Darcy’s lineage.”
“Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley found me when I was most distraught; they both stepped in to protect me. Mr. Darcy was the first to reach me, so he became my initial source of comfort. I clung to him unreasonably, I am ashamed to say. He allowed me time to recuperate.”
Jane took Elizabeth’s hand in hers. “Lizzy, you were so overwrought; it was natural, and Mr. Darcy is a responsible young man.”
Elizabeth noted how Wickham’s eyes searched for the truth in their faces.With distaste for her task, she spoke again, giving Wickham the opinion he sought. “I am thankful for both Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy; and although my gratitude to both men is of the highest order, I openly admit I would give anything not to be indebted to Mr. Darcy.”
“Elizabeth!” Jane protested.
Having watched Wickham take the bait, Elizabeth continued, “The man leaves Hertfordshire soon, and I will not be among those counted as wishing he stays. He repeatedly showed himself as superior to the rest of the country, and I shall be happy to see him go.”
“You know how I feel about Mr. Darcy,”Wickham interjected. “He does not belong in civilized company.”
Jane started to object, but Elizabeth cut off her words by ordering tea for the group.When it arrived, she changed the subject to harped on Darcy’s faults.
The visit lasted less than an hour, but for Elizabeth it was a lifetime. When the gentlemen stood to leave, relief set in. “The colonel asked me to see to paperwork for the unit in London; I absent myself with regret, Miss Elizabeth,” said Wickham.
“Will you not be at Mr. Bingley’s ball?” Jane inquired with interest, thinking Elizabeth might find Mr.Wickham appealing.
“I cannot say, Miss Bennet.The colonel knows I am well familiar with London; he has several tasks for me to complete there.”
Elizabeth could not make herself say the words she knew she should offer him to maintain the ruse. All she could say was,“Your absence will be felt, Mr. Wickham.” It was the truth, and that was better than a lie.Wickham’s absence meant she might spend a few minutes with Darcy before he left Hertfordshire and her forever.
As he promised, Darcy refused to call on Elizabeth, even when Bingley encouraged him to do otherwise. “I will not see Miss Elizabeth; it would seem as if I courted the woman.”
He made sure the garlands arrived in the afternoon. Darcy knew Elizabeth would anxiously open the packages, and she would know disappointment when she found no necklace. He promised to send it, but when the time came, he withdrew, afraid someone else might see it. He could not put Elizabeth in such a position.
Instead, he took it to her himself. Darcy sent the same trusted footman to the nearest township to find a competent jeweler and mercantile. He removed the crucifix he wore and gave it to the man with orders for the jeweler to duplicate it, creating a replacement for Darcy. Then he ordered an array of loose diamonds and emeralds set into the metal of the one he already owned. He would risk being without one for a few days to protect Elizabeth. The footman paid the merchant well to complete the work on the one
