Read Darcy and Elizabeth What If? Collection 1 for Free Online Page B

than you originally intended. By the time you return your feelings will be fixed one way or the other.’
    Privately, Mr Darcy thought that his friend’s easy going temperament would allow him to forget Miss Bennet very quickly, once he was no longer in her company.
    But Darcy knew he would not so easily forget Elizabeth.
    Elizabeth! He had chastised Bingley for referring to Miss Bennet as Jane, and yet he himself thought of her sister as only Elizabeth, and not Miss Elizabeth.
    He could feel his emotions deepening every day. She had bewitched him. He could not stop thinking about her. But now, to his jealousies and his anger with himself for speaking of her so slightingly to begin with, he had another anxiety to add.
    What if George was truly married? In a way it would make things easier, because Elizabeth must surely be disgusted with George if she discovered the truth.
    Or perhaps not. Perhaps she thought his attentions were merely a mild flirtation, acceptable even in a married man.
    But what if she were falling in love with George?
    The thought hit him hard in many different ways. If so, he would be devastated. He would also be jealous and angry with Wickham. But, more than that, if she was falling in love with Wickham then she would end up being hurt and that was the thing he could not forgive Wickham for, above all others.
    He could not bear to see Elizabeth hurt.
     
    ‘Well, Lizzy, Mr Wickham paid you marked attention again at Sir William Lucas’s, and when he dined with us,’ said Mrs Bennet. ‘I am sure he will make you an offer before long. And Mr Bingley will propose to Jane, too, I am sure.’
    ‘Mama, you must not let your imagination run away with you,’ said Elizabeth.
    ‘It is not my imagination. Everyone is talking about it.’ She became thoughtful. ‘Although, there were some people who thought Mr Darcy might be taking an interest in you.’
    ‘Mr Darcy has no interest in me, other than to criticise, you may depend upon it,’ said Elizabeth.
    ‘I am not so sure, Lizzy,’ said Charlotte Lucas, who was paying the Bennets a visit. ‘Mr Darcy danced with you at our house and he did not dance with anyone else.’
    ‘Only because your father asked him to!’ said Lizzy with a laugh.
    But although she treated the matter lightly, she had felt humiliated when Sir William had all but begged Mr Darcy to dance with her. She had expected Mr Darcy to look down his nose at her and make some scathing comment, followed by a refusal, but he had surprised her by acceding to Sir William’s wishes.
    She still did not know why. It was not as though he had any pleasure in her company. He had scarcely talked to her. But there had been something . . . . she tried to force the feeling down but it would not go away. She felt a sense of connection with him.
    Abominable man! She did not want to feel a sense of connection with him. She wanted to think of Mr Wickham only. Mr Wickham was everything that was amiable.
    ‘Well, perhaps you are right,’ said Charlotte. ‘Great men like Mr Darcy often do things on a whim. Perhaps that is why he danced with you. Perhaps it was just a whim.’
    ‘I think it must have been,’ said Mary, Elizabeth’s moralising sister. ‘I went into town for some music this morning and I heard that Mr Bingley has left Netherfield and gone to London.’
    ‘What?’ demanded Mrs Bennet, rounding on Mary. ‘Why did you not say so at once?’
    Elizabeth looked at Jane. She loved Jane dearly and she hoped Jane would not be too disappointed to learn that Mr Bingley had left.
    ‘He has probably gone to collect a party for the Netherfield ball,’ said Elizabeth, noticing that Jane’s eyes looked rather damp.
    ‘Oh, yes, of course, that will be it!’ said Mrs Bennet, her good humour restored. ‘He has gone to invite his friends to the ball. I hope he brings plenty of gentlemen. If there are too many ladies, then some of them will have to sit out again, and that is always vexing.’
    ‘Mr