A Wife for Mr. Darcy

greeting their guests. Because his reservoir of goodwill for Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst had run dry, such an action was out of the question, and so he waited.
    Elizabeth had warned him that her family was always delayed, and so to pass the time, he had asked Miss Graves for a dance. But with the number of couples in attendance, every dance might last as long as thirty minutes, and he did not want to be dancing with another lady in case the Bennets did arrive. In order to avoid such a situation, he had turned to the gentlemen and ended up discussing crop yields with Mr. Patterson and the poor condition of the roads between Meryton and Watford with Mr. Everett.
    After fifteen minutes of debate as to where a carriage was most likely to encounter the worst stretch of road, Darcy decided he would find a dance partner, as dancing was less demanding than his attempts to avoid dancing were. He looked about the room, hoping to find Charlotte Lucas, who had made an excellent impression on him during his evening at Lucas Lodge, but when he had finally located her, she was talking to the parson. There was something in their manner that suggested intimacy, and he wondered if Charlotte and the reverend were engaged. But if that were the case, wouldn’t he have heard of it?
    And then he realized what he was doing. He actually had his ear to the ground in case any of the local news involved Elizabeth Bennet. But there was more to it than even that. As was the case with Lambton, he did care about what happened to his tenants, the villagers, and those living on the surrounding farms, and in the case of Charlotte Lucas, because she was so pleasant, he hoped that she would marry well.
    “Get thee to London, Darcy. The provinces are swallowing you up. Before you know it, you will be drinking at the public house,” he mumbled to himself.
    For the fourth time that evening, he refilled his punch cup and thought it very likely that when Elizabeth finally did arrive, he would be out in the bushes answering Nature’s call. But then he heard the unmistakable sound of Mrs. Bennet’s voice. Finally, at long last, the Bennets had arrived.
    He quickly glanced in the mirror and then laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation. He had not felt like this since his years as a youth when the dancing master had finally allowed the boys to dance with the girls. While the future debutantes giggled, the boys milled about the room stealing furtive glances at the young beauties, and he smiled at the memory.
    When Darcy saw Elizabeth, he took a deep breath. Before him stood one of the loveliest creatures he had ever seen, and he genuinely feared that he would give himself away. While he was enjoying the view, she had swept the hair off her shoulders, revealing a neck that he longed to kiss, that is, after he had stopped kissing her mouth. And although it was impolite to stare, he could not help himself, and even if he had been able to see only her eyes, he would still have known that she was smiling because all of her emotions were reflected in them.
    “Miss Elizabeth Bennet, may I welcome you back to Netherfield Park?”
    “Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth said, bowing her head and enjoying a look at his long legs. “There is such a crush of people here. We have been waiting outside for more than fifteen minutes.”
    “I wish I had known that.”
    “Would you have broken through the crowd and brought us to the beginning of the line or would you have snuck us into the hall by way of the kitchen?”
    “Oh, by way of the kitchen definitely. Much more dramatic.”
    “Is your sister here, Mr. Darcy?”
    “Georgiana was here earlier, but something happened with her dress and she had to leave. In all the time she has been gone, she could easily have made another.”
    “You are being too hard on your sister. Making a good appearance is so easy for a man. You put on a handsome waistcoat and coat with a fine pair of boots, and you are done. I envy you.”
    “You are once again correct, Miss Elizabeth, and I withdraw my criticism, especially when all of your efforts have been rewarded with such excellent results.”
    Darcy looked around and realized that a place had been cleared around them. Since his adoption of a good neighbor policy, he was now a source of special interest to the local population, and because of his height, he was visible to all. He decided it would be best if he visited with others in an attempt to avoid any gossip in connection with