Compulsively Mr. Darcy (12 page)

“Darce, she followed you here to New York. Some girl followed you to New York!” Richard's panicked voice was a near shout.

“She's really here?” Georgiana asked in a hopeful tone.

“Yes. Isn't it wonderful?” Darcy impulsively picked up his sister and swung her around.

His unexpected exuberance surprised her, he saw, but then she laughed aloud and said in a near shout of her own, “I'm so happy to see you happy, William.”

“Darce, you can't…” Richard paused as one of Darcy's assistants approached.

“Mr. Darcy, there is a Dr. Bennet lecturing at an Infectious Disease Grand Rounds at Lambton Medical Center in ten minutes.”

“Remember, when you hear
American Sleeping Sickness
disease, they're not talking about what happened in Washington, DC, they're talking about
Chagas
Disease
, a parasitic infection,” Elizabeth ended her talk to the sound of laughter and applause in the hospital auditorium. “I'll take questions now.”

She flipped a switch to turn the light on. Scanning the audience, she noticed a stylishly and expensively dressed blond couple she didn't recognize studying her intensely. Dismissing them as pharmaceutical sales reps, she pointed to some raised hands and answered questions. When the questions stopped and the room began to empty, she saw she had a few minutes before her dinner meeting with the residents.

Her frantic job search had paid off. Right before the Grand Rounds, the chairman of the department had offered her a one-month position, starting tomorrow; they needed someone to fill in for a pregnant attending doctor who had suddenly developed some complications. Elizabeth's application came at the right time. Since she had spent time at the hospital and her research paper was recently featured on the cover of an infectious disease journal, they were happy to offer her the temporary position on the spot.

Except for a brief break to meet with a financial planner Hussein had given her the name of—some distant cousin of his—she had been busy with job-hunting. Now that she had some good news, she wished she could skip the dinner, go back to her hotel room, and call William.

As if her wishing had conjured up a vision of him, she suddenly saw him and smiled. He seemed so real. When she straightened after bending to pick up her briefcase, the vision smiled back at her. She blinked. The vision came closer.

***

Richard observed the woman's stunned face when Darcy approached. With a hesitant motion, she reached one hand toward Darcy then paused and, instead, covered her gaping mouth. Darcy's arms enveloped her. Her small white coat–clad figure disappeared into Darcy. Richard turned away; witnessing the private moment felt intrusive. When he turned back, the couple had finished their embrace, yet they still leaned toward each other with their hands clasped.

Reassured the doctor at least appeared to have some feelings for his cousin, Richard let out a relieved breath. The next moment, he frowned. After nearly a year of being depressed, Darcy had bounced back and lost his head over a woman. And that worried Richard. He remembered the brief period of wild partying Darcy went through right after his father died, before the threat of losing custody of his sister to his aunt brought him out of his self-destructive grief.

Richard studied the doctor's appearance. Dark chestnut hair framed a lively face. Though he easily saw why his cousin was captivated, he shrugged and decided he wouldn't be too concerned. Brains and beauty, nothing unusual there; Darcy was constantly exposed to smart and beautiful women. They were a dime a dozen, all jockeying to get at Darcy's large coin purse. Sooner or later, they'd show their tarnish and bore Darcy.

“Let's go see what's the deal with this one,” he muttered and walked up to the couple. Georgiana followed.

“It's time I give you a shock, Doctor Bennet,” Darcy said.

About to respond to Darcy, the doctor caught sight of Richard and Georgiana approaching. In a cool tone, she greeted them, “I'm sorry, but I'm not able to talk right now about any new antibiotics your company is promoting.”

“Sweetheart, this is my cousin Richard and my sister, Georgiana.” Darcy turned to them. “This is Dr. Elizabeth Bennet.”

Richard's mouth fell open.
Sweetheart?

At first, the two women greeted each other with shy smiles. Then, spontaneously and simultaneously, they hugged each other. Darcy sported a silly grin watching them.

“I'm sorry for my mistake. You both look so beautiful and stylish. Pharmaceutical reps are usually good-looking. That's how they court us doctors.” The doctor tilted her head in Richard's direction. “I figured they'd sent me a pretty boy here.”

While his cousins laughed, Richard winked at her. “Not handsome enough to tempt you though, Doc?”

A glower replaced Darcy's grin. Richard rocked on his heels, happy to see it.

Georgiana said, “Dr. Bennet, I enjoyed hearing your lecture.”

“Please call me Elizabeth, or Lizzy. And I thank you for the compliment. I'm glad that you didn't run out when you saw the gross slides”—the doc winked at Darcy—“as someone likely did.”

Darcy winked back at her. “It wouldn't do for me to faint in the middle of your lecture.”

Richard reminded himself to set up a background check on the woman. Pronto.

A group of young doctors, mostly young males, approached. The doc told Darcy she had to leave for her dinner meeting with the residents. “I don't know how long we'll be.”

Darcy's face fell. “I'll kill some time and drop Georgiana and Richard off, then I'll come back for you. We'll go get you checked out of your hotel and I'll take you home.”

***

His cousin's last words alarmed Richard. This was serious. Darcy was going to take this woman to his townhouse and not the penthouse. Once they were in the car, Richard repeated his earlier concern. “Darce, don't you think it's odd she followed you here to New York?”

“No.”

Richard could not believe what had happened to his ultra-careful cousin. “Aren't you concerned? How well do you know this girl?”

“No, I'm not concerned,” Darcy said. “I know her well enough—”

“You can't know her that well, you haven't been dating her that long. You just left Vietnam a little over three weeks ago,” Richard interrupted. “She probably has tons of debts from medical school and followed you here before you could get a chance to come to your senses.”

“Are you done?”

Darcy's furious tone made Richard pause briefly, but he pressed on. “You're acting like Charles when he meets a nice piece of a—” He stopped, reminded of Georgiana's presence. “Once people learn of your net worth, they'll do anything. Wait for a thorough background check before you do anything stupid.” At the anger flaring in Darcy's eyes, Richard leaned away from him. “You know I'm watching out for you.”

“Precisely why I'm not wringing your bloody neck right now.”

“Don't be taken in by a pretty face. She may be pretty and smart and a doctor, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have a hidden agenda.”

“You want to know what her hidden agenda was in coming to New York? She loved my sorry arse well enough to leave her sister, drop her volunteer commitment, and come here to find a well-paying job.”

“There you—”

“A well-paying job to help me.”

“What? That makes no sense.”

To his surprise, Darcy suddenly laughed and slumped back against the seat; all tension seemed to have left him. “She wants to lighten my financial burden. She thinks I'm unemployed. She doesn't want me to take a job I'd hate, in accounting. She thinks I'm an accountant. She wants me to do what I once told her was very relaxing work for me: looking at grants for art foundations. She thought that was a real job I had once.”

“You're serious?” Georgiana said.

“You're kidding?” Richard said.

“Yes, I'm serious. And no, I'm not kidding. Her sister Jane told me all this on the phone earlier.” Darcy smiled at his sister. His smile disappeared when he faced Richard. “You're right. We don't know each other that well because we haven't been together long. But in essentials, she's the most real thing I've ever met.”

“Oh, Will.” Georgiana reached for her brother's hand.

Darcy briefly clasped his sister's hand. “Everything fits now: her frugal behavior with money and her constant fretting about my spending in Vietnam. She kept making comments about budgeting and how one can live simply and still be happy… and I misunderstood. It never occurred to me she was talking about me.”

Richard snorted. “How could she not know how much you're worth? Anyone can check…”

Darcy shook his head. “She's not one to Google a person to find out how much they're worth. A woman who volunteers at a hospital in a Third-World country is not someone who would do that.”

“Don't give her any false expectations of long-term financial support or commitment from you,” Richard said. “What you're telling me proves my point: you don't know each other well enough to rush into anything.”

“She didn't know my monetary worth, yes, but I was worthy enough simply as the man she loved for her to want to help me. I don't need her money, but I…” Darcy paused. Eyes blinking rapidly, he turned toward the car's window.

Richard turned toward the window also, to the view outside, of New York City cabs and cars and buses whizzing by. How could he convince Darcy he was moving too fast with this woman?

Darcy faced him again. “I need her. Do you have any idea how bloody great it feels to be loved like that? To be valued simply as a man for my true worth and not my bank balance?”

Subdued by the emotions he heard in his cousin's voice, Richard swallowed his remaining protest.

“Well, I think she's wonderful.” Georgiana hugged her brother. “I'm glad, Will. You deserve the best.”

“She is the best,” Darcy said in the tone of a man who had found a rare gem and knew it.

Georgiana giggled. “You mean, as of right now, she still doesn't know you own DDF?”

Her brother smiled at her. “Nope.”

“Are you going to tell her?” Richard said.

“Of course,” Darcy said. “At least she's in New York with me now. My hands can't handle any more washings, worrying about where she is.”

Richard's eyes met Georgiana's briefly before turning back to her brother. “Does she know about your… uh… hand-washing habit?”

“She's a doctor; of course, she picked up on it.”

“And what does she think?”

“It's not a big deal to her. She simply accepts that part of me.”

Hearing that, Richard allowed a little hope in, though he still would maintain his vigilance to make sure this woman was not a good fake.

“When will you tell her about DDF?” Georgiana asked. “I want to be there when you do.”

“I want to see this too.” Richard tried to keep his skepticism from showing in his voice.

Darcy said, “I need to tell her soon, before she accepts a job.”

“Oh, but she might go back to Vietnam to finish her volunteer work,” Georgiana pointed out. “I want her to stay here.”

“She shouldn't go back to Vietnam right now, regardless, because of Wickham.” Darcy then told them about Wickham being in Vietnam, of Elizabeth's role in his imprisonment, and now his recent release.

“That bastard. Is that why you were frantic to go back there today?” Richard said. It made sense to him now, his cousin's panic earlier. Wickham might try to harm the doctor.

Darcy nodded. “He's probably planning some sort of revenge on her—and me. I was told he would stay in prison for months at least. I should have foreseen he'd bribe his way out of prison. I thought he was broke.”

“Now, wait a second, don't start beating yourself up. She's here now with you.”

“Are you going to have security on her too?” Georgiana's hesitant question brought an instantaneous reaction in her brother.

A frantic note in his voice, Darcy immediately ordered the driver to go back to the hospital. “We left her alone there without security. I can't believe I forgot.”

Richard tried to calm his cousin. “Darce, chill, man. She'll be fine. He's not here yet. What could have happened to her in the last thirty minutes?”

“You know as well as I do he has friends here who would do his dirty work for him with just one phone call.” Darcy's hands visibly shook with his agitation.

“What are you going to do? Stick to her all the time, not let her out of your sight, like you do with Georgiana?” Richard impatiently asked. His cousin's reaction disturbed him. This was going backward. After the Wickham episode last year, Darcy had become too protective of his young sister. Security details constantly surrounded her and shadowed her every move. That, and the stress of watching her brother's guilt-ridden despondency and his tendency to panic over her safety, had stifled the already depressed Georgiana.

And now, Darcy had picked up another person to obsess about. Witnessing his cousin's agitation, Richard hoped this Elizabeth was made of stronger stuff than Georgiana, to withstand Darcy's compulsive controlling instincts.

“I'm going to do everything I can to make sure she's safe, just as I do with Georgiana, especially since Wickham is on the prowl again with more reasons to hate me,” Darcy said in a determined voice.

Georgian stared down at her hands.

Richard sank in his seat, frustrated. The rest of the ride back to the hospital was made in silence.

They finally pulled up close to the medical center and stopped at a light. The driver prepared to make a right turn into the waiting area. A group of doctors crossed the street, heading toward the hospital's entrance. Dr. Bennet was in the middle of a sea of white coats, animatedly talking and gesturing with her hands while the others walked alongside her and listened.

When her group reached the sidewalk, Darcy lowered his window. The noise caught her attention and she turned in the direction of the car. Upon seeing Richard's cousin, her face visibly bloomed. After a long moment during which the two lovers simply smiled at each other, she turned back to her companions. She waved them off and headed toward the car.

Richard swallowed. In the thirty some years they had grown up together, he had felt many things for his cousin. He felt compassion for Darcy losing his parents at a young age and respect for the mantle of responsibility Darcy had willingly assumed as Georgiana's guardian. He felt great pity, he was ashamed to admit, for Darcy being afflicted with debilitating, compulsive habits. He felt a need, always, to protect his vulnerable cousin, a man as close to him as a brother.