R is for Ravishingly
The party was in full swing as Darcy sauntered into the bright, sparkling lights. It had been nearly a month since Phil's incident and they were no closer to determining the identity of the mole. Things were beginning to get tense at headquarters, but she refused to remain on house arrest any longer. Her eyes scanned the room as she paused to let one of the servers take her wrap. Several pairs of eyes flickered towards her, and she could feel others. The hint of a wicked smile hovered at the corners of her lips as she made her way gracefully down to the main floor. The plan appeared to be working.
She wanted all eyes on her tonight.
"Darcy!" Tony came sweeping up to her. "Don't you look ravishingly radiant?"
"Says the man who looks devilishly debonair," she replied with a laugh.
He waved it off with a grin before leaning in to brush her cheek with a kiss. "Pepper has abandoned me to talk business with a senator or something. Come and dance…we can make the entire room green with envy."
Only someone who knew him would catch the watchful expression in his eyes. The plan called for the most well-known and/or extroverted among them to be bright, vivid, and obvious. Tony, Pepper, Thor, Steve, and Darcy would be showing off as much as possible without being suspicious in the hopes of having attention focused on them. The SHIELD brass would be just as blatant, though in a quieter manner. Not that Fury ever needed help to stand out from a crowd, but Darcy's personal sources of information told her that both Phil and Maria were less than impressed over the whole affair.
Call her the cynical sort, but she placed bets on Maria giving Fury hell for months over this.
For her part, if it wasn't for the whole 'potentially dangerous' factor of the night, Darcy would be having the time of her life. Really, it had almost been a dream day for her. The plan meant she spent the whole day moving between spas, salons, and dressmakers. She could not remember how long it had been since she'd been able to spoil herself and today Tony met her at breakfast with a black credit card and the instructions to splurge all she wanted. He disappeared with a grin and final quip – "Don't worry about the plan; do it for Agent." She had rolled her eyes, but would never admit that Phil stayed in the back of her mind the entire time she prepped for the party. So here she stood in a vintage 'wiggle' dress which would be the epitome of modest if it didn't hug every single curve. It's velvety black color combined with her pale skin in such a way that drew the eyes up her curves to the deep crimson of her lips. She wore no jewelry, and only simple black heels. Truth be told, her lips were her only 'accessory' for the night.
"All right, Mr. Stark," she smiled with a hint of flirtatiousness. "Let's dance."
The two of them glided gracefully around the dance floor. It was possible to track their progress by the rise and fall of the buzzing chatter. Darcy rolled her eyes. "We are going to be all over the gossip pages tomorrow."
"I'll be highly disappointed if we're not," he smirked. "I love having my picture taken with the most gorgeous women in the room."
"I'm not landing on Pepper's hit list," she told him in a voice lit by amusement.
"Oh, excellent idea," Tony brightened, bringing them to a stop by the bar as the music changed. "We'll try and get a picture of all three off us."
Darcy tossed her head back as her laughter spilled over the room. Heads turned to find the source of the sparkling sound. Tony handed her a champagne flute, tapping his glass to hers as he winked. The chatter around them rose to new heights as Pepper suddenly appeared at his elbow. She took his champagne and smiled at Darcy.
"You two appear to be enjoying yourselves."
"Pepper! Light of my life, where have you been?" Tony exclaimed, lifting her hand to his lips. He accepted another glass from the waiter without looking. All of his attention was directed to the redhead at his side. The rest of the party could have disappeared at that moment, and Darcy doubted he would have noticed.
"Making sure the contracts for Stark Industries are properly lined up," Pepper answered, exchanging a look of resigned exasperation with Darcy.
Tony shook his head in false despair. "Boring, Pep. This is a party. That means no work. We're here to enjoy ourselves, maybe drink a little too much, and watch to see if anyone gets drunk enough to be stupid."
"Should we be monitoring your intake of alcohol?" Phil's dry voice entered the conversation.
"There you are, Agent," Tony replied without breaking stride. "Excellent timing!" Tony reached out and plucked Darcy's flute out of her hand. "Make sure Miss Stacked enjoys her evening. I'm going to steal Pepper away now." With a smirk and a wink, he whirled Pepper out onto the dance floor.
Darcy blinked big innocent eyes up at the sighing agent. "You have to admire his one track mind at times," she smiled.
"Actually," he started, before glancing down at her. He stopped, and she watched as he seemed to really take in her appearance as 'Darcy' instead of 'team member'. Something flashed in his gaze as it skimmed her before he slid the 'agent' mask back in place. Mission accomplished, she thought even as he began to speak once more. "You seem to have taken your assignment rather seriously," he noted, giving a cool look to a staring fellow.
"The assignment said 'bold' and 'attention-grabbing'," she replied, lifting her hands in a small shrug. "I did my best."
"Hmmm," he hummed noncommittally as two more men walked past and eyed her. A third man started in their direction, his focus purely on her, and Phil moved to cut him off. Stepping in front of her, he held out a hand. "May I have this dance?"
Plan or no plan, mission or no mission, Darcy had to stamp down pretty hard on the internal part of her that started jumping with glee. She managed to restrain herself to a secretive little smile as she placed her hand in his. "I would love to," she replied.
Silence stretched between them for the first few moments of the dance. She let herself simply enjoy it as though it were simply a dance and nothing more. Finally he broke the silence. "I still don't like it."
"You had better be talking about the plan," she responded, her eyes lifting to meet his. "I'll be seriously irritated if you're talking about the dress."
"No," he replied, his eyes dropping before he pulled them up to focus on her face. "The plan puts you at too much risk."
She sighed. "I've got you right here," she pointed out patiently. "Bucky and Clint are in place and Tasha has been shadowing me all day. Thor has already promised dire vengeance on anyone who even looks at me strangely while Bruce's eyes have been glazing green any time we passed him. Tony's here, Steve is here…heck, I'm pretty sure half of SHIELD is here." He started to answer when a light jostle from a nearby couple prompted him to draw her in closer, away from them. Her body moved easily, without resistance, to curve closer to his and he fell silent. She smiled up at him. "Could we just enjoy the dance for a minute?"
His eyes capitulated and one corner of his mouth lifted ever so slightly. "Stark was right, you know," Phil said quietly. "You are…radiant."
At that moment, surrounded by espionage and intrigue, Darcy could almost feel the exact instant her heart simply clicked that last notch from 'crushing and attracted' into full-on 'head over heels'. Lips curving into a Mona Lisa smile, she shifted to rest her head on his chest. "I like it better when you say it."
A rough, familiar chuckle sounded in her ear, but he held her too tightly for her to move and look at him. She surrendered to his lead and let herself get lost in the moment. They could talk later.