The Love of the Game by Intuitive Intelligence
A/N: I didn't die. Life got in the way of my writing and I apologize.
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Being cooped up in a large house when one is in want of entertainment inevitably leads to the person experiencing boredom to want to go exploring. Having only really viewed a few rooms that Netherfield had to offer, Lizzy set about exploring the grand manor.
Her hair was still damp from her shower and was beginning to soak through the back of her shirt forcing the cotton material to stick to her skin uncomfortably. However, she had no desire to rummage through the guest bathroom in search of a blow dryer nor return to her quarters for another towel.
The jeans she wore were too long for her and drug along the wooden floor as her bare feet padded down the hall. Having heard as a little girl that the original owners of Netherfield were avid antique book collectors she wished to explore the library. After stopping one of the staff she found out the library was located in the south western wing of the manor.
Standing outside the opulently carved mahogany door, Lizzy resisted the urge to knock. Her small hand reached out and turned the brass knob before pushing open the heavy door and stepping inside.
The library of Netherfield was like something out of a fairy tale, with floor to ceiling arched windows dominating one wall with a grand fireplace at the center. The middle of the room was graced with comfortable looking sofa's that remained opulent with their silvery blue fabrics. But Lizzy spared these features only a glance before her eyes were drawn upward.
The library continued on to the second floor, with a domed ceiling that offered impressive molding and it its very center a grand chandelier. All the books that lined the walls on the stacks called out to her at once, and she was thankful that she had found the place. Venturing further into the room she began to run her hand along the spines of the books with something akin to reverence.
Elizabeth Bennet had always been a great reader, and it was only her tendency to speak her opinion that led her to journalism. Otherwise she could easily have become a scholar of English literature.
She slowly climbed the winding staircase that descended from the second floor to explore what was lofted above. Part of her was shocked to see William Darcy reclining on a chaise lounge near a blazing fireplace utterly relaxed with a book in hand. He had not heard her approach which afforded Elizabeth a moment to study the man.
He was dressed far more casually than she was used to seeing him with a pair of soft-looking black cotton drawstring pants and a tight fitting black t-shirt. His feet were bare as well, and were tucked up on to the chaise. Lizzy smiled at his mussed hair and the intense look of concentration on his face as he deep blue eyes focused in on the novel resting gently in his pale white hands. 'Masculine hands.' Lizzy thought to herself with a sigh before she realized that this was in fact William Darcy whom she was ogling. Handsome he might be, he was still a jack ass and he was a story nothing more.
A story that she needed to delve into, and no time like the present to start prying. Stepping forward into the light, Darcy's gaze immediately shifted to the new presence in the room. For a moment he said nothing, but looked into Lizzy's eyes with the same intensity as she found him to have had before. It sent a shiver down her spine.
"Good evening, Elizabeth." He said in an almost whisper.
"Darcy…" She replied with a nod of her head as she began to stalk along the stacks searching for a novel with which to while away the hours of night.
William Darcy had been startled to see Elizabeth enter his private sanctuary looking so oddly relaxed with her bare feet and wet hair. She had never been more beautiful to him then in that moment where he saw her bathed in firelight. Unable to return his attention to the book before him, he allowed his gaze to follow her form as she slowly moved from book to book regarding each volume with a level of scrutiny her found endearing. 'Endearing? No, not endearing. Interesting.' He chastised himself mentally from being distracted by her.
"You can turn on the lights if you wish…" Darcy stated when he saw her squinting to read the titles in the firelight.
"And ruin the ambience of this place? I'd rather risk my vision…" She replied tossing him a glance over her shoulder.
Lizzy could feel his eyes on her back and she wondered if he was insulting her in his head. She finally settled on a thin volume and brought it back to the rug situated in front of the fire and consequentially Darcy's perch. He leaned over her shoulder inhaling the vanilla scent of her shampoo as he did so to make out the cover.
"Wuthering Heights…" He muttered and Lizzy was startled by his breath tickling her ear.
"Are you going to find fault with my choice, Darcy?" Lizzy said turning slightly so that their faces were nearly touching.
"Not at all, I'm not surprised you would choose a book about a torrid affair and a heroine who doesn't know what she wants."
Lizzy's eyebrow shot up at this, and she felt the heat of anger rising up in her cheeks.
"It just so happens that Heathcliff and Cathy's romance is by far one of the best in all of British literature, and just because you lack the capacity to recognize that is no fault of mine. I'd be surprised if you had one romantic bone in your body, Darcy. No, I am quite convinced that a man like you lives for logic and reason and never listens to the heart." Lizzy spat back before grabbing the book from his hands to perhaps find fault with what he was reading and belittle him as he did her.
Clearing her throat she began to read outloud:
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark…"
She looked up at Darcy in surprise. He had chosen to read Shakespeare's sonnets proving him to be a romantic after all. When her voice trailed out, his had picked up continuing the sonnet from memory alone:
"That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love 's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd."
Lizzy could not deny that Darcy had enraptured her with his deep melodic voice, as he seemed to recite the words of the Bard back to her. Part of her inside wished that Darcy himself meant those words for her, but that was a part she did not want to admit to no matter how many butterflies may have been stirred from their peaceful rest in her stomach.
Darcy's heart hammered in his chest as he looked down at her crouched on the floor having been allowed to speak his mind without her knowledge that his heart had been behind it. Damn it all he was infatuated with a common brassy journalist and he had no control over himself. His throat felt dry, his entire body tense as he felt her fine eyes judging him.
"I stand corrected." Elizabeth finally managed to utter while looking into his midnight blue eyes.
Rising from her spot on the floor, Lizzy all of a sudden felt as vulnerable as if she had been naked before him. The way he stared at her was unnerving. Acting out of the manners instilled in him from childhood, Darcy stood as well. Lizzy was treated to a whiff of his cologne and when she tilted her head to look up at him since he was much taller than her, she felt their faces being drawn closer together.
"Oh William, can you be a darling and help unzip me out of this dress?" Caroline cooed as she walked into the library in a black cocktail dress that looked like it had been painted on.
Lizzy immediately pulled away, a faint blush on her cheeks while she chastised herself for her behavior. Excusing herself she left the library and made for the sanctuary of her room.
Darcy watched Elizabeth leave, and knew had they not been interrupted that he would have kissed her. It would have been a perfect first kiss, one that would shake the very foundations of the earth but it was ruined by Caroline and her insipid demands.
Caroline looked at him with a predatory gleam in her eye, as she attempted to be an utter sex kitten. Darcy took no pleasure in sliding the metal zipper down so that her dress loosened itself from her skeletal body. No, Caroline wasn't appealing to him. But she did stop him from making a grave mistake, so for all her annoyances he was indebted to Caroline for once in his life.
Had he kissed Elizabeth Bennet there would be no turning back. Had he kissed Elizabeth Bennet he would have been lost forever. She was a journalist after all, a journalist who couldn't be trusted. But even as he assured himself she was utterly wrong for him, his heart called out for her.
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Elizabeth detoured herself away from her room and went to check on Jane. The majority of the day Charles had been at her side, and Lizzy didn't want to intrude on their special time together.
Peaking into the room she found her sister to be alone but asleep. Pulling up a chair she grasped one of her sister's hands that lay outside the blanket and held it gently while the other brushed a wayward blonde lock away from her face.
"Sweet Jane… I never know what to do when you aren't well. You are the one who always takes care of me when I'm sick and makes me chicken noodle soup. I think if I made you chicken noodle soup I'd give you food poisoning." Lizzy whispered.
"But I'm not going to leave your side till you are better even if I have to endure Caroline's ranting and Darcy's cold stares. But Charles seems to like you ever so much, I wish you were awake long enough to see how he dotes on you." Her spoken thoughts were interrupted by a large yawn.
"But how can I expect you to stay awake, when I am here yawning. Goodnight, Jane."
Bestowing a kiss to her sister's forehead, Lizzy left the room shutting the door gently behind her as she walked into her room. She threw off her clothing and flung herself ungracefully on the bed and was surprised when she landed on something hard and uncomfortable.
Reaching underneath her she pulled out the copy of Wuthering Heights she had picked up in the library earlier. She noted that a piece of paper had been stuck inside it and she pulled it out to see looping handwriting without a signature: "Far be it for me to deny you a torrid romance."
The double-meaning of what Darcy's note could imply was not lost on Lizzy but was overlooked on the basis that Darcy hated her. Right?
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The next afternoon Jane was well enough to leave Netherfield to return to Longbourn for the rest of her recovery. While Charles was extremely put out to no longer have Jane under his roof, Caroline rejoiced that she was getting rid of the two guests who seemed to leach away all the attention from herself. Darcy appeared indifferent, to their leaving and to Jane's state of health further affirming in Lizzy's mind that Darcy was an unfeeling creature…even if he reads Shakespeare.
Mrs. Bennet arrived around two o'clock to fetch back her girls, with Lydia and Kitty in tow. Elizabeth cringed when they showed up with all of their fanfare raving about poor Jane and how kind Charles was for taking them in. Lizzy's sprained wrist went unmentioned.
Caroline looked smugly at Darcy mocking the ridiculous antics of the Bennet family. And while Darcy didn't openly join her in professing their stupidity, his manner showed that he agreed.
"You know before you moved here Charles, the family that owned this place used to throw the most extravagant end of summer ball. It was the social event of the summer… I dare say I miss it."
"Really? I saw the ballroom, but I hardly thought of ever really using it for that purpose."
"Oh if you threw an end of summer ball, Charles it would be wicked." Lydia giggled out.
Charles shifted nervously while smiling. What did he know about throwing a summer ball? Glancing to his right he saw Caroline beaming with excitement at the idea, or any idea that would bring her an opportunity to be the most glamorous person in the social circle.
"You know, I rather think that Mrs. Bennet actually has something, Charles. We should have a summer gala here, introduce ourselves properly to our neighbors." Caroline suggested.
"If you are averse to the idea of throwing such an extravagant party with no real reason behind it, you could always use it as a fundraiser for your work or other charities. Perhaps for those who are unable to otherwise afford your therapy?" Elizabeth finally suggested.
Darcy glanced at Lizzy in surprise, he had thought like the other females in her family that she merely wanted an excuse to wear a fancy dress and mingle. Charles seemed to love this idea as well and it was immediately adopted.
After a few more conversational topics were exhausted Jane was helped down the stairs and into the waiting BMW SUV outside. Charles lingered near her, talking to Jane through the open door while the rest of their things were set into the car and their horses were brought from the stable and put into their trailer.
"Jane, I hope that you will find a reason to visit now even though you are well…"
"I would like it very much." She smiled back shyly.
Lizzy turned to Caroline and gave her a fake smile.
"Thank you for your hospitality…"
"Pleasure." Caroline said disdainfully.
Lizzy was about to get into the back seat of the SUV with Lydia and Kitty when she spotted Darcy standing near the car out of the corner of her eye. Reaching into her purse she pulled out the copy of Wuthering Heights and handed it back to him.
"Return this for me?" She said gently.
Their hands brushed and it was electric. Darcy merely nodded to her, and watched her get into the car. As they drove off, Charles and Caroline headed back inside. Darcy opened the cover of the book and noticed that his note was still inside but an addition had been made at the bottom of the page.
"Perhaps you should read this, it seems you need a dose of passion in your life more than I do.- E"
Darcy's lip twitched upward slightly into a grin. He shut the book and tucked it gently under one arm, before following his friends inside.
He read the entire book that night all the while inhaling the scent of vanilla that still lingered on its pages.
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A/N: And there you have it. Some tingly Lizzy/Darcy moments… The Shakespearean sonnet utilized above is Sonnet 116. Be a dear and review!