Adapt

by Melanie Rachel

  Nice move, Richard thought. Subtle. He smiled grimly. “We’ve determined Wickham is acting on someone’s behalf. The way you are speaking together, I suspect you have an idea who that is.” He waited expectantly.

  Everest’s cheek twitched, but Richard thought he detected amusement rather than censure. Got it in one.

  “Go on, Mr. Fitzwilliam,” she said coolly.

  Richard’s foot stilled and he cleared his throat. He addressed his father. “You’ve made plenty of enemies in your time, but there’s only one man who stands to gain your seat on Ways and Means if you decline to run. Am I right?” His father’s face turned thoughtful, and Richard knew he was evaluating the cost of going after a member of his own party. You gotta control the air, Dad.

  “I’m guessing you wanted to speak to me about linking this mystery senator with Wickham?” Elizabeth stepped inside, shutting the door carefully behind her. “You won’t need to call in so many favors if you have evidence of a connection.”

  Senator Fitzwilliam’s expression relaxed minutely, but Richard caught it.

  “And who is this?” asked Everest, turning her eyes to Elizabeth.

  “This,” Richard replied warily, “is former Staff Sergeant Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth, this is Senator Everest and my father, Senator Fitzwilliam.” Shit, Lizzy, stop talking. You should’ve stayed upstairs.

  “I’m not staying, senators,” she said evenly. “I just came to say that Will is sleeping. He asked me to tell you he’d join you later.”

  Will, Richard groaned silently. Of all the times to fall asleep on the job . . .

  “No, come on in,” Senator Fitzwilliam said, waving her inside with one hand. “We want to hear what happened.”

  And you want to recruit her, Richard added.

  Elizabeth’s face grew solemn as she stepped to the table, and Richard took a good look at her. She was dressed simply in dark gray trousers, a red, long-sleeved blouse, and black flats, her hair pulled away from her face but left to hang down her back.

  “Don’t you have an interview today?” he asked. “In Marin?” Be somewhere else, kiddo. You aren’t up for this.

  She made a face. “I’ve been uninvited.” She met Richard’s gaze. “Apparently, they don’t want the hassle of hiring someone who might be tied up in legal wrangles for the foreseeable future.” Her eyes went to Senator Fitzwilliam. “Were you able to use a phone on that plane of yours, Senator?”

  Richard cast a glance at his father’s inscrutable face.

  Terrence Fitzwilliam was a gritty, savvy, old-fashioned politician, socially liberal and fiscally conservative. He demanded data. He demanded testimony. He didn’t always vote party lines, yet was generally well respected by his peers and his constituents—he had been reelected five times in succession. Now he was on the verge of one final campaign, a campaign he hadn’t thought to wage until De Roos. His political enemies were determined to oust him and break up his considerable influence in the Senate, especially with swing voters. Even his supposed allies were angling for his committee appointments. But he’ll be damned if he lets anyone else write his exit from public life. Clearly, he had a job in mind for Elizabeth.

  One had to be in top form to deny Terrence Fitzwilliam anything he decided he needed, his son mused. Elizabeth Bennet was not in top form, even less than he was himself. As brief as their acquaintance had been, he’d met her before De Roos, and this wasn’t that Marine. She’d been through the wringer, beginning with the attack last summer, the continuing headaches, the long media blitz both in Europe and at home, the attack she’d fended off last night. She’d been quite ill less than a week ago, and there were dark smudges beneath her eyes that spoke to her lack of sleep. Even now, there was a guardedness in her body language, like a deer ready to flee a wolf. But she did not flee. She stayed, her expression unimpressed and resolute. I wonder if Will really sent her down. He decided that his cousin most likely had not.

  She’s come to set terms, Richard realized. Atta girl.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Richard watched Elizabeth absently turning her phone in her hand while assessing his father. He tried to gauge her mood, but her face was blank, unreadable. One thing she was not exuding, as far as he could determine, was fear. No, he told himself with some satisfaction, she is not afraid of the big-shot senator. He waited patiently, watching her face carefully for some sort of tell. At last, the left side of her mouth twitched the merest amount, and he nearly laughed. Angry. Masking it well, but she’s angry. Anger he could deal with. He felt inordinately better about her already.

  “Senator,” she said, turning her attention particularly to Senator Fitzwilliam. “I would like to speak to you privately, sir.”

  Richard’s father didn’t move. “You can say what you will here, Staff Sergeant. Have a seat.”

  Bennet took a deep breath. She remained standing. “The long and the short of it is that you’ve seen the videos.” She explained her version of events and voiced her suspicion that Wickham was not working alone, and everyone nodded. No surprises there. But then she cleared her throat.

  “That’s what you wanted to know. Are you sure you don’t want to step into a private room for the rest?”

  Richard watched his father shake his head.

  “Very well.” She took a breath and launched into a precise recitation. “I’m aware you need me to work for you on whatever it is that erupted last night. I’m willing to do the work.”

  His father nodded dismissively and turned to Everest to resume their conversation but was unable to begin before he was interrupted.

  “I’m not finished, sir,” she said, her accent clipped. “My participation is not unconditional.”

  There she is, Richard thought, relieved.

  “Really?” his father asked smoothly, in his best negotiation voice. “And what is it you wish for?” His tone was displeased.

  “First,” Bennet replied coolly, “you are not my fairy godmother. You can’t grant me wishes, and I wouldn’t take them from you anyway.”

  Everest was smiling now. “I’ll have to remember that one, Terry,” she chuckled quietly.

  Senator Fitzwilliam’s eyes were gleaming now, too, but his face was impassive. He likes her, Richard thought, surprised. Well, I’ll be damned.

  “Second,” Bennet was saying, “I am no longer a staff sergeant. I gave up all the luxury and ease associated with that title for the mundane life of a civilian. I do not take orders from you. You may, if you like, call me Ms. Bennet. You may not, however, call my prospective employers and hint that I am experiencing legal difficulties and will not be available to work for them.”

  Richard was surprised, though he shouldn’t have been. Interfering in her work was low, but his father could be frighteningly single-minded about certain things.

  Senator Everest’s smile widened. She looked down at the table briefly in a vain attempt to hide it. Elizabeth glanced at them both and frowned before returning her gaze to Richard’s father.

  “Anything else, Ms. Bennet?” he inquired, a condescending smile pulling at the corners of his lips. Richard knew this play. It was an attempt to make his opponent lose her temper. When they lose their temper, he had told his boys often enough, they lose the argument.

  Almost involuntarily, Bennet rolled her eyes. His father tilted his head a fraction of an inch as he took her measure.

  “Yes,” she said, one eyebrow arched. “In fact, there is more. Are you ready to hear it?”

  This time, a more genuine grin began to appear on the man’s face, though it wasn’t without calculation. He does love a challenge, Richard thought.

  His father leaned back in his chair, hands in his lap. “Indeed.”

  Richard turned back to watch Elizabeth nod crisply. In a voice that could have frozen water, she offered the sitting, five-term senator of New York a warning.

  “With all due respect, sir,” she told him, lifting her phone slightly, “if you ever interfere with my career again, Geor
ge Wickham and his keeper will be the very least of your worries.” She met his gaze unflinchingly, and he stared back, unruffled. “I don’t have to touch a hair on your head to make your life miserable. In fact, I don’t even have to be involved.” Richard was rewarded when his stoic father’s eyebrow lifted just a bit. She has a network, too, Dad. A talented one. Tell me you didn’t overlook that.

  Elizabeth clasped her hands behind her back. “I don’t want to do that. You’re Will’s uncle, and I am loyal to family.”

  Richard watched his father nod approvingly.

  “But,” Bennet added, “they must be loyal to me as well. Ask me if you want something, and I will tell you whether or not I am able or willing to provide it.”

  Richard scratched the back of his head and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Well, she gave him the chance to do it in private, he thought. He had no doubt that Elizabeth believed she was drawing a line and probably causing a breach in the process. But she wasn’t one to back down, he realized. No, as tired and beat-up as she is, I was stupid to think she couldn’t handle this. It made him feel better, too, to know she wouldn’t be working alone. We’ll all be working together. It’ll be fine.

  “Message received,” replied his father, with considerable warmth in his voice. “Welcome to the team, Ms. Bennet.”

  Richard was amused at the fleeting expression of shock that Bennet quickly covered with a scowl.

  “Well,” she said, “you know where to find me.” She turned smartly on her heel and exited the room, the door closing behind her with an airy whisper.

  Senator Everest waited until the door was completely shut before she loudly slapped the table with her palms and hooted. “Oh, Terry,” she said, laughing, “I like her. I like her a lot.”

  Richard’s instincts were proven correct when his father allowed the tiniest of smiles to grace his face and replied, “Me too, Miranda. Me, too.”

  Slowly, methodically, Elizabeth removed her interview clothes and hung them back in the closet. She pulled on her sweats and made her way to the bed where Will was still sleeping. He was snoring. Loudly. She watched him for a while, her heart squeezing with affection. When he turned onto his back and let out a sound that could peel wallpaper, she laughed silently. He did say he snored when he’s bone-tired, poor man. The next one nearly rattled the door on its hinges. Usually she was the one who was exhausted, so this was the first time she’d heard it. Another benefit of Marine life, she told herself, sitting on the edge of the bed. His snoring won’t keep me awake if I’m tired.

  Cautiously, she worked her way back into the bed, curling herself around Will and drifting into a hazy state of half-wakefulness. Her brain was working too fast to allow her to drop off entirely. She needed to understand what had happened downstairs, where she had quite foolishly threatened a sitting senator. A rather powerful, well-connected, highly respected member of the government. In front of witnesses. She groaned inwardly, draping her arm over her eyes. You really are an idiot, Bennet, she chided herself. Even if he deserved it, you didn’t have to be so blunt about it. She reviewed the conversation. Richard had nearly bust a gut trying to rein in his laughter. Typical. Her mind’s eye moved to the other senator. Everest, right? Like the mountain. She recalled a little smile, so maybe she’d found it funny, too. Elizabeth sighed. Was I just making a spectacle of myself? No, there had been no mistaking the response of Senator Fitzwilliam. Message received, he’d said, and the way he’d looked at her, the timbre of his voice . . . She couldn’t be certain, but she was hopeful he’d understood and would not meddle in her life again. I didn’t even really want that job in Marin, she thought. What is it with this family and job interviews?

  She rolled over on her side and put an arm over Will’s chest, his hand coming up automatically to pin it there. She glanced at him. No, still asleep. She spread her fingers out until she could feel the beating of his heart and absorb the warmth of his sleeping form. At last, she drifted off into a troubled sleep.

  It was late afternoon when Will stirred and sat up. He was surprised to see Elizabeth still in bed with him.

  “Hey,” he said hoarsely, giving her shoulder a little push, “what are you doing here?”

  She unfolded herself, swiping at her eyes half-heartedly and giving him a sleepy stare. “Afraid Georgiana will catch us together? Hate to say it, but I think she knows.”

  “No,” he grumbled, still feeling out of sorts. He hated sleeping during the day. Not that he could have remained awake even had he wanted, but . . . oh yeah. He smiled to himself. She attacked me. “I just meant your interview. Did you drive up there and back already?” He turned away to retrieve his watch from the nightstand.

  She shook her head. “They called this morning. Didn’t want me after all.”

  He was surprised. “What does that mean?” He ran his tongue along his teeth.

  Elizabeth reached over her nightstand and grabbed her phone. She fussed with it for a moment before handing it over, then got up and wandered into the bathroom. Will held the cell phone to his ear and heard a man’s voice, apologetic but firm, explaining that the winery was a family firm and couldn’t afford the potential for negative press. There was also the insinuation that Elizabeth might be in some sort of legal trouble with the government, which meant her attentions would, by necessity, be elsewhere. Why would they think . . . oh shit. He grimaced. Elizabeth was walking out of the bathroom, her toothbrush still in her mouth.

  “I called after I received this, just to be sure. The president of the company confirmed it.”

  Will shot her an apologetic look, and she just shook her head.

  “No worries,” she told him. “Your uncle and I have spoken.”

  Wow, I must have really been out. “And?” he asked.

  Elizabeth pursed her lips. “Well,” she told him, drawing the word out, “he said ‘Message received,’ so I think he understands my position. Your cousin found it amusing, I think.”

  Will was surprised. “Richard was in the room?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “I asked your uncle if he wanted to speak privately. He declined.”

  She’s got to be angry. “Here I thought having him along would be helpful,” he said with a sigh.

  “Your uncle or Richard?” she asked.

  Oh yeah, she’s not happy. He looked at her askance. “Both, I suppose, but I meant Uncle Terry.”

  Her eyes began to twinkle, and Will felt a deep sense of relief. Maybe she’s really okay. He knew he should trust her not to run away anymore, but Uncle Terry could send anyone fleeing the Fitzwilliam family madhouse.

  “You weren’t just using him for the plane?” Elizabeth teased. “Because I would’ve been all about the ride.” She snapped her fingers in a dismissive gesture. “First class is so yesterday. I deserve a private jet.” She bit her bottom lip as he began to smile, and continued, nose up in the air, voice high and pinched. “Schedules? TSA? How plebian. Just file a flight plan if you must, and let’s be off.” She waggled her eyebrows at him, and the skin just at the corner of her eyes crinkled merrily. “Somewhere the great unwashed cannot afford. Fregate Island, perhaps?”

  “Stop,” he interrupted with a growling laugh, throwing an arm around her and pulling them both back on the mattress, “you sound frighteningly like Caroline Bingley. You’ll give me nightmares.”

  She beamed at him, and his heart stuttered. “I must admit,” she said with a happy sigh, “I do not understand why she’s attracted to you.”

  “Thanks,” he snorted. “Usually I’m the one dishing out the compliments.”

  She giggled and he shook his head. Nope, still not used to that. “I just meant that the two of you seem so different. According to Georgiana, she needs big-name labels no matter how terrible she looks in them, and although you look like a model in your suits, you can’t wait to get out of your work clothes at the end of the day.”

  Will felt his ears growing hot. He covered her torso with his own, pinning her arms above her
head and diving in for a lingering kiss. “Depends on who’s waiting for me at home.”

  Elizabeth’s eyes widened and she hurried on. “She seems interested mostly in social standing, and you want to stand on your own,” she continued, her cheeks flushing a deep pink.

  Damn, Will thought, his brain beginning to move to points south, that blush just gets me.

  “Elizabeth,” he crooned in a low, dark tone, “I don’t want to talk about Caroline Bingley right now.”

  “Later, then?” she asked, in what Will knew was an attempt at controlling the conversation. He just shook his head twice and didn’t say a word. She gazed up at him and he marveled again at how green her eyes were. Unusual, just like her. Then he felt her legs wrapping themselves around his hips, and he stopped thinking at all. Just as he removed his hand from Elizabeth’s left arm in order to unbutton her pajama top, there was a knock at the door.

  “Ignore it,” whispered Elizabeth. “Maybe they’ll go away.”

  Will grinned. Her blush had spread to her neck and down the V-neck of her pajama top. She was eager and warm and beneath him on the bed. He worked the first button loose.

  There was another knock. Louder this time.

  “Nooo,” Elizabeth moaned, and Will returned to the buttons with determination. He had just undone the second one when the knocks escalated into pounding.

  “Get up, you three-toed sloths!” Richard’s voice came, loud and clear, through the door, effectively ending any chance of romance. Will dipped his head to Elizabeth’s shoulder in defeat.

  “I hate him,” he moaned. “Can we send him back? Can we get Jane to take him home with her?”

  “Um,” came a panted reply, “she lives in a house with nine other people.”

  Will rolled off Elizabeth and landed on his back, staring up at the ceiling and trying to regain some control over his traitorous body. He heard Elizabeth trying to regulate her breathing and knew she was in a similar state. I really could wring his neck.