“Look at me, Will,” she said, near his ear. “Just look at me.” He turned his face to hers and began to smile. A real smile, one that displayed his dimples.
“What do you think of the dress, Will?” A man yelled from the back of the crowd.
Will gazed down at Elizabeth, and she met his eyes with warmth. Feel how I love you, Will Darcy, she tried to tell him. She hoped he understood, but it was difficult to tell.
That is, until he dipped her slightly with one arm and planted a deep, satisfying kiss on her lips for the whole world to see.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Elizabeth felt her world tilt on its axis and yelped in surprise before Will’s lips silenced her. Mmm. Let him lead. Her arms drifted up to his neck, one hand weaving itself into his hair as she gave herself entirely over to the sensation of being utterly, thoroughly kissed. Her vision exploded with light, and it wasn’t until Will pulled his lips away and set her back on her feet that she realized it wasn’t her brain reacting to Will but the media taking pictures. She closed her mouth and stared at him. Will smiled shyly at her.
“How was that?” he asked, nuzzling her ear. “Enough of a splash for Kit?”
Elizabeth didn’t reply, and he pulled away to search her face. She just blinked at him, reaching up to touch her lips with her fingers.
Will’s face lit up as he watched her, and Elizabeth wished she could explain how she felt. She just smiled without speaking, not a bad thing considering the feeding frenzy they’d unleashed. The flashes were blinding now, and the arm Will wrapped around her waist was not just an affectionate gesture, but genuinely a way to lead her safely into the building.
"Bennet!” Richard called. He met them at the door and took Elizabeth’s hands. “You clean up nice!” He kissed her on the cheek and introduced her to his brother Oscar.
“I feel like I know you already,” Oscar said, his eyebrows quirking upward. Elizabeth wasn’t sure whether that was good news or bad, and Oscar didn’t elaborate. Several FORGE executives wandered over and were introduced. Elizabeth smiled and shook their hands, trying to memorize their names.
When there was a natural lull, she pressed Will’s hand. “I’m going to go fix my lipstick,” she said, and then turned to Jenny Pietas, who Will had introduced as a FORGE engineer and project director. “I can’t believe I just said that.”
Jenny laughed. “I don’t wear much makeup either—not much point when I’m working at my desk all day.”
They entered the bathroom, and Elizabeth walked to the mirror while Jenny moved to a stall. Elizabeth was just about to put the top back on the tube when the door opened, and Caroline Bingley strode in, clad in a bright red, one-shoulder mermaid gown. She glanced around the room before settling next to Elizabeth at the sinks. She glanced at Elizabeth and tutted.
“Would you like to borrow some of mine?” Caroline asked sweetly. She met Elizabeth’s gaze in the mirror and pretended to startle. “Oh, never mind. Makeup won’t fix what’s wrong with that face.”
Jenny approached to wash her hands. Apparently she’d heard the insult, because she glared at Caroline and opened her mouth to speak. Elizabeth just shook her head at Jenny and smiled at Caroline.
“Aw, Caroline,” she replied, amused. “Did you spend all afternoon thinking that up?” She reached out to pat Caroline’s hand. Caroline snatched it away. “Just keep practicing. If you work hard, maybe you’ll think up something that’s actually clever.”
“You be clever,” Caroline said with a sneer, tossing her glossy hair over her shoulder. “I’d rather be beautiful. Will is attracted to my looks, you know. He kissed me at the Dakota and took me home afterwards. Our photo was in the paper.” She smiled slyly. “I’m sure you saw it.”
Jenny’s eyes widened, and she sucked in a breath.
“Will told me all about that,” Elizabeth replied airily. “And I think you know his story was quite a bit different.”
“Oh, he kissed me all right,” Caroline said, her cheeks reddening.
“That’s funny—I think how it went was you were drunk and kissed him,” Elizabeth replied. “I believe antibacterial mouthwash was mentioned.” She gestured to the door. “Will is here. Why don’t we go ask him?” She turned to Jenny. “Do you need the sink?”
Jenny nodded, and Elizabeth stepped back.
“He’s not going to make a scene here, but believe me—you are yesterday’s news,” Caroline insisted.
Elizabeth sighed and waited for Caroline to continue, but the other woman only narrowed her eyes and glowered.
“Look, Caroline,” she said almost gently, “I’ve spent the past six years in the Marines. You can’t intimidate me with your sad little mean-girl insults. You can’t intimidate me, period. Will doesn’t want to go out with you. He’s going out with me. It’s as simple as that.” She pursed her lips. She felt sorry for Caroline. Sort of. She turned to Jenny. “Are you ready?”
“More than ready,” the other woman replied. As they entered the hall, Jenney leaned in to whisper, “That’s Charles Bingley’s sister?”
Elizabeth nodded.
“Wow,” Jenny said with a grimace. “The apple fell pretty far from that tree.”
Elizabeth didn’t reply. She and Jenny emerged into a crowd of children who had participated in the charity’s programs. Jenny smiled at them but kept walking to join her husband. Elizabeth instead struck up a conversation, just as she would with her young cousins, and carried on an enjoyable chat for some time. She eventually took a seat among the kids to discuss what their experiences had been like, both at home and when they’d come to the States. The boys, but especially the girls, were enthralled with her, eager for the attention she gave unstintingly, the youngest one taking and then dropping Elizabeth’s hand to touch the silk of her gown. So engaged was she that Will had to come reclaim her when it was time to eat.
“Best stuffy dinner ever,” she said with a grin. “You should always invite kids. They’d be way more fun.”
“It’s your first charity dinner,” Will said lightly. “How do you know what it’s even like without kids?”
She cocked her head at him. “Everything’s better with kids.”
Will led her to their table and ushered her to a seat, gracefully positioning her so that the skirt of her dress wouldn’t crease as she sat. As he moved to his own chair, he bent over and softly sang, “I don’t know. There are an awful lot of them, and there are some things best done without an audience.”
Elizabeth glanced up at the Fitzwilliam men, Oscar’s date, who’d been introduced as Kevin, and Jenny with her husband. Did they hear? she wondered, feeling her cheeks warm up. How does he do that? She’d heard much bawdier things as a Marine and it never caused a reaction at all. She’d have put her hands over her face, but it would just call attention to her embarrassment.
She turned her face away from Will, only to have him lean over and whisper, “You wouldn’t tell me what the dress looked like, remember? You nearly killed me.” He gave her that full smile, the one he’d used outside, but now it was mischievous, too. “Consider this payback. I intend to make you blush at least three times tonight.” He winked, catching her entirely off-guard, and held up one finger. “That’s one.”
At the end of the speeches, Richard turned the conversation at the table to four reporters who had been taken hostage in Syria that morning. The Fitzwilliams were soon in a heated discussion about what, if anything, could be done to procure their release. Elizabeth knew some of her former colleagues were likely working on it already. She felt a little tug inside. It felt strange to be so far out of the loop. She didn’t like it.
Elizabeth opened her clutch and fished out her phone, hoping to distract herself. Will lifted an eyebrow, and she told him, “I just want to see if Kit knows yet.” He nodded and planted a kiss near her hairline.
She turned it on, but none of the icons looked the same, nor were they in the same place. There were foreign characters where the English labels usual
ly appeared. Chinese, she realized, and frowned. Her head shot up and she glared across the table.
“Tonight, Richard? Really?”
Richard laughed. “I wondered when you were finally going to see that. Usually you have that thing stuck to your hand.”
“What’s going on?” Oscar asked.
Elizabeth scowled. “Richard changed my phone language to Chinese.”
Oscar rolled his eyes and explained to his date and the other couples at the table that there was an ongoing war between the two. Richard assured them that it would take hours for her to figure out how to restore English, since the icons were different and she didn’t know Mandarin.
Elizabeth might have asked Will for his phone, but she’d been presented with a challenge.
“Will, I’m going to take a break with this and see if I can put it to rights,” she said sweetly. “Why don’t you tell everyone about the last joke I played on Richard?”
“Happy to, love,” was the amused reply as she left the table.
“Out of bounds!” Richard was saying as she walked away. No sooner had she risen from her seat than she had company.
“Where are you going, Elizabeth?” one of the boys she had been talking to earlier asked, his brown eyes focusing on her phone. “Are you going to make a call?”
“No, a friend pulled a prank on me,” she explained, finding herself having to define “prank.” She showed him her phone.
The boy looked thoughtful. “Just a moment, please,” he said formally, and ran off.
Elizabeth waited patiently, and a few minutes later, he had returned with a friend.
“This is Rem,” the first boy said solemnly. “He will fix it.”
Rem held out his hand and, enchanted with the kids, Elizabeth handed her phone over, hoping she would not have to go shopping for another new one the next day.
Rem was very focused as he moved through screens and put things back where they belonged. Ten minutes after she had handed over the phone, he handed it back, everything in English. She smiled. Take that, Richard Fitzwilliam.
“Thank you very much, Rem,” she told him gratefully. The boys gave her little bows and ran off to join their friends.
The reason she’d wanted her phone in the first place now forgotten, she wandered back to her table and handed it to Will. “Please hold onto this for me. There’s no room in this dress to hide it.”
Will raked his eyes over her. “Nope,” he said, taking her phone and sliding it into his hip pocket. “And I am very grateful to your sister for that.”
The dishes were at last being cleared away. Will stood and held out his hand to Elizabeth. She took it, a little wary about being embarrassed in front of more people, but after their entrance earlier, perfectly confident that she belonged on Will’s arm. They’d made it through the press, after all, and nobody at the dinner had reacted as though she was an interloper. They walked out to the balcony, and she turned to him.
“I hope you’re ready to fix your makeup again, Elizabeth,” he said in a low voice, backing her into the wall and moving in for another scorching kiss. He smelled of sandalwood, and his lips tasted like the apple caramel tarts they’d been served for dessert. He placed his arms on either side of her head and leaned in close. She could feel his heat, and she felt herself flushing with anticipation. She met his eyes, but there was something dark and unfathomable there, something she’d not seen before but in which she was lost.
He smiled wickedly. “You’re a little warm, love,” he said, running a gentle finger along her jawline.
Elizabeth closed her eyes. His touch sent flickers of flame through her.
“That’s two,” he told her smugly, and Elizabeth knew that if she opened her eyes, she’d see him holding up two fingers.
She tried, instead, to catch her breath. “You can make me blush any time if that’s the way you go about it,” she gasped, not caring that his deep chuckle meant he was rather proud of himself.
Will brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. Hoarsely, he said, “Elizabeth, I . . .”
Suddenly, the air was rent with youthful voices. “Elizabeth!”
Will watched, deflated, as her young admirers dragged her away.
Elizabeth was saying goodbye to the children, kissing cheeks and ruffling hair, when she spied Will taking a phone call and suddenly moving his head to scan the hall. Richard noticed too, from his place near the bar, and he’d walked over to Will with purpose, though not fast enough to draw attention. She saw them speaking, Richard nodding, then the two separating. Richard gathered his brother and father.
She finished with the children and made her way back to the group of abruptly serious faces, taking a position next to Will.
“What’s going on?” she asked, voice pitched low.
“We’re being hacked,” said Richard, when it was clear Will wouldn’t answer.
“What, FORGE?” Elizabeth whispered urgently and grabbed Will’s arm. “Will, get me home so I can change and get my gear, and I’ll . . .”
“No.” His expression was inscrutable.
She ignored that and turned to Jenny. “What’s happened?” she demanded.
With a glance at Will, Jenny replied, “Someone’s trying to hack into the patents database. There are three points of attempted access thus far. We’ve got everything encrypted, but he appears to be able to circumvent our security. He’s not in yet, but . . .”
“But he will be soon,” Richard finished. “We need to get that information out and scrub the database before he does. Will’s already called our team.” He was already removing his tie. “We should get down there, though.”
“Will,” Elizabeth said quietly, still cognizant that they were in public, “I know you didn’t want me involved with G, but this is something else entirely. You need me. This isn’t national defense—you can’t count on your uncle’s contacts for this.” She could see in the faces of the others that she had at least some support. “Will, please.”
“It’s Wickham,” Will ground out. “I won’t have him getting you tangled up any worse than you already are. We have our team.”
“Of course it’s Wickham,” she shot back urgently. “Or whoever he’s working for. That’s exactly why you need me.”
Richard glanced at his father. “Dad?”
The senator huffed, his bushy silver eyebrows drawn down and together. “I won’t lie, Elizabeth,” he said gruffly. “It’s a risk. The lawyers will get you extricated eventually, but things might be difficult in the near term. The FBI does not have a sense of humor.”
Oscar nodded silently and excused himself to find Kevin.
“No question,” Elizabeth said brusquely. “We’re wasting time. Let’s go.”
“You’re right, we are,” Will replied, his face set, grim. He walked back to their table and grabbed his jacket. He caressed Elizabeth’s cheek and said, firmly, “I’ll have Jerry take you home.”
“Will, no,” Elizabeth protested, frustrated. She was his ringer, and he was leaving her out of the game? Did he not trust that she could take the heat? That should be her call, shouldn’t it?
Will took her by the arm and gently led her outside, calling Jerry on his phone. The party had broken up by now, and there were lines of cars out in front. Will walked her to his car, where Jerry stood waiting. Will indicated he’d take care of Elizabeth, and Jerry walked to the driver’s side and got in.
“Elizabeth,” Will said contritely, “this isn’t how I imagined this evening would end.”
“It doesn’t have to end, Will,” Elizabeth said urgently. “You know I’m right.”
“This isn’t the time to have the conversation I wanted to have with you,” he started.
She put her hands on her hips, eyes blazing. “This is the perfect time. Take me with you, Will.”
He kissed her lips, a brief, feathery kiss, and then squeezed her hand and helped her into the car. “Good night, Elizabeth.”
“Will, I’m begging you .
. .” she pleaded.
He pressed her phone into her hand. “I love you,” he said, and closed the door.
Elizabeth carefully removed her dress, covered it, and hung it in the closet. She kicked off her shoes and slid her garters down her legs. When she entered the bathroom and washed her face, the evening was officially over. The beautiful coach had turned back into a pumpkin, she thought, depressed. She’d had a very different idea of how this evening would end, and now she was just confused. The man who’d pinned her against the wall and the man who’d closed the car door on her were two very different people.
Will wants me to stay out of it, Elizabeth told herself. He’s refused my help. Adamantly. She rubbed the heels of her hands roughly against her forehead. He’s trying to protect me. She should listen to his wishes, just as she wanted him to listen to hers. This was his company. She trusted his team could get the work done, but how long would it take? His uncle wouldn’t be able to tap into the resources he’d used for G. She should help. No, Will trusts me to do as he’s asked. She removed a beer from the refrigerator but didn’t open it. Instead, she just stared at the bottle. But how can I?
Her phone was sitting on the kitchen counter, and she toyed with it idly. She made a call to Will, but predictably, he didn’t pick up. She called Richard next. He answered in a whisper and sounded as though he was walking out of a room to take the call.
“What’s happening, Richard?”
“It’s not good, Elizabeth. He’s using satellites to bounce the signal and scramble his IP, so the team can’t figure out where he is. If this is Wickham’s Plan B, it’s a good one.”
“Any data lost?”
“Not yet, but we’ll never be able to clear everything out in time. Bingley is listing the priority projects.”
She kept the anger and hurt out of her voice. At least, she tried. “Charles Bingley is there?” And I’m not?
Richard hesitated, but confirmed it. Elizabeth could tell Richard was annoyed with himself for letting that bit of information slip. “He noticed something was wrong at the dinner and approached Will before we left. He has firsthand knowledge of all the projects. Will made him sign a nondisclosure. He didn’t want him, but . . .”
Adapt Page 29