“Stop promoting yourself.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s short notice. I can’t take time off from the hospital here.”
“It’s already done. I shamelessly guilt-tripped the hospital director into clearing your schedule and let you have a little relaxation and pampering. Americans are used to being pampered. We need it, I told him.”
“What? You had the audacity—” She stopped, wondering why she was surprised. Hussein did not lack impudence. That, unfortunately, was a big part of why she liked him.
“By the time you leave the resort, I’ll turn you into trophy-wife material yet, my sweet.”
“Fat chance.”
“You’re gorgeous, but you don’t know that, and that’s always been one of your charms.” Before she could accuse him of using flattery, he continued, “Not that you couldn’t use some help to turn that granola natural beauty into something trendier. Please visit the spa and get waxed or learn to shave properly during the month you’re staying at the resort.”
“Now it’s a whole month. You’re covering your ass in case you don’t get here at all.”
“You found me out. Yes, I’m making contingency plans in case… well, sometimes the silicone leaks, you know, and I need to be here to charm them so they won’t sue my pants off,” he laughed.
She smiled. It was very hard to stay upset with such a good-humored guy. She impulsively decided to accept his offer and they talked a few more minutes about the details involved. Before he rang off, he again reminded her to make sure to use the spa services to make over herself.
When she walked into their house later that day, she saw her sister bonelessly plopped on the couch.
“Bad day?” Elizabeth said and set her bag down.
Jane sat up. “I just now got off the phone with Aunt Mai. I caved and called her.”
“About the gay couple adopting?”
“They’re not the ones who are officially adopting, remember?” Jane sighed. “It looks like I won’t get the report I want soon enough.”
“What did Aunt Mai say?”
“She agreed there’s not enough information to let the Hursts have a child. Neither she nor I have difficulty with the idea of the men, if it comes down to it, but we need to look at the situation more carefully.”
“Sounds reasonable.” Elizabeth poured herself some tea from a pot on the coffee table. “What’s your worry?”
“I have to tell the Hursts we need more time and I’m not looking forward to it. I hate to have them feel they’ve wasted their time and money because of our inefficiency. I feel like I’m failing handling this adoption.”
“Listen, the fact that you’re stressing about it shows you’re not failing the child.” Elizabeth put her cup down and rubbed her sister’s shoulder. “I say take all the time you need and be as indecisive as you want until you’re sure. When you’re confident that you can live with the consequences of your decision, that’s when you know you’ve done right for the child.”
A wry smile appeared on Jane’s face. “Coming from my fearless, quick-to-make-snap-decisions sister, that’s saying something.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Yes, well, I know I have a tendency to be more impulsive and decisive than wise, but in this case, I think your instinct to go slow is on target.”
Jane perked up. “You’re right. I’ll live with my indecision for now.”
“You’ve been working too hard since we arrived. You need a break. I have news to share.” She explained about Hussein’s offer. “Knowing Hussein and how he makes his deals, there won’t be much for me to do. I want you to come and stay with me there some time and get away from this place.”
“I can’t take too much time away, but I’ll try.”
“I have a meeting and a tour with the resort manager after lunch tomorrow to go over details and my duties. How about you come with me and, after my meeting, we’ll go check out Merry Bar and say hi to Chau’s dad and brothers? She wants to introduce us.”
Jane’s schedule was full the next day until late afternoon. “I’ll meet you at the restaurant for a drink and meet the Lucs though.”
“I’ll relax at the beach and wait for you.” Elizabeth drank the rest of her tea. “Let’s go start on dinner. I’m hungry.”
Once in the kitchen, Elizabeth gathered the ingredients for their stir-fry while Jane placed a wok on a heated stove.
“Lizzy, this is perfect. The Hursts and the men are staying at the resort. You’ll have a chance to observe them and give me your impression.”
“If they can all afford to stay there, you shouldn’t worry then about them wasting their money waiting for your decision. The nightly rate for a room costs more than what most families here earn in a year.” Elizabeth’s lips curled. She was a firm believer in not overpaying for a hotel room. Whish, whish. She sharpened the blade of the knife against a kitchen stone and winked at her sister. “I’m prepared to face the arrogant Mr. Darcy again.”
“Stop! You’re making me spill the oil.” Jane’s shoulders shook with laughter as she drizzled drops of peanut oil onto the heated wok. “I can’t believe you had the nerve to threaten him. He seemed so intimidating.”
“Ha! It’s hard to be intimidated by a guy who faints at the sight of blood.”
CHAPTER 6
Water Sprite
A man could die of boredom trying to relax, Darcy decided.
He had no more work. Earlier, he had checked in with Richard and Anne, his cousins and vice presidents at the company’s headquarters in New York. He called Georgiana, who was currently in England at their family’s old estate in Derbyshire. He even made a few calls about some failing companies he had heard about, to see if they would be worthwhile to acquire. The calls took all of forty minutes.
Perhaps he’d go for another run on the beach if it wasn’t too crowded. He carried his teacup to the window. Not too crowded, but certainly more people than earlier. His eyes swept over the figures on the beach.
At the edge of the water, a woman in a white skirt performed a pirouette. She kicked the water and lifted her face to the sun.
He started. Her movement resembled the wood nymph’s at the orphanage. Perhaps she had turned into a water sprite today. His lips twitched at the fanciful thoughts.
He went to get his binoculars, a useful aid to detect Bingley’s sisters at a distance and avoid wherever they were. The sprite had disappeared by the time he returned. Disappointed, he almost turned away from the window but decided on a quick scan. He sighed with relief when he spotted her sitting against a palm tree, her white skirt now draping on the sand.
A small child approached. She held something in one hand to the child. Darcy raised his binoculars. As the lenses focused, a beautiful, smiling profile filled his view: warm chocolate–colored hair loosely tied in a ribbon at the neck; blowing winds had teased some strands loose to flitter and flirt against a smooth cheek tinged with pink blush. Even at this distance, he could almost see the tilt at the corner of one eye as she laughed with the child.
Her infectious joy traveled across the distance and shared some of its bounty with him. He breathed in deeply, taking in the gift. Involuntarily, his face stretched into a responding smile.
He kept the lens steady and focused on her. “Come on, turn this way.”
Alas, she turned toward the ocean instead. The child walked away, having gotten something from the sprite. Darcy continued to watch for a few minutes. She seemed content to sit there, enjoying the ocean breeze.
Before he changed his mind, he left his room.
***
She had played on the beach too long, Elizabeth realized when she noted the time. She was late meeting Jane and Chau at Merry Bar. She grimaced at the sand clinging to the hem of her now dampened white skirt. Good thing she’d already met with the resort manager before she frolicked in the waves.
When she neared the steps to the side entrance of the resort, voices behind tall hedges reached her.
“Where are you going
in such a hurry?” a man’s voice sang out.
“Nowhere,” a deep male voice answered.
“Then why the hurrying to nowhere?” Laughter could be heard in the first voice.
“Just going to take a look at the beach.”
Elizabeth paused in her step at hearing the second speaker again. Deep voice, a somewhat familiar British accent: she wrinkled her brow, trying to place it.
“No headache today?”
“I don’t get headaches,” the irritated second voice spoke.
“Yes, you do. And they’ve been getting worse and worse,” the first voice insisted.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Fine, don’t talk to me. At least talk to a doctor or somebody. Nobody here knows who you are or what you do. Once we get back, you’ll be busy looking for another company to work with and you won’t take care of it. You have time here.”
“I don’t like doctors.”
About to move to pass the two men, Elizabeth stopped midstep. The irritated voice was definitely recognizable now: Mr. Darcy. Apparently, a week or so of rest and relaxation hadn’t improved Mr. Darcy’s mood or manner; Elizabeth was amused. Not up to dealing with an awkward scene, she quietly turned and took a different path to find another entrance to the resort.
Entering Merry Bar, she spotted Chau at the bar. As she made her way toward her friend, she passed a large group of women in elegant dresses and beautifully made-up faces. The women were subtle about it, but the full force of their scrutinizing once-over made Elizabeth feel graceless and gauche in her rumpled clothes and no makeup on her face.
“Your sister was wondering if she should go and search for you.” Chau came from behind the counter. “She thought you were probably playing in the waves and forgot the time.”
“I was,” Elizabeth admitted, smiling. “I was pretending I was a water sprite.”
“My father needs my help at the moment. I’m sorry I can’t visit.”
“That’s okay. I’m sorry I’m late.”
“Jane’s out in the patio area somewhere. She ran into some people she recognized who invited her to join them for a drink out there a few minutes ago. Come, meet my family first.” Chau pulled her toward a group of men behind the bar and introduced them.
Upon hearing that Elizabeth was Mai Gardiner’s niece by marriage, and that she would be working at the resort, Mr. Luc immediately assured her he and his sons would watch over her carefully.
“Sorry about that,” Chau whispered when she and Elizabeth left the Luc men and headed to the patio. “My dad’s protective of you because he knows your aunt Mai.”
“I’m touched. Believe me, I’m used to my aunt Mai’s relatives back home acting the same way,” Elizabeth said.
Chau led her to Jane. Elizabeth’s eyes widened when she recognized Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy with her sister, along with two other women.
“You found me.” Jane smiled and introduced Elizabeth and Chau to the others before Chau left them.
Mr. Bingley smiled at Elizabeth. “So glad to meet you, Elizabeth. Jane told us your family’s from Berkeley.”
“Yes, born, raised, and educated.” From his greeting, she realized he didn’t recognize her. Mr. Darcy’s penetrating eyes disconcerted her. Glad a table separated them and she didn’t have to shake his hand, she turned back to Mr. Bingley. “How do you like Da Nang?”
Mr. Bingley said, “Such a great place. People are so friendly. I love the comfortable clothes they wear. My friend Oanh is going to get me some Vietnamese outfits.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Elizabeth noted Mr. Darcy’s eyes still focused on her. When she turned to face him directly, he glanced away for a second, then back at her when he thought she wasn’t looking.
Miss Bingley said, “If you’re going to look stupid, Charles, at least make sure the clothes are new. You don’t know what kind of hygienic habits these people have.”
Mr. Bingley looked embarrassed. “Caroline, people in Asia took daily baths long before it caught on in Europe.”
Miss Bingley’s lips curled. “I saw a travel show on TV where they showed these people drinking the same water they bathed in.”
Mrs. Hurst added, “We brought our own drinking water.”
“We are very careful, aren’t we, William?” Miss Bingley turned to Mr. Darcy. “If you’re out of yours, I can share mine with you.”
Feeling like she was in junior high again, Elizabeth turned to observe his reaction to Miss Bingley’s simpering offer. His expression inscrutable, he simply took a sip of his drink and didn’t respond.
Jane said, “It’s good to be careful if you’re not used to conditions here.”
“I have no intentions of getting used to conditions here. You’re probably used to such conditions. Where did you say you’re from? Berkeley, California?” Miss Bingley threw a pointed glance at Elizabeth’s hair. “Isn’t that where you’d find a lot of long-haired, dirty hippies?”
Catching the pleading message in her sister’s eyes, Elizabeth swallowed the retort on her lips. She kept her tone light. “Just like Vietnam, Berkeley is not everyone’s cup of tea.”
Only a sniff and a slight upturn of the nose from Miss Bingley answered Elizabeth’s attempt at politeness. Irritated now, she stared at Miss Bingley while she slowly raised her hand and scratched her head, then, after a few seconds, her sides. While she followed Mr. Bingley’s telling of his adventure in the market with an unwashed fruit, she kept scratching, alternating between her hair and her sides.
No reaction from Miss Bingley, but Mr. Darcy slid his chair back.
Encouraged at unsettling him, Elizabeth began to scratch more vigorously until a kick under the table from Jane stopped her antics.
Mr. Darcy said to Elizabeth, “Were you out on the beach earlier?”
Surprised at the unexpected question, Elizabeth blushed and wondered if he’d seen her childish romping. “Yes.”
A pointed glance at Elizabeth’s skirt came from Miss Bingley. “I don’t like the beach. All that sand getting into your hair and clothes, making you look stupid.”
Elizabeth bit her cheeks and suppressed the urge to flick her skirt and fling a few grains in the woman’s face.
“Sometimes, one can discover an unexpected, beautiful treasure on the beach,” Mr. Darcy said. Holding Elizabeth’s gaze, he took a small sip of his drink.
Flustered at the intense blueness of his eyes, she looked down at a plate of fruit on the table.
Miss Bingley said, “How do you know that girl Chau?”
“We work together,” Elizabeth answered.
Miss Bingley turned and shared an amused glance with her sister.
With a barely concealed snicker, Mrs. Hurst said, “The tips and compensations must be quite attractive working here.”
“I do get compensated obscenely well for asking people to undress”—Elizabeth’s temper snapped at the sisters’ bitchy attitude—“and get them to tell me secrets they wouldn’t dream of revealing to their nearest and dearest—”
She was interrupted mid-sentence by Mr. Darcy’s standing up. He mumbled he was expecting a phone call and abruptly left.
Elizabeth turned back to the sisters and continued, “Would you two like to make an appointment? I’d be happy to dust up what little psychiatry I know.”
“You’re Dr. Bennet.” Mr. Bingley’s eyes widened and he slapped his forehead. “Of course, the same last name. I’ve been trying to figure out why your voice sounds familiar. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you.”
“No problem,” Elizabeth said, embarrassed she’d lost her temper with his sisters. “I was masked and covered in surgical scrubs.”
Jane explained to the Bingley sisters. “Elizabeth works with Dr. Chau Luc at the hospital. Though, for the next couple of weeks, my sister’s going to be the in-house doctor here at the resort.”
Miss Bingley studied her nails.
In a bored voice, and while looking around the patio area, Mrs
. Hurst said, “Interesting.”
A moment of uncomfortable silence reigned before a red-faced Mr. Bingley started a conversation with Jane about the famous snorkeling excursions at the resort.
Miss Bingley interrupted and told her brother to ask Mr. Darcy to arrange a shopping trip for them to Hong Kong while they wait for the adoption to be finalized. She turned to her sister. “Louisa, what time is my massage appointment?”
With that hint, Elizabeth and Jane said good-bye and left them.
***
Jane and Elizabeth were almost out of the resort when Mr. Bingley caught up with them. With an awkward smile, he apologized for his sisters’ behavior. He gave some convoluted explanation for their rudeness, ending with, “Caroline gets possessive with Darcy when there are other women about, especially beautiful ones. She can’t accept he’d never be interested in her.”
Elizabeth smiled at him. She couldn’t blame him for having bitchy sisters. “Please don’t worry about it.”
Mr. Bingley said, “I’m sorry Darcy left without saying good-bye. It must have been a very important call that he just then remembered. He’s in between companies and he’s anxious to hear about some new one.”
Jane said, “I hope he gets good news with the phone call.”
Mr. Bingley turned to her. “He can’t relax unless he’s working. He feels useless otherwise.”
Jane nodded. “Many people feel like that.”
“I had to drag him here to Vietnam, to give him a chance to regroup and relax without worrying about work and finances and all that. I told him we need him to make sure everything is fine with the adoption. He’s very responsible, you see…” He trailed off and looked self-conscious, as if he had said more than he had intended.
Elizabeth bit her lip. Poor Mr. Darcy! Unemployed and stressed about it. And he and Mr. Bingley wanted to become parents soon too. Jane did say Mr. Darcy seemed to be the responsible one at the interview. For a proud man like him, it must be quite humiliating to act as a personal assistant for the Bingley family, making travel arrangements for shopping trips and so forth. “Please tell Mr. Darcy I’m very sorry for my unprofessional conduct that day at the hospital.”
Compulsively Mr. Darcy Page 4