Pride and Precipice

by Lelia M Silver

  He and Charles had already decided that Jane Bennet was the perfect candidate to take over the interior design and decorating of their new hotel; now he had the perfect general contractor to bring her vision to reality.

  It was the ideal solution, packaged neatly and set before him without any real effort on his part. In fact, it was almost too easy.

  He couldn’t help but feel apprehensive as he climbed out of his car and went inside. In his experience, when things seemed too good to be true, they usually were. In this case though, he had a feeling that the sisters were too good at their jobs to let anything go wrong on that front. It was something else that scared him, some unknown entity without shape or form. That was a problem, because Darcy always liked to know what trouble was headed his way so he could set a plan in motion to deal with it.

  How did one handle trouble when it came in the form of Elizabeth Bennet? Because there was no doubt in his mind that she was trouble, even if she was clearly competent at her job. He was too easily distracted when she was around, and she had absolutely no qualms about ignoring his directives.

  But she was a future problem to be solved, and at the moment he was headed directly into another one. He took the hall to his left that would lead to the wing of the house they were currently occupying and the large kitchen where he knew Charles and his sister would congregate after the party to snack and chat about the evening’s events.

  They were planning on completing the renovations in two phases, with the first phase focused on turning the west wing into guest quarters while they occupied the east wing, and then turning their attention to the east wing once the other wing was inhabitable. It was a good plan, one that allowed them to stay onsite, without the added cost of hotel accommodations, and made them easily accessible to the contractors should any questions arise.

  Unfortunately, it didn’t make the discussion he was about to have with Charles’ sister, Caroline, any easier, because there would be no escaping her wrath while they were all trapped in the house together.

  He generally tried to avoid Caroline as much as possible, with her hawk-like eyes and biting retorts. Many men would have considered themselves fortunate to have caught her attention, but Darcy wasn’t one of them.

  He supposed she could have been considered pretty, in an haute couture sort of way. But he had never really been one to find arrogance attractive in a woman. She had a larger sense of self-importance than a queen, and she carried herself with an equally regal bearing. Darcy knew she had set her sights on him, but he wasn’t about to be drawn into her petty flirtation. She was interested in him for his money and name, nothing more. And since she had plenty of both in her own right, all she was was greedy, and that was never an attractive quality in a woman.

  Darcy would never embarrass Charles by being outright rude to her, but he had certainly been tempted over the years. And never more so than at her obvious delight when Charles had announced Darcy had signed on to assist with this project. He had dreaded sharing the house with her, and he had been right to feel so.

  Even though the house was certainly large enough for them to lose each other in, she always seemed to manage to find him. His room was about the only safe place in the house, for at least there he knew she wouldn’t dare to follow him, and he could shut the door and lock her out. Unfortunately, it was as if she had a strange sixth sense that could locate him within minutes of him leaving his room.

  To compensate, he had taken to spending a lot of time working in his room, or escaping Netherfield for the small café in Meryton. Charles had taken to spending quite a bit of time at that café, too, although Darcy wasn’t sure if that was out of a desire to escape his sister or out of a hope that he would run into Jane Bennet again there. Regardless, he was glad that Caroline had yet to find their hiding place at the quaint café. The fact that she frequented the more trendy chain coffee shops where she could see and be seen certainly worked in his favor.

  Darcy could hear muffled voices coming from the kitchen as he neared it. He strained to make them out, hoping Caroline was in a good mood for their upcoming conversation. However, since she was very rarely in a good mood, even when she was trying to impress him, he didn’t hold out much hope.

  He strode into the kitchen, itching with the desire to shrug out of his tux jacket and loosen his tie as Charles already had, but deciding the formality it lent him was more important. He could never let down his guard around Caroline, or it could be his undoing.

  “Hello, Charles, Caroline,” he greeted them. “Nice party. I think the reception went over well with the locals.”

  Charles was lounging against the counter, munching on a bowl of cereal, while Caroline sat on a barstool at the large island rolling around an orange from the fruit bowl in front of her.

  Caroline raised one sardonic eyebrow. “How would you know? You were not there long enough to find out.”

  Darcy shifted uncomfortably. “I was there long enough to notice that everyone seemed to be having a good time. There was plenty of wine flowing and food in abundance. Coupled with good music and lively dancing, what more could people want?”

  “I think it was quite a successful evening,” Charles added, glancing at his sister with a frown. “I enjoyed myself thoroughly.”

  Caroline smiled, but all it did was turn Darcy’s stomach with its oily slickness. “Of course you would, Charles, dear. You could make friends with a scarecrow. Darcy and I, on the other hand, are used to more refined company. Where did you disappear to, Darcy? I found myself at quite a loss without you to entertain me.”

  “I was giving a friend a ride,” he hedged. Heaven help him and Elizabeth Bennet if Caroline Bingley found out what he had really been up to.

  Caroline arched a brow at him. “I was not aware you had friends in this part of the country.”

  Darcy shifted, trying not to feel overly defensive. Caroline no right to question him about his whereabouts, or his friendships, he reminded himself. What he did was his business, and his business only. “It was a recent acquaintance.”

  “And they have taken advantage of your good nature already? My poor Mr. Darcy. What a gentleman you are. But you must not allow your acquaintances to run roughshod over you. It will only encourage them to take advantage of you, you know.”

  “It was no hardship,” Darcy said, then quickly changed the subject. “Actually, Caroline, Charles and I had hoped to speak with you tonight.”

  Instantly, her eyes frosted. “You did, did you?”

  Darcy ignored her cold tone and plunged forward. “Yes. As you know Charles has asked me to take the lead on this project, and I have decided that, while you do excellent work designing our contemporary hotels, I prefer to bring in some local talent to conquer this project.”

  She sputtered. “Local talent! The people in this town would not know refined and elegant if it hit them over the head.”

  Darcy and Charles both stiffened at that comment.

  “Now, see here, Caroline, you cannot go clumping people together like that. The people here might not be as varied or as socially eloquent as you are used to, but I have met a number of fine residents that I am proud to call my neighbor.”

  “Their idea of a night out on the town involves a bucket of fried chicken and parking by the lake! You expect me to believe these are the people you want to design your flagship hotel?!”

  Charles opened his mouth to speak, but Darcy cut him off with a glare.

  “Yes, Caroline, that is exactly what I am telling you,” he stated firmly. “Not only will it improve relations with the area residents, but there is a fine construction and design firm in the locality that specializes in historic renovations. You saw some of their work when we toured this house and remarked on how well done it was, if I am not mistaken.”

  That shut her up. Even if it was obvious she was still unhappy about it, she could not very well deny that she had made the comment to begin with. “Very well, you have me there. Fine. I suppose I cannot ch
ange your mind, but I still expect to be consulted. I did not uproot my life and transplant myself into the middle of nowhere only to be relegated to the back seat.”

  Darcy and Charles exchanged glances. Caroline was not making this easy on them, but some compromises were in order if they wanted to keep the peace.

  Darcy took his time answering. “I am sure your opinion would be appreciated, although we will leave the running of the day to day operations to the professionals. That is why we are hiring them, after all, and I am sure you will have enough to do as the vice president of marketing to keep you busy.”

  “So, what company is this that you’ve decided to hire?”

  Darcy relaxed a little. She was taking this far better than he had expected. “Longbourn Design and Construction.”

  She jerked upright in her chair and screeched, “Longbourn Design and Construction!”

  Darcy winced as her voice rang in his ears. “Yes.”

  “That is the company Jane Bennet works for!”

  “Yes. I presume that she and her sister Elizabeth will be overseeing the project here. She is the one who staged Netherfield Park, after all.”

  She turned on the stool to level a glare at her brother and point an accusing finger at him. “This is all your doing! I knew that little whore had dug her fingernails into you, but I expected better from you, Charles! How dare you pick her over me!”

  Charles turned red, whether from anger or horror, Darcy did not know.

  Darcy broke in as Caroline took a deep breath to level another attack at her brother. He said tightly, his tone decidedly chilly, “Our decision to hire Jane Bennet is not a reflection on her relationship or lack thereof one with your brother. It was based solely on her experience and performance in her field. The employees of Longbourn Design and Construction are professionals, and you would do well to remember that you are one, too.”

  He turned on his heel and strode out of the kitchen without looking back. Charlie could fend for himself. He’d had about all he could handle of Caroline Bingley for one night.

  *****

  First thing Monday morning, Darcy decided that he needed to meet with Jane and Elizabeth in person to confirm they would take on the job at Netherfield Park rather than just speaking to their receptionist over the phone as he had originally planned.

  When he called, the young lady who answered the phone informed him that the Misses Bennet would be at a jobsite all day, and that he would need to make an appointment for the following morning.

  Darcy had no intention of staying in the same house with Caroline Bingley any longer than absolutely necessary, and since he happened to know that Elizabeth was finishing up a job at Lucas Lodge that very day, he decided he would go to her.

  Darcy had no problem gaining entrance to the grounds, or the house, since Elizabeth had given him the code to the gate upon their preceding arrival, and since Lady Lucas was overjoyed to find the very handsome and very eligible Fitzwilliam Darcy on her doorstep. She did not even question how he had made it up the drive.

  He was, unfortunately, made to endure some rather inane chatter and introductions to every one of her seemingly innumerable daughters before she took him back to see Elizabeth.

  He already knew the way to the music room from his earlier visit with Elizabeth, but Lady Lucas insisted on seeing him back. And as he wasn’t quite ready to volunteer the information that he had already accompanied Elizabeth here once before, he pocketed his impatience and followed her sedately.

  The music room was abuzz with activity when they entered. Loud, raucous country music was playing, there was furniture stacked all around the room and accessories half unpacked from their boxes. He was happy to see, though, that the scaffolding had already been cleared from the room. It was evident from the state of things that the construction had finished over the weekend and the sisters were in the final steps of staging the room.

  His eyes quickly found Elizabeth. She was half hidden behind a large sofa she was helping her sister move to the other side of the room.

  Lady Lucas called out loudly to be heard above the noise, “Jane, Lizzy, you have a guest!”

  The sisters turned simultaneously. Elizabeth paled at the sight of him and dropped her end of the sofa to the floor with a clatter. Jane just barely managed to keep from dropping her end. She set it down gently, lowered the volume on the radio, and turned to see who was waiting for them with Lady Lucas.

  The smile she gave him was pleasant and welcoming, while Elizabeth was staring at him with ill-concealed disquiet. He rather enjoyed seeing her discomfited after the merry chase she had led him on Saturday. She looked cute in her jeans and t-shirt, her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail that had seen too much work and not enough elastic. Somehow, he found her much more appealing in her casualwear than he had in her formal attire.

  This Elizabeth seemed more real and comfortable in her own shoes, even if she was decidedly uncomfortable with having him in the room.

  Jane broke into his thoughts by saying, “Mr. Darcy. It is a pleasure to see you again. I hope you are doing well?”

  He stepped forward into the room, leaving Lady Lucas behind, although it appeared from the way she planted herself in the doorway she had every intention of eavesdropping on their conversation. He tamped down his annoyance. “Yes. If you will excuse us, Lady Lucas, I actually came by to talk business with the Misses Bennet.”

  Lady Lucas was not pleased to be dismissed so summarily, but she bowed out with as much politeness as she could muster. Darcy was surprised to be rid of her so easily, but was pleased with the unexpected turn of events. Too many people knew of his presence here already. He had no desire to spread news of his business beyond the confines of this room, at least not until there was a contract drawn up and signed by all parties involved. Rumors were too easy to spread and not so easy to contain.

  “Please, Mr. Darcy, make yourself comfortable,” Jane offered graciously, extending her arm to indicate the couch they had just dropped. She pulled up a chair from a nearby corner while Elizabeth retreated to the far end of the couch. She put as much space between them as possible.

  Darcy took the other end with a small quirk of a smile, sitting down a little closer to her than he had originally intended for the sole purpose of watching her try to press herself into the arm of the couch.

  Jane began when it became evident that Lizzy had no interest in entering the discussion. “So, Mr. Darcy, what can we do for you today? I must admit that I am quite intrigued by your presence. Normally prospective clients do not seek us out on jobsites.”

  As much as he did not want to admit it, Darcy’s nerves were humming with awareness of Elizabeth on the other end of the couch. It was difficult to concentrate on business when she was so close. He frowned, unsure what to make of his feelings, and set Jane back in her seat in the process. The sisters shared an uneasy look, and Darcy realized his mistake.

  He cleared his throat and hastened to speak before they could get the wrong idea of his purpose in being there. “Charles and I have been very impressed with the quality of the work we have seen from your company. In the interest of fostering good relations with the surrounding country and given your expertise in the field, we are very interested in working with you during the renovations of Netherfield Park.”

  When he had concluded his little speech, both sisters were staring at him, speechless. He looked down at the front of his shirt, worried that perhaps he had spilled something, but there were no stains or spills. He was just an immaculately dressed as he had been when he left the house that morning.

  Elizabeth noticed that Jane turned pink at the mention of Charles’ name, but her sister recovered her equanimity before Elizabeth could do more than snap her gaping jaw closed. “I think I speak for both of us when I say we are delighted at the prospect of working with Bingley Hotels and Hospitality Services. Netherfield Park has always held a special place in our hearts. We would be honored to work on the project.”

&nb
sp; Darcy nodded, once, sharply. “Wonderful. I shall have a contract drawn up immediately. Your receptionist informed me you shall be in the office tomorrow morning. I will bring the contract by at that time for you to read and discuss. We would like to begin construction as soon as possible.”

  “That should be satisfactory,” said Jane. “We have no other pending projects at this time, so we shall be able to give your project our full attention.”

  “I would expect no less.”

  He put both hands to his knees and pushed to his feet. He held out his hand to shake theirs, an old fashioned tradition he still valued. “Thank you, ladies for your time. I shall see myself out.”

  They stood to see him out, and once he had disappeared Lizzy sank back on to the couch, her knees shaking. “I can’t say I saw that coming.”

  Jane sank back into her seat as well. “Neither can I.” She ran a hand over her sleek blonde ponytail, smoothing nonexistent strays. As always, Jane looked picture perfect, the ultimate professional, with her tailored trousers and nipped in jacket. She gave her sister a shy smile that said more than the words that followed it. “Do you really think Charles was impressed with my work?”

  Lizzy laughed. She couldn’t help it. She reached across and wrapped her sister in a hug. “Of course he was impressed, you ninny! You do excellent work. It’s about time someone noticed it!”

  Jane giggled and squeezed her around the waist. Then she leaned back to look Lizzy in the eye. “What was that all about between you and Mr. Darcy? It is not like you to be so quiet. Do not tell me you find him intimidating?”

  Lizzy felt her cheeks heating. “Of course not.” Although Jane knew about Darcy’s impromptu chauffeuring, Lizzy hadn’t felt the need to tell her about his insults in the hallway. She did so now, glossing over the hurt that still lingered at his harsh words.

  “That was very unkind of him, indeed, Lizzy. It is no wonder that you are vexed with him. Still, we cannot have you at odds with our employer.”