Page 11 of Pride, Prejudice, & Pretense

He nodded, frowning, responding to the comment but not the question. "That piece of paper, more than the photograph, explains Wickham's attraction, I think."

She put the file on the bed beside her. "I'll look at that more later. Is there anything else about her I need to know?"

"Well, to go back to your question, you manage her by making her believeyoubelieve you're no competition. Make her accept that, from your point of view, for Wickham to have anything to do with you while she is available is a deep puzzle."

Lizzy stared at Darcy. "So, basically, I convince her that, from Fanny’s point of view, if Wickham wants me, it would be out of…pity? A handout for the poor librarian?"

"Yes, although the trick is to avoid makinghimthink that. His motivations will require different beliefs about him and you."

"That means I'll need time with each of them separately, without the other."

"True. I’m pleased you understand what I mean. These cover plots become knotty fast."

She smiled tightly but with no humor. "You’ll help me separate them tomorrow night if need be, won’t you?"

"Yes. I admit that small talk is not my strength, not inpropria persona, but I can handle it while undercover. Most small talk is insincere, but since all cover talk is, I manage the insincerity better. I hate disguise.”

“Odd attitude for a spy.”

He shrugged without further explanation.

Lizzy was surprised. Darcy hadn't appeared to be a man who would reveal a weakness or lack of skill. "I'm not sure I quite understand what you mean by 'sincerity.'"

Darcy seemed abashed. "I was thinking of the term in its literary sense…say, as the way poets have often used it. The adjustment of what is said to match the speaker's internal demands and the demands of external reality."

Lizzy looked up and just sat there. It took her a few beats. "I thoughtIwas the literature major."

He raised one eyebrow slightly. "Cambridge. Philosophy."

"Oh," she offered meagerly, unable to supply anything more in the moment.That explains “in propria persona.”

"So," Darcy offered, shifting tone, "let's talk about me?or rather, about Ned Moreland, Fanny's boyfriend."

She nodded. "What have you come up with?"

He blew out a breath. "It probably works best if Ned is from out-of-town…if the relationship, our relationship, you know, is long distance. That'll make it easier for me…for Ned to be absent and for you to be alone here in Chicago, which will give Wickhamaccess"?Darcy almost spat the last word as he frowned through it?"without having to worry much about Ned showing up.

“At the same time, we should play up our involvement, our feelings. I now believe you can capture Wickham's attention but, twisted as this sounds, the sweetener for him will be his eagerness to corrupt you, to despoil you and what we have. What Fanny and Ned have."

"O-kay," Lizzy said slowly, almost isolating the first syllable from the second, "but that means we have to pull off a balancing act in two directions: balancing Wickham and Lady Catherine and also balancing our own?Ned and Fanny's?relationship."

Darcy stood and started pacing, stationing the files on the small table by the armchair. "Right, but the latter is more important. The first only matters if you do succeed in capturing Wickham's attention, in arousing his interest."

"I'll do my best."

He stopped pacing, and his eyes met hers. His frown had deepened yet more. His nod was fierce. "Good, but keep in mind that Wickham is adangerousman. A cold-blooded, bare-handed killer. He leaves a shattered glass menagerie of women in his wake. Hurting them,breakingthem, is his truest, deepest source of pleasure. You mustn't ever be truly alone with him. Bingley or I?one of us, or both?mustbe on comms and nearby, close enough to intervene in time, as backup. This is non-negotiable." He made a gesture with his hand, holding it out, splaying his fingers, emphatic.

Lizzy recoiled in pique. "Look,Darcy, I can handle myself. Kellynch wasn't exaggerating. He suggested me for good reasons."

His frown became a tight smile without changing its dark, expressive character. "I know. I've crisscrossed your file carefully. This isn’t an insult to you or your considerable abilities. I'm simply underlining Wickham's serious danger, his perverseness. I'm not underestimating you; I just want to keep you from underestimatinghim."

"Noted!Noted. So tell me more about Ned." She smiled slowly but without effecting a change in Darcy's countenance. His eyes continued to smolder, but finally the darkness dispelled.

"Ned. Well, the CIA analysts are still filling out the online backstory. It should be in place by now, or soon. Ned's an editor for a New York publishing house, St. Martin's Press. Yours…ours…is a bookish romance. We met at a literary conference in New York six months ago. Things moved fast in New York that week. We were a couple within a few days, committed to trying the long-distance thing even after so brief a time together. It's going okay, the long-distance thing, although we both hate it, and Ned is currently trying to move to a publisher's office in Chicago. How's that sound?"

She pondered it, turning it over in her mind like a three-dimensional shape, looking for obvious holes, liabilities. "It seems like it sets the scene well, given what you know about Wickham and what interests him. What are we angling for tomorrow, exactly?"

"Interest from him in you, although we don't have to have it expressed. You should be careful not to push for it. Remember, he's supposed to be your corruptor, so the initiative needs to be his. Trust your instincts. You'll know if he’s interested enough to pursue you. That's the goal."

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