Page 15 of Pride, Prejudice, & Pretense

"Gestalt?" She wasn't sure she had heard him correctly.

But then she heard the word echo, this time in a feminine British accent.

"Gestalt? Is that something that interests you?" It was Lady Catherine. She had moved and was now close enough to Darcy to hear his final word, and she had seized on it as her passport into the conversation. Lizzy was almost certain she had heard nothing before it, none of its context. She seemed merely curious, more so about Darcy than his word.

He turned and, putting his plate down, he smiled.

Lizzy had not yet beheld that smile, although he had smiled at her a little a few times. Butthissmile was charming. It provided a crosslight for Darcy's wide, firm jaw and his earnest eyes. If it was insincere—and Lizzy knew it was, it had to be—it was undetectably so, consummately professional, compensating for his amateurish start at Wickham's appearance. Cary Grant would have envied that smile. Even though it wasn’t for her, she felt it to her feet.

In that moment, she gained a visceral understanding of why Darcy was MI-6's best. She also noticed Wickham's instant displeasure at Darcy's smile, although the expression instantly disappeared.

Lady Catherine felt the smile too. She squirmed slightly on her feet, the movement slight but serpentine. "Hello and welcome. I don't believe we have met. Perhaps one of you is from the CPL?"

Lizzy raised her hand, making sure that she looked both embarrassed and overawed by the grand lady’s notice. "That'd be me. Fanny Prince. This is myplus one, my boyfriend, Ned Moreland."

"I'm Lady Catherine, your hostess.” She nodded at them both. Sidestepping to allow her companion to move forward and join them, she added, “and this is my good friend, George Wickham."

He took another step forward, extending his hand to Darcy, who took it smoothly and shook it, dimming his smile a bit but saying hello. "Good to meet you, Mr. Wickham."

Laughing, Wickham waved a hand. "No Mr.Wickham.Just call me George." His accent was British but not pronounced. Lizzy wasn't sure if that was natural to him or if he had worked to reduce it. "I'm glad to meet you.” He shifted his attention to Lizzy. “CPL, Miss Prince?"

"Call me Fanny," she said, offering her most musical laugh. Darcy gave her a look. "Yes, I work at the CPL, the Chicago Public Library. I'm a librarian at the Harold Washington Library Center on South State Street."

Wickham gave her a smile of disbelief and turned to Lady Catherine. "A librarian?" It wasn't clear if he was asking for confirmation of profession or explanation of presence.

She took it to mean the latter. "I always invite a CPL employee to my parties to show my thanks for their hard, undervalued work. The employee is chosen randomly from names submitted. Ms. Prince's name was the one chosen for this evening."

"Well," he said with smooth gallantry, "we are all lucky that she is lucky."

"Thanks." Lizzy laughed again and smiled at Wickham. "We're glad to be here. Everything's so beautiful." She made sure her “everything” included Lady Catherine.

Their hostess fixed Darcy with her blue eyes. "So, Ned, are you a librarian, too?"

He shook his head. "Oh, no, I work as an editor at a publishing house, St. Martin's, in New York. I'm visiting here for a few days. So, not a librarian, but in the book game, too, you might say."

"And 'gestalt?’" she asked, circling back to her entrance into the conversation.

"A unified whole that exceeds the sum of its parts. I was using the term"?Darcy smiled with slight embarrassment and made a small, stiff gesture?"to compliment Fanny's looks tonight. Her dress is wonderful, but she makes it so much more."

Good lie, one that crowds the truth.

"That's sweet,Ned—if I may?" When Darcy nodded, giving Lady Catherine permission to use his first name, she took Lizzy's hands in hers (without asking) and lifted her arms, holding her for display. "Yes, you do look lovely, Fanny."

Lizzy dropped her eyes. "Oh, Lady Catherine! It's obvious who's the belle of the ball!"

The woman smiled with satisfaction and glanced at Darcy, who nodded eagerly.

Wickham merely raised an eyebrow and smiled a quick, small, sardonic smile at Lady Catherine, who was too focused on her two guests to catch his expression. "I'm very glad you are here, Fanny. There'll be a performance later, Janácek's String Quartet No. 2,Intimate Letters." She gave Darcy a wide, fetching smile…or at least tried to stretch as close to it as her fixed features would allow.

Wickham’s hand moved to Lady Catherine's arm. "You have other guests you should attend to, Catherine."

She gave him a ruffled, annoyed look, but quickly smoothed her face. "It was good to meet you, Ned and Fanny. Enjoy yourselves. Eat, drink, and be merry, as the saying goes. I hope to talk to you again before the evening ends." Her eyes were on Darcy. Lizzy took advantage of the moment to smile at Wickham?a gratuitous smile that she could tell interested him.

The two of them glided away and were soon hidden amid the crowd of partygoers. Lizzy noticed that the music that had greeted them had stopped at some point; she wasn't sure when. She had been so intent on the conversation, on being Fanny, Fanny with Ned.

Darcy took her hand, squeezing it. "Well played, Fanny. Well played." He did not seem happy about her success.

"What about you? Lady Catherine?"

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