Page 30 of Pride, Prejudice, & Pretense

For some reason, Lizzy blushed a real blush. But it worked perfectly. He saw it, and his grin grew bigger. He sipped his coffee, staring at her over the cup and waiting.

She did not answer, but Lizzy knew Fanny's non-answer was Wickham's answer.Another loss for Fanny, another win for Wickham.

He was sure of her now, his surety evident in his posture. All that he thought remained was the time it would take to reach the goal that was already but not yet his.Her.Fanny.

When they returned to her apartment building, Rook again opened the door. Wickham again helped Lizzy out, but he made no move to enter the building or ask about a nightcap. "Thanks for a lovely afternoon and for putting up with my diner choice for dinner."

"I liked it. The gyro was good, but I couldn't eat it all."

He caught her eyes. "Would you be interested in dinner tomorrow night, Fanny? Someplace fancier this time?"

She made herself hesitate, visibly dither. "Um, okay. Sure. Text me." She displayed Fanny's self-division in her stammer. Then she smiled and spoke with more decision. "Yes, text me."

The deviltry returned but not to his lips, only to his eyes. A fire was banked there. Wickham bent down and kissed her cheek. "I will."

She turned and walked away from him.Tomorrow will be harder.

Chapter Eight: Whirlwind

Lizzy got back to her apartment and quickly changed into sweats. She washed her face, using cold water to help revive her. The afternoon and evening with Wickham had drained her.

As she dried her face, she reviewed their conversations. It had gone well, she thought, as a piece of her mission. She needed to lure Wickham in, needed to make him sure Fanny was succumbing to his charms. But Fanny needed to succumb step-wise, little by little. There also would have to be a moment or two of her stepping back, trying to pull herself out of Wickham's gravitation if it was to seem real to him, if it was to tantalize him enough.

The fire Lizzy had seen banked in his eyes when they parted had been the surest sign of her success. He had already begun to imagine what he aimed for, and involving his imagination was the crucial thing. The way to a man's heart was not through his stomach; it was through his imagination—good guy or bad guy. Lizzy took that to be fundamental. To leave fingerprints on a man's imagination was to leave fingerprints on his heart. Mission success would require involving Wickham as deeply as possible, entangling him.

But Wickham presented two problems, not counting his dangerousness.

First, he was observant. He was not a man whose obvious self-satisfaction rendered him oblivious to the truth about others and to see only what he wanted to see. For all his conceit, he was clear-eyed, and that made her job much more difficult.

Second, he was in the States at Lady Catherine's for a reason. He must have a timetable, some schedule to keep. He was patient enough during the day, but for how long could she string him along before he would simply disappear? He would not wait forever. However strong his lust might be, however muchstronger she could make it, he would keep to his schedule even if it meant losing the chance to bed her. He did not seem like a man whose womanizing would trump his terrorizing.

She hung up her towel, walked to the marble counter in the kitchen, and opened her laptop. Stifling a yawn, she rubbed her eyes with one hand and touched a button with the other.

A moment later, Darcy was facing her from the screen. When he saw her, he looked relieved. Once he launched into talk, his tone began as professional, detached. "Bingley's following Wickham on the traffic cam. I wanted to know if he went back to Lady Catherine's or somewhere else. Given the direction he's traveling, he does seem to be returning to Rosings."

Lizzy nodded. "Should we have a second team here now that we're established, one to keep eyes directly on Rosings?"

"Eventually, maybe," Darcy said, nodding, "but we don't want to do that too soon. It won't be easily done without being detected. Right now, Wickham shows no sign of leaving Chicago, and I doubt anything is being done out of Rosings itself. Wickham's too careful for that." He paused. "Besides, he now has something else to occupy…his mind." Word by word, his tone grew edgy, almost surly.

It grated on Lizzy. She fisted one hand out of range of the laptop's camera and asked, "Did I do something wrong, slip up, or make a mistake?" she asked. She could think of nothing and felt a sharp twinge of exasperation, which drove her extended list of possible failures.

Apparently realizing how he’d sounded, Darcy shook his head, retreating, hands up. "No, no! You were, so far as I couldhear,pitch perfect. And so far as I couldsee, Wickham responded exactly as…we…hoped." Each of the final two words seemed high hurdles. Another pause and his hands had dropped. "Did he kiss you?"

She wasn't sure what to make of the question. "Yes…you know he did. You saw." Then she imagined what the necklace might have shown, the limits of its point of view. "Well, maybe you didn’t see where. On thecheek. A good sign. More than a handshake, less than a lip-to-liplock. About where we want him, I'd say. His lips, anyway." Lizzy chuckled, trying to tease away his sullen manner.

He responded with a scowl. "Yes. Right. Do you have anything to mention…anything that stood out? We should compare notes."

"His reaction toMary Poppinswas striking. Do you know anything about his childhood? It might be something I should know. Wickham pulled back a bit, grew distant for a minute…"

"No," Darcy said, shaking his head. "I…MI-6 doesn't know anything. No intelligence service has any intel about his childhood. Just guesses, at best. That comment was the only insight into it I've had. I don't know what to make of it or of that gnomic comment,everything worth happening already has."

Lizzy made a soft sound of agreement. "That was weird, like a grudge against the world.” She shuddered and then controlled herself. “Do we have the full MI-6 file on Wickham yet?"

"Yes, surprisingly. I received it today while you were at the Robie House. I will forward it to your computer when we finish. It's not likely to enlighten you very much." He shrugged as if apologizing for his agency. "It's mostly movements and dates, a few names of contacts. Most of it is circumstantial or speculative?MI-6 analysts’ attempted coordination of Wickham's supposed travel with the claimed or reputed activities of the Wicker Man. Not much more. It starts only a few years ago. Further back than that, nothing concrete. Wickham seemed to spring into existence unborn and un-historied, as if he hatched a fully grown man. Don't trouble yourself about ittonight. We can discuss it tomorrow after you've had a chance to look at it if you have questions."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Is Wickham as charming as he believes?" Darcy smiled tightly.

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