Page 5 of First Impressions
Tolerable.
Seriously, who says tolerable, number one, and number two, she looked phenomenal tonight. After the three large glasses of wine, she felt comfortable admitting that to herself: she looked phenomenal and she was pissed. She didn’t care who he was or that he was richer than Bill Gates; she was determined to put thatintolerableass in his place. She turned, asking the bartender for a shot of Jameson, and quickly downed it. With a deep breath and some liquid courage, she gathered her wits and rounded the corner of the bar to give this man a piece of her mind.
As she came around the column, Mr. Darcy’s eyes recognized her and flashed momentarily with surprise and concern, which he then quickly concealed.
“Mr. Darcy, so nice to see you again. I hope you are enjoying your evening,” Beth stated in her most cordial tone and ended with, what she hoped was, a dazzling smile.
Strangely for such a composed man, he seemed off-put by her statement and warm manner. He stared at her for a moment, like he couldn’t think of what to say. His brown eyes turned a molten amber as he held her stare, almost making her forget what she had confronted him about. Another guest bumped into Darcy as he walked by, startling him back into reality, and as quickly as it had come, the emotion melted from his face and his stoic mask returned as he responded.
“Yes. It’s very nice, thank you,” was all he managed to get out; even though his eyes seemed to look right through her, his voice was strained.
“Good, I’m glad,” Beth forged on before she forgot her purpose or realized that she probably shouldn’t make a scene. “It seems that Jane and Charles are getting along very well, don't you think? He seems to be bringing out the best in her, even just from their short conversation earlier. Anyway, I don’t want toboreyou. I hope you find the party to be‘on your level’and that you manage to discover some other aspects of the evening to be more than‘tolerable.’”With that retort and onelast accusatory stare, Beth turned around to walk away and was abruptly stopped when Darcy grabbed her arm.
Heat and electricity shot up her arm, turning all her senses on high alert with an immediate wave of intense desire. Her breath sucked in as she quickly turned around to face him. He stared at her with lust raging in his eyes, taking in the sight of her face, flushed from alcohol, then anger, and then desire. Trailing his gaze slowly down her body, it was as if he were stripping her down right there. Then, just as quickly, he released her arm as if he couldn’t even bear to touch her; or maybe he was just shocked that he had made such an impulsive gesture in public.
“Miss Bennet—” he began but Beth interrupted him.
“It’s been apleasuremeeting you, Mr. Darcy,” Beth said with all the vehemence that she had attempted to restrain.
As she spoke, she crossed her arms over her chest and tried to walk away as gracefully as five drinks would allow. The shock and instantaneous regret that passed over his features when he realized that she had heard him had been a mild ointment on her bruised pride. It was quickly surpassed by the tingling sensation and diffuse warmth that had spread through her when he had touched her. If she didn’t detest him so much, she would have admitted that it was the strongest attraction that she had ever felt. However, she was too proud to be attracted to someone who had insulted her so rudely, and therefore, quickly allowed the alcohol to take the blame for her physical reaction.
The rest of the evening passed uneventfully for Beth. She found Char after that song and the two spent the next hour or so catching up. Char hadn’t seen her confrontation with Darcy and, thoughtfully, didn’t mention the ‘intolerable’ incident again. While that was a minor reprieve, Beth forced herself to acknowledge that she would have to see Mr. Darcy again while the business with the law firm was being settled.
The biggest highlight of Beth’s night was seeing how surprisingly well Jane and Charles were getting along. They danced several more times together she noticed, and spent the time between those dances talking mostly amongst themselves. She wanted her sister to be happy, and she hopedthat, if these observations were any indication, that this merger might be promising in more ways than one.
Chapter Five
When Bethand Jane finally got home where it was quiet and they were able to talk, she found out just how well the night had gone.
“Charles is one of the most genuine people I have ever met. I’ll admit that I had my hopes up, but he is wonderful, Beth. You would think he would be a stuck up or entitled with his degree and job title, but he’s not; he’s so open. You can just tell from talking to him how much he loves what he does, how much he loves helping people.” Jane effused compliments about him, her attraction to him written all over her face.
“Plus, he’s pretty hot too, which doesn’t hurt,” Beth interjected, half-jokingly.
“Well yeah, but he’s so much more than that. I mean, I work with lawyers all day, and most of them are people that I admire, but they don’t hold a candle to Charles. I’m so happy and nervous at the same time. I really like him but what if he doesn’t like me back? I sound like I’m in high school right now. I just don't want to be let down again,” Jane confided with a blush.
Well, Beth certainly knew how that felt right now. Putting aside her evening drama, she tried to allay Jane’s concerns by relating what she tried to portray as a comic event - the overheard conversation between Charles and Mr. Darcy. Of course, with Jane being Jane, she was instantly focused on if Beth was ok and why she hadn’t told her earlier. Knowing that it must have hurt Beth to hear that, Jane tried to come up with plausible reasons for why he said what he said, what he could have meant, or that perhaps Beth simply misheard him because it ‘was quite noisy in there with the band in full swing.’ While she appreciated her sister’s kind soul, Beth finished her story by relaying their subsequent interaction. After a few minutes of back and forth, Beth managed to redirect Jane’s attempt to exonerate Darcy back to what Charles said about her.
“He really likes you, Jane, and you seemed so comfortable with him. Plus, I’m sure mom was all over you about how he only danced with you. Anyway, don’t get so nervous that you close yourself off from him; trust me, he really likes you, too,” Beth cautioned.
“I know. He’s just so easy to feel comfortable around, so I hope you are right. We will be spending a lot of time together over the next few weeks because of work. Dad wants me to introduce Charles to the firm while the three of them prepare the paperwork and discuss the details of the buyout contract.”
“I wonder if that means Mr. Darcy will be with you the whole time. They seem like they are really close, but for your sake I hope his involvement in this whole deal is limited.”
How someone as congenial as Charles could be such good friends with someone like Darcy was beyond Beth. She attributed it to the fact that it must be a longstanding friendship from back in their college days that grew so strong, in spite of how Darcy’s character must have changed from that point, that Charles just had to excuse it now for his old friend’s sake.
They ended the conversation on a hopeful note, Jane looking forward to Monday when she would see Charles again, Beth looking forward to throwing herself into working with her new client and forgetting all about theintolerableMr. Darcy.
Chapter Six
Beth walkedinto the office Monday morning energized and eager to hear what had happened with the DeBourgh account. She had dreamt all night about the gala and her confrontation with Mr. Intolerable. Except in her dreamt version, he hadn’t let go of her arm, but had led her up to his penthouse where her dress and virginity were subsequently ruined. That dream ensured that she hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep, and having to wake up from that andacknowledge the reality of how the situation actually transpired had put Beth in a sour mood.
So, as she walked right into her boss, Phil Gardiner’s, office, she said a silent prayer that he was about to give her an account with which she could completely engross her mind.
“Beth! Good morning. How was the gala?” asked Phil with a warm smile on his face.
Phil Gardiner and his wife were good friends of Beth’s family; he may have even been distantly related on her mom’s side, but she could never quite remember how. Phil, while still keeping it professional, managed to treat Beth more like a daughter than just another employee. He had given Beth a job when she was done with her masters and she had been determined not to take it for granted because of their friendship. Throwing herself into the work, with many nights anxiously spent without sleep, Beth managed to blow them away with what she was capable of in the first six months of her employ. Her success had quickly gotten her promoted within the company to one of the senior publicists working with only their top, most valuable clients.
“Pretty much the same as it is every year, although some new faces livened up the party. Anyway, what’s going on with the DeBourgh account? Do we have it? Where do we stand?” Beth quickly directed the conversation where she needed it to be right now.
