Page 38 of Third Time is the Charm
His gaze was hard and she knew that he had.
Was he going to punch Col? Was he going to confront him?
Beth feared the worst; this new Darcy, while different, was just as confusing and unpredictable as the old one. He was in front of them before Beth could do anything about it. His eyes moved from hers to meet Col’s – a veritable stare-down occurring between them.
“Dempsey,” Darcy said gruffly, yet with no malice.
“Darcy, I presume” Colin returned cautiously.
Of course, Col would always try to be exceedingly gracious to anyone, even though he knew what Beth had suffered because of him.
His gaze returned to hers, burning right through her; her mouth went dry under his stare. He looked at her with a mix of desire, regret, and resignation. One more moment and Beth was about to ask him plainly what he wanted, what he was doing there – the suspense and small-talk killing her, when he turned away from her toMary.
“Mary, I was wondering if you would mind dancing with me?” His deep tone only accentuated the seriousness of his request that was written plainly on his exquisitely handsome face.
Chapter 12
Col turned to face her surely stunned expression, watching as Darcy, who disliked dancing (who hadn’t danced with anyone at the wedding yet) walked onto the dance floor with Miss Mary Bennet, the shyest and most awkward of all the Bennet sisters.
“Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting,” Col said, lightheartedly. “Nice of him to ask her.”
Nice didn’t even begin to describe it.
Col raised his eyebrows at her, wondering what her opinion of what had just happened was, and a silent question if she now wanted to join him back out on the dance floor for what remained of the slow song. Beth nodded, letting him lead her out onto the floor by the hand he still held, choosing not to comment about Darcy asking her sister to dance. They didn’t wander far into the crowd, like Darcy had with Mary, staying instead at the edge of the dance floor. Col pulled her tight against him and Beth let him, her face looking over his shoulder, catching a glimpse every turn or two of the man who still made her heart race as he graciously danced with her sister.
Darcy hates dancing. Why had he asked Mary?
“Thank you for inviting me,” Col whispered into her ear.
Beth tried to swallow over the lump in her throat. “Of course,” her voice thick with emotion, unfortunately though, not because of his words.
Why had he asked Mary?
You know why.
Seeing Col holding her hand, the look of resignation Darcy gave her before turning to Mary… he’d asked her so that she’d be able to dance with Col without feeling guilty for leaving Mary alone.
Maybe it was because he really didn’t want her anymore.
He could have just been trying to make amends, trying to extend an olive branch to say that he approved of her having a relationship with Col. She needed to talk to him, and she needed to talk to him tonight.
This needed to end tonight – one way or another.
“You ok?” Col asked, as another slow song began, keeping them held tightly together, swaying on the dance floor.
“Yeah,” Beth sighed, “just an emotional day…” Her eyes instinctively looked for Darcy and Mary again in the crowd. She heard Col begin to respond, but lost focus on him as her eyes spotted Darcy’s perfect, dark hair in the crowd, accented by Caroline’s blond hair as she stood in front of him.
Beth felt her heart began to race. They weren’t dancing, just standing in the middle of the dance floor. She looked for Mary, who she spotted a moment later walking off the side of the dance floor towards Kat. Her eyes reaching for Darcy again, only to find her view of him blocked by another couple on the dance floor. A few seconds later and Darcy was back in view, his face hard, anger visibly marking his features, Caroline’s hand resting on his chest; Beth couldn’t see her face, but she must be talking to him because Darcy’s mouth wasn’t moving which meant he must be listening to her.
What was going on between them?
Again, the other guests dancing got in Beth’s way and she lost sight of them again, this time a little longer than the last. A slight turn brought her heart to a full stop; Caroline kissing Darcy.
And then, Col pulled his head back in front of hers, and into her view. “You sure you’re ok? I mean I know I’m a yakker, but you haven’t said anything for the past few minutes.”
Beth nodded frantically, trying to appease him so that she could see what was happening between Darcy and Caroline. “Sorry, just taking it all in. I think I’m getting a little dehydrated,” she murmured – hoping that moving off the dance floor towards the bar would give her a better view of Darcy and Caro.
“Of course, yeah, let’s go get some water,” he agreed, finally moving out of her way.
