Chapter 2

Fitzwilliam Darcy leaned back in his chair, trying to ignore the hum of the crowd and the overly loud music and listen to the conversation going on at their table in the ridiculously small bar. Louisa Hurst was quickly gathering her things to race home to her helpless husband and hungry baby, but she had asked a question very pertinent to his interests.

“I’ll leave my seat for Elizabeth in case she shows up. You did say she’s got a night off from her boyfriend, right? Is he clingy? What do you think of him, Jane?”

“Well—”

Two weeks back in Chicago and Darcy kept hearing the same conversation. He was sick of it. Sick and tired of Elizabeth Bennet not being around, and worse—even worse than suspecting she was avoiding his company—was that she was occupied with some guy. A boyfriend named Matt with whom she was so enthralled that even Jane hadn’t met him. Darcy was embarrassingly curious about the kind of man who could captivate Elizabeth Bennet. All he knew for certain was that this Matt had excellent taste in women.

Darcy considered himself to be a decent, rational man. He could tell himself that Elizabeth’s dating life was none of his business, and that he had to keep some distance from her. But the woman made him irrational. He could not get her beautiful eyes out of his thoughts or keep himself from hearing the sound of her laugh ringing in his ears—even when that laughter was aimed at him. He could not stop seeing her mischievous smile, her sexy figure, or the elegant way her hands moved when she spoke. He couldn’t stop thinking about her.

“Lizzy’s very busy, but she’s coming tonight,” Jane said.

Darcy scarcely had a moment to consider the news when Charlie laughed. “And speak of the devil, here she is! Lizzy!”

Unable to control his inexorable yearning to see her, he turned and watched Elizabeth emerge from the crowded doorway and weave her way through the bar towards their table. No date. No boyfriend. Alone. Her hair was shorter, she was wearing a scarf he remembered she’d bought in San Francisco, and she was vibrant and glowing. She looked happy, giving Louisa a smile and a brief hug before the beleaguered new mother made her exit. Darcy pretended he didn’t see Elizabeth’s eyes narrow when she saw him at the table, but he did notice something in her expression that looked like relief when Charlie included him in his teasing about being dateless tonight.

“I wanted Darcy to check out the wine list and since he works all the time anyway, I knew he’d be home and bored on a Sunday night. And,” Charlie said, turning to Darcy, “Lizzy is working too hard and just broke up with her boyfriend before we even met him, and we thought she needed a night out as badly as you do.”

“This one is good.” Jane touched Charlie’s hand and steered his attention back to the wine flight.

They broke up?

The couple began comparing labels, but Darcy’s attention focused only on Elizabeth. The single, unattached Elizabeth. His eyes settled on her, observing her mood as she took the empty seat beside him at the table. Her cheeks were flushed, likely from Charlie’s announcement, but she didn’t look upset or hurt. Recognition coincided with the realization that they were sitting in awkward silence. He picked up the wine list, now covered with Charlie’s scribbles as he decided on favorites.

“Would you like some wine, Elizabeth? Or something else?”

She turned towards him, still looking amused at whatever Charlie had just mumbled to Jane. “Something else, thank you. I’m sure Charlie plans to ply me with vino. Perhaps club soda and lime?”

He lifted his arm to signal a server and felt Elizabeth’s eyes still on him. “Welcome back,” she said. “I understand you’ve been traveling a lot.”

“Yes.”

“Business, I assume?”

“What else?” He shrugged, trying to appear casual. “How are you?”

She seemed to hesitate, but then, in a voice that mixed resignation with playfulness, she said, “You caught the headlines from Charlie. I’d prefer to keep the news from my mother for a while, but it’s true that my relationship bit the dust and, much to Jane’s disappointment, MeetMe/LoveMe was a bust, too.”

Overwhelmed by Elizabeth’s presence and the sudden influx of new information she was offering him, Darcy’s mind was racing too quickly to respond before Jane leaned in to defend herself.

“My sister has the most exacting standards for men.”

“Jane, half the guys you thought I’d like were still living in their childhood bedrooms and the other half were more interested in discussing bourbon than books. That site should be called RedFlags/RunFast.”

He cleared his throat. “Wait, you’re on a dating app?”

“More headline news.” Elizabeth’s lips quirked in that charming way they did when she teased someone. “Thanks to my sister, who fears I will curl up in a miserable, lonely ball and knit sweaters from the fur of rescue cats, I was forced onto a dating app, for all of one week.” She playfully made a face at Jane. “She’s convinced stilted conversations with men who like big dogs or have nineteenth-century beards or are getting over bad relationships—or all three—are just the thing for my happiness.”

Following boardroom debates was a lot easier than catching the gist of this conversation. Before he could ask the first of his many, many questions, Charlie spoke up.

“You don’t like beards?”

Elizabeth shook her head. “There have been a lot of swipe lefts.”

Jane shook her head. “Her standards are too high.”

“Or my taste is too normal.”

“Charlotte Lucas met a doctor on that app and he didn’t have a dog or a beard,” Jane said smugly.

“No, he had a man-bun and neck tattoos and was an unemployed doctor of philosophy who needed a partner with a steady income.” Elizabeth smiled—the simple beauty of it briefly stunning Darcy—before continuing. “Not everyone thinks three hookups, a thousand texts, and a declaration of love on social media leads to a fairy tale wedding.”

“Agreed.” Darcy said, eager to support her assertions. “Romance is not an algorithm.”

Elizabeth stared at him, looking bemused before giving him a small smile. “Exactly.”

“Not that Darcy has tested it, of course.” Charlie drew Jane closer to him and gave her an annoyingly moony smile. “Love is as likely to happen online as at a pub or party.”