The office was dominated by a large, sleek, modern desk. The view was even better in here. I could see more of the city and all of the park below. On either side of the window, books lined the walls in all shapes and sizes.
Everything was very elegant and smooth. I suddenly felt very out of place in my jeans and t-shirt. I was just glad that my black wool jacket was nice. It was my saving feature.
“Elizabeth,” Mr. Darcy greeted me as I stepped in. He stood and came to the front of his desk. He wore his traditional perfectly fitted suit. Today was a beautiful dark blue that brought out the darkness of his hair and the light blues of his eyes. “What can I do for you?”
All the grand speeches I practiced on the way over went right out the window. I’d had this beautiful thank you speech all planned out, and now that I was here, standing in front of him, I couldn’t remember a word of it.
“I, um, I...” I stopped and took a deep breath. There was no reason to be nervous, yet my stomach was dancing with butterflies. “I wanted to thank you.”
“For what?” he said like he didn’t know.
“For helping my sister,” I replied. I took a step closer to his desk.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he told me with a small shrug. I would have believed him if I didn’t know better.
“She let it slip that you were there,” I informed him.
He sighed. “Of course she did.”
“It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together of what you did for her.” I took another step into his domain. “There’s no other reason for an agent like that to be interested in her.”
“I happened to have business in California,” he replied. “It was just luck.”
I took another step. I was now only a few feet away from him.
“Still, thank you,” I told him. I looked up at his face, watching the way his eyes focused on me. It did strange things to my heart. “It means the world to me.”
“You love her,” he said softly, his eyes still taking me in. “Despite her flaws, you love her.”
He opened his mouth as if he were going to say more, but instead took a breath and turned from me. I missed his gaze as soon as it was gone. It made the room less bright.
There was silence in the room.
“I should have brought you a fruit basket or something,” I said with a laugh, wanting to make him smile. “I think
I need to work on my thank yous.”
He chuckled softly. “My secretary would have just stolen it.”
I smiled, liking that he was looking at me again. Those blue eyes held more in them than the sky outside.
A knock came on the door behind me. “Sir, your ten o’clock is here,” his secretary said, opening the door and peeking her head in for a moment.
“Thank you,” he told her, but his eyes didn’t leave me. He looked at me like I was beautiful, even in my jeans and coat.
“I should go. You have a meeting,” I said, not wanting to leave but not wanting to be a bother either. “Thank you. Again.”
“Oh, um. One more thing before you go,” he said, turning around to his bookshelf. “This came today, from the hospital. I wouldn’t even know what to do with it, but I have a feeling that you do.”
He handed me a box wrapped in cellophane. I recognized the box as the one from the auction. The one that contained the 18th century journal that I had bid on for my father.
I looked up at him, and he looked down at me. I had no idea what to say to express how I felt.
I told my feet to move, but they didn’t want to leave Mr. Darcy. I couldn’t blame them. Instead of turning to the door, I took the last step to him and went up on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. It was chaste compared to our other kisses, but still, the electricity of it made my heart skip.
“I hope your meeting goes well,” I said, taking a step back and nearly running into who I assumed was his ten o’clock. “Oh, excuse me.”
The woman I’d nearly knocked over didn’t give me the time of day. She wore a smart pantsuit and her dark gray hair was short and severe. She was somewhat scary, even though she barely came up to my shoulder. She was not someone to be trifled with.