Pride and Papercuts (The Austens #5) - Staci Hart Page 0,23
that I would have if I didn’t have an apology to make.”
He spun me around in three steps, the movement so sudden and fluid, all I could do was hang on to him.
“An apology, huh? Have you been practicing in your mirror? I know you must stare at it often enough. Might as well be productive while you admire yourself,” I teased, hoping for the first time that he didn’t accidentally take me seriously.
It was only a flicker, but I swore I saw the corner of his lips tick up. “Just a little practicing. I’ve heard I’m terrible at it.”
“It goes without saying.”
“Except you seemed happy to say so.”
I flushed. “I’m sorry. It was rude and out of line.”
One of his brows arched. “Are you stealing my apology?”
An embarrassed chuckle escaped me. “You’re full of surprises. Where did this new, amiable Mr. Darcy come from?”
“He was born of a little humility, thanks to someone who wasn’t afraid to say what they thought.”
“If there is one thing you can count on from me, it’s that.”
He made a noise that was almost a laugh. But when he looked back down at me, his eyes were warm, even though the rest of him remained eternally cold. “I’m sorry, Laney. I’ve behaved badly, not only for suggesting you were somehow beneath me, but for disregarding you in the meeting. It won’t happen again. Will you forgive me?”
The temperature in the room rose by degrees, and I did what I had to do to break whatever was crackling in the air around us.
I cracked a joke. “So you’ll never disregard me in a meeting? Even if I suggest hiring out a herd of elephants for a promotional event?”
He frowned. “We can’t hire endangered animals to—”
“Or maybe one of those party busses with stripper poles inside for a client briefing?”
He opened his mouth, then shut it, that infinitesimal smile back in place when he realized I was kidding. “Even then.”
“Ooh, what power you’ve given me. You should hope I use it for good.”
“I suppose I’ll have to trust you.”
“Yes, I suppose you will.” A pause as he turned me in a circle. “So we’ve called a truce, then?”
He nodded once.
“Does that mean we can have a real discussion about adding the mixers to our strategy?”
The small softness in him tensed. “It’s not a viable rollout strategy. Getting people to come to parties comes after we open.”
And the heat between us blew away with an icy gust. “You still don’t get it, do you? You dressed up and everything, came here, where all you have to do is look around you to see just how viable it is. And still, you don’t get it.”
“I didn’t dress up because I approve. I didn’t come here because I suddenly decided it was a good idea.”
“Then why did you?”
We’d stopped dancing, though we were poised to. The song came to a close. We separated.
“You know, I’m not quite sure anymore,” he said coolly.
My spine stiffened, my chin lifting. “Then excuse me. I have a date tonight, and I’m sure he’s looking for me.”
His eyes narrowed. “A date? With whom?”
He would be the kind of man to use whom correctly. “Wyatt Wickham. I think you two are acquainted? He seems to have about as charitable an opinion about you as I do.”
I thought I’d seen him cold. I thought I’d understood what it was like to be frozen out. I thought I’d seen him angry.
That was nothing compared to the shift in him at the mention of Wyatt’s name.
“He always did have something to say. The trick is to know how much of it’s true.” His spine was straight as a yardstick. “I hope the rest of your night is more pleasant than this was.”
Darcy turned and walked away like a prowling beast, leaving me standing on the dance floor, alone.
LIAM
Through a curtain of red, I walked away from Laney Bennet, cursing the both of us.
I’d come here tonight for her. I put on this ridiculous costume and came to this ridiculous party as a gesture, a vehicle to make my apology. And if either of us knew when to quit, it would have been a success. But in an unsurprising turn, the whole thing burned to the ground, leaving nothing but floating embers and ash.
For a moment, that fire hadn’t been frustration or disdain—something else had burned between us, something that even upon memory had me thinking about what it’d felt like to hold her in my arms.